Liberation by Bess Wohl focuses on a woman, Lizzie, trying to piece together her mother’s experience in a consciousness raising group 50 years ago. Consciousness raising (CR) groups are groups of people with a shared identity, who work towards identifying and discussing root causes of oppression. They became popular in the 1970s as an essential part of the women’s liberation movement. In these groups, women would talk to each other about their lived experiences which led to discoveries of shared struggles or different challenges they hadn’t considered. Consciousness raising groups were widespread throughout the United States, but they fizzled out by the 1980s. Although they’re not nearly as commonplace today, CR groups can still occasionally be found along with traces of their legacy in affinity groups and even online movements.
What Were CR Groups?
According to the National Women’s Liberation Group, CR stems from a similar tool called “telling it like it is,” which was prominent during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The exact start of CR as a part of the Women’s Movement has been debated, but it appears that the formal introduction of it was on Thanksgiving Day in 1968, at the first national women’s liberation conference. By the early 1970s, women were able to find and join CR groups easily, and published guides on how to run the groups were available. In Women Together, Women Alone: The legacy of the consciousness-raising movement, author Anita Shreve explores what these groups were like, how they functioned, and their impact by speaking with women who were participants. She states that CR groups were small, loosely structured, and didn’t have one specific leader. Generally, a question or topic of discussion would be introduced at each meeting. Some examples given in Liberation are, “Do you feel like an adult?” and “Do you feel safe in the place where you live?” Sources for these questions varied. Groups like The New York Radical Feminists published handouts with suggested questions, but as we see in Liberation – popular media like Ms. Magazine could also be a source of inspiration. Dora challenges the group to hold one of their meetings completely in the nude and to use the moment to discuss body image. While it might sound far-fetched, radical exercises like these did in fact happen and the actors in Liberation are replicating the lived experience of feminist predecessors.
How Did They Function?
In response to the prompts, every woman had the opportunity to “testify,” and no one was allowed to interrupt them or insert their opinions about it afterwards. CR groups had women share their personal experiences to “enhance consciousness about the components of feminine identity,” as nurses Bonnie Moore Randolph and Clydene Ross-Valliere said in the 1979 article "Consciousness Raising Groups” in the American Journal of Nursing. As women listened to each other's testimonies and recognized similarities to their own, they broke down the stories, discussed their reactions, and identified common threads. This identification became instrumental during the women’s movement, and a key reason for why many women wanted to join a CR group. Women who were politically minded felt dismissed and unseen by other leftist political groups that they had previously been a part of, especially in college. CR groups gave them an opportunity to focus on and address women’s issues. However, although CR and the women’s movement went hand in hand, they weren’t mutually exclusive. Rather than being an actual political movement, CR was a process. While many participants of CR groups also identified themselves as a part of the women’s movement, others viewed their CR group independently from politics. They were simply meetings that they had with like-minded women. It was, “a very ‘in’ hip thing to do.” says Darcy C., a former CR member, in Shreve’s book.
Who Attended CR Groups?
According to Shreve, by 1973, approximately 100,000 women were in CR groups across the United States. This made it, “one of the largest ever educational and support movements of its kind for women in the history of this country.” Women were also sometimes able to find groups that they could already identify with on another level. For example, some women found their CR groups through their church or synagogue. Others could find groups of women within the same workforce, like nursing. The meetings were mostly attended by middle class white women because this demographic was able to make the time for and attend meetings. Working women, women of color, mothers, and women from a lower socioeconomic status faced a variety of barriers – like childcare – to participation. By the mid-1970s, CR groups were becoming far less common, and many had disbanded. This is largely due to the fact that the CR groups worked. Women gained more independence and took more control of their lives, but this also meant that they took on more responsibilities and got busier. It’s harder to find time to go to weekly meetings when you’re pursuing a career or trying to balance having a career and a family.
The Legacy of CR Groups
Although there are far fewer CR groups today, other groups have formed that have some similar goals. Affinity groups have started to pop up more in workplace settings and schools in recent years. According to Merriam-Webster, an affinity group, “is a group of people having a common interest or goal, acting together for a specific purpose.” They provide a safe space where staff members and/or students of shared identities or experiences can connect and support each other. The core values and goals of creating a space where people of shared identities can connect is something that CR groups and affinity groups share; however, they do have some differences. CR groups have guidelines and a more specific process to go through during meetings, whereas affinity groups do not. CR groups were also mainly focused on women’s issues, but there are affinity groups for folks of all identities. Both CR and affinity groups can be found in places of higher education, but affinity groups are also very popular in workplace settings today, whereas CR groups were more community-based. There are also more non-formal ways people are sharing their testimonies now. The internet and social media have made it much easier for people to share their stories and relate to others. For example, in 2017 the #MeToo hashtag went viral. Survivors of sexual assault and harassment shared their stories on social media from all over the world. This movement built a global community and raise awareness (or, consciousness) of a pernicious but under-discussed issue. Women were once again sharing and finding validation in each other’s stories.
CR groups may have waned, but the impact they had on women as lasted. Some are even still held today. The National Women’s Liberation group has a toolkit available if you’re interested in forming one! Although CR groups are no longer popular, the idea of meeting with other people with shared experiences has persisted. New groups continue to form, though they may have different names, and some may only exist virtually. Regardless of how or where one of these communities is formed, establishing a connection with people with shared identities and experiences can be eye-opening and influential for many. Whether it be a CR group, affinity group, or a few people deciding to regularly meet with each other, these communities will continue to form and continue to impact the lives of those involved.
REFERENCES
Blakemore, E. "Consciousness-raising groups and the women’s movement" JSTOR DAILY. 11 Mar 2021.
“Me Too.” Global Fund for Women.
Murray, R. "What is an affinity group and why are they essential to a healthy workplace?" Inclusion Geeks. 15 Oct. 2024.
Randolph, B. M., & Ross-Valliere, C. "Consciousness raising groups." The American Journal of Nursing. 79(5), 922-924. May 1979.
Shreve, A. Women together, women alone: The legacy of the consciousness-raising movement. 1989.