An investigation of the direction of feminism resulting from the controversy surrounding Helen Garner's book, 'The First Stone'. The author argues that it is inaccurate to suggest that overbearing laws and priggish feminism have hidebound relations between men and women. She also claims that young women feminists in this country offer a feminism that has a humane and flexible political ethos, while maintaining that feminism is an issue of human rights. The author is a Walkley Award-winning journalist.