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Culture June 15, 2018
Time's up. Start reading.
In the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp, we can sometimes feel stuck. While the movements have been extremely liberating, they’ve highlighted some of the issues with social justice, especially with allies. In order to be an ally, consider not only thinking before you speak, but learning before you speak.
Reading the voices of feminists and minorities from the past and present can aid in understanding discourse, including how and when to join the dialogue. These are the writers and works who have been saying “time’s up” all along.
This revolutionary work is considered one of the first pieces of feminist theory ever written. Wollstonecraft launches an attack on a society that encouraged double standards against women, which was pushed forward by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord in another pamphlet. Today, we know that her work is essentialist, believing the sexes to be inherently different, and focused only on white women but it remains a landmark piece of feminist literature.
Quote to know: “I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
This extended essay argues for the importance of women’s writing. Woolf claims that women need physical and metaphorical space in order to have the freedom to write. She argues that without women’s writing, we’ll have a skewed and inaccurate log of history, one only authored by men.
Quotes to know: “Anything may happen when womanhood has ceased to be a protected occupation.”
This cornerstone piece of feminist theory was one of the first attempts to understand history and humanity through a feminist lens. Originally written and published in French, this work explores a society that sees the woman as other and object while man represents self and subject. In the second part of the work, the author observes the upbringing of a woman as it oppresses her in all parts of her life, especially as compared to the upbringing of a man.
Today we understand De Beauvoir as an essentialist and it doesn’t abide by standards of modern feminism. Nevertheless, this book remains revolutionary and historically significant.
Quote to know: “Her wings are cut and then she is blamed for not knowing how to fly.”
This semi-autobiographical novel follows the story of the beautiful and talented Esther Greenwood and her descent into depression and delusion while interning for a magazine in New York City. It becomes a dark exploration of the female mind and the society that is blind to its beauty.
Quote to know: “I was supposed to be having the time of my life.”
This bestselling, nonfiction book is thought to have started the second wave of feminism in the U.S. The work challenges the trope of the housewife and exposes the deep feelings of unfulfillment that women at the time felt within their domestic sphere. To describe this widespread unhappiness, Friedan coined the phrase, “the problem which has no name.” While conditions have changed since the time of her writing, Friedan’s theories hold up today and were monumental in sparking change.
Quote to know: “The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own.”
Solanas is better known as the woman who shot Andy Warhol, but here she crafts a radical, violent manifesto. As outrageous as it is, even by today’s standards, it’s considered an important piece of feminist literature.
Quote to know: “Every man, deep down, knows he’s a piece of shit.”
This memoir tells the story of a childhood tainted by bigotry and oppression. Today, Angelou’s work is considered a modern classic as it combines sorrow and joy to describe a conflicted and beautiful upbringing.
Quote to know: “Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.”
Though this work was shocking when published, today it’s considered a landmark piece of feminist literature. Greer argues that there can be no women’s liberation without sexual liberation.
Quote to know: “Where did you get the idea that the most wonderful thing I could be in life was obedient?”
This bestselling work explores the sexual oppression of women in famous literature and art. Millett’s critique opens the reader’s eyes to the reality of normalized violence, which we sometimes believe to be natural.
Quote to know: “She is no one, because she lacks any trait that might render her visible: beauty, money, conformity.”
This award-winning piece crafts its own genre, mixing autobiography and classic Chinese folklore. The book tells the author’s story as a Chinese-American woman.
Quote to know: “I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes.”
This book is sort of a health guide that rejects traditional dieting. Orbach encourages self-acceptance, self-love and a real understanding of health.
Quote to know: “Dare to be as physically robust and varied as you always were.”
Intersectional feminism is modern feminism. This anthology of essays by women of color examines the intersections of race and gender, exposing the dangers of white feminism.
Quote to know: “I am what I am and you can’t take it away with all the words and sneers at your command.”
This classic piece of feminist theory examines black womanhood. Today it’s the backbone to black feminist theory. Hooks created a groundbreaking book which analyzes sexism within slavery and the intersection of racism and sexism in modern America.
Quote to know: “It is obvious that many women have appropriated feminism to serve their own ends, especially those white women who have been at the forefront of the movement.”
Told through a series of letters, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of African-American women in 1930s rural Georgia. The novel follows protagonist Celie as she discovers independence, love and creativity within a life of suffering.
Quote to know: “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”
This short story is considered a very important piece of feminist literature, tackling the issues of women’s physical and mental health. It’s told through a series of journal entries written by a woman being treated for hysteria. The issue of hysteria is one which is inherent to understanding the women’s liberation movement.
Quote to know: I don’t like to look out of the windows even—there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did?”
This book of prose covers a lot of topics — from politics to personal suffering — through the perspective of a black woman. Walker considers herself a womanist, a form of feminism that rejects white supremacy within feminist theory and celebrates women in their natural state.
Quote to know: “Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit. Loves love and food and roundness. Loves struggle. Loves the Folk. Loves herself. Regardless.”
This book of 15 essays explores otherness through race, gender, sexuality and class. Lorde argues that difference can spark social change.
Quote to know: “Your silence will not protect you.”
Today, this dystopian story may be more familiar to some as a hit TV series than a Booker prize-winning novel. When fertility rates decrease greatly, the nation’s democracy is overthrown and replaced with a Christian fundamentalist, totalitarian regime. Women are forced into slave-like conditions, with handmaids serving a sole purpose of reproduction because of their fertility. The story follows the handmaid Offred as she recalls her own path to servitude and attempts to escape.
Quote to know: “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
This radical understanding of intercourse challenges preconceived notions of heteronormative sex. Dworkin analyzes sex in literature and as it occurs in the real world while analyzing how normalized violence occurs within sexual interactions every day.
Quote to know: “Being female in this world means having been robbed of the potential for human choice by men who love to hate us.”
This novel tells the story of Margaret Garner, a woman who escaped slavery in 1856. The Pulitzer Prize-winning work explores themes of oppression, violence and motherhood.
Quote to know: “Anything dead coming back to life hurts.”
This nonfiction book looks at our cultural beauty standards. Wolf claims that the pressure to conform to physical ideals keeps women from being real members of society.
Quote to know: “A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”
A foundational piece of queer theory, this work describes the performance of gender as a social construct. Butler’s theories sparked a major criticism of feminist theory, which at one point relied on the existence of distinct genders.
Quote to know: “One is not born a woman, but rather becomes one.”
In this work, Baumgardner explores the multiple sects of feminism. While she recognizes their faults and differences, the author also works to understand the future of a united feminist movement.
Quote to know: “As it turned out, my perception was so much more intimidating than the reality.”
This extensive guide to Western art seeks to understand famous works through a feminist perspective. In case you didn’t know, the Guerrilla Girls are a group of women who hope to expose the oppression that female artists face and encourage equality for all artists.
This famous work traces the word cunt in its journey from a title of respect to the ultimate expletive. Through the etymology and history of the word, Muscio explores the treatment of women over time. Ultimately, the author urges women to reclaim the word as one of power.
Quote to know: “Moving from phonetics to etymology, ‘vagina’ originates from a word meaning sheath for a sword. Ain’t got no vagina.”
This book of essays explores the negative labels that women in power receive. Wurtzel gives voice to women labeled bitches and explores how it feel to be misunderstood.
Quote to know: “I intend to scream, shout, race the engine, call when I feel like it, throw tantrums in Bloomingdale’s if I feel like it and confess intimate details about my life to complete strangers. I intend to do what I want to do and be whom I want to be and answer only to myself: that is, quite simply, the bitch philosophy…”
World-renowned photographer Annie Lebowtz captured all new images for this book, which features powerful women around the world including a rap artist, an astronaut, two Supreme Court justices, farmers, coal miners, movie stars, showgirls, rodeo riders and more.
This novel opens on horrific, racially charged mass violence. From there, Morrison weaves folklore and history to create a unique world.
Quote to know: “How exquisitely human was the wish for permanent happiness, and how thin human imagination became trying to achieve it.”
This short book describing the basic principles of feminism is perfect for those new to feminist theory. Hooks explores the ways that sexism and oppression hurt everyone.
Quote to know: “As long as women are using class or race power to dominate other women, feminist sisterhood cannot be fully realized.”
This successful debut novel tells the story of two unlikely friends and women finding their identity.
Quote to know: “Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”
This novel tells the unique story of Caliope, a Greek-American teenager who discovers that she is intersex.
Quote to know: “I was born twice: first, as a baby girl..and then again, as a teenage boy.”
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd’s work raises witty and necessary questions about sex, gender and sexuality. Not only is this a humorous read, it’s a great introduction to basic feminist discourse and discussion.
Quote to know: “As it turned out, my perception was so much more intimidating than the reality.”
This book historicizes the Mexican American liberation movement. It explores the past of the League of United Latin American Citizens as it’s image in America has been tarnished and restored.
Considered an instant feminist classic, this is a comprehensive guide to all things women’s health. The work explores birth control, sexuality, puberty, menopause, childbirth and so many more important topics.
Quote to know: “We have not had the power to determine medical priorities.”
This bestselling memoir details the author’s empowering experience of healing from loss by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. The book has since been turned into an award-winning film starring Reese Witherspoon.
Quote to know: “How wild it was, to let it be.”
This international bestseller created a cultural conversation about women in the workplace. Through humor and wit, the author, COO of Facebook, describes how women unknowingly isolate themselves in the workplace.
Quote to know: “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”
As a queer, disabled woman, Kafer is able to imagine a future where differently-abled bodies are treated equally. She stresses the importance of intersectional feminism that combines forces to change the world we live in.
Quote to know: “Of fortune cookies and tarot cards they have no need: my wheelchair, burn scars, and gnarled hands apparently tell them all they need to know. My future is written on my body.”
Known for her essays and short stories, Roxane Gay shocked readers with this riveting novel. The story follows a woman kidnapped for ransom.
Quote to know:“Because sometimes, to find home, you must first go farther afield.”
This honest and funny collection of essays details the conflicts feminists confront every day. Gay looks at modern popular culture and describes her own feminist confusion over the consumption of entertainment, fashion, politics and everything in between.
Quote to know: “It’s hard to be told to lighten up because if you lighten up any more, you’re going to float the fuck away.”
This extended essay, based on a TEDTalk, redefines feminism in order to make it modern and relevant. The writer persuades readers to understand how sexism exists invisibly in our society by telling stories of her own struggle with oppression.
Quote to know: “My own definition is a feminist is a man or a woman who says, yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better. All of us, women and men, must do better.”
Through biting humor, this extended essay tackles the issue of mansplaining. Solnit offers anecdotes and sarcastic advice as she confronts the oppression that occurs on a daily basis when men talk down to women.
Quote to know: “Some women get erased a little at a time, some all at once. Some reappear.”
The feminist icon links her own growth and change to the progress of the women’s movement in this powerful memoir. She details the hope she finds through traveling and learning as she goes.
Quote to know: “When humans are ranked instead of linked, everyone loses.”
This novel, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Booker Man Prize, follows an eccentric young woman as she disappears from the life she once knew. Moshfegh takes readers into the twisted and endearing mind of Eileen.
Quote to know: “It’s easy to tell the dirtiest minds—look for the cleanest fingernails.”
Zeisler, the founder of Bitch Media, explores the path feminism has taken as it has become mainstream and popularized. Zeisler exposes the watered down feminism we see today and how we can revert to the feminism that once made a real impact.
Quote to know: “A big tent is great and all, but there has to be a line in the sand, and I’m pretty sure the desire to legislate other women’s bodies is it.”
In this hilarious memoir, West examines myths behind feminism and womanhood. She argues that feminists can and are funny and that all bodies, whether they’re small or large, deserve equal treatment.
Quote to know: “Feminism is really just the long slow realization that the things you love hate you.”
This collection of short stories blends nearly every genre into one enigmatic feminist masterpiece. Despite aspects of science fiction, fantasy and horror, Machado creates a realistic image of life as an othered body.
Quote to know: “Many people live and die without ever confronting themselves in the darkness.”
Named one of the Most Anticipated books of 2018 by countless magazines including Publisher’s Weekly and Vogue, Jerkins’ work explores the life of black women in America through popular culture, politics, policy and personal experience.
Quote to know: “White people think that it is a compliment when they do not ‘see’ you as a black person.”
This nonfiction read tells the stories of ten women who significantly changed the path of history. Each of them was underestimated and overlooked because of their gender. Their stories show their perseverance and their success.
Quote to know: “The most beautiful and intriguing parts of any identity tend to be the fluid ones.”
This is Wolitzer’s second novel. The story follows college student Greer as she meets and is changed by Faith, a powerful player in the women’s movement. The novel explores self-identity, ego and womanhood.
Quote to know: “I think there are two kinds of feminists…the famous ones, and everyone else.”
This novel tells the cross-continental story of Poornima and Savitha, two young women who desire a life beyond their small Indian village. When the friends become separated, they do everything they can, including traveling around the world, to find each other again.
Quote to know: “We girls. Afraid of the wrong things, at the wrong times. Afraid of a burned face, when outside, outside waiting for you are fires you cannot imagine.”
Whether your book club is everyone at work, just you and your roommate, or a party of one, consider reading and discussing these works to begin or further your education on what it means to be a modern woman.
