LIDIA FALCÓN – THE FEMINIST REASON

© Silvia Cuevas-Morales

Lidia Falcón (Madrid, 1935) is the international face of Spanish feminism. Born just months before the Civil War broke out in Spain, and against all odds, she managed to obtain a degree in Law, Dramatic Arts and Journalism, as well as a Doctorate in Philosophy. She is the founder of the magazines Vindicación Feminista and Poder y Libertad, as well as founder of the first feminist publishing house in Spain: Vindicación Feminista Publicaciones and of the Spanish Feminist Party. During the Franco dictatorship she was active in the underground movement and in 1972 she was detained for her opinions

and jailed for six months. In 1974 she was falsely accused of having participated in a famous bomb attack in the centre of Madrid and was sent to prison for nine months. Thanks to international support and due to the fact that she was already known abroad she was released from prison.

Even though she is almost seventy five years old she is still active as lawyer and tours Spain constantly giving conferences, participating in radio and television debates and publishes regularly in all the major newspapers. Her many achievements as a writer and feminist activist have been widely acknowledged both within and beyond Spain. Throughout her life she has been invited to numerous Spanish and international Universities and her dedication has earned her many awards and homages. Amongst her recognitions are a Doctorate Honoris causa from the College of Wooster and The Order of Don Quijote, awarded by St. John’s University. She has published over thirty books, among which are: Mujer y Sociedad, Violencia contra la mujer, Los nuevos mitos del feminismo and Mujer y Poder Político. She also has an extensive list of novels and plays. The Feminist Reason is her first major work translated into English.

The Feminist Reason - Summary of contents

This work is an abridged version of the two volumes of the first edition of La Razón Feminista (Fontanella, Barcelona, 1981 and 1982) and comprises all the issues discussed: volume I, “Woman as a social class and the mode of domestic production”, and volume II, “Human reproduction”. Volume I analyses the material causes of women's exploitation that make them an exploited class. Based on the data and research carried out by anthropologists, historians and economists, using the Marxist methodology, Lidia Falcón unveils the laws that rule the reproductive process of the

workforce, the reproduction relationship between man and woman, the exploitation of woman in sexuality, reproduction and productive work. The first part is devoted to the dialectics of development of society, the second to the thesis of women as a social class and the definition of the mode of domestic production, whereas the third and fourth parts examine the particularities of the class sectors and the peculiar situation of the so-called bourgeois woman. In volume II, based on primitive reproduction theories, that reinforced scientific misogyny in biology, gynaecology and obstetrics, the author takes a long and thorough journey through human reproduction. She examines the suffering of woman in her reproductive task, looked upon by physicians and historians, philosophers and economists, as well as the value of her production: the offspring as the workforce that moves the world, as servants and heirs of their father. This book includes both an analysis and a synthesis of everything one should know about feminine exploitation.

If you are interested in finding out more about this author or how to get a copy of her new book, please write to Aconcagua Publishing at aconcaguapublishing@yahoo.com You can also see more of her work (in Spanish) at www.vindicacionfeminista.com