Judith Brett – Fearless Beatrice Faust
Sex, Feminism and Body Politics
In conversation with Annabel Crabb
Wednesday 28th May starting 6:00 pm for 6:30 pm
‘Beatrice Faust’, said Helen Garner, ‘is not scared of anybody.’
Faust was the transformative feminist activist, writer and intellectual who founded the Women’s Electoral Lobby in Melbourne in 1972. She campaigned for abortion law reform, and thought, talked and wrote about sex and feminism, from the sexual revolution of the 1960s through to the neoliberal 1990s, always with her own demanding body as her guide. She was a force to be reckoned with.
She also endured a miserable childhood, and suffered chronic ill health as well as a later-life addiction to prescription drugs. Her letters reveal a complex, troubled inner life that belied the confident charisma of her public persona.
Fearless Beatrice Faust celebrates, explains and questions her struggle to change both herself and her world. Drawing on public records and private writings, award-winning biographer Judith Brett creates a compelling and psychologically nuanced portrait of a gifted, argumentative woman who refused to be a victim.
BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL
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Judith Brett – 6pm for 6.30pm Wednesday 28th May$0.00 – $15.00
Judith Brett is a political historian and biographer and emeritus professor of politics at La Trobe University. Among her books are Robert Menzies’ Forgotten People: Australian Liberals and the Moral Middle Class, The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, which won the 2018 National Biography Award, and From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
Annabel Crabb is a Logie nominated and Walkley Award-winning writer and presenter who has covered Australian politics for nearly 25 years, where she’s a regular commentator on ABC Radio, ABC TV’s Insiders and on election night and budget broadcasts.
She’s the creator and presenter of a number of shows, including Ms Represented, podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 with Leigh Sales, The House, Kitchen Cabinet and more. She won a Walkley for feature writing, for her Quarterly Essay Stop At Nothing: The Life And Adventures of Malcolm Turnbull.