logo

search

  • Home
  • About the Harpies
  • Contact Us
  • FAQ
delete
bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark bookmark

The Feminist Bookshelf

Posted by PhDork in Harpy Seminar, Education, Feminism, So-Called Self-Improvement on Feb 27, 2009, 11:00am | 63 comments
This picture makes me all drooly. Via Here's Kate @ Flickr.

This picture makes me all drooly. Via Here's Kate @ Flickr.

Welcome to Harpy Seminar, a regular feature we plan to have at regular intervals, unless we get too busy to have it at regular intervals, in which case it shall appear whenever we have time and inclination for it. Each Seminar begins with a question, which we discuss amongst ourselves, and we then edit the highlights of our conversation into a post. Please feel free to join in in the comments!

This week’s question: What book or books do you (or would you) recommend to other feminists? Please interpret this as broadly as you wish: the book/s can be theoretical, or historical, or studies, or good fiction–whatever, whether it’s officially “feminist” or not. What have you read that helped you identify as a feminist, or gave voice to your concerns as a feminist?

sarah.of.a.lesser.god: One of the reasons I stopped reading fiction around the age of sixteen was that I just could not find any representations of female characters that resonated with me or even felt like it was an incisive depiction of women’s lives within the sphere of societal dictates.

I delved into nonfiction, starting with theological history, like the works of Barbara G. Walker, Elaine Pagels, and Karen Armstrong. They opened my eyes to the treatment of women in organized religion, from shunting them aside to systematic oppression. Pagels’ Adam, Eve, and the Serpent was particularly influential, and she simultaneously won a National Book Award and was slammed by the uber-conservative Christian Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

I was raised in an extremely liberal and mainly atheist household, where the oppression of women was not something I recognized as a daily occurrence in my life. Reading Pagels and Walker really showed me exactly how necessary feminism is, in both theistic and atheistic contexts.

BeckySharper: I can’t remember ever reading anything and having a “eureka” moment of feminist enlightenment, but even as a kid I was always drawn to books about strong women, probably because I grew up with well-educated, empowered women, so I sought out books about similar women. My aunt gave me a copy of Jane Eyre when I was nine and it became one of my favorite books ever, because Jane had such an iron backbone, and because I thought of myself as a bit of an ugly duckling, too. The same could probably be said of my love for Anne Shirley and Laura Ingalls Wilder. And of course, I always had a fondness for Thackeray’s Becky Sharp, who is not in any way a nice or even sympathetic character, but she’s resourceful, cunning and determined to make the best of the hand she was dealt, patriarchy be damned!

SarahMC: I have not read any official feminist books. I know, crazy, right? But I recommend the novel Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen by Alix Kates Shulman. It was published in 1969 and was described as the “first feminist novel” by its original publisher. It’s about Sasha Davis, a rebellious Midwestern girl who struggles to find herself whilst living in a male-dominated society. Some things have changed, but too much as stayed the same since the 40′s and 50′s.

PhDork: Rebellious Midwestern girl in a male-dominated society? YO SOY SASHA DAVIS. I’ve heard of AKS, but never read that book. There are tons of books that I look back on from my childhood and can understand what I liked about them (like Ann of Green Gables, the Little House books, the works of Frances Hodgson Burnett), but more recently, one non-fiction book I’ve gone back to time and again was Natalie Angier’s Woman: An Intimate Biography. Angier is smart and readable, and I am endlessly fascinated by the amazing abilities of human, especially female, bodies. It made me think differently about my body, and what it can do.

As far as books that were more explicitly feminist (but not theory-heavy) that made me get all farrred up early in my college days: Carol Tavris’s The Mismeasure of Women, Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth, and Jean Kilbourne’s Deadly Persuasions. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a smart, enlightening read.

And of course everyone has to read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. RIGHT NOW.

Becky Sharper: Can I also put in a plug for the classic of classics, Our Bodies, Ourselves? My mother had the first edition, which I would pull off the shelf and sneak-read when she wasn’t at home. Oh the education I received! And then when I was 15, she gave me a copy of my own–the second edition–and I now have the latest edition. It’s one-stop shopping for accurate, empathetic information about women’s health and nearly every other aspect of our lives. Fuck the Gideon Bible–it’s Our Bodies, Ourselves that should be handed out for free to every woman in the world.

Pilgrim Soul: OMG, PHDORK, IT’S ANNE WITH AN “E”. She would have been horrified. She was pretty formative for me; my parents began reading me the books when I was six. I also loved Emily of New Moon. L.M. Montgomery is wonderful for all the awesome women in her books. I still to this day, hear Mrs. Lynde telling me “Pilgrim Soul, you are HEEDLESS and IMPULSIVE!” at least once a day.

My feminist awakening came in a class, as you know, so I don’t actually associate it with text in quite the same way. I read a lot of MacKinnon and Butler early on, but I would just, were I advising someone today, say just go straight to “A Room of One’s Own.” I’m not a fan of Woolf’s fiction, but that essay illuminated so many things for me and my friends when we were lit students.

PhDork: It was a typo, I swear. A heedless and impulsive typo.

So, readers, what life-changing books have you read? What would you recommend to your fellow Harpies?

Bookmark and share this post:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • De.lirio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • TwitThis
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • email

63 Responses to “The Feminist Bookshelf”

  1. jdregent says:
    February 27, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    omg Octavia Butler!!! how could i forget???

  2. yvanehtnioj says:
    February 27, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Caro K – Thanks for the poetry recommends; I’ve been trying to get better acquainted with poetry but it’s daunting to know where to jump in.

  3. romastrega says:
    February 27, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    Emilyanne, I agree – and if you need more guilty pleasures read Clare’s trilogy as well; the two authors are close friends.
    My concentration for my Italian degree was Italian feminist/women’s writing so if anyone is interested I can recommend Dacia Mariani, Elsa Morante, Veronica Franco and Natalia Ginzburg off the top of my head. Dacia & Veronica both wrote amazing poetry.

  4. Mireille says:
    February 27, 2009 at 9:50 pm

    My 19th Century French Novel class was, not so much a feminist “awakening”, but realizing that mostly what I believed was considered Feminist. The novels weren’t necessarily feminist in nature, but since the class was taught by a professor that had a degree in Women’s Studies/French Lit, they were all studied from a feminist perspective. The one that we did read by a female writer was “Indiana” by George Sand. She was an early feminist, though probably not as feminism is described today. And reading Flaubert and Balzac (noted realists) and how they supposedly “realistically” portrayed female characters was a great learning experience.

  5. PhDork says:
    February 27, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    It’s bedtime (because I am skuh-ware), but I wanted to say thank you to all the commenters for your reading suggestions. I have an enormous list of new-to-me stuff to choose from now. I hope you do, too.

  6. elibard says:
    February 28, 2009 at 1:21 am

    Mireille, I think we took very similar 19th Cen French Novel classes, from similar profs! Except we didn’t read Indiana in mine.

    Okay, this isn’t a book, and it’s an obvious classic, but I always simultaneously enjoy and am tortured by The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Also I keep trying to read Doris Lessing, as one of those “I-ought-to-enjoy” authors, but I just don’t.

  7. May says:
    February 28, 2009 at 8:16 am

    Lost in Translation: Life in a New Language is the most enlightening, amazing book with a fucking awesome feminist hero.

    It is my bible.

  8. DontFearTheReefer says:
    February 28, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    i read female chauvinist pigs last summer (before my junior year of college) and i think it was at that point i decided i was a radical feminist. i was on a service trip at the time, and some of the younger, high school-age girls seemed interested in what i was reading. i ended up lending it out and it got passed around and read by almost every girl on the trip with me. ariel levy’s writing is particularly good because it resonates so well with teenagers in our cultural context, and the pop-psychology writing is accessible and fun. if any of you are looking to awaken a teenage girl to the wonders of feminism, this is a great place to start!

  9. DontFearTheReefer says:
    February 28, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    also, my favorite feminist children’s book series of all time: the lioness rampant series by tamora pierce! alanna the lioness is one of the most ass-kicking female heroines i have encountered in literature, children’s or otherwise. they are still some of my favorite books to this day.

  10. lyssamez says:
    March 1, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    I think that every young woman should read the book “The F-Word” by Kristen Rowe-Finkbeiner. It is a very well-read look at the importance of voting in young women’s lives, as well as reasons they have for shunning voting and the term feminism, and why it is important they not do this.

    Also, I found Pledged by Alexandra Robbins to be enthralling.

  11. Dutchie says:
    March 2, 2009 at 9:28 am

    I totally agree with May on “Lost in Translation”, Eva Hofmann is a very inspiring person. I’ve read this book a couple of times now, and it keeps intriguing me.

  12. copykatparis says:
    March 2, 2009 at 9:52 am

    Very, very, very hard to find novels that seem to forget there’s another non-male way of looking at the world. Forgetting about the movie adaptations, there’s the classic Gone With the Wind which is one of the best books ever written; Janet Fitch’s White Oleander for the female-centered narrative, Barbara Trapedo’s delightful Temples of Delight… but what else? (I’m also talkikng about *good* female-centric novels. ;-) ).

  13. » A Quick Review and Recommendation: That Pretty Pretty The Pursuit of Harpyness says:
    March 2, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    [...] this to say: go see it. In light of the book discussion we had last week, I would urge you (and I’m sure Callaghan would too, even if it [...]

« Older Comments

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

random posts

In Memoriam: Miep Gies (1909-2010)...
Spotted Hyena: UR DOIN IT RITE...
On Thin Privilege...

recent comments

  • Skada: In my pre-feminist days, I used to wish people would catcall...
  • Cimorene: @Cat - This is an excellent point; my apologies for neglecti...
  • mischiefmanager: That cartoon is so sad, and so true. I don't get that stu...
  • Dawn.: Hugh Hefner is a total douche-bag. I'm not surprised some ri...
  • Cat: Just thought I'd add that you ought to refine your definitio...
  • JessMess: THANK YOU so much for this. I read it on a certain other sit...

Tags

Abortion Activism Anger Anti-feminists Assweasels Beauty Culture Busybodies Children Choosing Your Choice Double Standards Education Empowerfulment Fashion Fat Is A Feminist Issue Feminism Great Male Narcissists Hollywood Ladylike Endeavors LGBT Marriage Masculinity Misogyny Motherhood Overshare Politics Race Racism Rants Religion Reproductive rights Sex Sexism Sexual violence So-Called Self-Improvement Solipsism Stereotypes The Media Theory and Practice Things That Are Awesome Unexpected Consequences Uteri Police Violence against women and girls Women's Health Women's Work Work Administrative Professionals Day (2)
Anonymous Prosecutor (3)
Culcha Vulcha (31)
Feminist Food for Thought (12)
Friday Fun Thread (47)
Guest Post (16)
Harpy Book Club (10)
Harpy Cinematical Society (8)
Harpy Droppings (2)
Harpy Hall of Fame (20)
Harpy Periodical (3)
Harpy Seminar (23)
Harpy Shout-out (51)
Harpy Televisual Society (3)
Heard (1)
Help Me Harpies! (5)
Honorary Harpies (16)
Housekeeping (23)
International Museum of Women (1)
Language Matters (19)
Linkaround (5)
Morning Snark (39)
Reader Request (7)
Retro Pleasures (10)
Solo Flying (54)
Thoughts (835)
You Have Got To Be Fucking Kidding Me (100)

WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.

Blogroll

  • A Truly Elegant Mess
  • Bitch
  • Bookslut
  • Deeply Problematic
  • Echidne of the Snakes
  • F Bomb
  • Feminist Law Professors
  • Feminist Philosophers
  • Feministe
  • Feministing
  • Fugitivus
  • FWD/Forward
  • Geek Feminism
  • gudbuy t'jane
  • Hoyden About Town
  • Hysteria!
  • I Blame the Patriarchy
  • Jezebel
  • Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose
  • Katha Pollitt
  • Like a Whisper
  • Maud Newton
  • Pandagon
  • Racialicious
  • Rage Against the Man-chine
  • Salon’s Broadsheet
  • Shakesville
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • The Angry Black Woman
  • The Curvature
  • The F Word
  • The Feminist Agenda
  • The Feminist Texican
  • Tiger Beatdown
  • Womanist Musings
  • Women’s Voices for Change

Archives

  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009

Search

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Valid XHTML
  • XFN
  • WordPress

Twitter Updates

google

google

.

Copyright © 2010. Creative Commons License
The Pursuit of Harpyness is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Powered by Wordpress | Designed by Elegant Themes

The harpy art you see in our banner above is by Ursula Dodge. Visit her etsy store!