There is no doubt that I am a gender studies geek. I live and breath it like several of my Feministing co-editors. So here you go, my ten favorite feminist books.
2. Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics by bell hooks
3. to be real edited by Rebecca Walker
4. Palestinian Women of Gaza and the West Bank edited by Suha Sabbagh
5. Making Face, Making Soul edited by Gloria Anzaldua
6. The Decolonial Imaginary by Emma Perez
7. Dangerous Liasons edited by Anne McClintock, Aamir Mufti and Ella Shohat
8. The Eloquence of Silence by Marnia Lazreg
9. Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
10. Between Woman and Nation edited by Caren Kaplan, Norma Alarcon and Minoo Moallem
These are books I go back to over and over. They have had tremendous impact on what I write, how I write and who I am writing for. And I can't claim these books without also giving thanks to the amazing professors I have had at San Francisco State and SUNY Albany that helped me understand what was captured by each of these authors.
What are your favorite feminist books?
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Tuesday Ten: Favorite Feminist books.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/9725
I love Octavia Butler. Read Kindred if you haven't already. It's wonderful feminist sci fi.
Homophobia as a Weapon of Sexism by Suzanne Pharr
Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
Gendered Voices (anthology) - I can't find the editor for this one right now, but it's well-worn on my shelf at home. It has a lot of intro-level essays, but I think it's really great for introducing people to feminism.
Feminism & Philosophy edited by Nancy Tuana and Rosemarie Tong
I'm in a graduate history program, so my favorite women's studies books are more historical in nature. I created an annotated bibliography last quarter that lists a lot of women's studies and history books, journals and online resources. I was on a time crunch, so it's not as robust as I would like, but you can check it out here.
Probably one of my favorite and oft-quoted feminist books of all times remains "The Beauty Myth" by Naomi Wolf. My research is similar in nature to hers, so I find myself going back to it time and again.
The Well of Loneliness by Radcliffe Hall
Lessons from the Intersexed by Suzanne Kessler
Okay, shit, I haven't read any of these books. Haven't even heard of most of them.
Favorite feminist books? Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale", and Sarah Hall's "The Carhullan Army" (different title in the US, I can't remember what) Pretty much anything and everything by Ursula LeGuin, but in particular "Dancing at the Edge of the World." "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. "Women's Ways of Knowing" by Belenky, et al, is still surprisingly relevant, if a bit dated.
And I like my magazines -- bitch, hip mama, and Brain, Child.
I love "Gate to Women's Country" by Sheri S. Tepper. I feel bad that I haven't read/don't know about any of those books.
I'm starting a reading list.
I'm guilty of reading more fiction than I should, but Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins was how I learned about the ancient role feminine energy and early goddess worship.
I loved "fear of flying," is that cliche?
I also think Carson McCullers is great, if not explicitly feminist, especially if you're Southern, look her up. I spent half a school year writing about her, and I'm still obsessed. She wrote very subtly about gender and sexuality, but she didn't write 'issue' books, they're very humane.
Oh! And I just finished Black, White, and Jewish by Rebecca Walker (Excuse me for being late on the knowledge of that book, I'm only 21.)
Yay,... I have some too:
"Women's rights movement in Iran : mutiny, appeasement, and repression" (by Prof. Eliz Sanasarian)
"I thought it was just me" (by Prof. Brene Brown)
On another note: It seems like there is no shortage of feminist writers,... There is a shortage of readers that we need to work on.
"Backlash" and "Stiffed" by Susan Faludi.
I'm so happy you did this, I'm always expanding my reading list...
I've only just started reading feminist books, so far I've really enjoyed Manifesta, Backlash, and I'm in the middle of Terror Dream right now. Can't wait to read some of the other books listed. I remember picking up The Beauty Myth while in undergrad and not really grasping all of it, perhaps because I wasn't as well experienced about some things back then, so I'm looking forward to reading it again.
:)
Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins. Really any thing she writes is amazing, she is so intelligent it's incredible.
Also, Beyond Choice by Alexander Sanger is a really great look at the 21st century's reproductive freedom movement. I'm definitely starting a reading list, though. Thanks for this post!
Oh, and "Dude, You're A Fag" looks at the constructs of heteronormativity and hypermasculinity is highschool. It's a good read.
Whores and other Feminists -- ed. by Jill Nagle
Live Sex Acts -- by Wendy Chapkis
Feminism is for Everybody -- bell hooks
Ursula LeGuin's best feminist work, I think, is actually The Left Hand of Darkness. Why? It gets into issues of gender identification and trans issues in a really cool way.
A lot of the stuff she wrote very late in the game, I am sorry to say, I felt was skating the line towards the didactic, and that isn't something I say lightly about her. She remains a favorite writer. Of course, I say this and it's a bit like saying a favorite baseball player hit .330 instead of .350.
I read Octavia Butler -- Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago -- and have to put her up among some of the best feminist science fiction. Handmaid's Tale is another.
For science fiction buffs, I might ask that you also include Alice Sheldon (aka James Tiptree Jr.) And even Kim Stanley Robinson, as his work focuses more on ways to reorganize politically. And of course, Joanna Russ' The Female Man is a classic, but her other books are well worth the time as well.
And as a science fiction fan myself, I will say that it's the only genre I know where you can get really crazy (in a good way) with asking questions -- and answering them -- about gender relations and exploring all kinds of 'what ifs'. Unfortunately it isn't realized all the time, but no genre -- heck, no aspect of life -- is immune to that.
Book that changed my life and really woke me up to standing up and saying "Hey, I'm A Feminist" was CUNT by INGA MUSCIO.
Can't wait to read the rest of these!
Oh, I love this thread! Because I am a nerd. And I've gone through here reading everyone's favorites and looking up the ones that pique my interest on my town's library network. :- )
As for my favorites:
-Woman by Natalie Angier
-The Price of Motherhood by Ann Crittenden
-The Mommy Myth by Susan J. Douglas and Meredith M. Michael's
-The Girls Who Went Away y Ann Fessler
-Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks
-bitchfest edited by Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler
-Cunt by Inga Muscio
-Slut! by Leora Tanenbaum
-A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Just read "These Is My Words" by Nancy Turner. Wonderful story about a strong, strong woman who starts her own business, raises a family, and kills rapists in 1800s Arizona.
"Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice," by Jack Holland.
I had so many revelations during this work. From the back cover: "Jack Holland sets out to answer a daunting question: how do you explain the oppresssion and brutalization of half of the world's population?"
He touches on everything from the Church, with-hunts, Nazism, and classifies the global abuse of women as "abuse of human rights on an unthinkable scale."
The best part? This is a highly "readable" book and the author's story is touching. A beloved father and husband, he died while creating this book which is described as his "passion."
From Ms. Magazine:
"In May 2004, not long before his newest book was to be published by Viking Penguin, acclaimed Irish writer Jack Holland died of cancer. He had considered his controversial tome, Misogyny -- a deceptively short but expansive history of "the world's oldest prejudice" -- his greatest accomplishment to date, and had received a $100,000 advance for the project. So it shocked Holland's grief-addled family when, after declaring the manuscript unpublishable, Viking canceled Holland's contract and demanded back half of the advance.
Luckily for feminists everywhere, Holland's daughter, Jenny, and wife, Mary Hudson, refused to take "no" for an answer. They were adamant that Misogyny - which Jack wrote to trace the roots of a world that "devalued, denigrated and despised" women - make it to the masses. Finally, it has: in August 2006, Misogyny was released by Carroll and Graf. Ms. spoke with Holland and Hudson about why a male author chose to tackle women-hating - and why most publishers wouldn't touch it."
Great stuff.
(And I promise I'm not a marketer---ha ha. It just really answered a lot of my questions about the inception and evolution of female hate.)
Hope all are well!
I read Between Woman and Nation for a class and it was pretty great. In that same class we also read This Bridge Called My Back, which is always thought-provoking, and Chandra Mohanty's Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, which was probably my favorite.
I'm also a big fan of writers who connect feminism to environmental issues and the methods in which we know about our environment. So works like Vandana Shiva's Monocultures of the Mind, or Mary Midgley's Beast and Man or Animals and Why They Matter.
I just wanted to thank you, Samhita, for listing Suha Sabbagh's book. Too often Palestinian (and Arab and Muslim women in general) women are overlooked or even deliberately left unengaged for a variety of reasons by American feminist activists, writers and thinkers.
A recent favorite is Whipping Girl by Julia Serano
Gloria Anzualda, Audre Lorde, and Bell Hooks are my heros! I'm super glad to see them mentioned here, and equally glad to have some new material to check out. Merci!
Reading 'Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media' by Susan Douglas in high school really put me on the path to gender studies/media studies in college.
A favorite fiction from back then? 'The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle' by Avi. Feminism and anti-racism and class issues wrapped up in a high seas adventure! Give a copy to a girl you know.
The Female Eunich by Germaine Greer.
It was my first intro into classic feminist writings. I read it when I was 19 and it provided a real click moment.
I'm with Cate, Susan Douglas' books are great. I'm not so much into her work at In These Times, but both The Mommy Myth and Where the Girls Are are accessible, wonderfully-researched, informative reads.
Also gotta add:
Bananas, Beaches and Bases by Cynthia Enloe - again, another tremendously accessible, beautifully-researched book on the international politics of gender.
Men, Women and Chainsaws by Carol Clover - yay feminist horror-film theory!
States and Women's Rights by Mounira Charrad - a fascinating historical investigation of the role of kinship networks in shaping government policies towards women's rights in postcolonial Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Grassroots and Manifesta by Baumgardner and Richards. I can't wait to read Abortion & Life.
I've been meaning to read several of the books in your list, Samhita, and now I'll be adding the others to my list as well (okay, really I'll be bookmarking this post). I don't ordinarily read nonfiction books but am reading more lately.
I just bought a copy of Alix Kates Shulman's Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen when she read an essay of hers at a signing of new anthology About Face at Bluestockings, where I volunteer. I'm looking forward to it, and to many more recommendations from other community members here.
When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone.
Wifey by Judy Blume :)
I'm so thrilled to see Octavia Butler at the top of your list! I have yet to read any of her work that I don't like. To the feminist science fiction list, in addition to some of the books already mentioned, I'd add Joan Slonczewski's A Door Into Ocean, a mid-1980s novel that not only deals with issues of gender/sexuality/feminism, but also deals with nonviolent resistance in a fairly thorough way.
On the theory front, I consistently return to Donna Haraway's "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" for inspiration and have found Ladelle McWhorter's Bodies and Pleasures quite useful as well.
Glad to see Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ, and Ursula K. Le Guin mentioned. Speculative fiction is so often seen as "boy stuff".
Some other favourites:
They Used To Call Me Snow White... But I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor by Regina Barreca
Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth, I'm Kissing You Goodbye! by Cynthia Heimel
Sexual State of the Union by Susie Bright
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker -- this last one isn't exactly feminist theory, but its central lesson of trusting your instincts to protect you is especially important for women.
I really love this discussion. My focus is in feminist literature and theory, and I always like to see what others dig.
I was wondering, though, what would you all reccomend for an English 200 course? I'm teaching a sophmore level literature course next semester and want to make sure that I get beyond the white male canon. The picks need to be short enough for a student to read in one week, relatively accessible in terms of content, and more prose/poetry than theory. Any suggestions?
AH! I love that you've done this! I think it's really awesome to know how people came to the beliefs and values that they have, and this is a GREAT way to learn that! :)
AH! I love that you've done this! I think it's really awesome to know how people came to the beliefs and values that they have, and this is a GREAT way to learn that! :)
Unbearable Weight by Susan Bordo
I will have to go for Jane Erye and the color purple
and anything by sor Juana inez de la cruz.
Emma Perez taught a class I took entitled "Latina Lesbian Writers." We didn't get to read her books, but I do apprec her thinking! Pardon the cheapness, but she is DA BOMB :P
Thank You for this list, I love that readers then posted their favorites. I am always looking for a new feminist book to read. Here are a few of my favorites.
- In Her Place edited by S.T. Joshi
- Pink Think by Lynn Peril ( Great quick read funny, and great old ad from mags like Good-housekeeping)
- A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom
-How Pro-Choice Movement Saved America Freedom, Politics, and
the War on Sex by Cristina Page
- America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroine by Gail Collins
- Escape by Carolyn Jessop
Of course I have to mention Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti I loved this book it is defiantly in my top 5 favorite books.
To Tara K.
Anything by Margaret Atwood my personal favorite and one of her not so well known works is The Edible Woman. She has both fiction and poetry. I hope this helps you out.
ShifterCat, thank you SO MUCH for posting one my all-time favorites, Dance of the Dissident Daughter! It is what started me on my path towards feminism.
I would like to toss a few other names into the hat myself -
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love (yes, really! It's a great book about reclaiming the power of women's sexuality)
The Moon Is Always Female by Marge Piercy (which is one of THE BEST poetry anthologies I've ever read)
Transformations by Anne Sexton
(both of the above are poetry anthologies)
Good Body and The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
Cunt by Inga Muscio
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Women's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects and The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G. Walker
and because I love children's literature,
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, and
The Wrinkle in Time Quartet by Madeleine L'Engle
ShifterCat, thank you SO MUCH for posting one my all-time favorites, Dance of the Dissident Daughter! It is what started me on my path towards feminism.
I would like to toss a few other names into the hat myself -
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love (yes, really! It's a great book about reclaiming the power of women's sexuality)
The Moon Is Always Female by Marge Piercy (which is one of THE BEST poetry anthologies I've ever read)
Good Body and The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
Cunt by Inga Muscio
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Women's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects and The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G. Walker
and because I love children's literature,
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, and
The Wrinkle in Time Quartet by Madeleine L'Engle
I totally forgot about How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America! I thought she did a great job of presenting a concise, logical argument that was basically like, "wtf conservatives?"
Engendered Lives by Ellyn Kaschak
Analyzing Oppression by Anne Cudd
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
This list makes me feel so OLD! The first book that made me me question things was my mother's copy of "The Group" -- read it for "the dirty chapter" and stayed around for the rest. "The Second Sex" and Susan Brownmiller's "Against our Will: Men, Women and Rape" opened up my eyes for good back in the 70s, at a point when no one could even imagine books with some of these titles!
There may still be a long way to go, but oh what a long way we have come!