Marie Stopes

“When a woman marries, it is commonly the custom for her to take her husband’s name … I have taken the necessary steps to retain my own name as my legal one…and it is also the name I use in all my scientific work. It is, in short, my real name.” Marie Stopes, 1911

Stopes refused to ever wear a bra, refused to change her name when she married, advocated birth control and wrote the bestselling Married Love, a frank text, described as the world's first sex manual, that argued women had sexual needs equal to those of men.

Despite her achievements she was an unpleasant character who supported Hitler and eugenics, among other misdemeanours.

50 feminist icons