Elizabeth Wilson

Elizabeth Wilson (born 1936) is a British independent researcher and writer best known for her commentaries on feminism and popular culture. She was a professor at London Metropolitan University and the London College of Fashion and is the author of several non-fiction books and fiction books. In particular, she writes on feminist politics and policy; the history of fashionable dress and dress as cultural practice; the cultures of urban life; and high culture and popular culture, especially architecture and film. Her novels The Twilight Hour, War Damage and The Girl in Berlin are published by Serpent’s Tail. She has written for The Guardian and New Statesman and was a frequent broadcaster on BBC Radio 4. Life In her early life, Elizabeth Wilson's family was employed in modest positions running the British Empire. Elizabeth Wilson was educated at St Paul's Girls' School, London, St Anne's College, Oxford and the London School of Economics where she trained as a psychiatric social worker. She worked as a social worker for 10 years, but was eventually repelled by the conservative ethos and morality surrounding psychoanalysis. She then moved on to a career in academia. Elizabeth Wilson and her partner Angela [Weir] Mason were both active women's liberation movement figures in the UK. They were members of the Communist Party 1974-1990 and were campaigners for YBA Wife [Why Be a Wife?] - the Women's Liberation Movement Campaign for Legal and Financial Independence, Rights of Women, the National Abortion Campaign, and the women's refuge movement - Women's Aid. In 1984, Wilson became a co-parent when Angela [Weir] Mason gave birth to their daughter. Together with Angela [Weir] Mason she wrote ‘Hidden Agendas: Theory, Politics, and Experience in the Women's Movement', published in 1986. Wilson was a prominent member of the campaign group Feminists Against Censorship. Wilson wrote for 'underground' papers of the late 1960s and early 1970s, eg., Frendz, Come Together and Red Rag. She was a founder member of the editorial group of Feminist Review 1979–1985 and a member of the editorial board of the New Left Review 1990–1992. From 1987 to 2001 Elizabeth taught cultural studies at the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University). From 1990–1993 she was a member of the Executive Committee of Liberty (the National Council for Civil Liberties). Later in life, Elizabeth joined the Green Party.