Betsy Warrior

Betsy Warrior is a Boston-area feminist, author, and graphic artist. She is an advocate for women in abusive relationships, and was a founding member of the Boston-area women's liberation group Cell 16.

Betsy Warrior
Born1940
Boston, Massachusetts
EducationBunker Hill Community College (AA)
Occupations
  • Author
  • Graphic artist
Known forCo-founder of Cell 16

Personal life

Warrior was born in 1940.[1]

Warrior married at the age of 17, and suffered domestic abuse at the hands of her husband.[2] She recalls beatings that left her "face bleeding and bruised", and cites the intervention of her family in helping her to finally leave her husband. Six years after her divorce, she adopted the name "Betsy Warrior" in honor of Native American activist Clyde Warrior, in admiration of his fight for Native American rights.[3] Warrior is a descendant of the Mi'kmaq tribe of Canada.[4]

Warrior earned her associate degree from Bunker Hill Community College in 2007.[5]

Activism

In 1968, along with Roxanne Dunbar and Dana Densmore, Warrior helped found Cell 16, a "women's liberation group" that advocated for women's rights, pay equality, reproductive rights, and self-defense. Cell 16 was considered the face of the women's liberation movement in Boston at the time.[6][2]

That same year, Warrior, Dunar, and Densmore also published a collection of essays entitled "No More Fun and Games: A Journal of Female Liberation". Described as addressing "women who feel they are oppressed", the essays detailed the actions a woman should take to liberate herself. Warrior's essays criticized male aggression as well as members of the movement who had too much of a competitive mentality.[7]

While with Cell 16, Warrior created a poster that read: "Disarm rapists/Smash sexism", depicting a woman fighting off a would-be rapist. The posted was popular within the anti-rape movement.[8]

In 1974, Warrior published The Houseworker's Handbook along with Lisa Leghorn, a fellow activist Warrior met at the Cambridge Women's Center. Warrior equated domestic violence to "how women were devalued in society", and how a woman might stay in an abusive relationship because they lack the means or ability to escape. While at the Cambridge Women's Center, Warrior helped to open the first battered women's shelter on the east coast.[9] Warrior made another poster that read “Strike! While the Iron Is Hot!” which became popular in Italy with advocates of the Wages for Housework movement.[4]

In 1976, Warrior published Working on Wife Abuse (later renamed the Battered Women's Directory), an international directory listing programs and individuals advocating for women who were victims of domestic violence.[10] The publication was cited for spreading awareness on the issue of domestic abuse and Warrior received numerous offers of help from other women who read the book.[11] The last edition was published in 1989.[2]

Warrior has developed a series of posters on international women's rights which honor women activists from around the world.[2]

Awards and recognitions

Warrior was awarded the first Jane Doe Unsung Hero award in 1993. She has been recognized by Women's eNews and Boston's Woman Magazine.[11]

Published works
  • Houseworker's Handbook' (written with Lisa Leghorn): Woman's Center (1975).
  • Working on Wife Abuse (1977). ISBN 9780960154418
  • Battered Women's Directory (1982). ISBN 9780960154456
  • Housework: Slavery Or a Labor of Love? (1986). ISBN 9780960154449

References
  1. "Catching the Wave: Photographs of the Women's Movement". Harvard Library. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  2. Hart, Barbara J. (August 2013). ""A Modest Herstory" of Betsy Warrior" (PDF). National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  3. "Battered Woman Helps Other Victims Across the Nation". Athol Daily News. 6 April 1987. p. 16. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  4. Palmieri, Brooke (30 August 2019). "Betsy Warrior, "Disarm Rapists/Smash Sexism"". CampBooks.biz. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  5. "Alumni of Bunker Hill Community College: Class of 2007". alumnius.net. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  6. Spain, Daphne (4 March 2016). Constructive Feminism: Women's Spaces and Women's Rights in the American City. Cornell University Press. p. xiv. ISBN 9781501704123. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  7. Love, Spencie (16 December 1969). "Women Liberation Lit". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  8. Bevacqua, Maria (10 August 2000). Rape On The Public Agenda: Feminism and the Politics of Sexual Assault. Northeastern University Press. p. 31. ISBN 9781555534462. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  9. Brown, Annie M. (2020). "Self-Guided Tour: Women Activists of Riverside 50 Years After Suffrage". HistoryCambridge.org. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  10. Elman, R. Amy (1996). Sexual Subordination and State Intervention: Comparing Sweden and the United States. Berghahn Books. p. 36. ISBN 9781571810717. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  11. "Betsy Warrior". Hope's Door New York. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
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