The schism in WITCH stemmed from disagreement with two policies: castration and anti-sexuality. The dissidents claimed that while the organization talked about castration as a weapon in the struggle against male oppressors, they were doing nothing concrete to effectuate it. And they took issue with abstention as a means of fighting sexual exploitation, pointing out that Lysistrata had been written by a man who naturally took the view that sex was more important to men than to women and that women who frustrated men sexually would not be suffering as much frustration themselves. The dissidents added that WITCH was missing the point that if sex could be a weapon for exploitation in the hands of men, it could be just as effective a weapon for liberation in the hands of women. Indeed, it could be more potent since women were the superior sex. And so the dissidents left WITCH and formed the Castrators’ Defense League.
The League actively promoted two programs. It sought out cases of extreme abuse of women by men-rapes, seduction, desertions, the more outrageous acts of employment discrimination, anti-abortion actions by male legislators, etc.—tried the male perpetrators in absentia, and if they were convicted condemned them to punishment by actual physical castration. None of the punishments had yet been carried out. The League was still in the stage of training an elite group of female members to administer the punishment when the time was ripe—such time being when female America arose en masse to storm the Bastille of male domination. Meanwhile, careful dossiers were being compiled and lists kept to determine the priority on the chopping block of the gonad guillotine. (It’s interesting to note that based on Olivia's testimony, her husband Mortimer was quite high on the list—not as high, of course, as Hugh Heffner, but still rated between a surgeon famed for performing hysterectomies and a girdle manufacturer.)
The other program promulgated by the League was a training program aimed at developing a group of female commandos schooled in the use of sex as a weapon against men. (Some of the Castrators saw this as only another part of the over-all de-balling program; the psychological phase complementing the actual act of castration which would one day soon occur.) The program encouraged members to have relations with men and included such courses as “How to Subvert the Male Orgasm,” “The Queen Bee and the Drone” — a seminar on how to entice males into sexual over-exertion leading to debilitation and death-—“How to Make Oedipus Wrecks”-- a course for mothers of sons which many in the League thought superfluous—“Female Cooperation in Pitting Man Against Man”-- a study of techniques by which women cooperate in their husbands’ adulteries for the express purpose of convincing husbands and lovers that they are sexually inferior to one another—and many others similarly aimed at downgrading the male’s superior role in sex.
Once a month the Castrators’ Defense League held a general membership meeting. The purpose of the meeting was twofold: it was an opportunity for the girls to rap with one another and reinforce their anti-male attitudes and plans for revenge; and it usually featured an outside speaker who presented new tactics in the struggle for the consideration of the ladies. The speaker, that night when Olivia was still wondering how she could help Llona revenge herself against Archer, was Señorita Marguerita Penibita.
Marguerita—-she didn’t stand on formality, she told the group, and so that’s what they called her--was a most imposing figure; as a symbol of femaleness, of the superior Amazon if you will, it would have been hard to find a better one. She was a tall girl, a fraction of an inch short of six feet, with a sturdy figure that was both generous and extremely well proportioned. Her hair was very black and very long, worn in the loose-flowing style of a Spanish gypsy—-which in one sense she was. Her skin was startlingly white with a translucent quality, the whiteness relieved only by the color of her lips——an almost purple-red, as if stained by wine-grapes—and two natural spots of color on her cheekbones like a patina of maraschino cherry juice blending over vanilla ice cream. Her eyes were the stereotyped eyes of the Spanish dancer--which she was—-jet-black, flashing, flirty, and deadly at the same time.
She wore the low-cut, loose-fitting white blouse which is the uniform of Spanish peasant women. It was obvious-—and in keeping with the League’s anti-bra policies — that she wasn’t wearing a brassiere. It was also obvious that her breasts were very large, carried unusually high, and tipped with combination roseate nipples that were arrogant m their circumference and pointiness. Her long legs were the strong limbs of a dancer--lightly muscled, but slender and shapely. Her multi-colored skirt fell to the knee, but when she moved it billowed out to reveal strong thighs and a high, compact derriere. Its flare seemed to start with the flare of her sensual hips from her small waist.
Marguerita started out by telling her audience some basic facts about herself. She was twenty-four years old and had been born in Andalusia in southern Spain. Her family might loosely be termed Gypsies, but they were Gypsies of a very special kind, quite distinct from the run-of-the-mill Gypsies who for centuries have wandered over Spain and Portugal.
For one thing, the group to which Marguerita’s family belonged was nomad in only a limited sense. For centuries they had maintained a home base in the hills of Andalusia--unlike most Gypsy tribes, which are constantly on the move. They lived in the caves there, and Marguerita’s formative years were spent in a cave dwelling which was as much home to her as a split-level is to any American suburban child.
For another thing, the particular Gypsy tribe to which her family gave allegiance was composed of the keepers of an art form which tradition had made their exclusive possession. The art form was flamenco dancing. For centuries--nobody knows how many—-it had been passed down by the tribal families of the Andalusian caves from one generation to the next.
In the 1850s the art form was “discovered” by tourists in Spain. But the Andalusian cave dwellers refused to teach the dance to outsiders. Nor, with the passage of time, has this attitude changed. These Gypsies may, from time to time, wander far from their borders, over the face of Europe, as far as the United States, performing the flamenco for varied audiences of many nations, but the intrinsic secret of the dance has never been betrayed to an outsider. The most an Andalusian Gypsy will tell anyone not a member of the tribe is that the flamenco is unteachable because it depends on spontaneity for its uniqueness. Yet children of the tribe who are only five to six years of age seem already to have mastered many of the intricacies of the dance.
However, the claim to spontaneity being the secret of flamenco dancing is a legitimate one. The dancer — either a man or a woman—improvises the steps according to his or her mood. The improvisations take place within a framework which is incomprehensible to the outsider, but which is really a series of variations on a theme the Andalusians understand perfectly. These variations are cause for admiration, or laughter, or even tears among the Gypsies watching—reactions which themselves are beyond the understanding of the non-Andalusian onlooker.
The performers usually start out singly, although others may join in the dance as the fancy strikes them. Still, the major part of the dance is performed by one or two people. The dancers wear brilliantly colored, fanciful costumes and are accompanied by a guitarist. (The playing of flamenco guitar is an art form in itself.) The other Gypsies form a circle and clap their hands, sing, and shout in rhythm. The flamenco dance is always amorous, erotic, and highlighted by openly sexual movements and gestures. (This is in contrast to classical Spanish dancing which expresses lust and passion only by the most oblique and delicate means.)