Dividing
The main theme in the book revolves around the feminist movement and how it is perceived and seen nowadays. Gay points out that there are many different types of feminists and claims that the idea that feminism is a unified movement is far from being the truth. Feminism is portrayed here as an extremely divided and dividing movement, especially when it comes to race. White women and women of color are portrayed here as enemies, fighting on different sides and hurting one another. The social movement is described as being as such from the start and the narrator is reluctant to believe that the situation will change drastically in the future.
Housewives
Housewives and mothers are looked down upon in the book and are portrayed in a less than flattering manner because they decide to remain submissive to the men in their lives and to dedicate themselves to raising their children. For the modern feminist movement, a woman who is a housewife and a mother is seen as not worthy of respect. The narrator points out that in some recent writings, these women are even compared with mindless sheep, good for nothing, and traitors to their sex. Gay has a completely different view of modern mothers and housewives. For the author, these women are heroes because they go against what the feminist movement expects of them and decide to put the well-being of others before their own.
The modern feminist
When the narrator talks about the modern feminist, she describes someone who adheres to the ideas and beliefs of the so-called "third-wave feminism". The women who belong to this group are portrayed here as being violent and vindictive, blaming men for everything that goes wrong in the world and refusing to take responsibility for anything. This type of feminism, the author claims, is portrayed as the right type of feminism by society. However, those beliefs and attitude does nothing more than cause even more division between men and women and pushes modern society further away from achieving true equality.
The suffragettes
"Suffragettes" is the term given to the first feminists and who started the suffragette movement in the 19th century. The women who identified as suffragettes wanted to be granted equal rights to their men counterparts and be allowed to vote, work, and in general to be independent. Those brave women are still remembered today and seen as an example by feminists all over the world. Gay herself paints this women almost as saints, pioneers without whom the world would be extremely different today. The reason why these women are important is that they create a stark contrast between the suffragettes and the modern feminists while also transmitting the idea that feminists all over the world should strive to follow the example set by those first women who decided to take a stand and fight for themselves.
