Rita Mae Brown at the Woman's Building

Writer and activist Rita Mae Brown (1944 - ) delivers a speech at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles on July 4, 1976. Brown talks about the way both men and women suffer under the patriarchy through pornographic violence and nostalgia in the mass media. She tells the audience that "you've got to become an actor, not a reactor" and that the Equal Rights Amendment is a "worn-out issue" meant to distract from more pressing issues. Brown also calls for the feminist movement to establish a public policy regarding violence. The author takes audience questions and also reads several poems (both her own and others') and a lengthy excerpt from her novel <i>In Her Day</i>. Recorded by Annette Hunt.