This list was published on Ms. Magazine's blog , October 1, 2011. Browse on over to Ms. blog and check out this and other interesting articles. Top 100 Feminist Non-Fiction Countdown: 90-81 .
In this next batch of books, feminists consider the everyday: how we eat, shop, marry, parent and worship. Is there something sinister lurking behind a young girl’s love of the color pink? Is matrimony in the 21st century all it’s cracked up to be? Our chosen writers have a lot to reconsider, reframe and dismantle. And bell hooks makes her first (but not last!) appearance on the list.
Not available on our website: #85
The Work of a Common Woman: The Collected Poetry of Judy Grahn, 1964-1977, by
Judy Grahn , Diana Press, 1978, Internationally known poet, writer and social advocate Judy Grahn is a feminist favorite.
$24.69
ISBN-13: 9780061711527
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Harper, 2/2011
In her New York Times bestseller, Orenstein set out discover
just how our pink and princess-crazed culture lures young girls and how
she can keep it far, far away from her daughter, Daisy. What she
discovers is that “just saying no” to pink isn’t as easy as it sounds.
$23.70
ISBN-13: 9781441173287
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Bloomsbury Academic, 6/2010
This thought-provoking work exposes a carnivorous patriarchy that equates meat-eating with manliness. Adams presents compelling reasons that feminists should care how–or rather, who–they eat.
$24.69
ISBN-13: 9780061719288
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Harper, 6/2011
Haag is real and raw in her take on marriage. USA Today calls Marriage Confidential “the rare book a divorced parent can read without feeling he or she has personally undermined Western civilization.”
$14.20
ISBN-13: 9780156961585
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Mariner Books, 5/1978
In her defining history of goddess worship, Stone takes us on an archaeological journey and uncovers the ancient conspiracy that resulted in man’s rule over woman.
$26.40
ISBN-13: 9780465047925
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Basic Books, 9/1992
We know gender is constructed, but is biological sex real? Noted molecular biological and geneticist Fausto-Sterling says not, poking holes in any scientific or psychological “proof” of biological sex differences.
$20.00
ISBN-13: 9780896087330
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: South End Press, 1/2005
Spoiler: This first appearance of bell hooks on our list will be far from the last (helped along by several votes for “anything by bell hooks”!) In Sisters of the Yam, hooks offers ways for black women to heal their own wounds and discover their strengths.
$34.74
ISBN-13: 9780520240544
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: University of California Press, 1/2004
Bordo argues that anorexia and bulimia follow logically from a culture that adulates the slender, fit body–as well as one defining femininity as passive and delicate.
$15.20
ISBN-13: 9780156028646
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Mariner Books, 5/2004
Walker is best known for the gut-wrenching novel The Color Purple, but In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens showcases her nonfiction. In 36 powerful essays, Walker discusses motherhood, feminism, race, politics the civil rights movement and much more.
$13.25
ISBN-13: 9781844087099
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Virago UK, 9/2011
Walter’s analysis of the 21st century anti-feminist backlash took England by storm. She explores the airbrushed, sexualized and gloss-over images of women today. Kathy Sheridan of The Irish Times called it “Required reading for everyone who cares about our humanity, and that means all of us.”
