The summer solstice has passed, but the long daylight hours we still get are perfect for reading languidly by the pool. Let the following books grace your bookshelves and fill you with intersectional feminist fire.
“I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I’m right. I am just trying—trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world..."
Roxane Gay’s collection of essays reminds us all that we have to balance our lofty feminist ideals with pragmatism. Her confession that she once live-tweeted an issue of Vogue is validation for those of us who watch Real Housewives on a Tuesday then get in a flame war with misogynists on Wednesday.
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
Honestly, anything by Margaret Atwood is a worthy read. The Handmaid’s Tale is set in a dystopian world that would fill any feminist’s sleep with nightmares. The main character, Offred, lived in the world before change came about, and the stark contrast between her life then as a loved wife and mother and her life now as a slave whose value is based on her fertility provides a satirical warning of the dangers of anti-feminism.
“So, go to Paris. If you can’t do that, go somewhere. Take a road trip, a train trip, a bus trip if you must. Find a place that reminds you that the world is so much bigger than your heart and whoever broke it this time around. Go hang out by the ocean and trip out on its mammoth ancientness. Offer it your heartache—it’s big enough to hold it, to dilute it with all that salt and water, melt it away to nothing. Salt purifies. Take a dunk if you can stand it. You’re alive. That relationship was but one chapter in your long, long story, one little scene in your epic.”
This memoir details author Michelle Tea's journey to adulthood as she navigates addiction, making rent, relationships with both men and women, and her aspirations to become a writer.
“Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice. I am angry. We should all be angry. Anger has a long history of bringing about positive change. But I am also hopeful, because I believe deeply in the ability of human beings to remake themselves for the better.
Nigerian American author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has taken the literary world by storm in recent years. After her TEDx talk about why we should all be feminists earned praise from several corners, she penned her thoughts on the subject into a short book. I had a hard time picking a quote for this slide because the whole book had me pumping my fist in the air and saying, "YAS, QUEEN." Once you finish reading this book, go pick up any of her others. You won't be disappointed.
“To ask what queer theory teaches us about orgasm is to offer up, by way of a provocation, the idea that queer theory and orgasm might be co-relevant, might usefully extend each other’s expected reach.”
Okay, so this one is a bit more academic than the others on the list, but maybe you're into that kind of thing. The author, Annamarie Jagose, realized during her study of queer theory that there is a giant orgasm-shaped hole in the literature. She puts forth a study of the orgasm and its history in a queer/feminist light that is elegant and fascinating. If you're looking for the Cliff's Notes version, here is an in-depth review https://lareviewofbooks.org/review/beating-around-the-bush-annamarie-jagoses-orgasmology
"There were butches with ducktails in my town.
"It was a combed-back hairstyle, like this:
"The girls at convent school all looked like lesbians. I hated it.
"At twenty, all in the same day, I quit university...
"Dropped acid...
"And fell in love with a woman.
"I'd never been in love before.
"We were all alone in the world.
"We had nothing to go by.
"Later, we broke up on a trip.
"There were three of us.
"She left with the other girl.
"I was in a state of shock.
"I travelled to northern Greece.
"I met this nice, cute girl.
"I dropped some acid to see if I'd fall in love.
"But it wasn't the same."
Our last book is a graphic novel by animator Diane Obomsawin. It is filled with short stories of growing awareness of being gay,
coming out, first dates, fear of rejection, and failing to meet others' expectations of you. The narrative is presented without embellishment or drama. It is straight forward in its delivery and invites the reader to interpret the emotions and complexity behind the words.
