Elizabeth Fisher (1924 – 1 January 1982, Sag Harbor, New York) was a US author and editor of the feminist

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

''Aphra''. Fisher's best-known work is ''Women's Creation: Sexual Evolution and the Shaping of Society'', in which she tells the story of human evolution from a feminist point of view

Life

Fisher attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

in Northampton, Massachusetts and worked as a cultural columnist for ''The Rome American'' in Rome in the 1950s. She was also one of the founders of the literary magazine ''Aphra'' in 1969. Her articles have appeared in '' New York Times'', in '' The Nation'' and in the '' New York Post''. She taught at the Women's Writer's Centre at Cazenovia College as a visiting professor and taught Women's Studies at New York University. She was also a translator of novels and dramas. Fisher was married and had one child. She committed suicide in her Sag Harbor studio on New Year's Day 1982.

Work

Fisher's best-known work is ''Women's Creation: Sexual Evolution and the Shaping of Society,'' in which she tells the story of human evolution from a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

point of view. She begins with the question of why women are considered property that can be exchanged or sold. Men, as a clear contrast, first defined themselves through this possession. The ( natural) sciences have not been spared these social attributions either. Nature was often defined as something to be conquered, possessed or mastered. Male

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

was characterised not only as aggressive, but also as desirable. The woman was seen as "the first conquered territory", which was peacefully minded. Fisher criticises these naturalising attributions of the man as an aggressive conqueror, who had a naturally higher strength than the peaceful woman. It shows that there are other stories of the origins of humanity that were organised as matriarchy or egalitarianism. Drawing on sociology, ethnology and anthropology, Fisher argues that women were the first inventors in the

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

phase. Thus, the development of agriculture and

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

is said to be due to female innovation. The seventh chapter of the book ''The Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution'' inspired the science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin to write her essay ''The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction'', in which she conceptualises narration as a "carrier bag" in which various things and stories are gathered together. The publication was nominated for the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

in 1979.

References

External links

Article by Elizabeth Fisher in The New York Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Elizabeth 1924 births 1982 deaths American feminists 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers Suicides in New York (state)