Summer vacation is the perfect time to catch up on all the readings you want that do not involve work or school. It’s also a great time to learn new things and for me, it’s exploring feminism and learning more about it.
Mainstream feminism seems to be more performative than creating change. I believe feminism is more than wearing a pink shirt that reads “this pussy grabs back”. It should also involve taking the time to understand how the idea of femininity, patriarchy, racism, capitalism affect various groups of women – not just white women.
I think that feminism is great when it empowers women but feminism also needs to account for its problematic history of how it has excluded women of colour and trans women. This list of feminist books are selected to focus on intersectionality, and to showcase the various different experiences on womanhood. Not all women experience patriarchy the same way and taking the time to learn, read and understand these stories is important and these 10 books are a good place to start when looking for diverse perspectives on feminism
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Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis
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Assata – by assata shakur
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Redefining realness – Janet Mock
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We should all be Feminist – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
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Bad Feminist – Roxanne Gay
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The Hand Maids Tale – Magaret Atwood
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I am woman – Lee Maracle
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Desirable Daughters – Bharati Mukherjee
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Men explain Things to Me – Rebecca Solnit
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Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman – Lindy West
I love Bad Feminist and everything else by Roxane Gay! Some of these are already on my to be read list, but I will have to check out the rest!