Abstract: We had to deal with the conundrum of contradiction on a most insistent level; sometimes silently. I still do. We wanted to recognize the worth of our mothers, but we were throwing all their lives and their admonitions into the fire. But we were in good company—Germaine Greer didn’t like her mother. Colleen McCullough, author of The Thorn Birds , went to live on Norfolk Island, a pinprick of a place, because she wouldn’t live on the same landmass as hers. (Before turning to fiction, McCullough was a serious scientist. She ran neurophysiology departments and research labs. Funny we didn’t know that until she died.) We wanted to honor our mothers, but we were against them. Andrea Dworkin taught us a little about how to deal with that in Right-Wing Women . But we knew that the contradiction had no solution. And it still hasn’t, because although I still call myself a feminist, I’d be a right fool if I didn’t admit that I’ve met some terrible, awful women who have managed to do as much damage as the men they mirrored. We were fighting our mothers, make no mistake about it.
