FEMINIST READING

FEMINIST READING

To keep your minds and hearts satiated after Gloria Steinem’s recent visit to Reno, and to further your curiosity, quest for knowledge and equality, we’ve asked for some help pulling together a reading and resource list for you all to dig into. The below lists come from Emily Hobson from UNR’s Gender, Race and Identity Dept and Erica Wirthlin, Women’s Studies major and long-time Holland member and community advocate. Thanks to them both for these thoughtful lists.

First up, Emily’s List! She notes: “This list speaks to two main themes: one, intersectional rethinking of the the “second wave” (1960s and 1970s feminisms); and two, contemporary feminisms, with an emphasis on essays and memoirs. I have also included a few children’s titles, though this list is much less exhaustive.” She also notes that these titles/resources should be easily found or Googled.

Rethinking the Second Wave

  • Blackwell, Mayeli. ¡Chicana Power! Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement
  • Córdova, Jeanne. When We Were Outlaws: a Memoir of Love and Revolution
  • Dicker, Rory C. A History of U.S. Feminisms
  • Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960-1975, revised edition [*note: get revised edition]
  • Duplessis, Rachel Blau and Ann Snitow. The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women’s Liberation
  • Freedman, Estelle B. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women
  • Freedman, Estelle B., ed. The Essential Feminist Reader.
  • Friedan, Betty. The Feminist Mystique. [*note: 50th anniversary edition]
  • Fujino, Diane C. Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama
  • Grahn, Judy. A Simple Revolution: The Making of an Activist Poet
  • Guy-Sheftall, Beverly: Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought
  • McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance – A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power
  • Moraga, Cherríe and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color, 4th edition [*note: get 4th edition]
  • Orleck, Annelise. Storming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty [*note: Nevada history]
  • Randolph, Sherie. Florynce “Flo” Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical [*note: Steinem and Kennedy toured together as public speakers in the late 1970s; I highly recommend this book]
  • Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Tradition
  • Rojas, Maythee. Women of Color and Feminism
  • Rotskoff, Lori and Laura Lovett. When We Were Free to Be: Looking Back at a Children’s Classic and the Difference it Made
  • Solinger, Rickie. Pregnancy and Power: A Short History of Reproductive Politics in America
  • Springer, Kimberly. Living For the Revolution: Black Feminist Organizations, 1968-1980

Contemporary Feminisms

  • Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. We Should All Be Feminists
  • Bornstein, Kate. My New Gender Workbook [*note: get 2012/2013 edition]
  • Brodsky, Alexandra and Rachel Nalebuff. The Feminist Utopia Project
  • Carmon, Iris and Shana Knizhnik. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
  • Correll, Gemma. The Feminist Activity Book
  • Gay, Roxane. Bad Feminist
  • hooks, bell. Feminism is for Everybody
  • Kaufman, Michael and Michael Kimmel. The Guy’s Guide to Feminism
  • Mock, Janet. Redefining Realness
  • Serano, Julia. Whipping Girl
  • Solnit, Rebecca. Men Explain Things to Me
  • Sotomayor, Sonia. My Beloved World

Children’s/Youth Titles

  • Barcella, Laura. Fight Like a Girl: 50 Feminists Who Changed the World
  • Levy, Debbie. I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark
  • Nagara, Innosanto. A is for activist
  • Schatz, Kate and Miriam Stahl. Rad American Women A-Z
  • Schatz, Kate and Miriam Stahl. Rad Women Worldwide
  • Sotomayor, Sonia. A Judge Grows in the Bronx
  • Women Who Broke the Rules series (biographies for young readers)

Erica’s List explores zines and organizations, as well as additional titles that reflect her own interests and inspirations, with notes in her own words included along side.

Zines — Zines were a large part of my own feminist education. Long before I plopped down in the chair of a women’s studies class, I was reading these tiny, informative, and often wonderfully illustrated zines on body positivism, reproductive health, and sisterhood. It is tradition that really got going during the Third Wave and continues into the contemporary age.

  • GRRRL ASYLUM is a feminist, sex positive, body positive, women’s rights zine.
  • Brass In Pocket is celebrates and showcase a range of female artists, with a stated aim to challenge the term ‘feminist art’
  • Muchacha is a quarterly fanzine that seeks to promote the “F” word feminism, encourage involvement in DIY music/art communities & inspire participation in grassroots activism.
  • OOMK is highly visual, handcrafted zine focuses on women and spirituality
  • Girls Get Busy is a feminist creative platform that supports female-identified artists, writers and musicians.
  • Skinned Heart takes a Mexicana viewpoint on issues such as mental health, abusive relationships and race issues.
  • Girls Don’t Zine is a non-profit zine making fun of society’s expectations of women.
  • Hoax is a US bi-annual queer, feminist, compilation zine that aims to create a space to analyze the feminism in our everyday lives.

Other Titles — GRI did such a lovely job of putting together titles, it was hard to know what to follow with! I’ve included an ad hoc collection of poems, fiction, and some more feminist viewpoints hobbled together from my own exposure to feminism.

Third Wave/ Contemporary

  • Allison, Dorothy. Trash: Short Stories
  • Anzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
  • Hayes, Shannon. Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from Consumer Culture by Shannon Hayes
  • Kingston, Maxine. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
  • Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
  • Muscio, Inga. Cunt: A Declaration of Independence
  • Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women

Second Wave/ Mid-Century

  • Acker, Kathy. Blood and Guts in High School
  • Atwood, Margaret. The Edible Woman
  • Kizer, Carolyn. Harping On: Poems 1985-1995
  • Le Guin, Ursula. The Left Hand of Darkness
  • Jong, Erica. Fear of Flying
  • O’Connor, Flannery. The Complete Stories
  • Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar

Earlier

  • De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex
  • Gilman, Charlotte. The Yellow Wallpaper
  • Hurtson, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • Truth, Sojourner. “Ain’t I a Woman?”
  • Wollstonecraft, Mary. “The Vindication of the Rights of Woman”
  • Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own

Organizations — While there are many more extensive lists of women’s organizations available, I think it is important to think through the history of these organizations and how they came into being. Why might, for example, there be the need for an organization oriented towards women in development? It is not exactly straightforward reading, but I think reading between the lines when exploring the history of different organizations is an equally worthwhile endeavour.

  • Battered Women’s Support Services: An organization working to eliminate the abuse of women, providing education, advocacy and support services for battered women.
  • INCITE: Nation-wide network of radical feminists of color working to end violence against women, gender non-conforming, and trans people of color, and our communities.
  • Justice Now: An organization that works to stop violence against women, including state-sanctioned violence and incarceration, and promotes alternative responses to interpersonal violence outside of policing and prisons.
  • Advocates for Youth: Youth centered organization that seeks to uplift access to sexual health information and resources.
  • Alternate Reproductive Justice: A collection of socially conscious news articles related to reproductive justice.
  • Association for Women’s Rights in Development: An organization committed to gender equality and a just and sustainable development process.
  • Center for Women’s Global Leadership: Seeks to develop an understanding of the ways in which gender affects the exercise of power and the conduct of public policy.
  • National Women’s Studies Association: Supports and promotes feminist/womanist teaching, learning, research and professional and community service.

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