Kathie Sarachild

Abstract

A founding member of New York Radical Women, Kathie Sarachild (born Amatniek, she changed her name to honor her mother) later formed another important “small group, “the Radical Feminists. She was the principal exponent of consciousness-raising as an organizing technique. This guide to organizing a local group was widely circulated in 1968–69 and appeared in the extremely influential anthology Sisterhood is Powerful in 1970. It outlines the stages a group of women might go through over several months, from individual self-exploration to shared conclusions leading to a theoretical analysis of women’s oppression. Although many women simply started groups after hearing about them or reading this outline, each consciousness-raising group was encouraged to spawn others.