Erin Patria Margaret Pizzey CBE (/ˈpɪtsi/;[2] born 19 February 1939) is a British activist and novelist[3][4][5][6][7] known for her advocacy on behalf of both men's and women's rights and for her work against domestic violence.
[21] In 1959, Pizzey attended her first meeting at the UK's Liberation Movement (WLM) at the Chiswick house of a local organiser, Artemis[who?
Along with her friend, Alison, and other members of the Goldhawk Road Group, Pizzey found herself at odds with Artemis and Gladiator[who?
[22]: 27 Pizzey distanced herself from this clique when she witnessed what she described as "irregular and disrespectful behaviour" towards the money donated by desperate women across the UK.
[22]: 39 She confronted them over this behaviour,[22]: 45 which, according to her, included claiming that telephones were tapped, and labelling of people they did not like as MI5, police and CIA informers or agents.
[22]: 39 She also was concerned about overhearing discussion of plans to bomb the London store Biba; she reported on this to the police after warning the people involved.
Pizzey pointed out that marital violence was a great problem in Russia, and China addressed the issue by proclaiming wife-beating a crime punishable by death sentence.
She speculates that high levels of hormones and neurochemicals associated with pervasive childhood trauma led to adults who repeatedly engage in violent altercations with intimate partners despite the physical, emotional, legal and financial costs, in unwitting attempts to simulate the emotional impact of traumatic childhood experiences and manifest the learned biochemical state linked to pleasure.
The book contains numerous stories of disturbed families, alongside a discussion of the reasons why the modern state care-taking agencies are largely ineffective.
[14] She states that the turning point was the intervention of the bomb squad, who required all of her mail to be processed by them before she could receive it, as a "controversial public figure.
"[22]: 282 [36] Having moved to Santa Fe to write, Pizzey promptly became involved in running a refuge in New Mexico, as well as dealing with sexual abusers and paedophiles.
[40] In March 2007, as a guest, she attended the ceremony of opening the first Arab refuge for victims of domestic violence in Bahrain.
[3] Her two April 2013 articles pertained to two interviews she gave on the Reddit community "IAmA", in which she promoted her Facebook page, and the "AVFM Online Radio" podcast on BlogTalkRadio.
[44][45][46] Pizzey was interviewed for and appeared in the 2016 documentary film The Red Pill by Cassie Jaye about the men's rights movement.
[16] Pizzey is a patron of registered charity Compassion In Care which works to "break the chain of elderly abuse" and she wrote an introduction for the book Beyond The Facade by founder Eileen Chubb.
[47][48] In 2022, Pizzey was listed as Honorary Lifetime President Emeritus to CPU: Children Parents United Charity founded by Greg Ellis.
[citation needed] In 2009, Pizzey was successful in a libel case against Macmillan Publishers over content in the Andrew Marr book A History of Modern Britain.
[52][54] Pizzey was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to the victims of domestic abuse.