Key feminist texts for me to read and leave lying about the house for dd?

[HRHQueenElizabethII]

Spurred on by musings from another thread: I've read almost no feminist writings, and was one of those women in my early 20s who rejected the term; through not understanding it.

I've been extraordinarily lucky - I've had strong female role models, but find myself more feminist than them, and have married a man who's clearly a "natural" feminist - though he hasn't read the literature either. But so much of what I read and see makes me want to buy some key texts, past and current, so that dd will have access to them as she grows up, and so understand the contexts and conditions which will influence the choices she makes in the future, and those made by people she comes into contact with.

Anyone fancy giving me a reading list?

i think a good thinkg to leave is that article by derek draper talking about his wife KAte thingumy off GMTV or whatever, saying stuff like 'us Draper men never get out the hoover, we think once we've got a wife, why do we need a servant' and other such puerile imbecility. if you leave that around, he will not fail to be revolted by the vile man, and then you can gently point out that it is vile both in this article , and ahem..in your own home!! good luck.,

Interesting article really, but in fairness to my lovely DH, the books are for my dd, not dh, who is a proper feminist chap and hoovers more than I do!

Haven't read all and will need to go and have a bath and come back to this later.

For older children's books, Joan Aiken's Dido Twite books and Diana Wynne Jones, and although it's written by a man Philip Pullman's Northern Lights has quite an inspiring character, Lyra.

For feminist non fiction, I really like the oldies like A Room of One's Own (1930s?) and A Vindication of the Rights of Women (late 18th century). As an old fashioned socialist feminist, I also liked the late 60s and early 70s stuff I pinched off my mum, (thes books are about my age) like an anthology called Sisterhood is Powerful, but I don't know how easy it is to find secondhand copies now. Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed is about low paid women's work but it's a more modern feminist work.

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now where have I heard that before?

Please, please no Simone de Beauvoir! She is not a feminist - she is anti-women. And no Elisabeth Badinter either (S de B's spiritual daughter).

Ooh has anyone mentioned the RESearch book Angry Women? My coffee table book of choice!

Maybe peruse whilst listening to Crass's Penis Envy

Presume Betty Friedan 'The Feminine Mystique' has already mentioned? Only read the first page and see Mary Wollstonecraft, Simone de Beauviour, Susan Sontag, Naomi Wolfe already have. I would recommend all of them too.

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Peircey. One of my favourite books ever.

I like Anais Nin as well

Wonderful that this thread was resurrected.

When I was 18/20 or thereabouts I discovered feminism initially through Naomi Wolf (beauty myth), Susan Faludi (backlash) & Katie Roiphe (the morning after, which actually I do think is feminist even though loads of people called her anti-feminist). I also read, at that time- in a slightly guilty way- Erica Jong's 'Fear of flying'. Very good, very saucy, very funny, very sexy.

For more recent texts, I agree with whoever mentioned 'Misconceptions' by Naomi Wolf. Also: Katha Pollitt is good.

I do think though that the books that 'spoke' to us would not necessarily speak to your daughter. I would encourage her to read good literature, tbh, I think that always works well. Particularly good literature by women. Margaret Atwood, Sylvia Plath, Doris Lessing, Iris Murdoch, Angela Carter, Marge Piercy, Toni Morrison etc etc... and the classics for children of course all contain strong female characters (including Enid Blyton, just make sure to discuss it with her). Pippi Longstocking of course. And Little women. and more contemporary writers who happen to be women, or books which you think depict strong women characters.

She'll discover her own feminist path, as long as lots of interesting books (of all kinds, written by women AND men) are around her.

Wouldn't it be great if someone could do a list of all the books mentioned on this thread! There are so many I haven't heard of, and have been taking notes.

OrmIrian I adore that book, I'm sure it changed my life and opened my eyes in so many ways.

Have you read any of Sheri Tepper's books? They are really interesting with wonderful women and aliens, always a Good Thing in my opinion!!

maria - I totally agree. I loved Pure Lust by Mary Daly which most young women of the current generation would probably think was totally crazy and an interesting period piece at best . I was also obsessed for a time with books about the female archetype in pre-Abrahamic religions and read accordingly. I am not convinced that path would appeal to everyone.

The names you mention have a great deal more general appeal but still inculcate the right principles.

No I haven't eartymama - I will look out for them!

I suggest

"The Happy Stripper: Pleasures and Politics of the New Burlesque" by Jackie Wilson

"Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s" by Angela J. Latham

"Alternative Femininities: Body, Age and Identity (Dress, Body, Culture)" by Samantha Holland

I've ordered "The Female Eunuch" so am eagerly awaiting the postman

I'm resurrecting this thread, as I'm almost finished reading Natasha Walter's Living Doll, and am quite depressed by it, but think it's worth reading and thereby adding to my list - I was hrh, btw.

Not read whole thread, but just wondered whether anyone had mentioned Woman Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

beyond books...i think what has made the biggest difference to my life in that i married a man who does really share the domestic chores and child caring in a way i rarely see when i look around is that from the age of 1 - 2 1/2 and than again from the age of 10 - 13 (crucially) my dad was a SAHD and did all the home stuff (cooking, cleaning, picking us up from school etc).

this is what made the biggest difference to me. QoQ getting your dd to read books is good, but if you can get your partner and yourself to model true partnership that will be your best insurance against a life of wifey drudgery for your dd.

Oh, yes, I agree with that, soph - think I posted something similar ages up the thread (in my HRH alter ego) - dh is most certainly a good feminist role model for his daughter (and now his son!). I don't think I wanted the books to protect dd herself from a life of wifely drudgery - never really imagined she'd have that, as I haven't! - but more for her to understand the issues that other women face, things which may affect her and her contemporaries without them necessarily being overtly aware of it, etc - things that affect women elsewhere, etc. I think that some young women think that feminism is no longer needed, and reading Living Doll recently has reinforced my feeling that it's as important as it's ever been.

Wifework by Susan Maushart

Also, Braided Lives by Marge Piercy.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Although written by a man and the character Kitty Scherbatskaya is ANNOYING and IMO, an idealised wimpy woman, pretty much a lot of the book is very pro women and highlights a lot of the strictures around women at that time - that they were not allowed to work, so had to have a man (father or husband) to support them, that they had little control over their bodies (inadequate birth control) and would end up with their life taken over by looking after children, while their husband went off and shagged a younger model.

Just seen that your dd is still very little, so I would recommend: Girls Are Best by Sandi Toksvig, which is very simple and funny, and focusses mainly on women's history and achievements (don't be put off by the title, it's not anti-boy/man but pro-women).