Original title: De schaamte voorbij: een persoonlijke geschiedenis

Book | Netherlands

Keyword(s): autobiographies | sexuality | political movements | mother-child relationships | men | lesbianism | identity
Languages(s): Dutch
Manifest: view document: De schaamte voorbij
Copyright:

© Copyright Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Summary:
In this autobiographical novel, Anja Meulenbelt, second wave feminist, describes candidly her personal history, from her first marriage, to her relation with her son, from her political awakening(s), to her lesbian awakening. With this book, she has tried to really make the personal political, with the hope that her story can be a source of support and recognition for other women. The final page of the book describes an imaginary scene in which Anja Meulenbelt sees her introvert and insecure younger self; making the point that as long as this woman, and other women, are unhappy and uncomfortable with themselves, she can also not be truly free. While she book narrates a personal story, it also gives an inside view of feminist activism, with its struggles and schisms, in Amsterdam and beyond. The book became a bestseller and was translated to other languages.