The feminist activities of the time comprise a wide range of publications and demonstrations, public gatherings, exhibitions, debates, meetings to coordinate feminist action, film sessions, music events, excursions. Through these activities, the feminists are attempting -and will manage- to acquire a distinct political presence.
By publishing theoretical texts or manifestos on feminist politics, the women’s movements express their desire to establish themselves as collectives, to disseminate their concerns and to contribute to the creation of a public space for the exchange of views and ideas. At the same time, these publications attempt to link the women’s movement with theoretical discourses, to become familiar with international trends and to present the movement’s history. These subjects are reflected in the contents of Skoupa [Broom] (1979-1981), which is probably the most important feminist journal of the first feminist period. Its articles informed readers on the history of women’s demands in Greece, the processes taking place within the feminist movement and the relevant concerns voiced by women in other countries.
The Editorial Team of Women [Ekdotiki Omada Ginekon] was also founded in 1979, in the same year as Skoupa. In the brochure announcing its creation, the editorial team proposed a pioneering approach to the feminist movement highlighting its importance and analysing its national particularities. The editorial team published five books which, along with the books translated and published during the same period by other Greek publishing houses, form a relatively rich corpus of theoretical and political feminist texts. Its pages reflect the feminist movements of the time: socialist feminism, radical feminism, equality and difference feminism.
Books and brochures are usually short-lived and are used to shape and propagate the ideas of feminism of the period of transition to democracy [Metapolitefsi], denouncing sexism and male dominance, the misogyny of the media, the importance of the struggle to change the female consciousness, the independence of women’s movement and the fact that the movement encompasses all social classes.
Ideas are also cultivated and disseminated in spaces created by women in order to meet, discuss and have fun. Women's houses, bookstores, cafes and hangouts host feminist activities and become reference points for post-transition feminism.
But women also propagate their ideas on the streets. They use posters, pamphlets or the collection of signatures. The feminists hold demonstrations to struggle against all issues in their agenda: beauty pageants, family law, abortion, violence and rape, the right of women to circulate freely etc. These demonstrations will go down in history for their colourfulness, their fanciful slogans and their dynamic nature.
Towards the end of this period, feminists are clearly focused on feminist studies. The focus on women’s or feminist studies -regardless of their name- demonstrates the tendency of the feminism of the Metapolitefsi -and second-wave feminism in general- to turn to science in order to identify and denounce its profoundly gendered character and its role in perpetuating power relationships between genders.
