Consider the way in which two texts seek to question and disrupt the ‘traditional certainties’ of gender.

The sixties gave birth to a new gender revolution, which especially affected the women in Britain. ‘Second Wave Feminism’ began to fight for general rights for women, as the ‘first wave’ of feminism was the fight for female suffrage. Second Wave Feminism was the further insistence that women and men are both equal and the same. The concept of ‘traditional certainties’ in relation to gender is very much a pre-1950s concept – and is much to do with gender roles and sexual norms. Throughout the 1960s (and also the 1970s) a number of laws were put in place that created a new step forward for females in Britain which included the Legislation of Abortion Act (1967), the Divorce Act (1969) and the Equal Pay act (1970). Along with the invention of the Pill, these new legal rights for women gave new freedom and equality that was never employed before; for example, women were paid on average two thirds the amount that men were paid for the same job. This new feminist agenda of societal equality began to spread through literature, art, film and television. Feminist views were now spread more widely, whether than be by subliminal means like some literature pieces, or a more profound and upfront approach: such as in the James Bond literature and film franchise which portrayed it’s heroines as powerful and independent women.

In this critical essay, I intend to evaluate the popular literature of the sixties and assess whether the sole purpose of these texts was to force the questioning and disruption of the ‘traditional certainties’ imposed in British society.
Germaine Greer is an Australian academic, journalist and author is known to be a key feminist voice in the mid-20th century. Greer’s bestselling book The Female Eunuch sparked large amounts of controversy when