SAWNET: Feminist literature

Feminist Literature

This isn't a comprehensive list of feminist literature, by any means. Someone asked for recommendations, and this is a collection of the Sawnet responses.

Everything by Moroccan feminist Fatima Mernissi. e.g. Women's Rebellion & Islamic Memory
Adriene Rich, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. (WW Norton, NY, USA, 1976)
Anything by bell hooks. e.g. "Ain't I a woman?" "Motherhood"
Geraldine Brooks : Nine Parts of Desire : The Hidden World of Islamic Women
Janice Rayond : Women as Wombs: Reproductive Technologies and the battle over Women's Freedom. (HarperSanFrancisco, USA, 1993)
Meenakshi Thapan : Embodiment: Essays on Gender and Identity (Oxford University Press, India, 1997)
Ruth Frankenberg : White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness (University of Minnesota Press, USA, 1996).
Noel Keane : Surrogate Mother (Everest House, NY, USA, 1981)
Joanna Russ : To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction (Indiana University Press, USA,1995).

If you are interested in a book list, soc.feminism (the news group) has FAQ that lists those. the newsgroup is a moderated newsgroup.

[soc.feminism references part 1]

[soc.feminism references part 2]

[soc.feminism references part 3]

I read Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. Though it was mostly geared at white middle class, I did see shades of my mother in some of the issues she describes. I would recommend it.
The Female Ape, by Sarah Blffer Hrdy. She is a fine writer and discussed how primatologists made assumptions about women based on other primate behavior and how those assumptions were tainted by their male p.o.v.
Mary Daly is also a well known feminist though i have not read any books by her. I think she is from the more radical school of feminism that tends to put me off a bit (like all hetero sex is rape etc)
Gloria Steinem is another well known author. In one of her articles she talks of how the world would have been if men menstruated.
There are some black/women of color feminists though their names escape me (what a sad statement). The [soc.feminism] FAQ for sure would mention those.
Not sure if this falls under feminist literature, but I also read (partly) Deborah Tannen's book on male/female communications called You just dont understand!. It's an interesting book about how differently men and women communicate about the same issues etc. Very good. She is very well spoken. I heard her on NPR.
I read Naomi Wolf's first book, The Beauty Myth which I found to be interesting although not groundbreaking.
This bridge called my back which is an anthology from all different backgrounds/cultures.
Backlash by Susan Faludi was another good book.
Germaine Greer has a new book out (I can't remember the title) that you may enjoy -- I heard her on NPR and she was amazing.
Outrageous Acts and Everday Rebellions: Gloria Steinem. Her essay about going undercover as a Playboy bunny is a little dated now--but still eye opening. My favorite essay of hers is "If Men Could Menstruate".
Reviving Ophelia: Mary Bray Pipher. About teenage girls and their body image.
The Beauty Myth: Naomi Wolf.
Backlash: Susan Faludi (very difficult to get through--but says some incredible things)
We Are our Mother's Daughters: Cokie Roberts. Accomplishments of women.
Stupid Things Women do to Mess Up their Lives Laura Schelssinger. Say what you want about her, but her book is pretty helpful and eye-opening.
Our Bodies, Ourselves: Boston Women's Health Book Collective. A Health book for women by women. Teaches us not to be afraid or shamed by our bodies.
May you be the mother of a hundred sons: Elisabeth Bumiller. One of my all-time favourite books on Indian women.
And finally--to get an feminist criticism point of view (always important to read opposing views): Vamps and Tramps: Camille Paglia.
I'm not a fan of Naomi Wolf -- I find her books, including Fire WIth Fire and The Beauty Myth, to be too anectodal and "pop feminist" for my liking. I also haven't enjoyed what I've read of other "pop feminists" like Elizabeth Wurtzel (Prozac Nation,Bitch) or Katie Roiphe.

For WESTERN feminist classics:

Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (GG's latest book, The Whole Woman I think it is called, isn't that great)

Kate Millett: Sexual Politics

Simone de Beauvior: The Second Sex

Virginia Woolf : A Room of One's Own

Virginia Woolf : Three Guineas (a personal favorite--it is kind of a primer in feminist economics)

Joan Wallach Scott : Gender and the Politics of History and Women, Work and Family

Elizabeth Fox Genovese and Evelyn Fox Keller: these two women have written a lot on feminism and science

Donna Haraway -- has also written a lot on feminism and science (The Cyborg Manifesto)

Luce Irigiray : Speculum of the Other Woman (feminism and psychoanalysis)

Monique Wittig (queer feminism)

Judith Butler (queer feminism)

Angela Y. Davis : several books on women, race, and politics

Audre Lorde : Zami, Sister Outsider, Undersong (queer Af-Am feminism)

More recently from the West:

Susan Faludi : Backlash (one of the better pop feminism books), 1992

Of course there is a ton written on postcolonial feminism and feminism of the diaspora. It all used to be known as "third world feminism," of course!

Chandra Talpade Mohanty is a good place to start. Under Western Eyes is one of her earlier articles. She also edited a volume called Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism

M. Jacqui Alexander

Anannya Bhattacharjee

Honor Ford-Smith

Evelynn M. Hammonds

Kalpana Kannabiran

Kavita Panjabi

Ratna Kapur :Subversive Sites --book on feminism and Indian law

Kamala Visweswaran : Fictions of Feminist Ethnography --a rather chatty enthnography of Tamilian women. An easy read

Kumari Jayawardena and Malathi de Alwis: Embodied Violence: Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia

Tanika Sarkar and Urvashi Butalia, eds: Women and Right Wing Movements: Indian Experiences

M. Marchand and J. Papart: Feminism, Postmodernism, and Development

In terms of feminist or feminism-friendly presses, you might want to request catalogues from the following publication houses:

Routledge: they have an excellent series called "Thinking Gender." Routledge Books are wonderfully produced but are also extremely expensive!

Kali for Women, in New Delhi

Zed Books, London

Sage Publications (they have a series on Gender and the Household) lots of feminism and social science.
An Islamic Feminist author Nadia Hijab, I think she wrote women and work in the Middle East?
It was great having you all suggest things to read. I love the way Sawnet works like this. It also prompted me to recommend a book I read last year. Called Wives, Mistresses and Matriarchs:Asian Women Today (1998)it is by an Australian Journalist, Louise Williams, who has spent the last 15 years or so in various Asian countries. Each chapter of the book is about a different woman she has met, from the famous to the unkown. It is not high brow academic, is very readable, and challenges the Western conception of the powerlessness of women in Asia. As most of you appear to be in North America, I thought you may not have heard of it, and some of you might be interested.
Cinderella Complex - can't remember the author but it was about why women need to support themselves and not look to a man to do so.
Daughters of Independence by Rama Joshi and Joanna Liddy - very interesting study of women who made something of themselves - a historical and social perspective on what were the factors that worked for them when others could not break out of the social mode. It also talks of caste, class and gender in shaping women's lives.
I believe the woman that people are looking for is the Egyptian feminist Nawal Sadawi. She is an M.D. but she has also written numerous novels and writings on women including Woman at point zero, The fall of the Imam etc. Hope she is the one. She certainly is a prolific writer.
Colonize This! Ms. Magazine columnist Hernandez and poet Bushra Rehman, both feminist activists, have assembled a broad collection of essays by young women writers, academics, and activists from a range of cultures and sexual orientations. One writer describes herself as a "mixed brown girl, Sri-Lankan and New England mill-town white trash," and clearly delineates the organizing differences between whites and women of color: "We do not kick ass the way the white girls do, in meetings of NOW or riot grrl. For us, it's all about family." A Korean-American woman struggles to create her own identity in a traditional community: "Yam-ja-neh means nice, sweet, compliant. I've heard it used many times by my parents' friends who don't know shit about me." An Arab-American feminist deconstructs the "quaint vision" of Middle-Eastern women with which most Americans feel comfortable.