Book Review/Heather Seggel

Unplug the Jukebox

“O ther Girls Like Me” (Bedazzled Ink Publishing) is a memoir that blends a story of coming to political consciousness with a coming out story, and engages the complications of both with exceptional fairness. Stephanie Davies grew up in an English village that sounds like the stuff of fairy tales, but an American military base just 15 miles away had everyone on alert, and many actively protesting the Cruise missiles they were aiming at Russia. Davies was already politically aware, thanks largely to her left-leaning schoolmaster father, but even her mother supported the “Greenham women,” who lived in tents on land adjoining the base as part of a sustained protest. That support quickly turned to dismay when Davies elected to live among them, rather than become a lawyer who worked for their defense, as they’d hoped. It’s a joy to read, though one with plenty of heartbreak along the way.

Prior to her joining the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, many of the stories from Davies’ childhood revolve around her relationship with her father. A back injury kept him in pain, depressed, and over-medicated, but she still loved and idolized him, constantly hoping for approval that was rare in coming. His love of social justice failed to account for gender disparities, and he was often baffled at his daughter’s insistence on equality, shutting down her attempts to join a football team and withdrawing as she evolved into a punk and then a lesbian. Davies writes with brutal frankness about the pain of her family’s rejection, but also stays attuned to the moments of grace that sneak through and allow them to reconnect.

When she moved to Greenham, the sense of community, joy, and connection were almost overwhelming. They read like a jolt of adrenaline and would border on self-caricature were the women themselves not so earnest. There’s an abundance of sisterhood, muddy tents, singalongs, and a lot of lentil stew. At the time, Davies was in a relationship with a man that had started out well, but devolved into a pattern of him being over-critical and controlling, while she began finding some of her new female friends attractive. The relationship ended, but her adventures with women were at times just as complex and unsatisfying. Her struggle to navigate the hypocrisy of her parents ends up being mirrored in this feminist paradise when some of the women dismiss her father’s grave illness solely because of his gender. The struggle throughout, to find middle ground in extreme times and circumstances, feels pointedly relevant today.

“Other Girls Like Me” is energizing to read. It was shortlisted for a People’s Book Prize and one of Lambda Literary’s Most Anticipated books prior to its release. And while young women with activist leanings will take enormous solace from this account of steadfast commitment to do right, there is so much here that everyone should read. Davies has an unflinching sense of justice, but she’s equally committed to a fairness that does not see anyone as entirely good or bad. The women of the camps had some frightening experiences with police, but at a later event where a group broke into Stonehenge for a ceremony with “American witch” and author Starhawk, police allowed them to spend the night and very politely asked them to leave upon waking. The contrast is striking, and jokingly attributed to their guest bewitching the cops, but it speaks to Davies willingness to look for humanity in every human she encounters.

The heart of the book is the 18 months Davies spent in the camp, a stretch that included being exposed to radiation, arrested for trespassing onto the base, and a court case that grew impressively rowdy. Each chapter is named for a song, which helps establish the chronology and comments with a light touch on her circumstances at the time. (The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” helms a chapter about tension in her relationship with a man; it’s followed by Joan Armatrading’s “Me, Myself, I” as she decides to break up with him and move to Greenham full time.)

The book ends with the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and finds Davies living in America, married to a woman, and feeling cynical about the women’s marches taking place around the world. She briefly summarizes her life in the intervening years, and it’s an eye-popping list of achievements that raise numerous questions and, in me at least, a genuine desire for more detail. There’s good news on that front—a sequel is in the works. But do start here. This is a thrilling account of the work of activism in tandem with a tale of personal growth and self-acceptance.

Heather Seggel is a writer living in Northern California. Email heatherlseggel@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, January 1-15, 2021

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