of 8
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
8/12/2019 30 Essential Feminist Books
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
8/12/2019 30 Essential Feminist Books
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
8/12/2019 30 Essential Feminist Books
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
8/12/2019 30 Essential Feminist Books
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.
8/12/2019 30 Essential Feminist Books
6/8
8/12/2019 30 Essential Feminist Books
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.
8/12/2019 30 Essential Feminist Books
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.