Slider

Basic Feminist Books You Need To Read

Saturday 4 May 2019


Greetings pals! It's been a while, hey? I am so sorry about the radio silence but life does get in the way sometimes


I thought today I would tell you a wee list of a few favourite feminist texts that have come into my life recently. I just finished a huge project for my American Spaces unit in which I had to do a lot of feminist reading, and while I've picked up a few of these books before, there a few new reads in here for me too, so I thought it would be cool to share them! I love a good nonfiction read and these women really know their stuff so check them out and let me know what you think.

Feminism Is For Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks
I had to put this one first because bell hooks is just...a queen. She honestly is one of the most inspirational, iconic feminist theorists out there and I'd never even heard her name before this year at university! This book is the perfect starter pack to feminism, it's so easy to read, so easy to understand and I honestly wish I had unlimited copies of this book to give out whenever someone starts to moan about feminism to me! It's not even a big read - I demolished it in about a week and I've re-read it since. I also watched a lot of her interviews in preparation for said project and she's just such a fabulous, funny, fantastic woman and I would recommend to all young feminists that you familiarise yourself with her and her work.

Can We All Be Feminists? by June Eric-Udorie
It's 2019 - if your feminism isn't intersectional then I'm sorry to break it to you but you need to start getting on board with intersectionality. The perfect place to start is this book - it's a collective, edited by a young black, disabled, queer woman, including seventeen pieces written by a hugely diverse collection of women from all different backgrounds and all different walks of life. I love this book. It's the perfect partner to Feminism Is For Everybody - read it afterwards for a more modern conversation on intersectionality and the struggles women from different lives are faced with. It's a true eye-opener.

Feminists Don't Wear Pink & Other Lies edited by Scarlett Curtis
This is another collective edited by Scarlett Curtis of essays written by high-profile women about feminism. Names such as Keira Knightley, Evanna Lynch, Jameela Jamil and Trisha Shetty pop up with essays about their kind of feminism, what feminism means to them and how feminism came about in their everyday lives. It was actually one of the biggest inspirations I had with my research project for my American lit unit and I loved every single essay in it. It's got a good range of diversity which we always love too.

Girl Up by Laura Bates
I've talked about this book before on my blog but it's essentially another good partner to Feminism Is For Everybody but perhaps aimed at a younger audience this time. Give this to any young teenage girls in your life who want to learn about feminism and this book will give them a good all round insight into what the movement is, and it really focuses on female empowerment, in an easy-to-read, simple book. While it doesn't really address the concept of intersectionality which I think is a very important part missing, it's still a great all-round fun piece of literature that, like I said, would be great for all young women (and men tbh) in your lives.


Well there you go, a guide to four basic feminist texts that you really should read. There are many more I've encountered recently such as bell hooks' Ain't I A Woman, The Feminine Mystique, Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein and We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - although you really really do need to watch her TED talk entitled the same! But these are just four basic ones I think everyone should be reading to get a good outline of feminism and intersectionality.

What are your feminist text recommendations?

Em xx

No comments:

Post a Comment

CopyRight © | Theme Designed By Hello Manhattan