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?

down among the women - fay weldon before she swallowed teh DM whole - had quite an impact on me
the l shaped room was also quite a formative erm... text.

penthesileia are you quite mad?

The Yellow Wallpaper is bloomin' brilliant!

Jane Eyre has feminist overtones as well methinks.

No, I don't it's overthinking - I think it is really important to offer another perspective to all that shite.

For films that are brilliant and have cool girls doing things as the central protagonist - the Miyazaki films are brilliant - My Neighbour Totoro is lovely as is Kiki's Special Delivery - maybe in a couple of years time, but good to have lurking...

For a lighter, more post-feminist touch, try anything by Meg Wolitzer. She is absolutely brilliant and (IMO) hugely underrated.

Her novels The Wife and The Ten-Year Nap are both excellent and have a lot to say about feminism, the latter about how the daughters of the 60s bra-burners deal with the issue.

Oooh I looove Alias Grace.

Oooh our bodies ourselves
ooh the yellow wallpaper
ooh wide sargasso sea (after jane eyre)
That last made me feel fantastically clever and liberated - the first time I could see a text as the expression of a culture as well as an individual author.

onebat Not mad at all.

Aw policywonk - The Women's Room, of its time surely and important for that reason.

I think it was the easy read that introduced the concept to many American housewives.

For a small child (the OP's daughter is only 2!) I might think about children's books rather than all the feminist classics (though I have most of the ones mentioned anyway, and lots more, but can't imagine many girls reading them under about 16 anyway):

Old classics with notably feisty girls include the Pippi Longstocking books, Swallows and Amazons, some of the Noel Streatfields like Ballet Shoes.

More modern ones I particularly like for discussions about gender identity etc include Bill's new frock (Anne Fine), also we have one callled Robomum, for a 6yo or thereabouts, about a boy with a feminist scientist mother.

I find that many books provide a way into talking about feminist perspectives, you don't really need anything in particular to find something to get hot under the feminist collar about, but that could be just me....

The Feminine Mystique really inspired me- I went on to read most of the ones here after that one.

yes - OBM is quite right - should have said you HAVE to read Jane Eyre before you read Wide Sargasso Sea!

Then go on to The Madwoman in the Attic for the lit crit

Pansy Potter the Strongman's Daughter.

Anyone remember her? From a comic in the 70s. Dandy or Sparky I think.

of course you can borrow it pol

wonders how pw will respond to my Victorian-gentleman style margin-notes to Ariel Levy: 'Pshaw! Is she a woman or a windmill?' or 'dimwittery!!' underlined three times. That kind of thing, anyway?

I did get The Knight Who Took All Day from the library for her.

Thanks for suggestions so far. I realised that actually she is very lucky in having the male role model she has in her father - I didn't have this, though my dad mostly caved to my mother! - seeing dh will show her what she can and should expect from a man.

Fiction - Sara Maitland (although with somewhat bizarre 'feminist theology' religious overtones, but not always. I think 'Three Times Table' is an excellent novel for a young woman to read. Plus, it has dinosaurs!

OBM, I will helpfully highlight them for you.

Robespierre, I haven't read it but my mother used to say it a lot and then cackle

Good post Fennel...we are just getting nostalgic and indulging ourselves here (unless this turns put to be a pretty remarkable 2 year old)

The Madwoman in the Attic!!! Elaine Showalter!!!

We had a lovely book from the library recently about a princess who rejected all her suitors - god, what was it called. It was really good.

I do think what your DD is reading now matters hugely, ma'am.

I examined an indecent amount of dissertations on the evils of fairy-tales when I was lecturing full-time and so couldn't in all conscience read them to DD1 who will be three in June.

When she got an Angelina ballerina book out of the library a few weeks ago, the plot (bear with me), involved Angelina being too scared to teach her dancing skills to some mousy princesses. By the end of the story she had acquired the confidence to take control of the situation.

DD1 was genuinely mystified at the book and kept asking why Angelina couldn't just get on with being strong straight away. She is currently obsessed with pink and exploring girly stuff but the most sexist books she gets to read is The Tiger who Came for Tea.
(Daddy has a great patriarchal idea and takes the hapless Sophie and her mum out for tea).

I'm over-thinking this now, aren't I?

It does help that we've pre-installed an older brother and so the books and games that are around are fairly varied.

I think all their reading needs to be thought about. DD was looking for 'girls' toys' in the Argos catalogue this morning and DS (6) told her that there's no such thing and when he is grown up he is going to redesign the Argos catalogue so that all the toys are mixed up and not divided into girls' and boys'.

That's my feminist boy.

Texts for you to read are different to texts you might leave about for your daughter, even when she is older than 2!

I can't think of a reason why she shouldn't read Enid Blyton though tbh. She turned me on to a life-time of reading - and George was great, I knew lots of Annes but not many Georges. Jo from Little Women was another early heroine.

btw me and dd were walking the dog today. She is 7. She said 'you know that war that women had? Well did some men fight on the women's side in the war? I reckon there were some men who would have fought with the women. ds2 definitely would have' and I said, 'what war?' and she said 'you know the war of independence' and I said, 'Ah yes that war. Well it's still going on you know' and she said darkly, 'yes I know.' LOL

How cool is that? And it's a TRUE STORY, cross my heart, said this very day.

So clearly you must tell your 2 y-o all about the war of women's independence and how valiantly my ds2 fought on the front line and all will be well.

So are you looking for children's books? If so, get Pirate girl

For the future, I don't think you can go wrong with Gloria Steinem. This collection of her work was my bible when I was a teenager.

Was important to my teenage development that my mum had Our Bodies, Ourselves on her bedside bookshelf.

There's always Andrea Dworkin on porn (possibly not for a 2-yr-old tho)

OBM it would be Princess Smartypants