30 essential feminist books

8/12/2019 30 Essential Feminist Books

1/8

Grundtvig

30

Title

A vindiction of the rights

women

Little women

Middlemarch

Partnership Everybody can do it!

essential feminist books

Description

of

Mary Wollstonecraft is widely regard

A single, financially independent motwas entirely unheard of, she wrote

calling for women to be educated so t

than mere wives. The 1792 to

encouraging excessive emotion in wo

Louisa May Alcott's novel, set at the

Civil War, focuses heavily on th

independence, and many of the fema

determined, some with the support of

Dorothea Brooke, the protagonist o

novel, aims to achieve more in her l

tells her she is capable of.

(ECDI)

d as the first feminist.

er at a time when thisdensely packed text

at they could be more

e indicts men for

en.

time of the American

issue of women's

e characters are self-

en.

George Eliot's 1869

ife than what society


2/8

A room of ones own

The second sex

The Golden Notebook

The Feminine Mystique

In the prelude to the 1929 book, Vi

that Shakespeare might have had an

but that we'll never know of her tal

never afforded the same education a

he, as a man, was. The entire book e

feminine discourse in literature.

Simone De Beauvoir pioneered gend

text, introducing the difference

physiological state) and gender (som

to do).

Doris Lessing's 1962 novel raised con

and deals with women's sexua

assumptions about their relationship

wishes for it to be a humanist, rathe

and was surprised that, for years wo

what she said, but had never written it

This 1963 book launched the secon

Betty Friedan takes apart the myth

housewife that had been proliferate

Everything that makes your life bett

started here.

ginia Woolf explains

qually talented sister,

nts because she was

nd acknowledgement

plains the need for a

r studies in this 1947

between sex (our

thing society tells us

sciousness of women,

lity and questions

s with men. Lessing

than a feminist text,

men had been saying

down.

d wave of feminism.

f the postwar happy

by the mass media.

r than Betty Draper's


3/8

Scum Manifesto

I know why the caged bi

sings

Sexual politics

The female eunuch

Our bodies ourselves

In 1967, the feminist movement had g

radicals to appear. Valerie Solanas's i

for the whole male sex to be elimi

better known for her attempted murde

d

Maya Angelou's autobiography mai

knowledge and strength of character c

racism and abuse. However, the 196

woman overcoming much adversi

possessed and dignified.

Kate Millett's 1970 book was the

feminist literary criticism. Millett cri

Henry Miller and Norman Mailer's fiof relationships, complaining that t

patriarchal way. The book caused muc

In Germaine Greer's 1970 book, she

know how much men hate them,encouraged by men to hate themselves

In 1971, the Boston Women's Heal

women's health manual was prod

women. Using a friendly, familiar

includes first-person anecdotes from

all sorts of health situations. The t

controversy by addressing then-taabortion and transgenderism.

ained enough pace for

dictment of men calls

ated. She is perhaps

of Andy Warhol.

nly deals with how

an help one overcome

9 tome also shows a

y to become self-

rst text of academic

tiques DH Lawrence,

tional representationsey discuss sex in a

h ire amongst men.

ays that women don't

and that women are.

th Book Collective's

ced by women, for

approach, the book

omen who have had

xt also caused some

oo issues such as


4/8

Fat is a feminist issue

The color purple

The Cider House Ruler

Fried Green Tomatoes at

Whistlestop Cafe

The Beauty Myth

Susie Orbach's 1978 book exami

disorders and how a focus on weigh

subjugating women. A must-read fo

cycle of dieting and binge-eating.

Alice Walker's 1982 book, which

Stephen Spielberg into an Oscar-wi

story of a black woman in 1930s Geo

struggle, both in America and in Afri

recognition as individuals who de

treatment.

John Irving's story of two abortioni

reproductive rights as a necessity.

he

Fannie Fligg's 1987 novel, which wa

starring Kathy Bates, is a celebration

Southern female storytelling traditio

Couch awaken to feminism by waycrisis.

In 1991, Naomi Wolf wrote a ri

burgeoning plastic surgery industry

cosmetics market. This is an intriguin

much time, money and health is sa

stay in step with whatever the c

peddling as the norm.

nes women's eating

is used as a way of

anyone caught in a

as later adapted by

nning film, tells the

rgia. It deals with the

ca, of women to gain

erve fair and equal

sts presents women's

s adapted into a film

of the strength of the

s, and shows Evelyn

of a mid-life identity

oste to the newly-

nd the already huge

g analysis of just how

rificed by women to

osmetics industry is


5/8

Gender Trouble

The red tent

Women

Feminism is for Everybo

Following on from Simone De Be

extrapolated gender studies in 1994,

stating that women are not born to w

born to wear boots, and that all gend

affected as a drag queen's stage show.

Anita Diamant's story focuses on Di

and Joseph's sister in the Bible.

character who is so sidelined in the Ol

speaks up for all of the womentendency to focus on male achieveme

Annie Liebovitz and Susan Sonta

celebration of women from all wa

Liebovitz's classic style, it capturesvictims, athletes, politicians and

Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Hall, Gwyne

DeGeneres.

y

bell hooks' 2000 book introduces a

theory of feminism rooted in co

wisdom of experience. She wishes

equality and tackles issues likeviolence, race, class, and work with

She calls for a feminism free from div

auvoir, Judith Butler

ith an academic text

ar skirts, men are not

r is a performance as

ah, Jacob's daughter

reathing life into a

d Testament, Diamant

orgotten by history'sts.

g's photobook is a

lks of life. Shot in

iners, domestic abusecelebrities such as

th Paltrow and Ellen

opular, male-friendly

mon sense and the

everyone to unite in

reproductive rights,humour and honesty.

sive barriers.


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7/8

Bossypants

The future of feminism

How to be a women

Albertine

In her memoir, Tina Fey provides fur

can and will be as funny, if not funni

give a damn if men don't agree. S

difficulties of managing a balance b

her family.

Sylvia Walby's 2011 academic text

suggestions that feminism is dead, a

yet comprehensive critical review o

feminism, explaining why they have g

The part-memoir, part-tirade against

modern outlook on feminism, repack

stigma attached to the f word. It also

one of Britain's most revered columnis

Albertine is the first and so far onl

critic Jacqueline Rose. It is a parallel

and events from Marcel Proust'sIn Se

The beautiful orphan Albertine comes

austere young Marcel at a Normand

on holiday with friends. She soon be

destructive affair with the young man,

his Paris apartment. His jealousy an

bisexual attraction to others cause

gynocentric revisiting of Proust, i

imagining, giving Albertine a voice sh

her proof that women

r than men, and don't

e also discusses the

tween her career and

eatly responds to all

d provides a succinct

recent treatments of

ot it wrong.

'The Man' presents a

ging it to remove the

tells you a lot about

ts.

novel of writer and

ovel, using characters

rch of Lost Time.

into contact with the

seaside hotel, whilst

comes embroiled in a

trapping them both in

her strong will and

both unhappiness. A

t is a feminist re-

e has been denied.


8/8

The womens room The Women's Roomis a novel by American feminist authorMarilyn French, published in 1977.The Women's Roomhas

been described as one of the most influential novels of the

modern feminist movement. Its instant popularity brought

criticism from some well-known feminists that it was too

pessimistic about women's lives and too anti-men.

The Women's Roomis set in 1950s America and follows the

fortunes of Mira Ward, a conventional and submissive

young woman in a traditional marriage and her gradual

feminist awakening. The novel met stark media criticism

when published but went on to be an international best

seller.

30 essential feminist books

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