In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some feminist women who sought freedom from patriarchal oppression in the United States fled to Paris's Left Bank to live and love as they pleased. They made their own rules. They wrote what they wanted to write. They discussed what they wanted to discuss. They were autonomous, bold, and empowered: they were "male." Taking on many of the attributes of men, they were able to enjoy a level of freedom--in life, in love, and in literature--that they could not so easily obtain in the states. They helped pave the way for other independent women who followed . . .
