Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, Rubyfruit Jungle.

Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of lesbians within feminist groups.

[4] In the spring of 1964, the administrators of the racially segregated university expelled her for participating in the civil rights movement.

[4] She subsequently enrolled at Broward Community College[5] with the hope of transferring eventually to a more tolerant four-year institution.

[9] Brown received a Ph.D. in literature from Union Institute & University in 1976 and holds a doctorate in political science.

[10] Brown wrote for Rat, an alternative bi-weekly that eventually became New York City's first women's liberation newspaper.

[12] In 1982, Brown wrote a screenplay parodying the slasher genre titled Sleepless Nights; retitled The Slumber Party Massacre, the producers decided to play it seriously, and it was given a limited release theatrically.

[14][15] In the spring of 1964, during her study at the University of Florida in Gainesville, she became active in the American Civil Rights Movement.

[20][21] Brown and other lesbians from the Gay Liberation Front created The Woman-Identified Woman, which was distributed at the zap.

The group purchased two houses, where they lived together and used consciousness raising techniques to talk about things like homophobia, feminism, and child rearing.

[25] In 1982, Brown was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for I Love Liberty,[26] and again for the ABC mini-series The Long Hot Summer in 1985.

[31] In 1978, she moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she lived briefly with American actress, author, and screenwriter Fannie Flagg, whom she had met at a Los Angeles party hosted by Marlo Thomas.

[32] In 1980, they bought a horse farm in Charlottesville where they lived together until their breakup, over Navratilova's then concern that coming out would hurt her application for U.S.