Gender and representation in students for a democratic society.

This project is a detailed study of gender and representation in the foremost group of
the American New Left, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) The thesis charts
the progress of the organisation, from the publication of its unofficial manifesto, the
Port Huron Statement, to the group's descent into factionalism and its demise by
1970. This study is more than an organisational history, however, and reflects on
broader areas where SDS was active and where gender proved particularly salient
These include SDS's relations with black nationalism, the organisations' participation
in the movement to resist the Vietnam War draft and the group's involvement with the
counterculture. It also charts the rise of feminist thought within the New Left and
considers the emergence of women's liberation groups.
The thesis takes a gender history approach, moving away from the narrow confines of
women's history, which considers women in isolation. Thus, by focusing on social
constructions of masculinity and femininity and by considering the ways in which
men and women in this highly influential group related to each other, allocated sex
roles and used sexual symbolism, this study aims to be a more inclusive history of
SDS than has previously been written.
The thesis finds that gender relations were of great significance within SOS. The
study accepts the generally held view that the New Left marginalised women, but also
gave them opportunities to develop key skills and confidence, This ultimately resulted
in women articulating their grievances at the sexism within the Movement, which saw
the creation of women's liberation groups. However, ~his study advances the
historiography ofSDS in a number of ways. It reveals the i.npOItant effect that elitism
and intellectualism had on men and women throughout the group's existence and
finds that the impact of sexual liberation had both an emancipating and repressive
effect on gender relations. The study discusses the constructions of identities within
the organisation and pays close attention to representations of machismo and within
SDS. It looks at the violent and aggressive rhetoric at play in SDS as the decade
progressed, discusses the creation of alternative masculinities in the anti-draft
movement and considers the fashioning of macho personas and alternative approaches
to femininities in the SDS faction, Weatherman and in certain black nationalist
groups.