Women Return to the Pentagon
Name/Title
Women Return to the PentagonEntry/Object ID
2024.12.102Description
This poster advertises the second protest of Women's Pentagon Action, which was held on November 15-16, 1981 at the Pentagon military complex in Washington, D.C. The photo by Dorothy Marder (1926-2007) shows women planting tombstones from the first protest in November 1980, in which 2000 women participated.Artwork Details
Medium
PaperSubject Place
City
Washington, DCContext
The Women’s Pentagon Action (WPA) was an east coast organization founded in the late 1970s by radical feminists who connected the issues of feminism with a gendered analysis of ecology, peace, and militarism. When the U.S. government announced plans to deploy a new generation of nuclear missiles in western Europe capable of reaching Soviet soil within minutes, nuclear war seemed imminent. In response to this escalation in U.S. nuclear policy, feminists organized two protests (in November of 1980 and November 1981), during which hundreds of women surrounded the Pentagon military complex (in Washington, D.C.), attempting to close or disrupt “business as usual.” The members and supporters of the WPA came from women’s liberation groups, were radical feminists, lesbian feminists, peace activists, and ecofeminists.Category
Poster