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The Real Facts of Life: Feminism and the Politics of Sexuality, c. 1850 - 1940 Margaret Jackson London: Taylor & Francis, 1994; 206 pp.
Reviewed by Viveka von Rosen Religion and Culture Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario
Where does one find new material in the much reviewed subject of early feminism in England? These feminists, their writings, and the groups and unions which arose in that time, have been examined, dissected, and placed to rest in every "Introduction to Women's Studies" bibliography from Vancouver to Nova Scotia. At a time when race, power, and re - creating the self demand the attentions of Women's Studies departments, where does the Anglo - centric and puritan feminism of the Victorian and Edwardian era fit in? These were my biases when I approached Margaret Jackson's The Real Facts of Life. However, after spending some time with the book, I revised my opinion. The Real Facts of Life does offer some innovative glances at early feminism. It is able to re - adjust the more obvious history of the oppression of women and highlight an aspect of it which perhaps has been neglected because of its very blatancy.
Jackson bases The Real Facts of Life on the development of Victorian and Edwardian feminism and its attempts to "counteract the false theories of...