Incomplete Masterpost on Radical Feminist Literature
This is an incomplete list of literature associated with radical feminism. Currently, it dates back to the late 1960s and goes up to the 2010s. Since this list contains historical readings, some books discussed were written by women who have done actions that ranged from questionable to the absolute immoral. In regards to the latter, I believe it would be incredibly irresponsible to pretend that radical feminism have not allowed these women a space in a community that is supposed to condemn those behaviors and actions. If you are interested in reading the literature created by any of the authors who participated, endorsed, or did unforgivable things, I urge you to find a means of accessing those works in a way that would not result in them or their foundations receiving compensation. Also, please remember to read their works with a very critical lenses. Thank you.
SCUM Manifesto (1967)
SCUM Manifesto argues that men have ruined the world, and that it is up to women to fix it. To achieve this goal, it suggests the formation of an organization dedicated to overthrowing society and eliminating the male sex. Author Valerie Solanoas, a lesbian, also urged women to "overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex." It's currently debated whether SCUM Manifesto is satire or parody, due to its parallels with Freud's theory of femininity. NOTE: Author Valerie Solanoas is known for her stalking and attempted murder of Andy Warhol. The motive for the attempt on his life was decided to be due to undiagnosed mental illness that convinced her of conspiracy between Warhol and another artist to steal her works. Warhol developed PTSD after the incidents, according to his lover(s) and friends. Personally, it is up to yourself whether or not this information sways your decision to buy a copy or access it for free.
Notes From the First Year (1968)
New York Radical Women complied a group of feminist texts and speeches from their work in 1968. The compliation included texts from Shulamith Firestone, Jennifer Gardner, Kathy Amatniek, and Anne Koedt.
The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970)
Described as a classic of feminist thought, Jewish author Shulamith Firestone argues that the biological division of labor in reproduction in the root cause of male domination, economic exploitation, racism, imperialism, and ecological irresponsibility. She argues that goal of the feminist revolution must be not just the elimination of male privilege but of the sex distinction itself, so that genital differences no longer have cultural significance.
Sexual Politics (1970)
Based on her PhD dissertation, Kate Millett's book is regarded as a classic of feminism and one of radical feminism's key texts. Dr. Millett argues that sex has a frequently neglected political aspect and discusses the role that patriarchy plays in sexual relations. She argues that authors such as D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, and Norman Mailer discuss sex in a patriarchal, sexist way. Meanwhile, she endorses the more nuanced gender politics of gay writer Jean Genet. Note: Kate Millet has endorsed pedophilia, excusing her endorsement by pretending it is for the liberation of children. If you have a desire to read Sexual Politics, please find a means to access it without contributing to her. Read the book with a VERY critical lenses due to what she endorses.
Sisterhood is Powerful (1970)
An anthology of feminist writings, it was edited by Robin Morgan and is one of the first widely available anthologies of second-wave feminism. The anthology calls for consciousness-raising and a call to action. The collection addresses several major issues, including "the need for radical feminism, the discrimination women experienced from men in the political left, and the blatant sexism faced in the workplace. Also, the collection most notably included Black Women's Liberation Group.
The Myth of Vaginal Orgasm (1970)
Essayist Anne Koedt responded to the sexual revolution of the 1960s by addressing both the myth of vaginal orgasms and previous thoughts about female orgasms in general. Her article played a vital role in feminist sexual revolution and draws on research done by Alfred Kinsey about human sexuality.
The Female Eunuch (1970)
This is a key text of the 1970s feminist movement, a mixture of polemic and scholarly research. An important text in the feminist movement, Germaine Greer's thesis is that the traditional nuclear family represses women sexually. She argues that men hate women, though the latter do not realize this and are taught to hate themselves. Note: Germaine Greer created and distributed a book that she claimed was "to advance women's reclamation of their capacity for and the right to visual pleasure." The cover of the book was a shirtless picture of 15-year-old boy, who discovered the use of his photo for this photobook in his early 30s. The contents of the book have been described as pedophilic. During the height of #MeToo, Germaine Greer called for women to show solidarity when other women are sexually harassed, but then went on to say: "But if you spread your legs because he said 'be nice to me and I'll give you a job in a movie' then I'm afraid that's tantamount to consent, and it's too late now to start whingeing about that." She also said that some women's disclosure of their assaults and harassment was "dishonorable" because some of the victims had been paid to sign non-disclosure agreements and only spoke out after the statute of limitations. If you have a desire to read The Female Eunuch, please find a means to access it WITHOUT contributing to her and keep in mind these events.
Off Our Backs (1970-2008)
Off Our Backs was a collective of women who practiced consensus decision-making. Consensus decision-making are group decision-making processes in which participants develop and decide on proposals with the requirement of acceptance by all. In the first issue, the editorial statement states that Off Our Back is a paper for all women who are fighting for the liberation of their lives and we hope it will grow and expand to meet the needs of women from all backgrounds and classes. They ask readers to use this paper to relate what you are doing and what you are thinking, for we are convinced that a woman speaking from the agony of her own struggle has a voice that can touch the experience of all women.
Lesbian Nation (1973)
In this book, lesbian separatist Jill Johnston outlines her vision of radical lesbian feminism, writing that women should make a total break from men and male-dominated capitalist institutions. She believes that female heterosexuality was a form of collaboration with patriarchy.
Woman Hating (1974)
Women Hating delves into the topics of misogyny and sexuality. Written by Jewish writer Andrea Dworkin, she examines the place and depiction of women in both fairy tales and pornography. She then compares and contracts between Chinese foot binding and European witch burning. The final section discusses the different cultural concepts of androgyny. Note: In Women Hating, Andrea Dworkin's use of the word erotic makes her sections on bestiality and incest upsetting and potentially triggering to read. Andrea Dworkin is using her self definition of erotic. She does defines erotic as non-sexual and similar to how intimate means close social relations, which is different to how we commonly define the word.
Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (1974)
Jewish author Susan Brownmiller argues that rape is a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear. She criticizes men such as Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels for their oversights on rape, especially challenging the Freudian concept of rape fantasies. Her book is credited with inflencing changes in law regarding rape.
Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981)
Andrea Dworkin argues that pornography dehumanizes women and that the industry itself is implicated in violence against women. She analyzes the contemporary and historical pornography industry in how it abuses women, both in production and consequences from consumption by men. This leads to humiliation and abuse of women.
Ain't I A Woman? (1981)
Titled after Sojourner Truth's speech, Black writer bell hooks examines the effects of misogynoir on Black women, the civil rights movement, and the feminist movements from suffrage to 1970s. She argues that the convergence of sexism and racism during slavery contributed to Black women having the lowest status and worst conditions of any group in American society. Furthermore, she argues that the stereotypes during slavery allowed white society to justify the devaluation of Black femininity and rape of Black women. She also argues that Black nationalism was a largely misogynist movement and the feminist movement did not articulate the needs of poor and non-white women.
Against Sadomasochism (1982)
An anthology with multiple authors, they critique sadomasochism and BDSM from a feminist perspective. Sadomasochism is described as being rooted in patriarchal sexual ideology. Three pieces cites the movement as insensitive to the experiences of black woman, citing "master/slave" relationships. Susan Leigh Star cites the use of swastikas and other Nazi imagery by BDSM practitioners as inherently antisemitic. Marissa Jonel and Elizabeth Harris give personal accounts of their experiences with sadomasochism, while Paula Tiklicorect and Melissa Bay Mathis use satire in their pieces.
Sweet Freedom: The Struggle for Women's Liberation (1982)
Anna Coote, Beatrix Campbell, and Christine Roche look at the progress of women's liberation so far and examine the the reasons for its achivements and failures. As active feminists since the early days of the movement, they provide a unique historical account and strategy for the future. She critiques The Feminine Mystique (1963) as being a limited perspective on women's reality despite its usefulness about the impact of misogyny on housewives, since it did not include non-white women. She uses the term "white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy" as a lens through which to both critique American culture and to offer solutions to the problems she explores. She addresses the goals of feminism, pacifism, solidarity, and the nature of revolution.
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984)
A feminist theory by bell hooks, bell hooks wrote the book as a response to the need for theory that took into account gender, race, and class.
Sisterhood Is Global (1984)
Edited by Robin Morgan, this anthology of feminist writings is the follow-up to Sisterhood is Powerful (1970). It was hailed as a historic publishing event and the definitive text on the international women's movement. It is typically a course text in women's studies, international affairs, global economics, and other disciplines. After its release, Sisterhood Is Forever was published in 2003.
The Spinster and Her Enemies (1985)
Lesbian author Professor Shelia Jeffreys examines feminist involves in the Social Purity movement at the turn of the century. Note: Shelia Jeffrey advocates for political lesbians, albeit her definition of a political lesbian is a "woman-identified woman who does not fuck men." Definitely not the worst of what I've written in "Note:" but I thought it should be mentioned as it is in many of her works as well as political lesbianism being lesbophobic.
Intercourse (1987)
Andrea Dworkin provides a radical feminist analysis of sexual intercourse in literature and society. She argued that the depicitions of intercourse in mainstream art and culture consistently emphasized penis-in-vagina intercourse as the only, most genuine form of "real sex." This kind of depiction then enforces a male-centric, coercive view of sexuality, thus making heterosexual intercourse itself become a central part of men's occupation of women. Although often read as her arguing that heterosexual sex is always rape based on the quote "violation is a synonym for intercourse", Dworkin had stated that "What I think is that sex must not put women in a subordinate position. It must be reciprocal and not an act of aggression from a man looking only to satisfy himself. That is my point."
Feminism Unmodified (1987)
Preceded by Sexual Harrassment of Working Women (1979) and followed by Pornography and Civil Rights (1989), legal scholar Catharine A. MacKinnon archives her collection of critical essays about pornography and liberal feminism. This book is one of the most widely cited books on law in the English language.
Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989)
Catharine A. MacKinnon argues that feminism had no account of male power as an ordered yet deranged whole. She proposes her book as an answer to this problem. She takes Marxism as the theory's point of departure. Unlike liberal theories, she states that Marxism confronts organized social dominance, analyzes it in dynamic rather than static terms,identifies social forces that systematically shape social imperatives, and seeks to explain social freedom both within and against history.
Only Words (1993)
Catharine A. MacKinnon contends that the U.S. legal system has used a First Amendment basis to protect intimidation, subordination, terrorism, and discrimination as enacted through pornography. She believes this violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment. Her book is divided into three discussions: defamation and discrimination, racial and sexual harassment, and equality and speech.
Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed (1996)
This collection reveals the global reach of radical feminism and analyze the causes and solutions to patriarchal oppression. Author Diane Bell shows how radical feminist analysis cuts across class, race, sexuality, region, and religion. She makes visible how male control is exercised in every sphere of women's lives. Contributors to this book include Robin Morgan, Catherine MacKinnon, Marcia Gillespie, and Andrea Dworkin. The editors also asserted that radical feminism should always welcome and acknowledge the diversity of women while stressing commonality. Note: There is a section on therapy and how it is believed to undermine the practice of radical feminism. Do not think this means you are a "bad activist" by going to therapy. If you are interested, there is a type of therapy known as feminist therapy.
Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation (2000)
Andrea Dworkin begins with an analysis of antisemitism and misogyny in world history, making a comparison between the persecution of Jews and the oppression of women. She discusses the sexual politics of Jewish identity and antisemitism, and called for the establishment of a women's homeland as a response to the oppression of women. Note: There is discussion of present-day Israel in this book and the book was found offensive to both Zionists and non-Zionists when it was published. Although Andrea Dworkin stated she supported the Jewish right to have their own state, she described Israel as a male-dominated, militaristic society built on a form of "near apartheid" against Palestinians and Arab Israelis. I recognized that the subtitle is controversial, so I thought fit to include this Note: here.
Sisterhood Is Forever (2003)
The final anthology to the Sisterhood Is series, it has more than 50 women contributing 60 essays. It discusses feminism's emphases and accomplishments as of 2003. Essays range in tone from scholarly to narrative and provide both conservative and liberal viewpoints. The focus is in the United States, addressing why feminism is still needed by providing alarming statistics from the United States.
Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975 (2006)
Lesbian editor Barbara J. Love created a comprehensive directory to document many of the founders and leaders of second wave feminism in America. It tells the stories of more than two thousand women who made permanent changes to customs and laws. She briefly discusses women's liberation to the earlier first wave feminism and presents a brief overview of what second wave feminism means.
The Industrial Vagina (2008)
Lesbian author Professor Shelia Jeffreys writes how prostitution has become a burgeoning and immensely profitable global market sector. She describes the globalization of sex markets, saying: "the right of men to women's bodies for sexual use has not gone, but remains an assumption at the basis of heterosexual relationship." She also draws links between marriage and prostitution, such as mail-order brides. Note: Shelia Jeffreys does advocate for political lesbianism, although she defines it as a "woman-identified-woman who does not fuck men". Very very tame in comparison to about Notes: on this list, but I thought it was important to mention as political lesbianism is lesbophobic.
The Silencing of Feminist Criticism of "Gender" (2013)
Written by thirty-seven radical feminists from five countries, the publication concerns itself with the rise of "gender theory," which avoids naming men and the system of male supremacy as the beneficiaries of women's oppression. It details how organizations tied to radical feminism have been treated by certain proponents of gender theory, such as individual Deep Green Resistance members being threatened with arson, rape, and murder. It also compares the similarities of reactions to feminism by transgender male-to-female individuals and Men's Rights Activists.
