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The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing
Feminism is the insight that sexism exists, and the struggle against that oppression. The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing is a global anthology of feminist writers, edited and introduced with a major new essay by Hannah Dawson.
Beginning in the fifteenth century with Christine de Pizan, who imagined a City of Ladies that would serve as a refuge from the harassment of men, the book reaches around the earth and through the years to us, now, splashing about in the fourth wave. It goes beyond the usual white, western story, encompassing also race, class, capitalism, imperialism, and other axes of oppression that intersect with patriarchy. Alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who declared in Seneca Falls in 1848 the self-evident truth 'that all men and women are created equal', we find Sojourner Truth, born into slavery in New York in 1797, who asked 'and ain't I a woman?' Drawing on poems, novels and memoirs, as well as roaring manifestos, The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing parts the clouds on a constellation of feminist classics.
Beginning in the fifteenth century with Christine de Pizan, who imagined a City of Ladies that would serve as a refuge from the harassment of men, the book reaches around the earth and through the years to us, now, splashing about in the fourth wave. It goes beyond the usual white, western story, encompassing also race, class, capitalism, imperialism, and other axes of oppression that intersect with patriarchy. Alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who declared in Seneca Falls in 1848 the self-evident truth 'that all men and women are created equal', we find Sojourner Truth, born into slavery in New York in 1797, who asked 'and ain't I a woman?' Drawing on poems, novels and memoirs, as well as roaring manifestos, The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing parts the clouds on a constellation of feminist classics.
704 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2021
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2472 people want to read
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July 12, 2023
The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing is my first Anthology of any kind that I’ve finished. It took me almost two years but only because I did not think the content could be rushed. Many of the pieces made me angry so I could read only a few at the time. Other books also intervened so here I am, two years after I started.
The editor collected in this volume a series of feminist fragments from novels, stories, essays, manifests, poems, all written by women. The initial plan was to say a few words about each entry I liked but I soon gave up on the task as there were too many ideas. Also, since I read this sporadically, I often forgot to make any notes. I kept below my initial thoughts/ plans about this book, its introduction and the first 5 entries.
The anthology was diverse, interesting and I believe it to be an important volume to have in any feminist library (and not only).
*****
Initial thoughts written while reading the beginning:
“To try and make people see what is right in front of their eyes: this is core to the history of feminism, as it has been to the history of all human rights struggles.”
The Penguin Book of Feminism is a collection of feminist writings, essays, poems, stories, novels and manifests. It is a selective history of women’s struggle to understand the unfair situation they are facing and their fight for equal rights. The writings are collected by Hannah Dawson, a senior lecturer of History of Ideas at King’s College.
I made this anthology my long project for the remaining of the year. I will periodically update this review and add comments, reviews, short biographies, and quotes about the content. I do not think I will name all the 116 titles chosen to appear in this collection but I will try to mention the ones that I found more interesting.
1. Introduction by Hannah Dawson
“Feminism only makes sense if you believe in sexism. Otherwise it has no object, no legitimacy. And here we come to a precipice: many people do not believe in sexism, in the same way that many people do not believe in racism. They deny that these are structural realities. If they concede that there is a problem, it certainly does not exist in them. They are not sexist. Indeed, men might say that they are under attack, caught up in a kind of war -they love their military metaphors -a culture war, a war on free speech, a sex war that women are winning, wearing trousers, victorious over redundant, henpecked men.”
(…)A feminist is a killjoy, as Sara Ahmed explains “To be willing to go against a social order, which is protected as a moral order, a happiness order, is to be willing to cause unhappiness. You are the one who is “difficult” and “angry”, and causing tension, not the man with the hand on your knee.
(...)In part, sexism is hard to see because it is a structural phenomenon. It is, that is to say, a web of historic, economic, political, institutional and -individual forces that operate on bodies and psyches, and that sustain an oppressive hierarchy based on gender. It exists in the connections between events as much as in the events themselves. It cannot always be read off the intentions of actors, but is legible in the patterns and outcomes of life. It is often inadvertent; indeed inadvertency is part of its mechanism. It is a bit like gravity; it cannot be seen, but its pull can be felt, in governments packed with men; in laws that permit domestic violence and ban abortion; in girls deprived of education and ostracised for menstruating; in female genital mutilation; in unpaid labour and low-paid exploitative and precarious work; in the flat-lining of careers for those who are lucky enough to have one after women have children; in gender-based murder; in the victimization of women in war; in forced sterilization; in the strip-ping of rights and safety from migrant women; in the fact that black women have a higher risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications than white women.”
In the Introduction, Dr. Dawson discusses the idea of feminism, how it started, its struggles and limitations. She also writes about how she received the assignment to assemble this book, how she chose what to include and why she decided not to add biographies
“lt is usual in anthologies to provide biographies of the authors, but in the end I decided not to do this. A woman writing struggles not to be reduced to her life. When she writes about something other than herself, she is asked “Is this about you” And when she does write about herself her work is read as small, domestic, narcissistic.”
2. Christine de Pizan – The Book of the City of Ladies, 1405
Venetian by birth, Christine served as a court writer in medieval France. The Book of The Cities of Lady is her most famous work. In the extract, Christine is reading from Matheolus's Lamentations, a work from the thirteenth century that addresses marriage and where the author writes that women make men's lives miserable. Believing what is written by him and other similar writers, Christine becomes upset and ashamed to be a woman: "This thought inspired such a great sense of disgust and sadness in me that I began to despise myself and the whole of my sex as an aberration in nature”. The three Virtues then appear to Christine and tell her that she should build The City of Ladies, where women of noble spirit will be protected.
3. Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz, 1691 – A philosophical satire (A philosopher Mexican ex nun).
4. Mary Astell – Some reflections Upon Marriage, 1700
“What tho’ a Husband can’t deprive a Wife of Life without being responsible to the law, he may however do what is much more grievous to to a generous Mind, render Life miserable, for which she has no Redress (…) It being thought a Wife’s Duty to suffer everything without Complaint. If All Men are born free, how is it that all Women are born slaves? As they must be if the being subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary Will of men, be the perfect condition of Slavery. “
Astell was a philosopher and feminist who advocated the idea that women were just as rational as men, and just as deserving of education. Education would help women chose better marriages and bring more equality in the institution. Many of her idea included God and religion so she was thought a bit too catholic for England.
5. Judith Sargent Murray – On the Equality of the Sexes, 1790
I plant to read the whole essay and write a separate review of it.
The editor collected in this volume a series of feminist fragments from novels, stories, essays, manifests, poems, all written by women. The initial plan was to say a few words about each entry I liked but I soon gave up on the task as there were too many ideas. Also, since I read this sporadically, I often forgot to make any notes. I kept below my initial thoughts/ plans about this book, its introduction and the first 5 entries.
The anthology was diverse, interesting and I believe it to be an important volume to have in any feminist library (and not only).
*****
Initial thoughts written while reading the beginning:
“To try and make people see what is right in front of their eyes: this is core to the history of feminism, as it has been to the history of all human rights struggles.”
The Penguin Book of Feminism is a collection of feminist writings, essays, poems, stories, novels and manifests. It is a selective history of women’s struggle to understand the unfair situation they are facing and their fight for equal rights. The writings are collected by Hannah Dawson, a senior lecturer of History of Ideas at King’s College.
I made this anthology my long project for the remaining of the year. I will periodically update this review and add comments, reviews, short biographies, and quotes about the content. I do not think I will name all the 116 titles chosen to appear in this collection but I will try to mention the ones that I found more interesting.
1. Introduction by Hannah Dawson
“Feminism only makes sense if you believe in sexism. Otherwise it has no object, no legitimacy. And here we come to a precipice: many people do not believe in sexism, in the same way that many people do not believe in racism. They deny that these are structural realities. If they concede that there is a problem, it certainly does not exist in them. They are not sexist. Indeed, men might say that they are under attack, caught up in a kind of war -they love their military metaphors -a culture war, a war on free speech, a sex war that women are winning, wearing trousers, victorious over redundant, henpecked men.”
(…)A feminist is a killjoy, as Sara Ahmed explains “To be willing to go against a social order, which is protected as a moral order, a happiness order, is to be willing to cause unhappiness. You are the one who is “difficult” and “angry”, and causing tension, not the man with the hand on your knee.
(...)In part, sexism is hard to see because it is a structural phenomenon. It is, that is to say, a web of historic, economic, political, institutional and -individual forces that operate on bodies and psyches, and that sustain an oppressive hierarchy based on gender. It exists in the connections between events as much as in the events themselves. It cannot always be read off the intentions of actors, but is legible in the patterns and outcomes of life. It is often inadvertent; indeed inadvertency is part of its mechanism. It is a bit like gravity; it cannot be seen, but its pull can be felt, in governments packed with men; in laws that permit domestic violence and ban abortion; in girls deprived of education and ostracised for menstruating; in female genital mutilation; in unpaid labour and low-paid exploitative and precarious work; in the flat-lining of careers for those who are lucky enough to have one after women have children; in gender-based murder; in the victimization of women in war; in forced sterilization; in the strip-ping of rights and safety from migrant women; in the fact that black women have a higher risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications than white women.”
In the Introduction, Dr. Dawson discusses the idea of feminism, how it started, its struggles and limitations. She also writes about how she received the assignment to assemble this book, how she chose what to include and why she decided not to add biographies
“lt is usual in anthologies to provide biographies of the authors, but in the end I decided not to do this. A woman writing struggles not to be reduced to her life. When she writes about something other than herself, she is asked “Is this about you” And when she does write about herself her work is read as small, domestic, narcissistic.”
2. Christine de Pizan – The Book of the City of Ladies, 1405
Venetian by birth, Christine served as a court writer in medieval France. The Book of The Cities of Lady is her most famous work. In the extract, Christine is reading from Matheolus's Lamentations, a work from the thirteenth century that addresses marriage and where the author writes that women make men's lives miserable. Believing what is written by him and other similar writers, Christine becomes upset and ashamed to be a woman: "This thought inspired such a great sense of disgust and sadness in me that I began to despise myself and the whole of my sex as an aberration in nature”. The three Virtues then appear to Christine and tell her that she should build The City of Ladies, where women of noble spirit will be protected.
3. Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz, 1691 – A philosophical satire (A philosopher Mexican ex nun).
4. Mary Astell – Some reflections Upon Marriage, 1700
“What tho’ a Husband can’t deprive a Wife of Life without being responsible to the law, he may however do what is much more grievous to to a generous Mind, render Life miserable, for which she has no Redress (…) It being thought a Wife’s Duty to suffer everything without Complaint. If All Men are born free, how is it that all Women are born slaves? As they must be if the being subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary Will of men, be the perfect condition of Slavery. “
Astell was a philosopher and feminist who advocated the idea that women were just as rational as men, and just as deserving of education. Education would help women chose better marriages and bring more equality in the institution. Many of her idea included God and religion so she was thought a bit too catholic for England.
5. Judith Sargent Murray – On the Equality of the Sexes, 1790
I plant to read the whole essay and write a separate review of it.
March 2, 2021
This is a book which left me feeling infuriated and uplifted at the same time: infuriated (not because of the book itself, I hasten to add) because Christine de Pizan (and other women involved in the medieval querelle de femmes) have been calling out systematic sexism for 600 years and yet her text still speaks to contemporary concerns; but also at least hopeful that such a community of women who are bright, committed, angry, thoughtful, sexy, humorous, scholarly, diverse, global can exist, if only virtually, in the pages of this anthology.
With an opening entry from Pizan in 1405 to the final extract from 2020 on abolition feminism, this is a collection which is wide-ranging, self-consciously intersectional, and willing to embrace the established (e.g. Wollstonecraft, Woolf), the iconic (e.g. de Beauvoir, Audrey Lorde) as well as the more subversive (e.g.Emma Goldman, Incite!), even anarchic (Rosa Luxemburg, Valerie Solanas' S.C.U.M. Manifesto). We hear voices from across time and geographies as women explore how their feminist identities co-exist with race, class, religion, health, sexualities, even family and social roles.
Along the route we meet women challenging slavery and racism, genital mutilation (a chilling piece to read), sexual and gendered roles, as well as thinking productively and questioningly about motherhood, sisterhood, the racialised parameters of white Eurocentric feminism, the female body, marriage and some of the more pernicious manifestations of implicit sexism: Mantel on the patriarchal approach of the medical profession, for example (including female clinicians). There is emotional honesty here (Cusk on 'her' children during a hostile divorce), as well as brilliant scholarship (Judith Butler, Jacqueline Rose), and an underpinning of economic analysis that has long correlated misogyny with capitalism.
I especially like that Dawson has been open about the range and scope of feminist writing: political speeches and activist group manifestos sit happily alongside research articles, sociological papers, opinion pieces and fictional extracts (Jane Eyre), short stories (The Yellow Wallpaper, Angela Carter) and poetry (Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou). We are all likely to have read, learned from, even taught in our turn some of these women, but there is much here that was either new to me or which I'd heard of but never read.
All the same, in some ways it is dispiriting to see how slow change has been since de Pizan wrote her City of Ladies in the late fourteenth century - and I sometimes get the feeling that contemporary feminism may have lost touch with, or may not be aware of, its own history as we trace the reemergence of ideas such as intersectionality, for example - it may not have been named that in the past but when Sojourner Truth, a Black woman, repeats her refrain of 'And ain't I a woman?' in 1851, that's exactly what she's questioning.
Overall, though, a hopeful, optimistic project which refuses to be bowed and has all the oppressions of patriarchy in its sights:
There's a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.
~ Daddy, Sylvia Plath (from Ariel)
(Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC)
With an opening entry from Pizan in 1405 to the final extract from 2020 on abolition feminism, this is a collection which is wide-ranging, self-consciously intersectional, and willing to embrace the established (e.g. Wollstonecraft, Woolf), the iconic (e.g. de Beauvoir, Audrey Lorde) as well as the more subversive (e.g.Emma Goldman, Incite!), even anarchic (Rosa Luxemburg, Valerie Solanas' S.C.U.M. Manifesto). We hear voices from across time and geographies as women explore how their feminist identities co-exist with race, class, religion, health, sexualities, even family and social roles.
Along the route we meet women challenging slavery and racism, genital mutilation (a chilling piece to read), sexual and gendered roles, as well as thinking productively and questioningly about motherhood, sisterhood, the racialised parameters of white Eurocentric feminism, the female body, marriage and some of the more pernicious manifestations of implicit sexism: Mantel on the patriarchal approach of the medical profession, for example (including female clinicians). There is emotional honesty here (Cusk on 'her' children during a hostile divorce), as well as brilliant scholarship (Judith Butler, Jacqueline Rose), and an underpinning of economic analysis that has long correlated misogyny with capitalism.
I especially like that Dawson has been open about the range and scope of feminist writing: political speeches and activist group manifestos sit happily alongside research articles, sociological papers, opinion pieces and fictional extracts (Jane Eyre), short stories (The Yellow Wallpaper, Angela Carter) and poetry (Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou). We are all likely to have read, learned from, even taught in our turn some of these women, but there is much here that was either new to me or which I'd heard of but never read.
All the same, in some ways it is dispiriting to see how slow change has been since de Pizan wrote her City of Ladies in the late fourteenth century - and I sometimes get the feeling that contemporary feminism may have lost touch with, or may not be aware of, its own history as we trace the reemergence of ideas such as intersectionality, for example - it may not have been named that in the past but when Sojourner Truth, a Black woman, repeats her refrain of 'And ain't I a woman?' in 1851, that's exactly what she's questioning.
Overall, though, a hopeful, optimistic project which refuses to be bowed and has all the oppressions of patriarchy in its sights:
There's a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.
~ Daddy, Sylvia Plath (from Ariel)
(Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC)
June 6, 2023
Selected with passion, and with diversity in mind.
August 12, 2021
this brilliant anthology should be a part of every possible reading curriculum!
May 22, 2021
What a cool idea for an anthology book! Compiling 116 texts, written by women, ranging from the Middle Ages through the Enlightenment up to today, from Christine de Pizan through Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath and Simone de Beauvoir to Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, coming from all corners of the Earth and all social spheres, talking about feminism and feminist issues. You get book excerpts, pamphlets, plays, poems, a little bit of everything.
What makes it so interesting, and at the same time a little disheartening to read is that you realize while going through it, that women were asking for, worried about and fighting against many of the things we're still "debating" today. Feminism, the way we experience it today...has been around for 1000 years. Feminism has always existed and will always exist. In that respect, such a compilation is very refreshing, as it is a freight train crashing through the ridiculous arguments of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, pseudo alpha-male-incel-proud boys numbskulls crying about how things were better in the past, when women knew their place and how feminism somehow is this rather new phenomenon where women suddenly became "uppity" in the last 50 years, stoked by antifa-liberalism, or some such bullshit.
Newsflash, nincompoops! Women have always been "uppity" and "woke" and "social justice warriors" and whatever else...and with damn good reason. Feminism always was, is, and always will be. And for doing a pretty great job illustrating that point, this book is worth reading! Hell, why not put it on school curriculae all over the world and see what happens?
What makes it so interesting, and at the same time a little disheartening to read is that you realize while going through it, that women were asking for, worried about and fighting against many of the things we're still "debating" today. Feminism, the way we experience it today...has been around for 1000 years. Feminism has always existed and will always exist. In that respect, such a compilation is very refreshing, as it is a freight train crashing through the ridiculous arguments of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, pseudo alpha-male-incel-proud boys numbskulls crying about how things were better in the past, when women knew their place and how feminism somehow is this rather new phenomenon where women suddenly became "uppity" in the last 50 years, stoked by antifa-liberalism, or some such bullshit.
Newsflash, nincompoops! Women have always been "uppity" and "woke" and "social justice warriors" and whatever else...and with damn good reason. Feminism always was, is, and always will be. And for doing a pretty great job illustrating that point, this book is worth reading! Hell, why not put it on school curriculae all over the world and see what happens?
February 8, 2024
6/5 stars. I don’t actually know why this took me so long to read because it wasn’t boring - it is a fantastically intersectional and global collection of the highlights in feminist, gender, and queer theory.
May 1, 2021
I was fortunate to get an ARC of this book via NetGalley, and wondered how reflective of feminism this was going to be, and I was pleased that so many different perspectives were included in this book giving me the reader a broad base of perspectives that is so important.
The breadth of writers, speechmakers and poets collected in this book is incredibly diverse and makes it such an ideal primer for feminism that you can take from and take in throughout and going back into history including important women including Sojourner Truth's 'Ain't I A Woman' speech, including the work of Barrett Browning and Kishida Toshiko's 'Girls In Boxes' speech which has stayed with me since I read it in this collection.
Covering topics including fatphobia thanks to the work of Susie Orbach, Jewish feminism thanks to the writing of Judith Plaskow and Prison Abolitionism thanks to the work of Angela Davis, this book an incredible variety of feminist perspectives with each new piece connecting beautifully to the next and making it a book that I found incredibly compelling from beginning to end - the book never feeling too much considering it's size thanks to poetry and short pieces that never stop being interesting.
I really appreciated this book and am certainly going to do so much more reading from the writers collected in this book as I feel this is an excellent place to start if you're just beginning to get some insight into feminism.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review).
The breadth of writers, speechmakers and poets collected in this book is incredibly diverse and makes it such an ideal primer for feminism that you can take from and take in throughout and going back into history including important women including Sojourner Truth's 'Ain't I A Woman' speech, including the work of Barrett Browning and Kishida Toshiko's 'Girls In Boxes' speech which has stayed with me since I read it in this collection.
Covering topics including fatphobia thanks to the work of Susie Orbach, Jewish feminism thanks to the writing of Judith Plaskow and Prison Abolitionism thanks to the work of Angela Davis, this book an incredible variety of feminist perspectives with each new piece connecting beautifully to the next and making it a book that I found incredibly compelling from beginning to end - the book never feeling too much considering it's size thanks to poetry and short pieces that never stop being interesting.
I really appreciated this book and am certainly going to do so much more reading from the writers collected in this book as I feel this is an excellent place to start if you're just beginning to get some insight into feminism.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review).
Read
October 5, 2023As with any good anthology, the value of this book lies in its great diversity; it introduces you to a host of different writers, perspectives, persons, cultures, some of which agree with each other and overlap, others which disagree. And as any good *feminist* anthology should, it showcases a great breadth (geographical, thematical and stylistical) of arguments and experiences-put-to-paper from women's historical struggles for respect, freedom, power and autonomy. This anthology is proof that "Feminism" doesn't exist - that there are many feminisms. For the same reason, I don't feel like I can rate this book on its content, because it's not one thing and doesn't tell one story. But if I were to rate it as a source for new additions to my endless tbr, it's an instant 5 stars!
Although there are things to learn and insights to be gained from all the texts and writers included, the ones that spoke to me the most this time around were:
21. The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
56. Wages Against Housework, Silvia Federici
61. "The Question that No One Would Answer" from The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World, Nawal El Saadawi
75. "The Legacy of Slavery: Standards for a New Womanhood" from Women, Race & Class, Angela Davis
95. Excerpt from Feminism is for Everybody, bell hooks
97. Excerpt from Giving Up the Ghost, Hilary Mantel
103. Excerpt from Feminist Killjoys (And Other Willful Subjects), Sara Ahmed
Although there are things to learn and insights to be gained from all the texts and writers included, the ones that spoke to me the most this time around were:
21. The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
56. Wages Against Housework, Silvia Federici
61. "The Question that No One Would Answer" from The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World, Nawal El Saadawi
75. "The Legacy of Slavery: Standards for a New Womanhood" from Women, Race & Class, Angela Davis
95. Excerpt from Feminism is for Everybody, bell hooks
97. Excerpt from Giving Up the Ghost, Hilary Mantel
103. Excerpt from Feminist Killjoys (And Other Willful Subjects), Sara Ahmed
September 6, 2022
finally finished!! absolutely loved this and think everyone should read it. so eye opening and introduced/reinforced a lot of dif perspectives and ideas. however i would have loved for some contexts/mini-blurbs about the pieces (especially smth like 'this piece is regarded as one of the seminal/first works on X' - for the pieces which i googled, this extra context was v helpful). also wished that some of the excerpts (e.g comphet by rich) were longer!! but that is to be expected ig. (also i really wish there was a queer version of this book!! ie. queer theory/works anthology)
my faves were:
17 - the woman question; eleanor marx
30 - birth control - a parents’ problem of woman’s?; margaret sanger
39 - the second sex; simone de beauvoir
40 - an end to the neglect of the problems of the negro women; claudio jones
42 - reborn: earlier diaries 1947-1963; susan sontag
45 - the feminine mystique; betty friedan
46 - SCUM manifesto; valerie solanas
47 - the woman-identified woman; radicalesbians
56 - wages against housework; silvia federici
58 - of woman born; adrienne rich
60 - our blood; andrea dworkin
72 - compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence; adrienne rich
79 - challenging imperial feminism; valerie amos and pratibha parmar
84 - borderlands; gloria anzaldua
88 - riot grrrl manifesto; bikini kill
90 - mothers of our nations: indigenous women address the world; winona laduke
95 - feminism is for everybody; bell hooks
96 - gender violence and the prison industrial complex; incite! women, gender non-conforming, and trans people of colour against violence
107 - we should all be feminists; chimamanda ngoni adiche
116 - feminism, interrupted; lola olufemi
my faves were:
17 - the woman question; eleanor marx
30 - birth control - a parents’ problem of woman’s?; margaret sanger
39 - the second sex; simone de beauvoir
40 - an end to the neglect of the problems of the negro women; claudio jones
42 - reborn: earlier diaries 1947-1963; susan sontag
45 - the feminine mystique; betty friedan
46 - SCUM manifesto; valerie solanas
47 - the woman-identified woman; radicalesbians
56 - wages against housework; silvia federici
58 - of woman born; adrienne rich
60 - our blood; andrea dworkin
72 - compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence; adrienne rich
79 - challenging imperial feminism; valerie amos and pratibha parmar
84 - borderlands; gloria anzaldua
88 - riot grrrl manifesto; bikini kill
90 - mothers of our nations: indigenous women address the world; winona laduke
95 - feminism is for everybody; bell hooks
96 - gender violence and the prison industrial complex; incite! women, gender non-conforming, and trans people of colour against violence
107 - we should all be feminists; chimamanda ngoni adiche
116 - feminism, interrupted; lola olufemi
January 27, 2021
This anthology begins with an excellent, broad-ranging introduction by Hannah Dawson, in which she writes, “To try and make people see what is right in front of their eyes: this is core to the history of feminism, as it has been to the history of all human rights struggles.”
The collection contains writing across a period of 600 years, including a diverse range of contemporary writers like Bell Hooks, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Bernadine Evaristo. International voices are included, so the book doesn’t simply amplify the four waves of western perspective, but a global experience, also encompassing race, class and sexuality. Enlightening and empowering.
The collection contains writing across a period of 600 years, including a diverse range of contemporary writers like Bell Hooks, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Bernadine Evaristo. International voices are included, so the book doesn’t simply amplify the four waves of western perspective, but a global experience, also encompassing race, class and sexuality. Enlightening and empowering.
Want to read
February 10, 2021I saw this book on lovely Aayushi (_penandpapers)’s Instagram and fell in love immediately. I cannot wait to read and review it.
June 21, 2023
fucking hell we’ve been screaming for our most basic rights for 7 bjillion years and still no one is listening
April 30, 2024
couldn't finish, had to return it to the library
September 13, 2021
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Anthologies are a great way to be introduced to authors and/or subjects you are interested in so as soon as I saw this book I expected to love it. As mentioned in previous reviews I have been reading more non-fiction, one of the main subjects being feminist writing, my expectations were high and they were definitely met.
There's a lot going on and it's quite a big book, which I think makes it perfect for both people who just started feminist reading and for people that have already read quite a few books/authors. Out of the over 100 entries I knew a lot of the most popular authors and essays but I didn't have the chance to read them before, so this book definitely gives you a great kickstarter to most of them and a good idea of what you want to read more of in the future. Overall I would definitely recommend this book.
Anthologies are a great way to be introduced to authors and/or subjects you are interested in so as soon as I saw this book I expected to love it. As mentioned in previous reviews I have been reading more non-fiction, one of the main subjects being feminist writing, my expectations were high and they were definitely met.
There's a lot going on and it's quite a big book, which I think makes it perfect for both people who just started feminist reading and for people that have already read quite a few books/authors. Out of the over 100 entries I knew a lot of the most popular authors and essays but I didn't have the chance to read them before, so this book definitely gives you a great kickstarter to most of them and a good idea of what you want to read more of in the future. Overall I would definitely recommend this book.
August 29, 2022
BOOK 13 (OUT OF 21) OF MY HOLIDAY READS - AUGUST 2022
I think I need to start with a disclaimer. It has been a long while since I've studied feminism. I first began to understand what feminism was as a teenager. I'd heard of the idea but I'd never really understood until much later. I only formally was taught feminism as I studied Language and Gender at A Level as part of my English Language A Level. Reflecting on it now, a lot of my education was seriously outdated.
In this review, it's important to admit ignorance and accept privilege. I had never thought about or been introduced to the multi facets behind feminism. What was it like for friends of colour, LQBTQA+, those of a different class from me, those who lived elsewhere? I honestly didn't think about that in depth until much later. This is where I accept my priveleged position - how nice it must be to be naive to the struggles of these groups within feminism? This book confronts this immediately in the introductory essay by the editor Hannah Dawson and this introduction sets the book up to show the reader the full ranges of feminism.
Now, the thing I love about collections is that you don't need to look for the range, it's already there. Yes, sometimes, it is limited to the editor's bias and their understanding but so far I've enjoyed these collections. It also goes in chronological order, which satisfies me. Completely unrelated to the subject matter, I recommend The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories.
The extract from Kishida Toshiko's Daughters in Boxes was the most poignant piece for me.
I'll definitely return to this collection. This is one of those books you come back to.
Note - I kind of wish I'd bought this in a physical format. I wouldn't recommend getting the Kindle version. It's difficult to make notes and stop.
I think I need to start with a disclaimer. It has been a long while since I've studied feminism. I first began to understand what feminism was as a teenager. I'd heard of the idea but I'd never really understood until much later. I only formally was taught feminism as I studied Language and Gender at A Level as part of my English Language A Level. Reflecting on it now, a lot of my education was seriously outdated.
In this review, it's important to admit ignorance and accept privilege. I had never thought about or been introduced to the multi facets behind feminism. What was it like for friends of colour, LQBTQA+, those of a different class from me, those who lived elsewhere? I honestly didn't think about that in depth until much later. This is where I accept my priveleged position - how nice it must be to be naive to the struggles of these groups within feminism? This book confronts this immediately in the introductory essay by the editor Hannah Dawson and this introduction sets the book up to show the reader the full ranges of feminism.
Now, the thing I love about collections is that you don't need to look for the range, it's already there. Yes, sometimes, it is limited to the editor's bias and their understanding but so far I've enjoyed these collections. It also goes in chronological order, which satisfies me. Completely unrelated to the subject matter, I recommend The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories.
The extract from Kishida Toshiko's Daughters in Boxes was the most poignant piece for me.
I'll definitely return to this collection. This is one of those books you come back to.
Note - I kind of wish I'd bought this in a physical format. I wouldn't recommend getting the Kindle version. It's difficult to make notes and stop.
June 7, 2022
Amazing book - broadened my knowledge in many ways - two key ones being:
1) how long feminism has been a part of humanity despite the unhelpful characterisation of feminist waves indicating that feminism has only been present from the late 1800s despite this book showing it's been around for thousands of years; and
2) the feminist origins with socialism. It makes so much sense but the idea that there is such a clean analogy. Women have been exploited by the patriarchy just as workers have been exploited by capitalists. Women of the world, like workers, rise up! Inequality, whether in gender or working class (or others such as race), can't be solved in isolation and need to be solved together to create a systemic change.
The one thing i would've liked is to hear more about the authors themselves and what influence the work they wrote had in the world. This might've been too difficult so I understand why it wasn't included but still, with every great text I wondered how it was received in the world into which it was published.
Nevertheless, it was fascinating hearing diverse opinions from voices I've never heard before and a worthy book I'd recommend to anyone.
1) how long feminism has been a part of humanity despite the unhelpful characterisation of feminist waves indicating that feminism has only been present from the late 1800s despite this book showing it's been around for thousands of years; and
2) the feminist origins with socialism. It makes so much sense but the idea that there is such a clean analogy. Women have been exploited by the patriarchy just as workers have been exploited by capitalists. Women of the world, like workers, rise up! Inequality, whether in gender or working class (or others such as race), can't be solved in isolation and need to be solved together to create a systemic change.
The one thing i would've liked is to hear more about the authors themselves and what influence the work they wrote had in the world. This might've been too difficult so I understand why it wasn't included but still, with every great text I wondered how it was received in the world into which it was published.
Nevertheless, it was fascinating hearing diverse opinions from voices I've never heard before and a worthy book I'd recommend to anyone.
October 2, 2022
I liked parts of this collection but i felt it focused too heavily on more modern writing and less so on earlier writing. This was generally curated well and i did like it but some of the choices were a bit dry or dragged on for way too long. It's not something i would pick up again to read recreationally but if i was studying again, then I'd gravitate towards it.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 3, 2022
A good variety of essays ranging across centuries. The introduction by Dawson is well worth the read (in case you usually skip these) and in and of itself a great piece for anyone who is interested in (starting to learn about) feminism. Although some essays feel cut short, this book was a great way for me to get back into reading essays on feminist topics.
October 1, 2021
LOVED the focus on intersectionality within feminism, such an amazing anthology that spans years and continents, true blessed to have found this
February 6, 2022
so beautiful, women can write so well
March 21, 2022
An enjoyably thought provoking anthology, I’ve added a few more books onto the reading list now.
October 8, 2021
Collating seven centuries of feminist texts into a single, portable edition is a mammoth, maybe impossible, task. I was left disappointed by this attempt.
The version of feminism presented in this tone was narrow in scope largely staying in the intellectual realm and not touching on the practicalities of living in this world as a female. There was much on identity and what it means to be female but not much on how females live. Curiously, topics not touched upon include: suffrage, prohibition, fashion, financial independence, child custody, contraception, abortion, domestic abuse, right-to-work, pay equality and #metoo.
The texts were overwhelmingly anglophonic and majority US-based. There were no overly disabled voices. Where politics were overtly mentioned, they were mostly aligned to socialist/Marxism. There was never a version of feminism presented that would be uncomfortable to a modern progressive reader, which made me wonder how much Dr Hannah Dawson challenged herself when compiling this volume.
The tone was persistently angry which made the reading experience rather flat and the reader didn’t get a sense of feminism ever actually achieving anything. It’s good to point out problems (raise awareness) but discussions on how to solve problems could have given this reading experience more depth. In this way Feminism, Interrupted was a high to go out on and I would have like to see more writing like that throughout the book.
Overall, there were a lot of insightful texts and powerful voices included in this volume. I can’t wait to part 2 ;)
The version of feminism presented in this tone was narrow in scope largely staying in the intellectual realm and not touching on the practicalities of living in this world as a female. There was much on identity and what it means to be female but not much on how females live. Curiously, topics not touched upon include: suffrage, prohibition, fashion, financial independence, child custody, contraception, abortion, domestic abuse, right-to-work, pay equality and #metoo.
The texts were overwhelmingly anglophonic and majority US-based. There were no overly disabled voices. Where politics were overtly mentioned, they were mostly aligned to socialist/Marxism. There was never a version of feminism presented that would be uncomfortable to a modern progressive reader, which made me wonder how much Dr Hannah Dawson challenged herself when compiling this volume.
The tone was persistently angry which made the reading experience rather flat and the reader didn’t get a sense of feminism ever actually achieving anything. It’s good to point out problems (raise awareness) but discussions on how to solve problems could have given this reading experience more depth. In this way Feminism, Interrupted was a high to go out on and I would have like to see more writing like that throughout the book.
Overall, there were a lot of insightful texts and powerful voices included in this volume. I can’t wait to part 2 ;)
February 20, 2024
Wow!!! I highly recommend this book.
This book includes an incredible collection of writing from poetry to prose to philosophy to manifestos to biography...
The writings that particularly stood out to me are Christine De Pizan's, "the book of the city of ladies," Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre," Sojourner Truths, "ain't I a woman?", Kishida Toshiko's, "Daughters in boxes", Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "the yellow wall paper" (now, this was incredible!), Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's "Sultana's dream", Virginia Woolf's "a room of one's own" (again, incredible, incredible writing!), Valerie Solana's "SCUM manifesto" (very rock n' roll), Rachel Adler's "the Jew that wasn't there" (gave me an insight into feminist issues within Judaism that I actually never thought about before!), Mary Angelou's "still I rise" (just, wow!) and Mary Nelson's "the Argonauts"... just to name a few...
I've read Judith Butler's "bodies that matter," and that really required some mental gymnastics to read. I wondered if Hannah Dawson, the editor, would have included a more comprehensive extract from Butler's "the gender trouble". But nope, Bulter was still notoriously difficult to comprehend as ever. I REALLY want to grasp their ideas and wish their books were more simply written for an intellectually inferior person like me...
Also, I kept thinking, "Why is there no extract from George Elliot (also known as Mary Anne Evans)?" Imo, she's one of the best female writers in history. That's just one thing I wish they had included in this book.
Having said that, this book really helped me put myself into the context of feminist history... and highlighted just how far rights for women have come but also how much it has yet to go. It has introduced me to some powerful women that I never knew or heard about before, and I am grateful to those that have fought for the rights of women, including black and LGBTQI+. This was an incredible and empowering read!
This book includes an incredible collection of writing from poetry to prose to philosophy to manifestos to biography...
The writings that particularly stood out to me are Christine De Pizan's, "the book of the city of ladies," Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre," Sojourner Truths, "ain't I a woman?", Kishida Toshiko's, "Daughters in boxes", Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "the yellow wall paper" (now, this was incredible!), Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's "Sultana's dream", Virginia Woolf's "a room of one's own" (again, incredible, incredible writing!), Valerie Solana's "SCUM manifesto" (very rock n' roll), Rachel Adler's "the Jew that wasn't there" (gave me an insight into feminist issues within Judaism that I actually never thought about before!), Mary Angelou's "still I rise" (just, wow!) and Mary Nelson's "the Argonauts"... just to name a few...
I've read Judith Butler's "bodies that matter," and that really required some mental gymnastics to read. I wondered if Hannah Dawson, the editor, would have included a more comprehensive extract from Butler's "the gender trouble". But nope, Bulter was still notoriously difficult to comprehend as ever. I REALLY want to grasp their ideas and wish their books were more simply written for an intellectually inferior person like me...
Also, I kept thinking, "Why is there no extract from George Elliot (also known as Mary Anne Evans)?" Imo, she's one of the best female writers in history. That's just one thing I wish they had included in this book.
Having said that, this book really helped me put myself into the context of feminist history... and highlighted just how far rights for women have come but also how much it has yet to go. It has introduced me to some powerful women that I never knew or heard about before, and I am grateful to those that have fought for the rights of women, including black and LGBTQI+. This was an incredible and empowering read!
May 25, 2025
I am incredibly grateful that this book exists and that it made its way to my hands. This anthology is filled with thoughtful, though provoking and insightful stories, essays and poems. So many different perspectives and experiences were explored, yet all of them catered to women. Some challenged my own views and biases, some perfectly encapsulated my values and some touched on my own insecurities and fears. I would record this book to anyone looking to expand their feminist knowledge, or anyone looking for a collection of great authors.
September 30, 2025
Wow… what a beautiful book, made up of so many pieces of writing speaking from all sides of feminism throughout history.
I love that a lot of these pieces of writing pair the experiences of either being black and/or trans and/or queer with feminism. Because black women, trans women, and queer women all paved the way in feminism. All in all, these experiences do go hand in hand, sexism; racism; homophobia are all in ways intertwined.
I’ve shown many female and non-binary friends this book and the conversations that arise from it are so fascinating.
I love that a lot of these pieces of writing pair the experiences of either being black and/or trans and/or queer with feminism. Because black women, trans women, and queer women all paved the way in feminism. All in all, these experiences do go hand in hand, sexism; racism; homophobia are all in ways intertwined.
I’ve shown many female and non-binary friends this book and the conversations that arise from it are so fascinating.
December 26, 2025
whilst i think all of the texts selected for this book are very very very VERY important some i found more informative than others, some too long, some too short. not a perfect selection but a meaningful and a powerful one. i wouldn’t say i actually read this. for me its not something you just sit and read. you have to study it and research every text separately to understand the history and meaning behind each and every one. so im coming back to this many many more times in the future and i’m looking forward to it
April 24, 2024
"To try and make people see what is right in front of their eyes: this is core to the history of feminism, as it has been to the history of all human rights struggles."
"A feminist is a killjoy, by definition; you kill joy by calling out sexism."
No words for this book... It made me angry and hopeful, it made me cry and smile. Every text, every story, every poem touched a part of me.
This book is truly an embodiment and proof that Feminism is for Everybody!
"A feminist is a killjoy, by definition; you kill joy by calling out sexism."
No words for this book... It made me angry and hopeful, it made me cry and smile. Every text, every story, every poem touched a part of me.
This book is truly an embodiment and proof that Feminism is for Everybody!
August 13, 2024
God damn tää oli paksu setti, mutta hyvä sellainen.
Oli kiva, että tässä oli kattavasti aika monenlaista tekstiä ja kirjotuksia eri puolilta maailmaa. Mutta silti painottui ehkä yhdysvaltalaisiin ja brittiläisiin hmm..
Oli kiva, että tässä oli kattavasti aika monenlaista tekstiä ja kirjotuksia eri puolilta maailmaa. Mutta silti painottui ehkä yhdysvaltalaisiin ja brittiläisiin hmm..
January 9, 2022
The Patriarchy embracing Feminism and guiding the poor stupid souls to know what true feminism is.
July 26, 2022
My only addition to this anthology would be to include legal/ political milestones in between texts (a page of bulletpoints to add some context to the ideological shifts).
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