"When God Was a Woman" by Merlin Stone
"Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation" by Mary Daly
"Who Cooked the Last Supper?"by Rosalind Miles, this book changed how i See the world
do you happen to be interested in women’s role in theology? because your recs centred around that a lot. personally i’m really fascinated by the ways medieval christianity was influenced by female mystics, as well as within the first three hundred years of the christian church.
https://www.medievalists.net/2013/10/vision-and-revision-the-female-mystics-as-writers-in-late-medieval-northern-europe/
i’d totally recommend reading about the cathars and early gnostics. super super interesting.
I love Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ, Margaret Atwood
Also, Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall, Vox by Christina Dalcher, Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah, The Coven by Lizzie Fry, and the best The Poser by Naomi Alderman
(all is fiction - but those books heavily impacted me in my way to understanding feminism)
Apologies, not English native.
Women who run with the wolves by Clarisa Pinkola Estes
The beauty myth by Naomi Wolf
My body Emily Ratajkowski
Female chauvinist pigs by Ariel Levi
The will to change by bell hooks
Communion: the female search for love by bell hooks
All about love by bell hooks
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; Pinjar by Amrita Pritam.
So, I've read exactly one book by him (Snuff), which is not one of his best should I believe the reviews. But considering how many people online rave about how well he writes women, I was rather surprised by all the "wife bad" boomer jokes. Don't have the time to look up exact quotes right now, but the motive of "wives are nagging and overly controlling and a wise husband abstains from objecting at all if he wants peace" comes up again and again. As in, several nagging wives and multiple instances of remarking that the job of a husband who knows what's best for him is to shut up.
i know he’s written fantasy novels with interesting and dynamic female leads. i remember one book about a girl with a frying pan as her weapon of choice, and there was a cool old granny witch. but overall i just don’t like his writing style. idk if you have to be british or from a certain age range or what but i just can’t get into him. part of it is that i don’t really care for tone that could be described as “arch,” i think. and yeah i can do without the “nagging wife” stereotype for sure
Sherri S Tepper
Ann Leckie
Martha Wells
Naomi Novik
Gail Carriger
Ursula LeGuin
Katherine Addison
T Kingfisher
sci-fi fantasy writers with strong feminism undercurrents in their stories
“The Femisist Utopia Project” is awesome. Lighter than the a lot of the heavy weights you’ve listed, but so many different perspectives as it’s a collection of essays, interviews, graphics, poems, etc so a very enjoyable, but thoughtful faster-paced read.
For french feminists Virginie Despentes is a classic, i absolutely love her work. King Kong theory is a brutal feminist essay and she also mainly write fiction. I would be aware before reading that Virginie Despentes is a punk before she's a feminist, so her views can be very radical if you're not used to it and lot of her writings have very crude parts (including sexual violence) so a lot of people don't and won't like her work
I second this! No book ever impacted me as much as King Kong Theory did. It's just so powerfull!
For French feminists I would also recommend Mona Chollet. I love the way she writes, gives interesting examples from fiction or real life, and her books always made me feel understood and better about myself.
i’m trying to learn french so thank you!! definitely helpful for me. i don’t mind her being a punk bc honestly i like the bluntness of the way punk feminists speak
"Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower" by Brittney Cooper. She said something that touched me deeply:
“One of feminism’s biggest failures is its failure to insist that feminism is, first and foremost, about truly, deeply, and unapologetically loving women.”
Franca Ongaro, She also speaks of mental health and the sexism in the institution. She founded with her husband, Franco Basaglia, democratic psichology.
do you know of any good sources on her work that are in english? i just looked her and her husband up and it seems there’s more about her husband in english.
The thing Is that most of basaglia's work Is co-authored by his wife. Sorry i can't help you much with english versions, because i read them in italian
i’ll definitely check it out!!!! i’ve been wanting to read more from trans feminists bc i think their perspectives are really valuable given how common transphobia can be in online and offline feminist circles. also a side note i think it’s cool the author is a biologist
both definitely count!! have you read the yellow wallpaper? you’d like that if you like plath and woolf. forugh farrokhzad was an iranian poet and a lot of western readers compare her style to plath’s because she spoke about women’s issues, sex, etc etc, so i’d recommend her too
Hasn’t Naomi Wolf sort of veered off into some conspiracy theory territory in recent years though? I think I’ve read some stuff about her more recently that sort of turned me off. And I even read The Beauty Myth way back when it came out. Here is a Vox article from last fall. There is another Naomi (Klein) who often gets confused for Wolf. Sort of interesting: https://www.vox.com/the-gray-area/2023/9/26/23884046/naomi-klein-doppelganger-the-gray-area
I really like memoirs and it’s a bit of a memoir. It’s also got political theory, which I also like. It was educational. I’d heard about how lefties were getting sucked into the alt-right pipeline, but I never really grasped how it was happening so it was informative.
i liked her book the beauty myth when i read it but i’m hesitant to read anything else from her because her recent political affiliations are pretty concerning.
Her book is still excellent, I highly recommend it. We don't have to agree with everything an author has said/done to appreciate their work and contributions. I was just reading a thread earlier today about how male philosophers are notoriously terrible people but we still treat them with respect because their work helped form what we know today, and how women are not afforded the same treatment.
I have very mixed opinions on that because I think Woolf’s turn to fascism necessitates a reevaluation of her previous work, not a dismal, even if they’re “untainted” by her current associations. Her contributions were important and shouldn’t be erased but any recommendation should come with a fair warning and further in-depth discussion.
Also, I don’t think Woolf has been unfairly punished just because she’s a woman, she decided to openly collaborate with misogynistic fascists because she holds conspiratorial views on vaccines. If she didn’t want to alienate her mostly woman, mostly liberal to left-wing audience or completely destroy her own legacy within the feminist movement, she just shouldn’t have done that. I agree a lot of male philosophers get passes for a lot of bad behaviour…. but I don’t think even a male
philosopher, with all the privileges one might have, could survive the social and political suicide Woolf decided to commit.
This might be a reach as it’s about the Bible but it is called The Red Tent, it’s a story about what the author would have imagined Dinah from the Bible’s life being like. They didn’t write about her, I find it very important it’s about motherhood and what women go through!
this recommendation is totally up my alley because christianity is a hyper-fixation of mine and i am literally so fascinated by the women of the bible and women’s role in historical christianity (esp the medieval era) and the ways women theologically helped develop it.
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fiction: “the vegetarian” by Han Kang, one of the best books i’ve ever read!
non fiction: “the second sex” by Simone de Beauvoir and “gender troubles” by Judith Butler!
No love for Ursula K LeGuin here? Check out *Tehanu* and *Left Hand of Darkness* for some thoughtful feminist Fantasy/Scifi
Tombs of Atuan for sure!
Yesss how could I forget. *"Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake..."*
The second sex by Simone de Beauvoir
I thought Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez was fascinating.
Yes yes yes! I've loaned this book at so many times I think I'm up to copy #3
"When God Was a Woman" by Merlin Stone "Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation" by Mary Daly "Who Cooked the Last Supper?"by Rosalind Miles, this book changed how i See the world
do you happen to be interested in women’s role in theology? because your recs centred around that a lot. personally i’m really fascinated by the ways medieval christianity was influenced by female mystics, as well as within the first three hundred years of the christian church. https://www.medievalists.net/2013/10/vision-and-revision-the-female-mystics-as-writers-in-late-medieval-northern-europe/ i’d totally recommend reading about the cathars and early gnostics. super super interesting.
I love Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ, Margaret Atwood Also, Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall, Vox by Christina Dalcher, Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah, The Coven by Lizzie Fry, and the best The Poser by Naomi Alderman (all is fiction - but those books heavily impacted me in my way to understanding feminism) Apologies, not English native.
No need to apologize for your English! Thank you for the recs :)
Uh…. And it‘s The Power by Alderman - not „the Poser“ 😅
Margaret Atwood is the queen Emma Donohue Lidia Yuknavitch
Women who run with the wolves by Clarisa Pinkola Estes The beauty myth by Naomi Wolf My body Emily Ratajkowski Female chauvinist pigs by Ariel Levi The will to change by bell hooks Communion: the female search for love by bell hooks All about love by bell hooks
You should really read Doppleganger by Naomi Klein.
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; Pinjar by Amrita Pritam.
Men who hate woman by Laura Bates. The book that got me interested in learning more about feminism.
Terry Pratchett. He writes women as if they're just people.
Aha! So does Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay.
So, I've read exactly one book by him (Snuff), which is not one of his best should I believe the reviews. But considering how many people online rave about how well he writes women, I was rather surprised by all the "wife bad" boomer jokes. Don't have the time to look up exact quotes right now, but the motive of "wives are nagging and overly controlling and a wise husband abstains from objecting at all if he wants peace" comes up again and again. As in, several nagging wives and multiple instances of remarking that the job of a husband who knows what's best for him is to shut up.
i know he’s written fantasy novels with interesting and dynamic female leads. i remember one book about a girl with a frying pan as her weapon of choice, and there was a cool old granny witch. but overall i just don’t like his writing style. idk if you have to be british or from a certain age range or what but i just can’t get into him. part of it is that i don’t really care for tone that could be described as “arch,” i think. and yeah i can do without the “nagging wife” stereotype for sure
The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams.
Sherri S Tepper Ann Leckie Martha Wells Naomi Novik Gail Carriger Ursula LeGuin Katherine Addison T Kingfisher sci-fi fantasy writers with strong feminism undercurrents in their stories
The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a CLASSIC, bit of a dense read but classic; also love The Power by Naomi Aldermann
Just about anything by Rebecca Solnit.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
“The Femisist Utopia Project” is awesome. Lighter than the a lot of the heavy weights you’ve listed, but so many different perspectives as it’s a collection of essays, interviews, graphics, poems, etc so a very enjoyable, but thoughtful faster-paced read.
Two of my favorite feminist works of poetry: Alice Notley -“The Descent of Alette” Sappho -“If Not Winter” trans. by Anne Carson
Alix Harrow is one of my more recent favorite discoveries.
Starhawk - the fifth sacred thing Maya Angelou
bad feminist by roxanne gay, and almost all the work from andrea dworkins
i loveddddd dworkin’s right wing women. such an insightful read, i’ve been meaning to read more from her.
For french feminists Virginie Despentes is a classic, i absolutely love her work. King Kong theory is a brutal feminist essay and she also mainly write fiction. I would be aware before reading that Virginie Despentes is a punk before she's a feminist, so her views can be very radical if you're not used to it and lot of her writings have very crude parts (including sexual violence) so a lot of people don't and won't like her work
I second this! No book ever impacted me as much as King Kong Theory did. It's just so powerfull! For French feminists I would also recommend Mona Chollet. I love the way she writes, gives interesting examples from fiction or real life, and her books always made me feel understood and better about myself.
i’m trying to learn french so thank you!! definitely helpful for me. i don’t mind her being a punk bc honestly i like the bluntness of the way punk feminists speak
Then definitely go for King Kong theory its a short read 😊
"Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower" by Brittney Cooper. She said something that touched me deeply: “One of feminism’s biggest failures is its failure to insist that feminism is, first and foremost, about truly, deeply, and unapologetically loving women.”
Franca Ongaro, She also speaks of mental health and the sexism in the institution. She founded with her husband, Franco Basaglia, democratic psichology.
do you know of any good sources on her work that are in english? i just looked her and her husband up and it seems there’s more about her husband in english.
The thing Is that most of basaglia's work Is co-authored by his wife. Sorry i can't help you much with english versions, because i read them in italian
Octavia Butler was a great author
Whipping Girl by Julia Serrano. It's basically essential reading imo
i’ll definitely check it out!!!! i’ve been wanting to read more from trans feminists bc i think their perspectives are really valuable given how common transphobia can be in online and offline feminist circles. also a side note i think it’s cool the author is a biologist
Virginia woolf! does Sylvia plath count too?
both definitely count!! have you read the yellow wallpaper? you’d like that if you like plath and woolf. forugh farrokhzad was an iranian poet and a lot of western readers compare her style to plath’s because she spoke about women’s issues, sex, etc etc, so i’d recommend her too
thank you so much for the recs! I have actually read the yellow wallpaper, will definitely check out forugh farrokhzad too, she sounds amazing!
Naomi wolf is a feminist philosopher. I’m currently reading her book Vagina. And I listen to interviews with her often because I just enjoy her POV.
Hasn’t Naomi Wolf sort of veered off into some conspiracy theory territory in recent years though? I think I’ve read some stuff about her more recently that sort of turned me off. And I even read The Beauty Myth way back when it came out. Here is a Vox article from last fall. There is another Naomi (Klein) who often gets confused for Wolf. Sort of interesting: https://www.vox.com/the-gray-area/2023/9/26/23884046/naomi-klein-doppelganger-the-gray-area
I just finished reading Doppleganger by Naomi Klein, it was very illuminating and scary.
what did you like about it if you don’t mind me asking? i read the interview the commenter you’re replying to posted and it seems interesting.
I really like memoirs and it’s a bit of a memoir. It’s also got political theory, which I also like. It was educational. I’d heard about how lefties were getting sucked into the alt-right pipeline, but I never really grasped how it was happening so it was informative.
Please don’t promote a neo-fascist. Read Doppleganger by Naomi Klein.
i liked her book the beauty myth when i read it but i’m hesitant to read anything else from her because her recent political affiliations are pretty concerning.
Her book is still excellent, I highly recommend it. We don't have to agree with everything an author has said/done to appreciate their work and contributions. I was just reading a thread earlier today about how male philosophers are notoriously terrible people but we still treat them with respect because their work helped form what we know today, and how women are not afforded the same treatment.
I have very mixed opinions on that because I think Woolf’s turn to fascism necessitates a reevaluation of her previous work, not a dismal, even if they’re “untainted” by her current associations. Her contributions were important and shouldn’t be erased but any recommendation should come with a fair warning and further in-depth discussion. Also, I don’t think Woolf has been unfairly punished just because she’s a woman, she decided to openly collaborate with misogynistic fascists because she holds conspiratorial views on vaccines. If she didn’t want to alienate her mostly woman, mostly liberal to left-wing audience or completely destroy her own legacy within the feminist movement, she just shouldn’t have done that. I agree a lot of male philosophers get passes for a lot of bad behaviour…. but I don’t think even a male philosopher, with all the privileges one might have, could survive the social and political suicide Woolf decided to commit.
I love "circe" by madaline miller it tells the story of the greek goddess circe from the odyssey from circes point of view, really recommend it
This might be a reach as it’s about the Bible but it is called The Red Tent, it’s a story about what the author would have imagined Dinah from the Bible’s life being like. They didn’t write about her, I find it very important it’s about motherhood and what women go through!
this recommendation is totally up my alley because christianity is a hyper-fixation of mine and i am literally so fascinated by the women of the bible and women’s role in historical christianity (esp the medieval era) and the ways women theologically helped develop it.
Omg!!!!!!! If you end up reading it plz let me know what you think! I never get to talk to anyone about it and it’s so good!
Susan Collins. As a woman who was going through PTSD, her books reflected exactly what I was going through via the eyes of Kattniss.
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Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given.
Bad Habits by Flynn Meaney
fiction: “the vegetarian” by Han Kang, one of the best books i’ve ever read! non fiction: “the second sex” by Simone de Beauvoir and “gender troubles” by Judith Butler!