Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists

by Courtney E. Martin, J. Courtney Sullivan

When did you know you were a feminist? Whether it happened at school, at work, while watching TV, or reading a book, many of us can point to a particular moment when we knew we were feminists. In Click, editors Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan bring us a range of women-including Jessica Valenti, Amy Richards, Shelby Knox, Winter Miller, and Jennifer Baumgardner-who share stories about how that moment took shape for them.
Sometimes emotional, sometimes hilarious, this collection gives young women who already identify with the feminist movement the opportunity to be heard-and it welcomes into the fold those new to the still-developing story of feminism.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Essays, Gender, Anthologies, Social Justice, Womens

237 pages, ebook

First published April 27, 2010

About the author

Courtney is a weekly columnist for On Being, a Peabody Award-winning public radio conversation, podcast, and Webby Award-winning website. Her newest book, The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream explores how people are redefining the "good life" in the wake of the Great Recession.

Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, the Christian Science Monitor, and Mother Jones, among other publications. Courtney has given two TED talks, one on the reinvention of feminism and the other (forthcoming in September) on the reinvention of the American Dream. She has also appeared on Good Morning America, The TODAY Show, The O’Reilly Factor, CNN, and MSNBC, among other major media outlets. She is a widely sought after speaker, who gives several dozen lectures and speeches annually.

Courtney’s first book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection is Harming Young Women was awarded a Books for a Better Life nomination and was called "smart and spirited" by The New York Times. She is also the author of Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists , Project Rebirth: Survival and the Strength of the Human Spirit from 9/11 Survivors , released in conjunction with a documentary film, called Rebirth, by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jim Whitaker, CLICK: When We Knew We Were Feminists , co-edited with J. Courtney Sullivan, and The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful and (HIV) Positive , the life story of AIDS activist Marvelyn Brown.

Courtney has surprised herself by co-founding a series of status quo bucking enterprises: the Solutions Journalism Network, popularizing the practice of rigorous, compelling reporting about responses to social problems, FRESH Speakers Bureau, and Valenti Martin Media. Courtney also does ongoing strategy work with TED and the Aspen Institute. She is on the Council of Advisors of the Wellesley Centers for Women, Family Story, and Feministing.com.

Courtney is a recipient of the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics and has held residencies at the Roc

Reviews

[Jessica J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phylis Schafly made me a feminist. The College Republicans arranged for her to speak at my alma mater when I was sophomore and even though I knew I wasn't going to like what she had to say, I went because I wanted to feel like I was part of the controversy that would ensue. I was able to roll my eyes at most of her bullshit, but then the conversation turned to how women should never, never, never divorce their husbands no matter what. "What about situations where the husband is abusive? What if he rapes his wife?" a student in the audience asked. I will never forget Schafly's response for as long as I live, "That's what marriage is all about!" I fled the auditorium in tears -- my boyfriend at the time had witnessed his then-stepfather raping his mother when he was a child and I couldn't imagine a human being telling him that was what marriage was all about.

Yes, husbands and wives should be forgiving of each other and work through problems, but there are lines that you do not cross. Rape and abuse are so far over the line that it should not need to be explicitly stated that they DO NOT BELONG IN A MARRIAGE. Period. No matter what. There are bad people in this world who do bad things, and if you find yourself married to one of those people, you should have the right to leave that marriage. Especially if you have children. Because being exposed to abuse is going to fuck those children more than divorce will.

Up until that point, I didn't consider myself a feminist. I believed in the equality of the sexes, but I associated feminism with people who said things like "herstory" and "ottowoman," and I did not see that as promoting equality. But after Phylis Schlafly made me cry, I declared a women's studies minor and took as many women's history classes as my college offered. It truly opened my eyes to what feminism was really all about, and I understood that I was a feminist because I believed in their basic principle: that men and women deserve to economic, social, and political equality. It's 2014 and women's sex lives are still being legislated by old men who don't understand biology. We're still being paid $0.83 to the dollar in the US. Women who are raped are often made to feel like it was their fault and not their rapists'. Women have made great strides in terms of achieving equal stature, but the echelons of power are still dominated by men making decisions that affect women in disproportionately negative ways.

Feminism is not a perfect movement -- mostly because feminists disagree with each other about what is best for women, and that can detract from the overall message of equality. But it is too often seen as a dirty word that means "man-hating" and that conversation detracts from the real problems that we face.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every single one of the 29 essays in this book held some nugget of truth that resonated with my own experiences. Each writer told of his or her personal journey coming to embrace feminism on his or her own terms. Some come from liberal backgrounds with card-carrying feminist parents; others were raised in conservative homes. There is a self-described third-world feminist as well as an out-and-proud LGBT activist. There are people from privileged backgrounds and those raised poor in the inner-city. One woman writes about her marriage to a war correspondent; another writes about the myriad voices that crowd her head while she’s staring at her closet trying to decide what to wear for a night out. An African-American man tells of his feminist upbringing by a mother who would never call herself a feminist and an Asian-American women writes of her struggles to feel that she deserves her spot at a prestigious engineering school. Topics as varied as Kurt Cobain’s death, hunting as a rite of passage, and the high school marching band make an appearance, too.

I loved that there wasn’t a single definition of feminism to which they all were held. Jordan Berg Powers defines feminism as “the fundamental and, some would say, dangerous belief that women are, and should be treated as, equals” (41). Sophie Pollitt-Cohen says feminism is “more than just caring that women not be treated like dirt, or believing in basic, vague concepts of equality. It’s taking it upon yourself to be aware of what you are involved in and what is going on around you” (122). Marni Grossman expands the definition further: “Feminism is not about perfection. It’s about the power of speaking one’s truth” (72). I love Winter Miller’s description that “I’m saying anything you can do, I can do, too. Not better, but just as well. Better than some, worse than others but not based on qualities rooted in gender or sex” (102).

They also don’t whitewash their experiences. They discuss the trauma of eating disorders, lack of self-esteem, rape, and abortion; the struggles of growing up with a learning disability or disadvantaged by crushing poverty. One of the essayists acknowledges that “historically feminism has struggled with incorporating perspectives of women (and men) of diverse classes, races, abilities, and experiences” (55). Several writers lament the younger generation of women who are so reluctant to adopt the label, while recognizing their own initial hesitance. But their tone was consistently universal, not trying to elevate any one group over another. Amy Richards states, “We all experience discrimination in different ways, certainly some more severely and less naively than others, but living in a world where anyone is oppressed hinders everyone” (140).

Each essay was thoughtful, intimate, and powerful. They were hilarious, moving, insightful and poignant. Several presented topics in a light I hadn’t before considered or found the perfect words to encapsulate thoughts I hadn’t yet managed to completely formulate. For example, Li Sydney Cornfeld states, “The best way to break a stigma is to out yourself.” That should ring true to any of my LDS friends who, like me, have occasionally found themselves in a conversation with those not of our faith who hold many misconceptions about Mormons. The tone of the conversation shifts as soon as I address the inaccuracies by saying, “Well, I’m a Mormon. We believe in Christ, have dances at our church buildings all the time, and my husband only has one wife.” The stigma of “Mormon” starts to fade at least for that person as they discover that what they’ve “known” about Mormons doesn’t match the reality of the person standing in front of them.

That’s not to say that I agree with everything that was written in this book. But I deeply appreciate that inclusiveness is a recurring theme; we don’t have to agree on every issue to be part of the same community. Anitra Cottledge says, “For me, feminism has always been about choice. It’s about being able to choose what to call yourself, what to wear, what issues to take up, what battles to fight. What kind of feminist – or womanist, or person – would I be if I didn’t at least respect someone’s choice to locate themselves within feminism in a way that feels comfortable for them?” (65).

One thing that struck me consistently was their insistence on embracing the difficulties and contradictions inherent in life and working through them. While life might be simpler or calmer (on the surface) if one chooses not to rock the boat, it takes a certain level of integrity and self-knowledge to fight against societal assumptions that not everyone perceives as being unequal or problematic. And over and over again, these people describe doing just that. “The good thing about telling the truth,” claims Karen Pittelman, “not the problem, as I’d once thought – is that then we have to do something about it” (119). That’s the best definition of integrity I’ve ever read.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

[Rachel Kramer Bussel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating anthology, whether you consider yourself a feminist or not, which is an important point. It would be a shame for only self-identified feminist women to read this book, or to assume that it is talking about a singular "feminism." At times, there was a sameness to the stories; many of the writers gained entrée into their feminism via books, some of which were written by fellow contributors. Where I think Click succeeds best is when the click moment happens in another form, to remind us that feminism isn't just for bookworms. Whether it's "Number One Must Have" (about the band Sleater-Kinney), hunting, having an androgynous name ("Winter"), fishnet stockings or engineering, the authors here tackle a wide range of ways feminism and exploring gender affect their lives.

It also brings up some major issues around what "feminism" means and whether the goal of a feminist movement should be to have everyone identify as feminist (which many of the women in the book, as well as their mothers, grapple with--interestingly, I didn't see any pieces where authors grapple with whether their romantic partners identify as feminists, but moms were a sticking point). Co-editor Sullivan writes: "In both word and deed, feminism is something we only really understand after we've been exposed to it, after someone else has taught us what it looks like and how it can help make our lives all the richer." Yet this very point is disputed by many of the authors here, and one I don't agree with. If the personal is political, then women need to look both inward and outward; waiting to be "exposed to" or told what feminism is, I'd posit, is precisely what alienates many women from feminism.

Alissa Quart's "I Married a War Correspondent" is a fascinating look at the evolution of her relationship and her feeling that the topics she covers as a journalist were "lesser" (and were treated with less acclaim) than her fiance's acts of daring. In Joshunda Sanders' "'What's the Female Version of a Hustler?': Womanist Training for a Bronx Nerd" and Mathangi Subramanian's "The Brown Girl's Guide to Labels," each author highlights the ways "feminism" has been tied to a white women's movement, and how they have alternately rejected, embraced and negotiated with the label and what it means to them. Li Sydney Cornfeld and Karen Pittelman offer unique tales, the former of the gender implications of an ADHD diagnosis, the latter about dissolving her $3 million trust fund to work for social change.

There are moments here that feel a little too much like cheerleading for feminism without actually defining it precisely. The best pieces show how issues of gender, along with race, class and sexual orientation, are viewed and how a change in that viewpoint can propel action and enlightenment. Sometimes, there really is a click, such as in Marta L. Sanchex's piece: "At Spelman, I became a women's studies major. Suddenly, the entire world made sense. I stopped feeling like an alien visiting a strange planet." She backs this up without resorting to clichés, but by calling forth the spirits of her ancestors, who each gave her a different way of embracing the world. Many authors reference previous generations, whether the Second Wave or their parents (quite starkly in Sophie Pollitt-Cohen's piece, when she's assigned to read something her mother, Katha Pollitt, wrote at Wesleyan), but this is not an Us vs. Them type of book, thankfully. Rather, it's one that, at its best, looks at the ways feminism has impacted our personal and familial relationships, education, job opportunities, religious choices and identities.

Most of all what I got out of Click is that what happens after the "click" moment is perhaps more important than what happens before or during it. How people grapple with even defining feminism, rather than simply embracing another person's version of feminism, is what the heart of this book is about.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of essays written by women about when they decided they were feminists. I enjoyed the essays, but the book just didn't pack the punch that I expected. My view of modern feminism is pretty simple: do what you want to do and don't let some guy boss you around. I realize I stand on the shoulders of giants, and that without the efforts of the great feminist pioneers, I wouldn't be a degreed engineer making the same salary as the man who sits next to me. I expected the book to have some essays from those pioneering women, but these were all modern (meaning, around my age) feminists. I had a hard time seeing how being female had held these women back in any way, and it didn't strike me that they had anything gender-wise to fight for. I enjoyed many of the essays that seemed vaguely off-topic, like the one about the woman who had a hard time getting diagnosed with ADHD because it was a "boy's disease," or the one about the woman who inherited millions of dollars but struggled with the social aspects of inherited wealth. Many of the women seemed to confuse feminism with their struggles with lesbianism--which isn't really the same thing. But as far as women fighting for better lives...that just wasn't there. Of course, this had more to do with my own expectations than any failing with the book itself.

One of my beefs with modern feminism is that it's more like a religion of superiority, and the followers of feminism are always trying to convert others to the cause. Certain broad statistics, like the one about women making 75 cents for every dollar made by men (quoted often in this book) are used to pressure women who want to be kindergarten teachers into being corporate lawyers (which, in my mind, isn't that much different than pressuring a wanna-be corporate lawyer into teaching kindergarten). Feminism is about women having the opportunity to make their own choices, not about women going into lucrative careers. Personal rant notwithstanding, the purpose of most of these essays was to tell other feminists how to recruit women to their cause: how to dress, how to look, how to share their experiences so that they will resonate with a younger generation of women. Also, they're mainly recruiting followers among middle-class women on college campuses or in private high schools, which seemed backwards to me. Those who are living in poverty and may not make it to college should be the focus of the modern feminist movement, not those who are already encouraged to achieve their goals.

It was funny to see how women, even feminists, unnecessarily complicate their lives. Most of the essays contained some self-doubt: "Can I still be a feminist if I want to look pretty?" "Can I still be a feminist if I'm rich?" "Can I still be a feminist if I'm a Christian?" I just don't get the drama, personally. (Why can't you be a feminist if you want to wear makeup?) Kudos to them, though, for being willing to express their insecurities publically. Their experiences were helpful to me, and I think they will be very helpful to other women who worry about balancing feminism with other roles in their lives.

[Paula · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every one of these essays was well-written, some of them poignant and several very informative about the experience of being a feminist from a different cultural/ethnic background from myself. There are many references to feminism being identified as a white, middle-class concept, something I've definitely heard before. But the title of the book should more truthfully have been "Click: When we were finally willing to call ourselves feminists." Nearly all of these women were either raised in feminist households and/or were living their lives as if they had a right to an education, equal pay, equal opportunities, as if their opinions mattered, as if they were as smart and as capable as men - etc., etc. But they didn't want to claim the name "feminist." As author Amy Richards states, "It wasn't a matter of living with feminist principles, but how much we were willing to claim the feminist label."
Some of these writers were uncomfortable with it because they identified that label with their mothers, some because they weren't comfortable with the "connotations": Cute boys wouldn't like them; people would think they were bitter, angry, man-hating lesbians; people would think they were too serious and didn't like having fun. This made me sad. I've always thought that only folks like Rush Limbaugh and his followers thought like that. To find that so many smart, accomplished women ever bought into that stereotype was distressing. I was raised by parents who were both feminists. I have always identified as a feminist - it never occurred to me not to. The fact that my mom - my role model- was also a feminist was a plus. And if someone made an assumption about me because of that label, that was not my problem. On the other hand, I've never read works by many of the feminist authors that these writers mention, I never went through a collegiate radical feminist phase, Ive only been to one rally/march/protest (in support of the ERA), and I've never been a trail blazer, breaking down barriers and making the world a better, more equitable place for women. It occurred to me as I read this book that maybe feminism, like autism, is a spectrum, and I would bet that most people are on that spectrum somewhere, even if they don't want to admit to it.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

The different contributors realized they were feminists while . . .

* deer hunting
* arguing with her older sister about whether it is better to be Scottish or President of the United States
* arguing with his mother about whether she was a feminist (she said that black women cannot be feminists because feminists don't care about black women)
* listening to Sleater-Kinney
* reading Katie Roiphe
* attending a feminist rally in which one of the featured speakers wore fishnet stockings
* playing the tuba in a high-school marching band
* first encountering the term "third-world feminist" (for example, first-world feminists fight for the right to work; third-world feminists realize that women do most of the world's work and fight for the right to rest)

[Julene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists, is an excellent book of essays by women, and one man, who were born at the end of the 2nd wave of feminism. Each essay explores their moment when they realized or accepted their identity as a feminist. Many were already raised to be feminists, they came out of families with feminist mothers and liberal fathers. One claimed she was raised to be a "compulsory feminist" comparing it to Adrienne Rich's essay on Compulsory Heterosexuality.

There is an early essay by Jessica Valenti in the book. Each author makes excellent points, Courtney E. Martin and her friends falling apart, she was searching for why while at school in Barnard. When Amy Richards & Jennifer Baumgardner showed up to give a talk on their new book, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future, Jennifer was wearing fishnet stockings. And she was dating Amy Ray from the Indigo Girls. She claimed those fishnet stockings made her a feminist. She realized there was someone who looked like her and her friends, which gave her a different vision of how she could fit into this movement than her mother's "century-old movement."

Many distinctions are made in their understandings. Anitra Cottledge grew up in a family where the women “were the ones who kept the family rotating on its axis.” Her paternal grandmother was the matriarch. For her it was about choice and having the courage to reveal she was a feminist, what it meant to her was "being able to choose what to call yourself, what you wear, what issues to take up, what battles to fight.”

Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne grew up with brothers who were taught to hunt, when she came of age she announced she wanted to learn. Her brothers mocked her. Her father realized she was serious so he signed her up for lessons. The actual hunt involves being still in freezing temperatures for long periods of time while sitting in a tree waiting. The first deer that walked into range while they were waiting was a doe, her feet and fingers were freezing. In a youth hunt a doe or a buck could be shot, she shot a doe. She felt pride at first with her perfect shot. She named the deer Lucinda but didn't feel so good about killing the named doe. She writes, “That’s the thing about proving a point—once done, you sometimes realize it wasn’t worth much."

I enjoyed the wide array of insights in this book.

[The Reading Hammock | Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, it's feminism, how groundbreaking could it be? But you, my friend, would be wrong. Reading the "come to feminism" "Aha" moments for these second generation feminists was affirming so many of the experiences I also had growing up a child of first-wave feminism. I'm sure, much like many of the contributors, my own mother would vaguely identify as feminist, or feminist-adjacent, but we were never brought to rallies or marches as kids. But as the children of a single parent, my sister and I were always surrounded by women who embodied the spirit of feminism, even if they didn't claim the title out loud. The book also reinforced the beautiful diversity of feminism, from race to gender expression to sexuality to gender roles. There's definitely something to relate to for almost every reader.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of essays written by women about when they decided they were feminists. I enjoyed the essays, but the book just didn't pack the punch that I expected. My view of modern feminism is pretty simple: do what you want to do and don't let some guy boss you around. I realize I stand on the shoulders of giants, and that without the efforts of the great feminist pioneers, I wouldn't be a degreed engineer making the same salary as the man who sits next to me. I expected the book to have some essays from those pioneering women, but these were all modern (meaning, around my age) feminists. I had a hard time seeing how being female had held these women back in any way, and it didn't strike me that they had anything gender-wise to fight for. I enjoyed many of the essays that seemed vaguely off-topic, like the one about the woman who had a hard time getting diagnosed with ADHD because it was a "boy's disease," or the one about the woman who inherited millions of dollars but struggled with the social aspects of inherited wealth. Many of the women seemed to confuse feminism with their struggles with lesbianism--which isn't really the same thing. But as far as women fighting for better lives...that just wasn't there. Of course, this had more to do with my own expectations than any failing with the book itself.

One of my beefs with modern feminism is that it's more like a religion of superiority, and the followers of feminism are always trying to convert others to the cause. Certain broad statistics, like the one about women making 75 cents for every dollar made by men (quoted often in this book) are used to pressure women to be corporate lawyers when they really want to be kindergarten teachers (which, in my mind, isn't that much different than pressuring a wanna-be corporate lawyer into teaching kindergarten). Feminism is about women having the opportunity to make their own choices, not about women going into lucrative careers. Personal rant notwithstanding, the purpose of most of these essays was to tell other feminists how to recruit women to their cause: how to dress, how to look, how to share their experiences so that they will resonate with a younger generation of women. They're mainly recruiting followers among middle-class women on college campuses or in private high schools, which also seemed backwards to me. Those who are living in poverty and may not make it to college should be the focus of the modern feminist movement, not those who are already encouraged to achieve their goals.

It was funny to see how women, even feminists, unnecessarily complicate their lives. Most of the essays contained some self-doubt: "Can I still be a feminist if I want to look pretty?" "Can I still be a feminist if I'm rich?" "Can I still be a feminist if I'm a Christian?" I just don't get the drama, personally. (Why can't you be a feminist if you want to wear makeup?) Kudos to them, though, for being willing to express their insecurities publically. Their experiences were helpful to me, and I think they will be very helpful to other women who worry about balancing feminism with other roles in their lives.

[Jennifer Lucking · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and the authors' insight into how they first identified with feminism or as feminists. My two favourite quotes from the book are from Nellie Beckett and Miriam Zoila Perez (respectively):
"This is not to say that all feminists are short-haired, hairy-legged, sensibly shod lesbians. In fact, I've found that feminist defenders often waste half their rhetoric dispelling this tired stereotype. Feminists come in all shapes, colors, and genders, and it's about time that our diversity is recognized in the mainstream. If there's a movement whose image shouldn't be the top priority, it's feminism"
"I wish I could point to a day when one of these arguments really crystallized my feminist identity. I wish I could say that one night, over arroz con pollo, I declared to my family around the table - 'I'm a feminist!' Unfortunately I can't, and that's because I didn't come to feminism in any one single moment. I pretty much rejected the term for a long time, afraid of the connotations that came with it, not wanting to differentiate myself from my peers. But long before I embraced the term, my experiences slowly shaped my feminist perspective."

These quotes really define my "journey" (for lack of a better word) to feminism. Only recently have I felt comfortable enough to "label" myself as a feminist, but reading this book made me realize that there was not one moment where it "clicked" for me, where I realized "hey, I'm a feminist!" Rather, it has been a journey of learning, observing, experiencing.

One thing this book doesn't really address explicitly (maybe implicitly, however) is the fact that many feminists identify as a particular type of feminist (i.e. liberal, Marxist, radical, etc.) and that there are large differences between many of these feminisms. I was struck by this complex issue when trying to determine my "theoretical perspective" for my thesis proposal. I knew I wanted to write about sex trafficking from a feminist perspective, but which one? I was left to explore the various "types" of feminisms. And while all are concerned about issues of power and inequality, for the topic I am most interested in (the sex trade), there are vast differences between the feminisms.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a very strong feminist click moment in college. I've shared it with a few people but it isn't obvious and takes a lot of explaining, so I won't really bother here. Like most of the women in this book, I've been a feminist my whole life, I just didn't really *get* it until college. That's what the click moments in this book typically describe, or at least, were meant to. I read this book because I was looking to identify with these women, but that didn't happen often. Most of these women were children of second wave feminists, some leaders of the movement, and many went to liberal women's colleges in the Northeast. Okay, so I went to Vassar, too, but at the time it wasn't a women's college and wasn't really trying to be. I never had the firm grounding in liberalism that a lot of women had growing up, since my parents aren't really intellectuals in that way. So it was difficult for me to sympathize with these women whose mothers were such powerful people in the movement or who otherwise had a firm grasp of the feminist literature, where my mother would probably be hard pressed to define what feminism means. My click moment was important to me because it helped define who I am today, but almost half of the women in this anthology never really had a click moment, they were just spoon-fed feminism since birth and grew to accept it. That was somewhat disappointing, but a lot of the articles are funny and meaningful at the same time, and I actually finished it in two days of straight reading.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite two essays in this book were "Word and Deed" by J. Courtney Sullivan, and "I Was an Obnoxious Teenage Feminist" by Jessica Valenti.

Most of the essays were good, but I didn't really identify with any of them. Even the one about being a girl in engineering school was very different than my experience.

I think the reason that I didn't identify much with these stories is because I am kind of "old" to be starting to think about feminism I guess. I didn't start really thinking about it until I became a mom, and especially because I became a mom of girls. For some reason I didn't really feel that I was treated differently at work because I was a female, but being a mom has made me different from the boys and even the girls that make up my "peer group." Instead of going out for drinks or sports or social activities after work, I rush out to do daycare pick up and it makes me different. I have also started to notice a little bit of bias coming from those that have stay at home wives who don't understand as well why I have to rush off here or there or not come in sometimes.

I think the other reason it took me so long to become interested in feminism is because I generally tended to stay away from things that forced me to identify myself as a female instead of just as a person.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Click Edited by Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan
Seal Press, 2010
226 pages
Non-fiction; Feminism
3/5 stars

Source: Library

Summary: A collection of essays from some well-known feminists describing the "click" that made them know they were feminists.

Thoughts: I saw several reviews of this and I was really looking forward to it. While all of the essays were readable, none of them worked for me.

I saw many commonalities across the essays: women who rebelled against gender constraints, women supported by other women in the feminist movement, women proud of being a feminist, women who are outspoken and confident.

But I didn't feel any connection to the stories. I didn't see my "click" moment represented. Now that's partly because I'm not entirely sure when that was and I know that I would be unable to write something as well as these feminists. But I think I wanted to find someone very similar to me with whom I could identify and I didn't.

Overall: Some good stories, all well-written, but none that "clicked" with me.

Cover: I really like the colors but it's nothing exceptional.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

As part of the same generation as these authors, it was interesting to read the variety of experiences other self-identifying feminists have experienced. I have never suffered much ambiguity with my own feminism, which is contrary to something that defines the Third Wave, I suppose. One thing I found very fascinating was how many of the authors had mothers that were very strongly identified as feminists. That gave me hope that I might have an influence on my own daughter. Setting an example is powerful. I am not entrenched in feminist debate nor was I ever a women's study major. But my studies and work have always been largely male dominated and finding my place in that world shaped and defined my own feminism. I related most with Jennifer Tsai's story about engineering (as a fellow female scientist). I also wore a "This is What a Feminist Looks Like" button, which was fun to remember! I was also influenced by Riot Grrl. So reliving some of that through these essays was fun and thought provoking. I think the moral of this compilation is that modern feminism is hugely diverse and we should revel in that. The book delivers on that level.

[Mainon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. It's exactly what it promises: each contributor basically tells the story of when she (or he) decides either to claim the label "feminist," or realizes that feminism is important/relevant/meaningful in a personal way. The range of the contributors' experiences is pretty wide, from a girl with a conservative-Christian background coming up against the out-of-control teen pregnancy rate in her town, to an Asian engineering student confronting the intersecting stereotypes of her race and gender (Asian = smart, girl = not smart) and wrestling with questions of whether her gender and minority status played a role in her admission to a highly selective engineering college. Obviously I enjoyed (and identified with) some of the stories more than others, but that's what's great about this book: there's something for practically everyone. The voices are diverse, the tone is nonthreatening and non-dogmatic, and overall the stories provide frank, honest, and personal discussions of when each member of this impressive group of feminists, well, knew that they were feminists. I found it inspiring and heartwarming at the same time.

[Alex Templeton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Years ago, I used to be really into essay collections by feminist writers. After a while, though, I'd read enough of them that the ideas failed to seem fresh. Maybe I've been away long enough, though, because I enjoyed this one, which is a collection of essays about the moment the authors realized they were feminists. Some of the essays stretch that idea (I think there was one that didn't even address it at all), but there were definite standouts. I was definitely struck by Rachel Shukert's "You Can't Rape a Whore: A Love Story", which centered around her middle school's reaction to Kurt Cobain's death, an event I can actually recall. I thought Jordan Berg Powers' essay "Cross Stitch and Soap Operas Following Football" was a great discussion of race and gender issues and how both affect men and women alike, and Li Sydney Cornfield's essay "Empowerment in Soft Focus: Growing Up Female with ADHD" gave me some new food for thought in my considerations of the manifestations of learning disabilities. I might just begin reading books of essays again.

[Solange Yvette Guillaume · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reaffirmed my choice to be a feminist in so many ways; the prose these women write is very strong. I was impressed by the number of stories in the book whose families were feminist supporters, thus giving them a strong foundation on which to stand. The reluctance of a number of women echoed my own about the word "feminist" and that it had certain very negative implications. In fact, being a feminist has its own varying degrees; per my own story, I denied being a feminist in a conversation with two friends in San Francisco about 10 years ago and had a very long debate about the concept. By default, I've come to realize that I most definitely am and - coming back to the book - there are a number of women out there who definitely are feminists but are afraid to take on the label. Read it if you like stories and want some support (ladies) or give it to your male counterparts so they can better understand the idea of feminism in the words of women who are living it.

[April Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't want to return this book to the library. I need to buy it. It surprised me, really. I expected funny and insightful but I did not expect to be moved to tears of understanding. It's a collection of essays of personal revelations of when they recognized they were feminists. I'm stating that because it seemed some reviewers had a different impression of what the book would be about.

It's a strange phenomenon to realize you are something that you never gave much thought to, rejected or inherited (without owning). All these experiences shared were something most readers who picked up this book probably feel, in one way or another. Relating to them didn't seem unreasonable. The book is uniting because really this isn't about one kind of woman, or a few-Feminism is for everyone.

This is a must have for me. Sorry for the disjointed review (working right now). I can't imagine why anyone would not like this book. It's too human.

[Ingeborg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must-read for feminists, for people who are becoming feminists, for those who want to understand feminism, as well as for those who maybe want to uderstand women a bit better. It is a perfect example of what feminist author Carolyn Heilbrun meant when she urged for reading of women's stories, making other women's experiences stories that we can use in our own lives. I read this book for a long time, really ihaling one story at a time, comparing them to my own life story and experience, questioning myself what is means to be feminist now, and what it meant about 60 years ago. It is also somewhat encouraging and comforting that there are women like me out there, that there are people who want to make life a little bit better and easier, people who want to fight inequality and ignorance, no matter if it is connected to women or some other gender/ethnicity/class/race ...

[Desiree Rico · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been contemplating what and when my own "click" moment occurred and I realized I am a feminist. This collection of shared experiences from amazing feminists is so motivating.

[Darcey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of essays with different perspectives on feminism. Two themes many of the writers touched on that I found interesting: struggles with (initially) adopting the feminist label for fear of alienation, and being "born" into feminism (i.e., being raised by progressive/feminist parents) rather than discovering it via a specific, defined "click" moment.

My favorite essays were written by Courtney Martin and Winter Miller.

I'm not sure if this was just my Kindle edition but I would have liked the essayist bios to be placed with their essays rather than all together in the appendix. The bios gave interesting context on what people wrote and it was kind of a pain flipping back and forth.

[Julia Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of stories, written by women, opens up a conversation about the role of the feminist movement in modern times. Although I enjoyed the book, I argue that its purpose is best served when read critically. While the stories talk about the importance of banding together as women, none of the women seek to challenge, define, or give insight into the direction of the movement beyond acknowledging its importance ; which, is what I believe the movement needs the most. I was grateful that this book focused more on the role of the movement in the lives of women today versus focusing on the past. It's a quick and easy read--one that will inspire you to think critically about the role of women in modern society and what discourses influence female youth today.

[Jendi · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, the chief merit of this book was that it got me thinking about my own "click" moments. I reflected on what I thought that "feminism" meant and how I felt about the label at different points in my life. The actual essays covered too narrow a range of experience for me. "Feminism" here seems synonymous with the concerns of pro-choice, liberal career women. No mention of religion, anti-p*rnography feminism, gender-as-performance, or women who might consider themselves feminist but hold conservative political views. Nearly all had good relationships with mothers who were supportive of feminist ideals. I didn't see my own experience reflected in this book for the most part.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

not thrilling, a little hammered over the head. there's a lot of great writing about feminism but this isn't one of them. if you're the type of feminist that is likes to advocate for separate groups and sections of feminism, that require a set group of qualifiers to be included, this is for you. maybe if i hadn't read much more critical writing before this i'd have been inspired. this is better for young feminists, like 16-18, who are just getting started, or maybe i should have read the essays one at a time every once in a while and not as a whole book. wasn't impressed with any of the writing.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am so glad I found this book. It reaffirms my faith that good ideas last even if I don't do as much as I should to support them. I consider myself a feminist, but I can't say that I have done much lately to support my sisters.

However, there are still women out there fighting the good fight and they are younger and smarter than I am. These 28 women and one man showed me that feminism is alive despite my lack of activism. Maybe these young people will inspire me to do a little more.

This was well worth reading.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

What shocked me most, I guess, while reading this collection of essays, is how reluctant women are to use the label "feminist." I agree that there certainly often is a negative connotation associated with feminism, however I've never experienced this fear to accept the label. I think by labeling who we are, we are, in a way, owning ourselves and directing our futures. If anything, this book is important for women my age to read if only to provide a sense of solidarity and okay-ness with being a feminist.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book of essays that read almost like short stories. One of the things I enjoy most about feminist writing is just how insanely skilled at writing the authors are. My personal favorite essay in the collection was Deborah Siegel, who wrote about how the Anita Hill/ Clarence Thomas case affected her attitudes and beliefs toward feminism. Her writing was fluid and strong; her voice clear and lovely. J. Courtney Sullivan's "Word and Deed" was also a great read. Thoroughly enjoyed, an easy four stars.

[Rachele Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am definitely inspired to write my own click story. I noticed in a lot of the stories the women were raised by feminists and started young. I was a prolifer, youth group teacher and wore a promise ring. I also happened to take a women's literature class so the story should be interesting, and slightly embarrassing. I am a much different person than who I was at 16, 17 and even into my twenties. Obviously something clicked over for me to make me a pro choice, feminist, fat bitch that I am today.

[Kate McCartney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collection of essays about the "click" moments from third wave feminists. I was really excited to read a book focusing on feminism again, it has been way to long since I have read essays like this! I could really relate to a lot of these essays. Many of the women were around my age and had similar exposure to feminism as I did. I was happy to see so many women of color included in this collection, I really liked that an essay from a man was included, I would have liked to hear more experiences from men.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the variety in these essays, the different writing styles, and voices. I like that these essays made me think and consider my own "click" moment.

I especially appreciate Marta L. Sanchez's words in her essay "The Feminist Evolution of an Artist, Survivor, Conjurer From the Tropics." ("It confirmed my belief that women are wise beings, and that the individual in the difficult position [...] is most qualified to pinpoint all the consequences and make the best choice.")

Recommended read.