Feminism must be accessible. We live in a time when our culture is changing; it sometimes feels like we’re springing backwards over the decades. Our attention spans are minimal and we get most of our information online. It is more important than ever that messages against oppression in any form are able to reach and engage their audiences.
With this in mind, I’ve pulled together this little selection of brilliant, pithy and frankly just amazing books on feminism. If you only read one of them your life will be enriched!
Women and Power: A Manifesto – Mary Beard (non-fiction)
What’s it about? Mary Beard gets straight to the point, addressing the abuse of women by misogynists and online trolls. She traces the roots of this misogyny through history. From Medusa to Philomela (whose tongue was cut out), from Hillary Clinton to Elizabeth Warren (who was told to sit down), Beard draws illuminating parallels between our cultural assumptions about women’s relationship to power—and how powerful women provide a necessary example for all women who must resist being vacuumed into a male template.
Why might I like it? It is to the point. I believe (and I might be wrong) it is based on a lecture she gave so you can devour the whole thing in one sitting. Beard’s writing is engaging and accessible and she makes points about power that are very interesting. Most importantly you’ll come away from this book with thoughts about your own lived experience.
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Daddy Issues – Katherine Angel (non-fiction)
What’s it about? In the wake of the #MeToo movement and Trump’s presidency Katherine Angel explores the resurgence of the patriarchy and the role of “daddy” in modern feminism. Using reference points in film, literature, journalism, art and politics, Angel unpicks a classic Freudian view of the father/daughter relationship.
Why might I like it? Angel asks how we use fathers to help dismantle the patriarchy and examines the roles society places on both fathers and daughters that ultimately perpetuate the oppression of women. Her insight into traditional male behaviours is fascinating, for example the way father’s are expected to immediately dislike daughter’s lovers has roots in the history of the father protecting his property i.e. his daughter’s virginity.
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Men Explain Things To Me – Rebecca Solnit (non-fiction)
What’s it about? Rebecca Solnit took on what often goes wrong in conversations between men and women. She wrote about men who wrongly assume they know things and wrongly assume women don’t, about why this arises, and how this aspect of the gender wars works, airing some of her own hilariously awful encounters.
Why might I like it? This is an insightful and thought-provoking collection of feminist essays that take us up to about 2014. Solnit writes about these issues in an accessible way not overcomplicating her point but setting out well reasoned and evidence supported arguments and facts. The collection ends on a positive note maintaining that the journey to equality is moving slowly forward – I wonder whether this is still the case given events in the US and UK from 2016 onwards, and indeed globally. Sometimes it feels as though we have lost a lot of ground.
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Unmastered: A Book On Desire Most Difficult To Tell – Katherine Angel (non-fiction)
What’s it about? ‘Unmastered’ is a new kind of book that allows us to think afresh about sex and desire. Incisive, moving, and lyrical, it opens up a larger space for the exploration of feelings that can be difficult to express.
Why might I like it? Katherine Angel’s book is an exploration of female and male power, specifically in reference to desire. In being candidly open she questions how we interact with one another in relationships and in the wider world and how our gendered roles inform so much, so incorrectly, about our lives. It is written in brief, almost poetic statements, which means it can devoured in a single sitting, which I think is necessary to get the full feel, although her message is also etched into every single line she writes. Although she is telling an incredibly personal story it is one that we have all, in one way or another experienced.
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Lucky – Alice Sebold (memoir)
What’s it about? In a memoir hailed for its searing candour and wit, Alice Sebold reveals how her life was utterly transformed when, as an eighteen-year-old college freshman, she was brutally raped and beaten in a park near campus.
Why might I like it? In what is at times a very difficult read, Sebold ultimately shows how she came through trauma and illuminates the experience of trauma victims even as she imparts wisdom profoundly hard-won: “You save yourself or you remain unsaved.”
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Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth – Warsan Shire (poetry)
What’s it about? In her debut collection, Warsan Shire explores the relationships between men and women, the impact of trauma and the individual journeys we go on.
Why might I like it? Warsan Shire’s poetry is astonishing. That’s enough!
Have you read any of the books listed above? What did you think? Have you read any others that you think should go in this collection? Let me know in the comments below!
Secondary Reading 