It’s the end of the decade. According to Publisher’s Weekly, “the feminist bookstores in the nation’s largest cities are experiencing the most significant upticks in sales, as well as in foot traffic.” Here is a list of four books on Feminism and a brief summary of each in case you are curious and want to convert to the sisterhood.
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4-The Feminine Mystique by Betty Freidan
In this book, Friedan broke new ground as it was the very first book of its kind to establish that women were in fact, not solely made of “beauty, charm, and sweetness” as Freud said. Freidan conducted surveys and studies at Smith College and determined that housewives of the midcentury were, in fact, not happy as the housewife-mother archetype and felt they could not voice their feelings about their subservience. Freidan’s book changed the landscape for many women of the late 1950s and going forward.
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3-The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Beauvoir’s book is considered by many to be the starting point of second-wave feminism—certainly in France. She writes about the treatment and experiences of women through history, men being the “default” and women considered the “other.” She concludes that it is pointless to argue over who is superior, men or women, but that men’s station in life is clearly preferred, and women should certainly fight for liberation until it is in their grasp.
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2-The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf
The author says though social power and prominence of women in society has increased, so has pressure to conform to unrealistic physical standards of beauty. This is a problem, she maintains, as it deters women from careers and leads to eating disorders, an increase in cosmetic surgery, and general obsession and hatred among women over their bodies. This is an important read!
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1-Feminism Is For Everybody: Passionate Politics by Bell Hooks
This book was written and published at the dawn of the new millennium and is the epitome of what intersectionality means, aka where race, sex, and class all meet. This book is truly accessible to all readers. Hooks states, “As long as women are using class or race power to dominate other women, feminist sisterhood cannot be fully realized.” Amen.
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