By Pleun
Ready to dive into the world of feminism? We’ve got some must-reads for you in our Gender section!
From bodily autonomy to employment equality, feminism covers a wide range of issues.
It’s about challenging inequality and empowering women.
It’s about making the world understand women don’t want to take men’s place, but wish to share it with equanimity.
Let’s keep evolving and building a more inclusive world together!
Feminism is for Everybody by Bell Hooks
‘Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.’
So begins Feminism is for Everybody, a short, accessible introduction to feminist theory by one of its most influential practitioners. Designed to be read by all genders, this book provides both a primer to the question ‘what is feminism?’ and an argument for the enduring importance of the feminist movement today.
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years and commenting on the state of feminism today. The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.
What About Men? by Caitlin Moran
As any feminist who talks about the problems of girls and women will know, the first question you will ever be asked is ‘But what about MEN?’ After eleven years of writing bestsellers about women and dismissing this question, having been very sure that the concerns of feminism and men are very different things, Caitlin Moran realised that this wasn’t quite right, and that the problems of feminism are also the problems of, yes, men.
The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule by Angela Saini
In this bold and radical book, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini goes in search of the true roots of gendered oppression, uncovering a complex history of how male domination became embedded in societies and spread across the globe from prehistory into the present.
On Women by Susan Sontag
Written during the height of second-wave feminism, Sontag’s essays remain strikingly relevant to our contemporary conversations. At times powerfully in sync and at others powerfully at odds with them, they are always characteristically original in their examinations of the ‘biological division of labour’, the double-standard for ageing and the dynamics of women’s power and powerlessness.
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty is the ultimate book for anyone who wants to challenge the out-dated narratives supplied to us by the patriarchy. Through Florence’s story you will learn how to protect your energy, discover that you are the love of your own life, and realise that today is a wonderful day to dump them. Florence Given is here to remind you that you owe men nothing, least of all pretty.
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir famously wrote, ‘One is not born, but rather becomes, woman’. In this groundbreaking work of feminism she examines the limits of female freedom and explodes our deeply ingrained beliefs about femininity. Liberation, she argues, entails challenging traditional perceptions of the social relationship between the sexes and, crucially, in achieving economic independence.
Drawing on sociology, anthropology and biology, The Second Sex is as important and relevant today as when it was first published in 1949.
Eve by Cat Bohannon
In Eve, Cat Bohannon answers questions scientists should have been addressing for decades.
With boundless curiosity and sharp wit, she covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex. Eve is not only a sweeping revision of human history, it’s an urgent and necessary corrective for a world that has focused primarily on the male body for far too long.
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
From government policy and medical research, to technology, workplaces, and the media. Invisible Women reveals how in a world built for and by men we are systematically ignoring half of the population, often with disastrous consequences.
Caroline Criado Perez brings together for the first time an impressive range of case studies, stories and new research from across the world that illustrate the hidden ways in which women are forgotten, and the profound impact this has on us all.
