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There’s a disturbing trend in fourth wave feminism where online representation has surpassed IRL action. Doing the “work” of feminism amounts to a spiritually empty symbol, leveraged for social capital by She-EO’s to sell their snake-oil skincare regimes. This is probably why the reprint of The New Woman’s Survival Catalog resonates so deeply. 

A sweeping grassroots guide to second-wave feminism, TNWSC was compiled by Kirsten Grimstad and Susan Rennie on a two month road-trip across the States in 1973. Inspired by the seminal Whole Earth Catalogue, TNWSC is a network of activist organisations, informational pamphlets and interesting tid-bits. Like an impressionistic painting, the catalogue requires the sum of all its parts and when read from cover to cover it paints a compelling picture of the movement’s on-ground action. 

The book’s beauty lies in its scope. It truly covers every aspect of feminism from sexual health, to unionising, to fixing your own bike, to self-defence and female-centric films. The NWSC is a call to arms for returning feminism to tangible and localised solutions. Unfortunately if there’s one thing that The New Woman's Survival Catalog cannot help us to survive, it’s these Byron Bay Soy-boys who probably think that cunnilingus is a new variety of gluten-free pasta.

Words by: Kasumi Borczyk
Image by: Layla Cluer