IF YOU LOVE HARRY POTTER! • The tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K.Rowling •Fantastic beasts and where to find them (the original book), J.K.Rowling; Fantastic beasts and where to find them the original screenplay, J.K.Rowling •Quidditch through the ages, J.K.R. •The secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel, Michael Scott •Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children, Ransom Riggs •Harry Potter and the cursed child, J.K.R. •The chronicles of Narnia, Clive Staples Lewis •The Hobbit; Lord of the rings, J.R.R. Tolkien It's just my list, my opinion. Have a good day!
For all of these I'm not going to point out everything wrong or that I disagree with in them; I assume you'll be reading critically, taking value and discarding other stuff. I'm writing these from memory of my impressions and key points. I may get things wrong - please feel free to lmk if I do :)
The Second Sex
- Recommended reading
- Highly influential in second wave feminism
- Dense, technical language - can be a difficult read
- Check which translation you read
- I love her style of analysis, focused on how neutral biological difference is not neutral within society and results in different attitudes between men and women.
Feminist Revolution
- Recommended reading
- Produced by Redstockings (radical feminist group)
- Radical Feminism Theory text / collection of writing from various authors
- Redstockings are well known for the pro-woman line "woman are messed over, not messed up" (don't focus on conditioning or sex roles, focus on power imbalances, women cannot opt out of misogyny via individual changes) and for consciousness raising (learn about women's condition through analysis of lives of women in the group and their struggles)
- I love the focus on power and agree with many of the critiques of lifestylism
- However I also think some of the authors were guilty of overgeneralising what women in general want from what women in the group wanted and pedestalling heterosexuality
- Each section is a pdf only a few pages long (from their website) and the language is not convoluted, so it's easy to read a bit at a time or pick out essays of interest to you
The Book of the City of Ladies
- Not knowing much European history I struggled with placing a decent chunk of the names (she draws extremely heavily on examples)
- As can be expected from a book from the 1400s it is not a radical feminist theory text
- It is a moral defense of women and the author is a Christian woman, which is clear in the text
- You really do get that sense of "she was commenting on that then and it's still a problem now"
Women, Race and Class
- Recommended reading
- I particularly liked the discussion on wages for housework
- It offers what the title says: examination of the intersection of women, race and class
- US focused
- feminist history and theory text
The Dialectic of Sex:
- I really wanted to really like this, my expectations were very high so that may well be part of why I feel underwhelmed by it
- I think it is worth reading - although I expect other readers to also object to components of it - even if for no other reason than to interrogate her assertions about the requirements for womens' liberation
- Straight after this I read women race & class which briefly criticises this text for perpetuating myths irt black men sexualising white women
- I agree with Firestone's claim that the condition of women and children are highly linked and I support children being able to have more autonomy. I cannot agree with the idea of removing childhood entirely (she is explicit about this including irt sexuality) & I think the treatment of children's vulnerability was unfortunately shallow - which is especially unfortunate given her recognition of the links between childhood and women's liberation
- Explicitly radical feminist theory text
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982:
- Short read, fiction
- This is an easy, quick read suitable for women without background in feminism
- It's great at identifying the "little" (or not so little) everyday misogyny that permeates women's lives
- Don't expect it to give you direction or theory knowledge
- Focus on South Korean women, the focus of the book on pointing out the unfairness of what typical resonates cross-culturally
Daring to be bad:
- Recommend reading
- Can be a bit difficult at the v. start if not familiar with US 1960s history to keep track of the groups but soon becomes easier
- Provides information about US radical feminism, how it started and how it went from a focus on gender abolition up to political lesbianism & idea of men and women having innately different natures
- Explicitly radical feminist history text focusing on 2nd wave (author's views are also apparent)
- Self aware about it but focus again on the stereotypical group
The female eunuch:
- I mostly read this because it was recommend to be by an older self-identified radical feminist who talked about how influential it was at the time
- Still relevant today
- I thought the concept (something like: women being used for sex and yet having our sexual desire/energy stripped from us) was interesting and worth reading
- Explicitly radical feminist theory text focusing on 2nd wave
- Very much focused on the stereotypical feminist group - white, western, heterosexual etc.
Talkin' up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism
- Wayyy too postmodern for me - difficult read
-- I particularly hated how she comments on some Queer Theory authors including bestiality in "Queer" -> without criticising that
- Aileen Moreton-Robertson wrote this based on her dissertation
- Relevant criticisms of white feminism and discussion of Indigenous understandings
Who cooked the last supper? The woman's history of the world
- I mostly read this because of how much a woman whose blogging I respect hypes it
- don't get me wrong there were good bits (and I certainly wouldn't take back reading it) but it wasn't that groundbreaking for me
- You might like it more if matriarchy is smth you get hyped about
- Expect mentions of other groups but still a relatively stereotypical focus
The hidden face of eve
- Recommended reading
- Nawal El Sadaawi is socialist feminist, not radical feminist, still read the book
- If you're not convinced search her name up, learn about her, then read it
- Discusses feminism in an Egyptian context and provides guidance to readers on not using feminism as an imperialist bludgeoning tool
Gyn//ecology
- This book should not be recommended for beginners
- Seriously, I cannot emphasise the above point enough.
- The ways she uses language requires adjustment
-- Including being like "Lesbian is for women-identified-women, not mere female homosexuals, for whom I'll use lowercase 'lesbian' " (I'm paraphrasing from memory but that is the gist / it is really THAT bad)
- quote from Audre Lorde's An Open Letter to Mary Daly "As an African-american woman in white patriarchy, I am used to having my archetypal experience distorted and trivialised, but it is terribly painful to feel it being done by a woman whose knowledge so much touches my own."
- There are some useful criticisms of patriarchy in there but the above should make it clear I consider the text highly flawed
- Part of the "Lesbian Feminism" branch (read: political lesbianism)
Invisible women
- Good "look how feminism is still relevant!" text, recommended for that (yes, including to radblrians),
- Easy read & good book to loan to other women in your life
- I really liked it but don't expect it to challenge or deepen your ideological understanding that much
- Recent feminist text, focusing on statistics
Sexy but psycho
- imo: some good some not so good in there
- this book may mislead you if you are not familiar with the relevant subject matter & there's alleged dodgy ethics stuff with the author
- Dr Jessica Taylor openly describes herself as a radical feminist. She does have a PhD in psychology (not in clinical psychology)
- I disagree with her thesis that all mental illness should be viewed through a trauma lens & imo the handwaving away of the biopsychosocial model as bio-bio-bio is intellectually lazy
- recent feminist text focusing on (poor) treatment of women in psychology & psychiatry
The beauty myth
- good text to read if you're trying to care less about your appearance, particularly if you are white and western
- Naomi Wolf treated some of the statistics poorly so be aware of that (take any stats she lists about anorexia with a grain of salt, there's a research paper on this). She's also a conspiracy theorist, so makes sense I guess?
- Feminist text form the 90's
Ain't I a woman
- Recommended reading
- Illuminating text focusing on how Black women in the US have faced the double burden of racism and misogyny as well as overlapping misogynoir
- Explicitly discusses feminism and Black women's roles in it
Right wing women
- Recommended reading
- Very radblr friendly - don't expect much ideological challenge
- Radical feminist theory text focusing on why right wing women would work against their own liberation
I read I think 6 Sheila Jeffrey's books in the span of less than a week so they've blurred together - can't provide much useful commentary but those were my first intro to feminist theory books
I think Abdullah Öcallan's ideas on needing to restructure the family to restructure society & his ideas around what that society would look like are interesting to read. (If unfamiliar look up who he is before diving into Jineology research)
Honorary shout out to why does he do that? - also recommended reading
I also recommend looking up statistics for women in your area (including dis-aggregated ones for different groups of women) & of course talking with and learning from women irl.
There are maybe, 5ish others I've read that are on feminist drives and that sort of thing but I can't be bothered writing any more rn and at first I forgot them for inclusion so clearly not the biggest deal (they're not key theory texts or anything).
Hello ! Here is my first masterpost on French Literature, I hope it will be good. If you are interested, these plays are some of the must-read in French Literature. • Racine : Phèdre / Andromaque / Bérénice • Corneille - La Place royale / Le Cid / Cinna / L'Illusion Comique • Molière - Le Malade imaginaire / les Fourberies de Scapin / le Bourgeois gentilhomme / le Misanthrope / Dom Juan / le Tartuffe • Marivaux - Les Fausses confidences / le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard / la Double Inconstance / L'île des Esclaves • Beaumarchais - Les Noces de Figaro / le Barbier de Séville • Rostand : Cyrano de Bergerac • Musset - Lorenzaccio • Hugo - Ruy Blas / Hernani • Jarry : Ubu Roi • Anouilh : Antigone • Sartre : Huis clos / les mains sales • Cocteau : la Machine infernale
