Feminist literature-what do you recommend?

[CervixSampler]

I've finally got round to buying Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex and I'm looking forward to reading it. It's a hefty tome and will take some time.
What other books should I have on my list for broadening my feminist knowledge? I'm fairly new to feminism compared to the very knowledgable posters on here but since joining about two years ago I've found my eyes opening to the everyday sexism women experience and how much fucking shit I put up with from men in my younger days. Women too. My mum has some very outdated sexist ideas that I challenge regularly. She still hopes I'll marry a doctor one day despite me being happily single.
I read Susie Orbach's Fat is a Feminist Issue back in the 90s at uni but nothing else.
This board has me scowling at novels and films in general with all the sexist crap in them. Once you have your eyes opened...

Apologies if there's already a thread on books but if not please could we have this thread for recommendations?

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Two of my favourites are Men Explain Things to Me (the whole collection of essays) by Rebecca Solnit, and the novel The Power if you haven't already read that. I'm sure others are going to come back to me any minute.

Oh and if you haven't read The Feminine Mystique you're really missing out!

Germaine Greer's 'The Female Eunuch' was a real eye opener for me, about a hundred years ago.

Caroline Criardo Perez' Invisible Women.

Material Girls by Kathleen Stock (only just started it)

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf is an all time favourite for me. Also Fear of Flying by Erica Jong is a good read.

My favourite is The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, but it's quite heavy. And fiction.

Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine is good on debunking myths around innate gender differences.

Feminism, A Brief Introduction... by Debbie Cameron is a great little starter read. Andrea Dworkin's writing on pornography. Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality by Gail Dines. Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter. In fiction The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter & Possession by AS Byatt were lightbulb books for me.

@HecatesCatsInFancyHats

Feminism, A Brief Introduction... by Debbie Cameron is a great little starter read. Andrea Dworkin's writing on pornography. Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality by Gail Dines. Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter. In fiction The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter & Possession by AS Byatt were lightbulb books for me.

Yes, Natasha Walter and Debbie Cameron are both awesome (DC also has a really good blog).

That reminds me that I really learnt so much about feminism through blogs - as you say OP was a little more easy to fit into the day than the chunkier works. Not sure which might be good ones now.

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez and The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

I'd highly recommend signing up to Glosswitch & Caroline CP's newsletters.

One brilliant feminist who seems to be rarely mentioned these days is Dale Spender. She wrote some absolutely eye-opening stuff in the 1980s, of which I'd particularly recommend Man Made Language, which is about the male bias in language. She also wrote a fantastic book called Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them, which is about (ironically enough) all the brilliant women throughout history whose contribution has now been forgotten.

Thanks Corgi!

Yay to Dale Spender! Also Sheila Rowbotham - a forgotten UK writer.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/23/in-1970-driven-by-chaos-and-energy-we-felt-like-pioneers-in-female-protest

I'm hoping she has not been captured.

I read A Vindication of the Rights of Woman recently, while the language is very much of it's time, it was fascinating (and infuriating) to see we are still having the same arguments as back then

Invisible Women by CCP should be required reading everywhere.
Delusions of Gender and Testosterone Rex by Cordelia Fine (daughter of Anne Fine, children’s novelist)
Women and Power by Mary Beard
We Should All Be Feminists by Chiamanda Ngozi Adochie

CCP, Glosswitch and Helen Lewis (Bluestocking) newsletters

The Women’s Room by Marilyn French is very 2nd wave 70s novel but it’s a hell of a read.

I read What Society Does To Girls by Joyce Nicholson many years ago and would recommend that.

Can't go wrong with a Marge Piercy IMO. I like 'Three Women'/

I'm rereading all my 80's/90's books to rediscover my anger - Dworkin, Sheila Rowbotham (A Century of Women), Marilyn French (Misogynies), Helena Kennedy (although I believe she's TWAW now), Germaine Greer etc. Also A Vindication of the Rights of Women and A Room of One's Own. Difficult Women has been recommended so that's on the list. One from 1980 that you might still be able to find is Eve's Rib by Marietta Nowak which I found fascinating back in the day. Also just bought Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici which has also come highly recommended. Enjoy.

@HecatesCatsInFancyHats

Feminism, A Brief Introduction... by Debbie Cameron is a great little starter read. Andrea Dworkin's writing on pornography. Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality by Gail Dines. Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter. In fiction The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter & Possession by AS Byatt were lightbulb books for me.

Debbie Cameron is on Twitter and has a fantastic blog about language and sexism. Highly recommend following for weekly posts that really make you think. debuk.wordpress.com/

I seconx manyon this list, especiallyThe women's room by Marylin French. I would read the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante if you haven't all ready.

I recently read Tomorrow sex will be good again by Katherine Angel which was thought provoking- about sex, consent culture and female desire.

Another vote for 'The Women's Room'.

One book which I read in the late 1970's when I was taking a Women's (not Gender) Studies course at university was Susan Brownmiller's 'Against Our Will: men, women and rape', which really opened my eyes as to what rape and sexual assault against women is about - not sex, but control. I think it's out of print, but it was such a powerful book that it's worth seeking out.

The Politics of Sex by Kate Millett is a classic from the 70s.

I’ve seen it suggested that Elena Ferrante is a man.

I’ve seen it suggested that Elena Ferrante is a man

No man has bothered to listen to a woman long enough to capture the inner workings of the female mind the way Ferrante does

How To Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ is a brilliant expose of how women's opinions and their literary achievements get ignored or diminished.

@Lb1204

I’ve seen it suggested that Elena Ferrante is a man

No man has bothered to listen to a woman long enough to capture the inner workings of the female mind the way Ferrante does

These are some great feminist books that can be downloaded for free:

Sexual Politics by Kate Millett: ia801908.us.archive.org/16/items/KateMillettSexualPolitics/Kate%20Millett--Sexual%20Politics.pdf

Gyn-Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism by Mary Daly: www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/mary-daly-gyn-ecology-the-metaethics-of-radical-feminism.pdf

Complete works of Andrea Dworkin: radfem.org/dworkin/

Loving To Survive: sexual terror, men’s violence and women’s lives by Dee L. R. Graham: ia800100.us.archive.org/3/items/AnarchismRadicalFeminism/Loving%20to%20Survive%20-%20Graham.pdf

Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful cultural practices in the west by Sheila Jeffreys: ia800100.us.archive.org/3/items/AnarchismRadicalFeminism/Beauty-and-Misogyny-Sheila-Jeffreys.pdf

The Industrial Vagina: the political economy of the global sex trade by Sheila Jeffreys: ia800100.us.archive.org/3/items/AnarchismRadicalFeminism/Industrial%20Vagina%20-%20Sheila%20Jeffreys.pdf

The Spinster and Her Enemies: feminism and sexuality 1880-1930 by Sheila Jeffreys: feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Sheila-Jeffreys-The-Spinster-her-Enemies.pdf

The Sexual Liberals and the Attack on Feminism Edited by Dorchen Leidholdt and Janice G. Raymond: radfem.org/the-sexual-liberals/

Nothing Matters: a feminist critique of postmodernism by Somer Brodribb: ia800100.us.archive.org/3/items/AnarchismRadicalFeminism/Nothing-Matters%20-%20Somer-Brodribb.pdf

Unpacking Queer Politics
by Sheila Jeffreys: radfem.org/unpacking-queer-politics/

The Transexual Empire: the making of the she-male by Janice Raymond: materialfeminista.milharal.org/files/2013/03/The-Transsexual-Empire-Janice-Raymond.pdf

Gender Hurts: a feminist analysis of the politics of transgenderism by Sheila Jeffreys: ia800100.us.archive.org/3/items/AnarchismRadicalFeminism/Gender%20Hurts.pdf

Delusions of Gender: the real science behind sex differences by Cordelia Fine: ia800100.us.archive.org/3/items/AnarchismRadicalFeminism/delusionsofgendercordeliafine.pdf

I would also recommend these books which don’t seem to be available to download:

Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution by Sheila Jeffreys

Against Our Will: men, women and rape by Susan Brownmiller

Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality by Gail Dines

A Passion For Friends: Toward a Philosophy of Female Affection by Janice Raymond