Fearless Beatrice Faust: Sex, Feminism and Body Politics
Judith Brett
‘Beatrice Faust’, said Helen Garner, ‘is not scared of anybody.’
Faust was the transformative feminist activist, writer and intellectual who founded the Women’s Electoral Lobby in Melbourne in 1972. She campaigned for abortion law reform, and thought, talked and wrote about sex and feminism, from the sexual revolution of the 1960s through to the neoliberal 1990s, always with her own demanding body as her guide. She was a force to be reckoned with.
She also endured a miserable childhood, and suffered chronic ill health as well as a later-life addiction to prescription drugs. Her letters reveal a complex, troubled inner life that belied the confident charisma of her public persona.
Fearless Beatrice Faust celebrates, explains and questions her struggle to change both herself and her world. Drawing on public records and private writings, award-winning biographer Judith Brett creates a compelling and psychologically nuanced portrait of a gifted, argumentative woman who refused to be a victim.
INTERVIEWS and REVIEWS
ABC News
ABC Radio National: Late Night Live
Australian Book Review ($)
Conversation
Gleebooks: Gleetalks (podcast)
Inside Story
Saturday Paper
Virginia Haussegger on Facebook
Wheeler Centre [YouTiube)
andFearless Beatrice Faust
‘A terrific read but also such a fascinating account of the greatest shit stirrers in Australian history.’
‘A superb biography of a brave, independent—and seriously important—sexual revolutionary.’
’The Women’s Electoral Lobby enriched so many women’s lives, including mine. Its founder, Beatrice Faust, deserves our gratitude.’
‘Marvellous…Really important reading.’
‘Excellent…Clever, companionable and careful…Fearless Beatrice Faust is an apt title, but it could also have been called the fretful, riotously funny, exquisitely fashionable and utterly fascinating Beatrice Faust.’
‘A frank, psychologically rich biography.’
‘Energetic and compelling…A portrait of a complicated woman at a time of huge change in Australia…Brett’s skills as a historian are evident.’
‘A refreshingly analytical approach provides depth, complexity, and insight which makes this beautifully written book compelling to read…Brett provides a highly nuanced understanding of Faust and her times, where biography becomes a rich intellectual, political, and psychological history…Biography at its best.’
‘Elegantly constructed and exhaustively researched…A biography that feels both precise and alive.’
