Lindsay Perrillo

Abstract:

In my radio show project I will be exploring beat poet Diane di Prima’s work and how it reflects Second Wave Feminism’s fight for abortion rights and women’s bodily autonomy. I will also discuss how di Prima’s work reflects the reality and circumstances a woman would be in that makes abortion a consideration. I want to bring attention not only to the history of reproductive rights, which continues to be a relevant issue today, as well as bring attention to di Prima as a woman in a heavily male dominated movement. I will incorporate authors reading their poems, when I can find them, audio of speeches from relevant second wave feminists and their protests, as well as jazz music that matches the mood. I will turn to sources that catalog the history of reproductive rights and the progress made surrounding it, second wave feminism’s other main goals/guiding principles, and works that give a bit of a biography of di Prima and other female beat poets.