Bad Feminists
by Roxane Gay
Gay talks about the issues with our current society, using
her experience as a woman of color, a college professor, and a pop culture
critic. Bustle wrote "As a feminist who has watched trashy TV and mouthed
the words to way too many blatantly misogynistic songs, Gay's collection of
essays gave me hope that I — an imperfect person who has my moments of
confusion about women's issues — can still call myself a feminist."
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
by Jill Lepore
This book, as said by the New York Times, "makes you
question if you should read Marston’s Wonder Woman strips as feminist
manifestoes, or as the working out of issues by a somewhat troubled man, or
both?" It's equal parts a biography
of Wonder Woman and her creator James Marston. Lepore tells the tale of Wonder
Woman, how she remade American feminism and shared the ideas and activism of
Planned Parenthood Founder, Margaret Sanger. She goes on to tell how feminist
ideas made their way into Wonder Woman comics. Also plan to be entertained by
the biography of Martson, who was a Harvard graduate, quite the philanderer, a
lover of bondage, a polyamorist (more than one wife at a time), a psychologist
and the inventor of the lie detector test. He was also a feminist, influenced
by early feminist Emmeline Pankhurst, who was prevented from speaking on campus
in 1911.
Men Explain Things To Me
by Rebecca Solnit
There is a point in the book where Solnit describes
attending a party where an oblivious man patronizingly attempted to tell her
all about a new book on the photographer Eadweard Muybridge, which it turns out
Solnit actually wrote. This is a prime example of what Solnit calls
mansplaining: when a man condescendingly lectures a woman on the basics of a
topic about which he knows very little, under the mistaken assumption that she
knows even less. Sound familiar? I know it does. This book bravely helps us
stand up to sexism through the insight she offers on how to handle those mind
numbing sexists moments that we all face in our lives.
Feminism Is For Everybody
by Bell Hooks
This book "Introduces a popular theory of feminism
rooted in common sense and the wisdom of experience. Hooks applies her critical
analysis to the most contentious and challenging issues facing feminists today,
including reproductive rights, violence, race, class, and work. With her
customary insight and unsparing honesty, hooks calls for a feminism free from
divisive barriers but rich with rigorous debate. In language both eye-opening
and optimistic, hooks encourages us to demand alternatives to patriarchal,
racist, and homophobic culture, and to imagine a different future"
My Life On The Road
by Gloria Steinem
A memoir of feminist icon's remarkable life that focuses on
her travels, which is fitting considering she has spend half of on the road.
Steinman has spend the past 5 decades as a journalist and activist, campaigning
for civil and reproductive rights, gender equality, and launching the
groundbreaking magazine for women, Ms. She has attended nearly every important
political event of the past 5 decades. She was there for the 1963 march on
Washington with MLK, she was in California alongside Ceasar Chavez in
solidarity with the 1968 farmworkers strike, and she organized the National Women's
Conference in Texas in 1977, to name a few. The book recounts her countless
stops around the US on political campaign trails, college campus tours,
organizing, writing, listening and inspiring.
We Should All Be Feminists
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"In this personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from
her much-admired TEDx talk of the same name—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning
author of Americanah, offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the
twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing
extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often
masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s
exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying
cry for why we should all be feminists."
Notorious RBG
by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
Ruth Badar Ginsburg is a trailblazer, a pioneer, a feminist
hero, an all around freakin badass. Having spent the last 50 years fighting for
equality for all- gender equality, women's rights, gay rights, civil rights and
liberties- Ruth is a hero to humanity. Notorious RBG, was inspired by the ever
so popular Tumblr that made her a cult figure for young feminists, although she
really transcends generational divides, The book tells a detailed story of the
transformative icon's life and career, offering access to Ginsburg's family
members, close friends, colleagues, and clerks, as well an interview with the
Justice herself, and complete with visuals such as personal photos, letters,
and annotated opinions.
Sewing Hope
by Reggie Whitten and Nancy Henderson
For 25 years Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) terrorized Northern Uganda and five countries in east and central Africa. for three decades . They kidnapped children and forced them to commit atrocities against their own families and communities. Girls as young as thirteen were degraded to sex slaves for Kony's officers. Now, the war is over, but the decades of brutal conflict have deeply scarred the people of Uganda. Child soldiers return to the very communities they committed violent crimes against, and the girls carry with them a constant reminder of their abuse: their captors' children. These girls and their children are often ostracized by their communities, and most lack the skills they need to provide for their families. Named on of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2014, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe is a Catholic nun who has dedicated her life to helping women and girls whose lives have been shattered by violence, rape and sexual exploitation by the hands of Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army by teaching them valuable skills, teaching them compassion and forgiveness for themselves and others, and helping them overcome their emotional pain. The books tell the story if this remarkable woman and her fight to bring hope back to her nation.
See my previous post on Sister Nyirumbe here
