Feminism and feminist theory Books

Book SynopsisA field-defining collection that consolidates thinking and builds momentum in the burgeoning area of affect studies.Trade Review“The Affect Theory Reader is . . . a very valuable resource: it presents essaysin conversation in such a way as to provoke further discussion, to hone various definitions and approaches to affect. Gregg and Seigworth frame the conversations in such a way as to draw out the differences between approaches, and their substantial introduction serves as an apt survey of current work. . . . Gregg and Seigworth have assembled an impressive collection of essays and, in their introduction, certainly recognize the limits and scope of such a project. The work is impressive and will certainly catalyze further development in affect theory across disciplines.” - Russ Leo, Reviews in Cultural Theory“As the first definitive collection of essays on affect studies, The Affect Theory Reader demonstrates how the affective turn in academia has been, and continues to be felt, throughout a variety of disciplines.” - Marcie Bianco, Elevate Difference“While a reader of the book might be left less rather than more sure of what precisely constitutes ‘affect theory’, or even affect itself, s/he is nevertheless very likely to be moved by the range of both thought and affective styles that make up the volume and constitute what the editors call in the introduction, an ‘inventory of shimmers’ (p11). This incitement to ‘more than discourse’,the capacity ‘to touch, to move, to mobilise readers’ (p24) is exactly what one would hope for from a reader of affect theory, and is what the contributions that make up this collection indeed achieve.” - Michael Goddard, New Formations“The Affect Theory Reader is unique. It gathers interesting and provocative articles on affect by well-known theorists and suggestively brings to expression the productive divergence between different philosophical and psychological positions on the subject.”—Erin Manning, author of Politics of Touch: Sense, Movement, Sovereignty“Written by some of the most interesting and important thinkers in the field, the essays in this superb collection prove how any serious consideration of culture and politics needs to involve serious attention to affect. The Affect Theory Reader covers remarkable ground: from the ontology of ‘future threat’ in Bush’s preemptive politics to the management of workplace affects in the information economy; from the biology of human mimicry to attachments to promises of the ‘good life’ that often cruelly wear out economically precarious subjects. Thoughtfully curated and genuinely interdisciplinary, with contributors from fields ranging from media studies to geography, Melissa Gregg’s and Gregory J. Seigworth’s reader will be indispensable to anyone working in or adjacent to affect theory.”—Sianne Ngai, author of Ugly Feelings“The Affect Theory Reader is . . . a very valuable resource: it presents essays in conversation in such a way as to provoke further discussion, to hone various definitions and approaches to affect. Gregg and Seigworth frame the conversations in such a way as to draw out the differences between approaches, and their substantial introduction serves as an apt survey of current work. . . . Gregg and Seigworth have assembled an impressive collection of essays and, in their introduction, certainly recognize the limits and scope of such a project. The work is impressive and will certainly catalyze further development in affect theory across disciplines.” -- Russ Leo * Reviews in Cultural Theory *“As the first definitive collection of essays on affect studies, The Affect Theory Reader demonstrates how the affective turn in academia has been, and continues to be felt, throughout a variety of disciplines.” -- Marcie Bianco * Elevate Difference *“While a reader of the book might be left less rather than more sure of what precisely constitutes ‘affect theory’, or even affect itself, s/he is nevertheless very likely to be moved by the range of both thought and affective styles that make up the volume and constitute what the editors call in the introduction, an ‘inventory of shimmers’ (p11). This incitement to ‘more than discourse’, the capacity ‘to touch, to move, to mobilise readers’ (p24) is exactly what one would hope for from a reader of affect theory, and is what the contributions that make up this collection indeed achieve.” -- Michael Goddard * New Formations *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix An Inventory of Shimmers / Gregory J. Seigworth and Melissa Gregg 1 One. Impingements 1. Happy Objects / Sara Ahmed 29 2. The Future Birth of the Affective Fact: The Political Ontology of Threat / Brian Massumi 52 3. Writing Shame / Elspeth Probyn 71 Two. Aesthetics and the Everyday 4. Cruel Optimism / Lauren Berlant 93 5. Bitter after Taste: Affect, Food, and Social Aesthetics / Ben Highmore 118 An Ethics of Everyday Infinities and Powers: Fèlix Guattari on Affect and the Refrain/ Lone Bertelsen and Andrew Murphie 138 Three. Incorporeal/Inorganic 7. Modulating the Excess of Affect: Morale in a State of "Total War" / Ben Anderson 161 8. After Affect: Sympathy, Synchrony, and Mimetic Communication / Anna Gibbs 186 9. The Affective Turn: Political Economy, Biomedia, and Bodies / Patricia T. Clough 206 Four. Managing Affects 10. Eff the Ineffable: Affect, Somatic Management, and Mental Health Service Users / Steven D. Brown and Ian Tucker 229 11. On Friday Night Drinks: Workplace Affects in the Age of the Cubicle / Melissa Gregg 250 12. Desiring Recognition, Accumulating Affect / Megan Watkins 269 Five. After Affect 13. Understanding the Material Practices of Glamour / Nigel Thrift 289 14. Affect's Future: Rediscovering the Virtual in the Actual / Lawrence Grossberg (An Interview with Gregory J. Seigworth and Melissa Gregg) 309 Afterword. Worlding Refrains / Kathleen Stewart 339 References 355 Contributors 381 Index 385

Read more less

Book SynopsisTime Binds is a powerful argument that temporal and sexual dissonance are intertwined, and that the writing of history can be both embodied and erotic. Challenging queer theoryâ??s recent emphasis on loss and trauma, Elizabeth Freeman foregrounds bodily pleasure in the experience and representation of time as she interprets an eclectic archive of queer literature, film, video, and art. She examines work by visual artists who emerged in a commodified, â??postfeminist,â? and â??postgayâ? world. Yet they do not fully accept the dissipation of political and critical power implied by the idea that various political and social battles have been won and are now consigned to the past. By privileging temporal gaps and narrative detours in their work, these artists suggest ways of putting the past into meaningful, transformative relation with the present. Such â??queer asynchroniesâ? provide opportunities for rethinking historical consciousness in erotic terms, thereby countering the methTrade Review“Time Binds is an elegant book bristling with intelligence and wit. A fascinating blend of the familiar and the new, it will have a major hand in opening up queer theory, to its own repressed, to its own dreams, to take its chances.”—Carolyn Dinshaw, author of Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern“Blazing and brilliant. Elizabeth Freeman forges claims with texture, rigor, relevance, and grace, giving her masterful, original study a voice of unusual tenderness and depth. Clearly, Freeman stands at the forefront of where queer theory needs to go: into the strangeness, the utter queerness, lying inside the beats of time.”—Kathryn Bond Stockton, author of The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century“Despite the queer academy’s distance from corporeality and the promotion of more transcendental approaches to historiography, Freeman boldly outlines history as an erotic, embodied experience. . . . Without cleansing their hands of the complicatedness of history’s racial legacies, these theorists explore the messiness of queerness. Freeman’s book is centered on queer time and queer history’s exciting and, at times, (corporeally) violent moments. . . . Fierce indeed.” -- Lizzy Shramko * Lambda Book Report *“Positive but not celebratory, exploratory but rigorous, grounded in the messy referentiality of bodies and texts but compellingly speculative, Time Binds is a pathbreaking book that will have multifarious impacts upon queer and feminist studies.” -- Guy Davidson * Australian Feminist Studies *“In addition to elegant and radical close readings, Time Binds gives us a way to think about pleasure and temporality in combination. . . . Time Binds provides us with close readings of experimental works of film and literature while simultaneously exposing the political stakes of temporality by foregrounding pleasure and the body on both an individual and collective level.” -- Amber Jamilla Musser * Reviews in Cultural Theory *“In the end, Freeman offers us a queer future in which close reading remains both a practice and a pleasure we might repurpose for our own sexual–textual encounters, as well as a method of doing queer history through which we are able to feel in touch with, and touch, the social. For making pining for pleasurable encounters with the past, lingering over texts and bodies, and ‘lesbian’ sex hot again in a ‘new now’ kind of way, Freeman’s book rightly demands we take pause via the sensory, and the sensual, to feel the queerness in this.” -- Gino Conti * Textual Practice *"Time Binds is perhaps the most compelling argument for the ways non-normative relationships with time and history can be particularly generative for queer politics." -- Craig Jennex * TOPIA *Table of ContentsPreface ix Acknowledgments xxv Introduction: Queer and Not Now 1 1. Junk Inheritances, Bad Timing: Familial Arrhythmia in Three Working-Class Dyke Narratives 21 2. Deep Lez: Temporal Drag and the Specters of Feminism 59 3. Time Binds, or, Erotohistoriography 95 4. Turn the Beat Around: Sadomasochism, Temporality, History 137 Coda 171 Appendix: Distributors for Films and Videos 175 Notes 177 Bibliography 193 Index 209

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewExcavating and connecting layers of the ideological influences on Angela Davis's familial, educational, activist and academic experiences, Joy James provides an incisive transdisciplinary analysis of paths taken by the world-renowned human rights advocate, feminist and abolitionist. Adroitly avoiding hagiography while embracing inevitable contradictions, James offers nuanced context with which to reflect not only on an iconic progressive figure of our times, but indeed the imperative of critical praxis that planetary antiblackness permanently engenders. * João Costa Vargas, Professor in the Departments of Black Study and Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, USA *Joy James the activist, as well as Joy James the intellectual, is an indispensable thinker; one of five people who I trust to contextualize the 1960s/70s. This book is a compassionate biography of Angela Davis which does not slide into hagiography, written by the Ida B. Wells of our time. * Frank B. Wilderson III, Chancellor’s Professor of African American Studies, University of California, Irvine,USA *Joy James offers a crisply written intellectual and political biography of Angela Y. Davis, one of the world’s most iconic radical feminist leaders. Drawing on a range of materialist and transdisciplinary approaches, James’s argument is impeccably evidenced and thoughtful in its methods. James humanizes Davis through detailed attention to the trajectory of her life and work. This is a riveting work. * Falguni A. Sheth, Professor and Chair of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Emory University, USA *Table of ContentsSeries Editor Preface Preface: Cold War as Context Acknowledgments Introduction I. Socialization and Education 1. “Sweet Home Alabama” 2. Sallye Davis’s Red Diaper Babies 3. Student Assimilationists and Rebels 4. From “Bombingham” to the Big Apple 5. Traumatic Awakenings in Devastated Children II. University 6. Undergrad 7. Marcuse’s “Most Famous Student” 8. 1967 Entry Points 9. Philosophy Professor and Communist Target III. Political Activism 10. Not Your Mother’s CPUSA: The Che-Lumumba Club 11. Doppelganger Panther Women: Roberta Alexander, Fania Davis Jordan, Angela Davis 12. Queering Radicalism: On Tour with Oakland Panthers and Jean Genet 13. Crucibles Conclusion: Context and Democracy Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisToo much sex in the city: a young woman goes into a self-destructive spiral after becoming obsessed with a downtown Montreal hipster.Reality, that speedy bitch, is catching up to me.In downtown Montreal, everyone is in a band or making a movie. Philomena Flynn and her best friend, Tania, are living fast and hard. There is sex when and where they want it, as well as drugs of all kinds. Not enough work, but lots of parties. Cute boys or nice boys, but rarely both at once. Philomena has no idea how to protect herself from her roaring feelings and goes into a spiral of self-destruction when her heart is broken. Too bad for Tania. Too bad for Philomena's dad. Too bad for boys who are too nice to her, and too bad, above all, for Philomena.Like Animals is a glimpse into the raucous, sex-filled lives infused with self-doubt and euphoria of young, creative people who are far more sensitive than their cool facades will admit.A RARE MTrade ReviewHard-hitting, violent, and raw, this gutsy novel must be read in one go... Without embellishment, yet with colourful and poetic writing, Lemieux tells with great insight of a generation for whom half measures do not seem an option. * La Presse *Eve Lemieux wrote a story that is heartbreaking...When Philly hits absolute rock bottom, the pain is felt so deeply within the pages that it is hard not to become emotional or empathetic to her. * Cloud Lake Literary *

Read more less

Book Synopsis>ALL THE LIFE ADVICE AND UPLIFTING CHAT YOU''D EXPECT IN THE GIRLS'' BATHROOM ON A NIGHT OUT>We all need incredible women in our life to build us up and keep us on track. To give us those tips and tricks we never knew were essential, and to advise us against making the same mistakes again and again.In The Girls Bathroom, Sophia & Cinzia, the girls behind the chart-topping podcast, will supply you with all the girl chat, support and relationship advice you could ever want! If you need help with:- Learning how to keep your life organised and together- Manifesting and achieving your goals- Keeping your head in the dating world- Embracing and falling in love with being independent or single- Finding a healthy lifestyle that works for you- Enjoying the present and being comfortable in your skinThen this is the book for you.Bringing their learnings, experiences and truth to

Read more less

Book SynopsisDr. Pragya Agarwal unravels the way our implicit or unintentional biases affect the way we communicate and perceive the world, how they affect our decision-making, and how they reinforce and perpetuate systemic and structural inequalities. A fascinating and vital read.--Good HousekeepingSway is a thoroughly researched and comprehensive look at unconscious bias and how it impacts day-to-day life, from job interviews to romantic relationships to saving for retirement. It covers a huge number of sensitive topics - sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, colourism - with tact, and combines statistics with stories to paint a fuller picture and enhance understanding. Throughout, Pragya clearly delineates theories with a solid grounding in science, answering questions such as: do our roots for prejudice lie in our evolutionary past? What happens in our brains when we are biased? How has bias affected technology? If we don''t know about it, are we reaTrade ReviewAgarwal's diagnosis of the political harms of bias is passionate and urgent. * Guardian, Book of the Week *Fascinating, sometimes challenging, read, for fans of Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women and Angela Saini’s Superior. * BBC Science Focus, Best Science Books of April *A fascinating and vital read. * Good Housekeeping *A well-researched and cogent work. It accessibly reveals the insidious nature of stereotyping and does much to encourage readers to examine - and take responsibility for - their own implicit biases. * Publishers Weekly *A serious exploration of the neuroscience and psychology of bias. Solid, definitely-not-dumbed-down popular science. * Kirkus Reviews *An important look at one of the issues facing Western society today. This book exposes the insidiousness of unconscious bias and offers us a way to change the way we think that is practical, useful, readable and essential for the times we are living in. You need to read this book and think about the way you live and how you view others. -- Nikesh Shukla, author and editor of The Good Immigrant, screenwriter and fellow of the Royal Society of LiteratureAn exhaustive, brilliantly researched survey of bias and how it seeps so easily into our everyday thoughts and actions, from gender essentialism to casual racism. Calmly and without polemic, Agarwal explains why we all need to work harder to avoid lazy prejudice and simplistic narratives if we are to build a fairer society. An eye-opening book that I hope will be widely read. -- Angela Saini, science journalist and author of Superior and InferiorThis indispensable book takes us into our own minds and helps us understand why we believe what we believe and how we can confront ourselves with not just an understanding of other people, but who we are too. A book that is challenging, fascinating and useful, and if we take notice, a book that could make us better people. -- Robin Ince, comedian, writer and broadcasterThis book is totally fascinating and a reminder that we are all complex creatures with multiple layers. This book is vital reading, eye-opening and a helping hand to arm ourselves with the knowledge to be and do better. -- Emma Gannon, writer, podcast host and author of The Multi-Hyphen MethodIf like me you thought you were non-racist and non-sexist, this book is for you. You will be amazed at how biased we all are. Very well researched, full of great examples from real life. This book should be taught at school. -- Professor Michael Makris, University of SheffieldScrupulously researched, engagingly written, and searingly relevant. -- Caroline Sanderson, editor at The BooksellerApproaching the contentious issue of social bias with nuance and a broad range of exhaustive research, behavioural scientist, activist and writer, Agarwal demonstrates how unconscious prejudice is still immensely prevalent in contemporary society. Cogently argued and intensely persuasive, Sway is an enlightening account of how entrenched sets of stereotypes have become. * Waterstones *If you think you don't need to read this book, you really need to read this book. -- Jane Garvey, presenter, BBC Radio 4A nuanced, truly eye-opening investigation into the enduring prevalence of unconscious prejudice in contemporary society. * Waterstones *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA blueprint for the next generation of feminist activists Fight Like a Girl offers a vision of the past, present, and future of feminism. With an eye toward what it takes to create actual change and a deep understanding of women's history and the key issues facing girls and young women today, Megan Seely offers a pragmatic introduction to feminism. Written in an upbeat and personal style, Fight Like a Girl offers an overview of feminism, including historical roots, myths and meanings, triumphs and shortcomings. Sharing personal stories from her own experience as a young activist, as a mother, and as a teacher, Seely offers a practical guide to getting involved, taking action, and waging successful events and campaigns. The second edition addresses more themes and topics than before, including gender and sexuality, self-esteem, reproductive health, sexual violence, body image and acceptance, motherhood and family, and intersections of identities, such as race, gender, class, and sexualiTrade Review"Feeling angry about how women are treated? Fight Like a Girl is perfect for women of all ages, with thoughtful analysis, helpful advice, and useful resources." -- Cindy Pearson,Executive Director of National Women's Health Network (NWHN)

Read more less

Book SynopsisYou might feel that this fight is too big for you. How on earth can you dismantle so many complex, long-standing systems of oppression? My answer: piece by piece.Brown Girl Like Me is an inspiring memoir and empowering manifesto that equips women with the confidence and tools they need to navigate the difficulties that come with an intersectional identity. Jaspreet Kaur unpacks key issues such as the media, the workplace, the home, education, mental health, culture, confidence and the body, to help South Asian women understand and tackle the issues that affect them, and help them be in the driving seat of their own lives.Jaspreet pulls no punches, tackling difficult topics from mental health and menstruation stigma to education and beauty standards, from feminism to cultural appropriation and microaggressions. She also addresses complex issues, such as how to manage being a brown feminist without rejecting your own culture, and why Asian girls – the second highest performing group of students in the country – aren't seen in larger numbers in universities and head offices.Interviews with brilliant South Asian Women of all walks of life as well as academic insight show what life is really like for brown women in the diaspora. Part toolkit, part call-to-arms, Brown Girl Like Me is essential reading for South Asian women as well as people with an interest in feminism and cultural issues, and will educate, inspire and spark urgent conversations for change.Trade ReviewJaspreet voices all the taboos of a brown girl's existence with truth, honesty and blatancy -- Shazia Mirza, comedian and writerStunning . . . this is not just an insightful declaration of empowerment. The book is a toolkit designed to equip women with the confidence they need to navigate an intersectional identity. -- DESIblitzJaspreet’s writing provides vital access to a beautifully captured experience of growing up in a diverse Britain: this results in a beautifully informative, entertaining and affirming book. -- Preet Gill, MPA rousing manifesto, borne from Kaur's wide-ranging personal experiences and those of other strong brown women, for taking our identities and power back from society and fully owning our voices and places in the world. Beyond "essential reading", this book should be "canonical reading." -- Jenny Bhatt, author of the award-winning Each of Us KillersThis is an authentic, bold and and inspiring read. It talks about some of the most crucial topics in society which I can strongly identify with. As an Indian woman who was brought up in Scotland, I felt her book amazingly reflected most of my own personal experiences at the same time... I believe all brown girls and beyond will find a piece of themselves between these pages. The book is informative and important. I would highly recommend it! -- Dr Pushpinder Chowdhry, MBE, founder and CEO of The UK Asian Film Festival and Tongues on Fire

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSince the release of her first, career-defining solo album Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos has been one of the music industry's most enduring and ingenious artists. From her unnerving depiction of sexual assault in "Me and a Gun" to her post-9/11 album Scarlet's Walk to her latest album Native Invader, her work has never shied away from intermingling the personal with the political. Amos began playing piano as a teenager for the politically powerful at hotel bars in Washington, D.C., during the formative years of the post-Goldwater and then Koch-led Libertarian and Reaganite movements. The story continues to her time as a hungry artist in L.A. to the subsequent three decades of her formidable music career. Amos explains how she managed to create meaningful, politically resonant work against patriarchal power structures and how her proud declarations of feminism and her fight for the marginalized always proved to be her guiding light. She teaches readers to engage with intention in this tumultuous global climate and speaks directly to supporters of #MeToo and #TimesUp, as well as young people fighting for their rights and visibility in the world. Filled with compassionate guidance and actionable advice-and using some of the most powerful, political songs in Amos's canon-this book is for readers determined to steer the world back in the right direction.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFeminists have long challenged the ways in which men tend to sexualize women. But pioneering activist, biologist, and trans woman Julia Serano argues that sexualization is a far more pervasive problem, as it's something that we all do to other people, often without being aware of it. Why do we perceive men as sexual predators and women as sexual objects? Why are LGBTQ+ people stereotyped as being sexually indiscriminate and deceptive? Why are people of color still being hypersexualized? These stereotypes push minorities farther into the margins, and even the privileged are policed from transgressing, lest they also become targets. Many view sexualization as a mere component of sexism, racism, or queerphobia, but Serano argues that liberation from sexual violence comes through collectively confronting sexualization itself.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Nice White Ladies, race and gender professor Jessie Daniels looks beyond the "Karens" and the pussy hats, to offer an illuminating look at how white women participate in, benefit from, and--crucially--can combat racism.Chapter by chapter, Daniels looks at the most urgent examples of how white womanhood has been weaponized today, and then dives deeper into the history and the false narratives behind these events. She examines specific figures including Amy Cooper and the Central Park birdwatcher, and Linda Fairstein and the Central Park Five, but also looks at larger social shifts and the role white women have had in deepening existing inequalities. Seemingly empowering movements for white women have also harmed people of color, from a feminism that had pushed the voices of Brown and Black women aside, to an entire wellness industry that insulates white women in bubble of their own privilege. White women are often unwilling to examine the fact that their day to day choices, including selecting only the best schools and neighborhoods for their children, results in a hoarding of resources for white families and a return to segregation.In a nation deeply divided by race, Jessie Daniels boldly addresses white women's complicity in discrimination but also in their unique potential to resist and dismantle the white nationalism that threatens us all. The stakes are deeply personal for Daniels, as a white woman seeking to call in fellow white women, with an invitation to think together and act-rather than simply call out and criticize. By excavating her own life for examples of failing, learning, evolving, and changing course, Daniels provides a roadmap for other white women looking to make much needed change. Ultimately, she shows how white women can be more than allies, but trusted accomplices in a shared mission to secure equality for all.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom South Park to Kathy Acker, from Lars Von Trier to Sex and the City, women’s sexual organs are demonized. In The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History, Emma L.E. Rees investigates the evolution of this demonization: she considers how writers, artists and filmmakers contend with the dilemma of he vagina's puzzling 'covert visibility' and how the ‘c-word’ is an obscenity that both legitimates and perpetuates the fractured identities of women globally. In our postmodern, porn-obsessed culture, vaginas appear to be everywhere, literally or symbolically but, crucially, they are as silenced as they are objectified. Even common slang terms for the vagina can be seen as an attempt to divert attention away from the reality of women’s lived sexual experiences: slang offers a convenient distraction from something taboo. The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History is an important contribution to the ongoing debate in understanding the feminine identity.Trade ReviewRees’ book is the kind of work we need more of if we are to challenge and reconfigure how we understand women and sexuality in contemporary discourse. -- Shahidha Bari, Queen Mary, University of London, UK * Times Higher Education *For readers disappointed by Naomi Wolf’s treatise on a similar topic last year, this is the book you’ve been waiting for… This may not be the definitive text on the vagina – Rees is clear that she can’t overturn centuries of embarrassment and taboo in a single book – but it’s an excellent place to start. -- Kaite Welsh * The Independent on Sunday *It is my contention that you will know quite instinctively if you are the target reader for a book describing itself as a literary and cultural history of vaginas. (Vaginae? Vaginodes?) How does this description of Judy Chicago’s art make you feel? “Each plate, a vulvar motif at its centre, represents a woman’s yearning for autonomy and recognition away from patriarchy’s eradications and constraints.” If you found that intriguing, rather than snigger-worthy or arcanely academic, you will enjoy what’s on offer here. There is a learned digression on other words for vagina...and a survey of depictions of female genitalia in folk tales, film, literature, art and television... The examples are well chosen and engaging. -- Helen Lewis * New Statesman *The broadest survey yet ....lively, thought-provoking, and richly researched. -- Naomi Wolf, author of Vagina: A New BiographyAt last! A book on the vagina that I feel privileged to endorse. This careful literary and cultural history explores the vagina primarily as a loaded cultural symbol. It critiques the numerous ways in which the female sexual organs have had deleterious meanings projected onto them by patriarchal society. A magnificent achievement, Rees's study is as insightful in its analysis as it is comprehensive in its historical coverage. -- Lisa Downing, Professor of French Discourses of Sexuality, University of Birmingham, UK.This really wonderful book on the cultural history of the vagina is scholarly and accessible, entertaining and serious. It is stylish and packed with insight; it will be seized upon and devoured by the new feminists. The Vagina bejazzles. I highly recommend it. -- Sally R Munt, Professor of Cultural and Gender Studies, University of SussexWith Vagina, Rees is aiming for something well beyond ‘feminism.’ To get there, she uses humor, numerous examples, and careful explanation as she moves effortlessly through a variety of historical periods and a wide genre of ‘art’ to demonstrate her point. -- Judy A. Hayden, Professor of English and Writing and Director of the Women's Studies Program, University of Tampa, USA.Analyses of representations of the vagina in art and culture couple with feminist politics in this impassioned tract by University of Chester lecturer Rees. * Publisher's Weekly *Rees is especially strong on the rapidly evolving (and more in-your-face) artistic (or would-be artistic) representation of the [vagina] in contemporary (Western, and even here basically American and British) culture, both fringe and more mainstream...Rees offers many interesting examples and the odd tidbit[s] (Courbet's L'origine du monde comes from the collection of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan!), and though she works more by example than evaluation, there's a lot of useful information here. -- M.A. Ortherfer * The Complete Review *Don’t be fooled by the playful pink cover—this book is not for the faint of heart. Ranging from Indian folktales of vagina dentata to the surprising popularity of vaginas in postmodern art, Rees’ book is a whirlwind tour of the literary and cultural history of the treatment (and mistreatment) of female genitalia. -- Rebecca Hayes * Booklist *Table of Contents1. Revealing the Vagina: Introduction 2. Revealing the Vagina: Antecedents 3.Revealing the Vagina in Literature 4. Revealing the Vagina in Visual Art (1): Judy Chicago 5. Revealing the Vagina in Visual Art (2): Birth's Wide Berth 6. Revealing the Vagina on Film and TV 7. Revealing the Vagina in Performance Art 8. Revealing the Vagina: Conclusion Revealing the Vagina: Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis An incisive history of self-serving white feminists and the inspiring women who’ve continually defied themWomen including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Sanger, and Sheryl Sandberg are commonly celebrated as leaders of feminism. Yet they have fought for the few, not the many. As award-winning scholar Kyla Schuller argues, their white feminist politics dispossess the most marginalized to liberate themselves.In The Trouble with White Women, Schuller brings to life the two-hundred-year counter history of Black, Indigenous, Latina, poor, queer, and trans women pushing back against white feminists and uniting to dismantle systemic injustice. These feminist heroes such as Frances Harper, Harriet Jacobs, and Pauli Murray have created an anti-racist feminism for all. But we don’t speak their names and we don’t know their legacies. Unaware of these intersectional leaders, feminists have been led down the same dead-end alleys generation after generation, often working within the structures of racism, capitalism, homophobia, and transphobia rather than against them. Building a more just feminist politics for today requires a reawakening, a return to the movement’s genuine vanguards and visionaries. Their compelling stories, campaigns, and conflicts reveal the true potential of feminist liberation. An Entropy Magazine Best Nonfiction Book of 2020-2021,The Trouble with White Women gives feminists today the tools to fight for the flourishing of all.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Leaning Out, respected journalist Kristine Ziwica maps a decade of stasis on the gender equality front in Australia, and why the pandemic has led to a breakthrough. As the historic 2020 Women's March attests, a generation of younger women are speaking truth to power and changing the way we think of women in the workplace. This is the third book in The Crikey Read series from Crikey and Hardie Grant Books. For ten years Australian women have been sold a dazzling promise: through sheer ’will’ and individual self-empowerment they could overcome decades of gender inequality in the workplace. The hard, structural work didn’t need to be done; all the solutions could be individual. Yet leaning in, power-posing and speaking up (and being spoken over) at the boardroom table have made very little difference for the great majority of women, still underpaid and overworked compared to their male colleagues. The COVID-19 pandemic has shockingly revealed the fragile foundations of women’s working lives. It's also given us a rare opportunity for a reimagining. But Australian women are still being told to ‘Lean In’ at precisely the moment when so many are ‘leaning out’. With the majority of all jobs lost in the pandemic being held by women, and successive governments unable or unwilling to address the ‘gender issue’, we are at crisis point. Leaning Out is a manifesto for what we can – and should – do with this moment. From Crikey and Hardie Grant Books, The Crikey Read is a series that brings an unflinching and truly independent eye to the issues of the day in Australia and the world.

Read more less

Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection Comic Timing, Holly Pester's extraordinary debut collection of poems, chronicles the experience of living and working as a radical and resistant act. These poems shunt a reader between the political and personal via unique, fragmentary and illusory turns of phrase. Holly tackles marginal bodies, landlords, bog butter, desire, domestic and civic spaces in an unique and illusory voice. She chronicles the prevailing mood of our times, mining radical and anarchic histories to offer a collection of political resistance with both absurdity and seriousness. These poems interrogate and poke fun at the expectations of people in a commodified culture with a wry humour. Combining a beautifully performed naivety with a profound intellect, this collection is a hugely original approach to a number of pressing issues. Worker's rights, feminisms, reproductive rights and marginalised bodies and their positions are all thought through in this startling and innovative voice.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDon't miss Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst in the major motion picture Suffragette.Emmeline Pankhurst grew up all too aware of the prevailing attitude of her day: that men were considered superior to women. When she was just fourteen she attended her first suffrage meeting, and returned home a confirmed suffragist. Throughout the course of her career she endured humiliation, prison, hunger strikes and the repeated frustration of her aims by men in power, but she rose to become a guiding light of the Suffragette movement. This is the story, in Pankhurst’s own words, of her struggle for equality.Trade ReviewShe shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back * Time *She put body and soul at the service of liberty, equality and fraternity and secured a triumph for them -- Rebecca WestEmmeline Pankhurst fought for women's suffrage with indomitable courage * Guardian *The finished product rests somewhere between a gripping novel and a painstaking historical record. No view of the suffragette story is complete without this comprehensive puzzle piece. -- Jacqui Agate * The Independent *

Read more less

Book SynopsisOn the eve of International Women's Day in 2015, the Chinese government arrested five feminist activists and jailed them for 37 days. The Feminist Five became a global cause célèbre, with Hillary Clinton speaking out on their behalf, and activists inundating social media with #FreetheFive messages. But the Feminist Five are only symbols of a much larger feminist movement of civil rights lawyers, labor activists, performance artists and online warriors that is prompting an unprecedented awakening among China's urban, educated women. In Betraying Big Brother, journalist and scholar Leta Hong Fincher argues that the popular, broad-based movement poses the greatest threat to China's authoritarian regime today.Through interviews with the Feminist Five and other leading Chinese activists, Hong Fincher illuminates both the challenges they face and their "joy of betraying Big Brother." Tracing the rise of a new feminist consciousness through online campaigns resembling #MeToo, and describing how the Communist regime has suppressed the history of its own feminist struggles, Betraying Big Brother is a story of how the movement against patriarchy could reconfigure China and the world.Trade ReviewFeatured in The Washington Post and Times Higher Education * The Washington Post and Times Higher Education *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Strikingly beautiful' Guardian'Tough and tender' Joanne HarrisAfter the Sickness has killed off her parents, and the bombs have fallen on the last safe cities, Monster emerges from the Arctic vault which has kept her alive. When she washes up on the coast of Scotland, everyone she knows is dead, and she believes she is alone in an empty world.Slowly, piece by piece, she begins to rebuild a life. Until, one day, she finds a girl: another survivor, feral, and ready to be taught all that Monster knows. But as the lonely days pass, the lessons the girl learns are not always the ones Monster means to teach . . .Trade ReviewFresh and powerful . . . Hale's writing is assured and . . . strikingly beautiful . . . Most of all, the book has a great generosity and empathy for monsterdom, and refreshingly allows its characters to find happiness without becoming more ordinary . . . Hale is certainly a skilful writer with a compelling voice, and her ideas are bold and promising * * Guardian * *A terrific piece of writing; tough and tender and insightful. Loved it -- JOANNE HARRISA complex, accomplished debut. The prose dazzles while the themes of feminism, power and fertility sneak in for a gut-punch. It kept me gripped from the first page, and the characters continue to live and breathe in my imagination -- KIRSTY LOGAN, author of THE GRACEKEEPERSTaut, tough and sensitive, the narrative conjures up a devastated world, inhabited by two intriguing characters, with precision and real atmosphere * * Daily Mail * *Katie Hale has written two fascinating, flawed and compelling characters and, with only two people and an empty world, has created a novel that is gripping, insightful and unique -- CLAIRE FULLER, author of OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYSIn a novel in which the entire planet has been devastated, Hale, a poet, narrows her focus right down to the inner lives of her two protagonists and their relationship with each other, dissecting each layer as it is uncovered with delicacy and lyricism * * Herald * *A riveting and disturbing novel, part twisted fairy tale and part dystopian nightmare, in which the primal human need to find meaning and love shines through the darkness of a ruined world -- MICK KITSON, author of SALPowerful and unflinching . . . This is a humane, tender and often painful exploration of the ways in which daughters consider themselves to be braver, smarter and more independent than their mothers, as well as the strength of love and hope in an empty world. Hale has crafted a gripping and intense dystopian fairytale . . . Beautifully written . . . A must-read * * The Skinny * *Held together by skilful, well-crafted prose . . . Keep[s] the reader hooked to the last page . . . Her writing is superb * * Wee Review * *A gripping study of loneliness and what it can do to your psyche . . . Hale's style means we'll be interested in what she writes next * * Herald * *

Read more less

Book SynopsisMade with melanin and magic There is no one quite like you. Your strengths are unique and your future is full of wonder. It’s time to tap in to your confidence and express your true self boldly. This little book is packed with empowering words from women of colour whose self-belief has seen them achieve awesome things. From Wilma Rudolph and Lupita Nyong’o to Ida B. Wells and Malala Yousafzai, these inspiring icons will help you love yourself a little more and own your story.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn updated edition of the Sunday Times Bestseller Britain's best-known classicist Mary Beard, is also a committed and vocal feminist. With wry wit, she revisits the gender agenda and shows how history has treated powerful women. Her examples range from the classical world to the modern day, from Medusa and Athena to Theresa May and Hillary Clinton. Beard explores the cultural underpinnings of misogyny, considering the public voice of women, our cultural assumptions about women's relationship with power, and how powerful women resist being packaged into a male template. A year on since the advent of #metoo, Beard looks at how the discussions have moved on during this time, and how that intersects with issues of rape and consent, and the stories men tell themselves to support their actions. In trademark Beardian style, using examples ancient and modern, Beard argues, 'it's time for change - and now!' From the author of international bestseller SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome.Trade ReviewA modern feminist classic -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *With clearsightedness and wry humour, this self-described 'gobby woman' proves public speech is no longer the preserve of maleness. More power to her. -- Laura Garmeson * FT *... exposes the roots of today's expectations of how a woman should behave ... time for a change, she argues - and now! -- Jenni Murray * Guardian *This book is a treasure, both as a fascinating read in itself and as a fine work of reference to correct our lazy misconceptions about an ancient world that still has much to instruct us today * Herald *An urgent feminist cri de coeur, spot-on in its utterly reasonable plea that a woman 'who dares to open her mouth in public' actually be given a hearing. * Kirkus Reviews *Brilliant -- Jacqueline Rose * Guardian *Enlightening ... explains how misogyny works and why it is so resilient -- Elif Shafak * Guardian *A sparkling and forceful manifesto * New York Times *Clear, rich, subversive and witty * San Francisco Chronicle *An irresistible call for women to speak up, act and redefine their power * People Magazine *Praise for Mary Beard: 'She's pulled off that rare trick of becoming a don with a high media profile who hasn't sold out, who is absolutely respected by the academy for her scholarship ... what she says is always powerful and interesting * Guardian *An irrepressible enthusiast with a refreshing disregard for convention * FT *With such a champion as Beard to debunk and popularise, the future of the study of classics is assured * Daily Telegraph *Dynamically, wittily and authoritatively brings the ancient world to life -- Simon Sebag MontefiorePraise for SPQR: Fast-moving, exciting, psychologically acute, warmly sceptical - Bryan Appleyard -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *Vastly engaging ... a tremendously enjoyable and scholarly read -- Natalie Haynes * Observer *Sustaining the energy that such a topic demands for more than 600 pages, while providing a coherent answer to the question of why Rome expanded so spectacularly, is hugely ambitious. Beard succeeds triumphantly ... full of insights and delights ... SPQR is consistently enlivened by Beard's eye for detail and her excellent sense of humour. * Sunday Times *Masterful ... This is exemplary popular history, engaging but never dumbed down, providing both the grand sweep and the intimate details that bring the distant past vividly to life * Economist *Ground-breaking ... invigorating ... revolutionary ... a whole new approach to ancient history -- Thomas Hodgkinson * Spectator *Selected as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century: An instant feminist classic * The Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to be 'bad' at money? Money is not a maths problem. Spending, saving, splitting the bill or asking for a pay rise - these are moments dominated by our own hang-ups, habits, anxiety and ambitions. Money features in our friendships, family life, our choice of late-night treat and who we date. And yet it's so often hidden behind shame and silence. We need to start talking about it. Funny, frank, and filled with insights, practical advice and conversations with everyone from company CEOs to debt advisors to housemates, Open Up is the book that will transform your relationship to money. It shows how talking can change your life, relationships and bank balance, and influence bigger issues like pay gaps or the living wage. This book strips away the awkwardness to help you gain knowledge, take control of your finances and finally get 'good' with money.Trade ReviewSuch a refreshing read - tackling the benefits of exploring our financial beliefs and habits, it's all you need to revamp your fiscal fortitude * Stylist Loves *Empowering, educational and very entertaining * Elle *Alex writes about money in a completely honest, courageous and original way. No subject is too taboo. She's also funny as hell. -- Gillian Orr, Content Director * Refinery 29 *Drugs, dating, shame, secrets, motherhood and mental health...Alex Holder's EXCELLENT new book about money is not like any other book about money. -- Terri White, editor-in-chief * Empire magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Xenofeminist Manifesto is an attempt to articulate a feminism fit for the twenty-first century. Unafraid of exploring the potentials of technology, exploring both oppressive and emancipatory possibilities, the manifesto seeks to uproot forces of oppression that have come to seem inevitable - from the family, to the body, to the idea of gender itself. The Xenofeminist Manifesto re-asserts that biology is not destiny, that no injustice should simply be accepted as 'the way things are', and looks to ways technologies can challenge our understandings of Nature - and even allow us to resist Nature itself.Trade ReviewXenofeminism is a corruption in the best sense of the term * The New Inquiry *Xenofeminism's fierceness and compassion (qualities too often opposed) are a compelling proposition. -- Leni Zumas * Times Literary Supplement *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThroughout written history and across the world, women have protested the restrictions of gender and the limitations placed on women's bodies and women's lives. People-of any and no gender-have protested and theorized, penned manifestos and written poetry and songs, testified and lobbied, gone on strike and fomented revolution, quietly demanded that there is an "I" and loudly proclaimed that there is a "we." The Book of Feminism chronicles this history of defiance and tracks it around the world as it develops into a multivocal and unabashed force.Global in scope, The Book of Feminism shows the breadth of feminist protest and of feminist thinking, moving through the female poets of China's Tang Dynasty to accounts of indigenous women in the Caribbean resisting Columbus's expedition, British suffragists militating for the vote to the revolutionary petroleuses of the 1848 Paris Commune, the first century Trung sisters who fought for the independence of Nam Viet to women in 1980s Botswana fighting for equal protection under the law, from the erotica of the 6th century and the 19th century to radical queer politics in the 20th and 21st.The Book of Feminism is a weapon, a force, a lyrical cry, and an ongoing threat to misogyny everywhere.Trade ReviewA perfect bedside book for feminists. A commonplace book that is anything but commonplace. -- Alix Kates Shulman

Read more less

Book Synopsis'You can reinvent yourself, you can change, you can grow, you can regress, you can be any number of things at any particular time. Please give yourself permission to do that, and be equally as open-minded to others who choose to do the same. Because perhaps, with just a little more compassion and acceptance, we won't need to fit in to feel that we belong.'Camilla Thurlow came second on Love Island in 2017. More recently, she impressed viewers in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. But that's not the most interesting part . . .Camilla can do something that none of her fellow contestants can do: find, neutralise and destroy the landmines that threaten the lives and livelihoods of so many people in the world's former war zones, and which make their land too dangerous to be worked.This is at once a memoir of an extraordinary life, and a script for living one's life to the full. Camilla Thurlow is a highly independent woman whose thoughts and experience will resonate with anyone seeking meaning in a world where women are too often discounted, or who frequently feel alienated amid the frenzy of contemporary life.This is a book about courage - not just the courage to go out and deal with a lethal threat in some of the world's most dangerous and inhospitable places, but the courage to confront one's own fears and anxieties, and to be oneself in what too often seems an inhospitable world.Not the Type will inspire a whole generation to dare the seemingly impossible. Although often an engaging reflection on life, landmines and Love Island, this is also a book about learning to confront one's own anxieties in a world dominated by celebrity culture and social media - and on being a woman in what is still too often a man's world.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'You can reinvent yourself, you can change, you can grow, you can regress, you can be any number of things at any particular time. Please give yourself permission to do that, and be equally as open-minded to others who choose to do the same. Because perhaps, with just a little more compassion and acceptance, we won't need to fit in to feel that we belong.'Camilla Thurlow came second on Love Island in 2017. More recently, she impressed viewers in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. But that's not the most interesting part . . .Camilla can do something that none of her fellow contestants can do: find, neutralise and destroy the landmines that threaten the lives and livelihoods of so many people in the world's former war zones, and which make their land too dangerous to be worked.This is at once a memoir of an extraordinary life, and a script for living one's life to the full. Camilla Thurlow is a highly independent woman whose thoughts and experience will resonate with anyone seeking meaning in a world where women are too often discounted, or who frequently feel alienated amid the frenzy of contemporary life.This is a book about courage - not just the courage to go out and deal with a lethal threat in some of the world's most dangerous and inhospitable places, but the courage to confront one's own fears and anxieties, and to be oneself in what too often seems an inhospitable world.Not the Type will inspire a whole generation to dare the seemingly impossible. Although often an engaging reflection on life, landmines and Love Island, this is also a book about learning to confront one's own anxieties in a world dominated by celebrity culture and social media - and on being a woman in what is still too often a man's world.Trade ReviewYour teenage daughter could do much worse than look up to Camilla Thurlow * Sunday Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisCombining the energy of the early seventies feminist liberation movement, with the perceptive analyses of the trained theorist, Women's Estate is one of the most influential socialist feminist statements of its time.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'A heroine with a generous spirit, an unshakable will and a dragon's fury.' H. M. Long Having grown up hearing tales of her uncle, the great King Beowulf, Fryda's one desire is to become a shield maiden in her own right. Yet a terrible childhood accident has left Fryda disabled – thus, she believes, thwarting her dream of becoming a warrior-woman for good. But still, somehow, she feels an uncontrollable power begin to rise within herself. Meanwhile, a great celebration of Beowulf's reign is underway, and Fryda's house is soon overrun with foreign kings and chieftains. Amidst the drunken revelry, a discovery is made that threatens the safety of Fryda's entire clan – and her own life. Enraged, Fryda resolves to fight for her people, no matter the cost... and all the while, her powers seem only to grow stronger. But she is not the only one to feel its effects. For, buried deep in her gilded lair, a dragon is drawn to Fryda's untamed power, and is slowly awakening from a long, cursed sleep... ‘Casts a superb spell... Shimmering with detail, with a propulsive plot to match.' D.K. Fields 'Fantastic fun... An entrancing story of power and peril, presenting a side to the sagas we have never seen before.' Ian GreenTrade ReviewA rousing and romantic mythological fantasy that boasts a heroine with a generous spirit, an unshakable will and a dragon's fury -- H. M. LongCasts a superb spell... Shimmering with detail, with a propulsive plot to match -- D.K. FieldsFantastic fun... An entrancing story of power and peril, presenting a side to the sagas we have never seen before -- Ian Green

Read more less

Book SynopsisA self-empowerment gift book for woman of every age, these quotes and slogans are guaranteed to bring out your inner badass. Celebrating female power and potential, the sayings will inspire and motivate you to fight your corner, speak your mind, stand up to those who stand in your way, reach your goals and bounce back with a spring upwards from every challenge or hurdle in your path.By women for women, You Got This is a great antidote to self-doubt, discouragement, imposter syndrome, and general societal bullshit in the twenty-first century. For every tough independent woman out there who sometimes feels the weight of the world, here are uplifting words to foster strength, success and self-reliance.SAMPLE QUOTES:'Behind every successful woman is herself.''No risk, no magic.''People think that all the doors are opened in front of me but it was me who pushed them open.' Coco Chanel'It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.' Madeleine Albright

Read more less

Book SynopsisOriginally published in French in 1974, radical feminist Francoise d'Eaubonne surveyed women's status around the globe and argued that the stakes of feminist struggle was not about equality but about life and death-for humans and the planet. In this wide-ranging manifesto, d'Eaubonne first proposed a politics of ecofeminism, the idea that the patriarchal system's claim over women's bodies and the natural world destroys both, and that feminism and environmentalism must bring about a new 'mutation'-an overthrow of not just male power but the system of power itself. As d'Eaubonne prophesied, "the planet placed in the feminine will flourish for all."Never before published in English, and translated here by French feminist scholar Ruth Hottell, this edition includes an introduction from scholars of ecology and feminism situating d'Eaubonne's work within current feminist theory, environmental justice organizing, and anticolonial feminism.Trade ReviewStudents of feminism will savor this cogent presentation of a landmark text. * Publishers Weekly *An iconic text, one of the first to discuss ecofeminism and the inherent connections between women and nature ... with its urgent discussions of climate change and human rights, Feminism or Death is a perennial feminist text... potent and timeless. * Foreword Reviews *Table of ContentsPreface, by Carolyn MerchantIntroduction, by Myriam Bahaffou and Julie Gorecki (translated by Emma Ramadan) INTRODUCTION FEMINITUDE, OR RADICAL SUBJECTIVITY The Tragedy of Being a Woman Majority or Minority?Work and Prostitution Rape FROM REVOLUTION TO MUTATIONThe Stress of the Rat Regarding AbortionFor a Planetary Feminist Manifesto For a Planetary Feminist Manifesto (continued) For a Feminist Planetary Manifesto (end) Departure for a Long March THE TIME FOR ECOFEMINISM New Perspectives Ecology and Feminism Appendices A. How women do not control their destinyB. The New Feminine Mystique (Liberation) C. A Rose for Valerie D. A Tract for a "Feminist Front" E. To See Clearly (Combat for Man) Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisThrough a series of lively and accessible biographical essays, Red Valkyries explores the history of socialist feminism century Eastern Europe. By examining the revolutionary careers of five prominent socialist women active in the 19th and 20th centuries-the aristocratic Bolshevik, Alexandra Kollontai; the radical pedagogue, Nadezhda Krupskaya; the polyamorous firebrand, Inessa Armand; the deadly sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko; and the partisan turned scientist turned global women's activist, Elena Lagadinova-Kristen Ghodsee tells the story of the personal challenges faced by earlier generations of socialist and communist women. None of these women were "perfect" leftists. Their lives were filled with inner conflicts, contradictions, and sometimes outrageous privilege, but they still managed to move forward their own political projects through perseverance and dedication to their cause. Always walking a fine line between the need for class solidarity and the desire to force their sometimes callous male colleagues to take women's issues seriously, these five women pursued novel solutions with lessons for activists of today. In brief conversational chapters-with plenty of concrete examples from the history of the state socialist countries in Eastern Europe and contemporary reflections on the status of women in the world today-Ghodsee renders the big ideas of socialist feminism accessible to those newly inspired by the emancipatory politics of insurgent left feminist movements around the globe.Trade ReviewWe've needed this book longer than we know: celebrating and learning from revolutionary socialist women, Red Valkyries gifts us with models essential to today's struggles. Kristen Ghodsee breaks down the wall liberal feminism built in women's history, bringing to life a vision of emancipation that continues to be worth fighting for. -- Jodi Dean, author of ComradeWritten with clarity and zest, Red Valkyries is an illuminating introduction to the extraordinary lives of prominent socialist women in the Soviet Union and Bulgaria. -- Sheila RowbothamIn our historical moment, quotas of women in power positions and correct manners or expressions are obfuscating the long historical link between feminism and radical politics. Ghodsee's Red Valkyries is exactly the book needed to correct this misperception and help feminism to rejoin its radical past. The five figures analyzed were fighters who pursued the feminist cause through their full engagement in revolutionary political struggle. Can we still imagine this, in our era obsessed with victimization? -- Slavoj ZizekRed Valkyries is a fascinating alternative history of the feminist movement, told from the perspective of the east rather than the west. The women Ghodsee profiles are committed socialists who realise that women's liberation is incompatible with capitalism, and who also frequently struggle against the centralisation of power within their own countries. Required reading for anyone seeking out an alternative to #girlboss feminism. -- Grace BlakeleyA beautiful book about the intimate lives and bold ideas of a range of Communist women, people who built their revolutionary dreams into reality. Ghodsee lifts up the immense contradiction between the future-oriented social hopes of these revolutionaries, these exiles from the future, and the grip of the social conventions of the present. -- Vijay PrashadFunny and politically illuminating, Ghodsee writes with the clear-sighted directness of the revolutionary women she describes. Women's sexual, political and daily emancipation were the eye of the socialist storm for Kollantai, Krupskaya, Armand and Lagadinova. Ghodsee's book breathes new life into their stories of how to create a world without patriarchy. -- Elizabeth Armstrong, Smith CollegeKristen Ghodsee's new book is a well-documented and immensely personal guide to the 20th-century East European socialist women's movement. The author extracts from silence and saves from oblivion five women who have made an attempt to change not only their own, personal history, but also political, social and cultural history of women in Europe and worldwide. It is a story about a communist revolution in which women played a significant role, creating and implementing the project of a better world for all people. Reflections on the past are not, however, used to celebrate it nostalgically, but to draw conclusions for the future - how to act to build an alternative to the hegemony of capitalism and nationalism. This well-written, passionate story about the "red Valkyries" shows that socialism is not a song of the past, but still valid and long-awaited response to the challenges of the present world. Ghodsee argues that the history is not over, but rushes forward. Speeding up, however, it needs signposts to avoid falling into the abyss. The Red Valkyries will be perfect for this role. -- Agnieszka Mrozik, Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of SciencesUntil the late 20th century, you could pay close attention in school, graduate from a prestigious university with a degree in history and still never find out who Harriet Tubman was. Outrageous, right? But due to capitalist ideology and Cold War hangover, you could still do all that and never learn about Alexandra Kollontai or Inessa Armand, or any of history's great Communist women. Kristen Ghodsee's riveting account of these complicated, imperfect and inspiring lives is an outstanding corrective to our miseducation, one that's long overdue. -- Liza FeatherstoneCompelling...by telling unfamiliar and forgotten stories, [Red Valkyries] suggests there are other fronts on which the battle can be fought than those favoured by western feminists. -- Desmond Bullen * Northern Soul *Illuminating...Ghodsee equips us with five extraordinary role models whose tenacity, perseverance and dedication to revolutionary politics should serve as inspiration to anyone seeking to build a better world for all. -- Rachel Collett * Red Pepper *This is an eye-opening deep dive into an underexamined aspect of feminist history. -- Publishers WeeklyAs an expert in her field, [Ghodsee] deftly covers vast amounts of history, political theory, and complicated personal relationships....A timely and fascinating volume for those interested in Russian and socialist history. -- Halie Kerns * Library Journal *Ghodsee weaves these women's ideologies and feminist views into the larger picture of a time, that of multiple world wars, open revolution, burgeoning socialist societies, and the knowledge that extreme change was needed in dire circumstances. -- Kathleen Townsend * Booklist *A compelling book, a call for a broader understanding of the history of women's political practice, the ideas that informed it, and its implications for our own time. -- Ben Clarke * Chicago Review of Books *Any utopia first needs to be imagined. For that endeavor, Ghodsee's gripping book, with its important ideas distilled (yet not made banal) for those who might be encountering them for the first time, is available. -- Oana Uiorean * LIBER *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Utterly magnificent . . . gripping, accomplished and dark' Marian KeyesWINNER: Newcomer of the Year at the IBAs WINNER: Bookseller YA Prize WINNER: CBI Eilis Dillon Award Buzzfeed's Best Books Written by Women in 2014The bestselling novel about beauty, body image and betrayaleves are designed, not made. The School trains them to be prettyThe School trains them to be good.The School trains them to Always be Willing.All their lives, the eves have been waiting. Now, they are ready for the outside world.companion . . . concubine . . . or chastityOnly the best will be chosen.And only the Men decide.Trade ReviewGripping ... like all the best dystopias, Only Ever Yours is about the world we live in now * Irish Times *The Handmaid's Tale meets Mean Girls' * The Vagenda *Utterly magnificent ... gripping, accomplished and dark * Marian Keyes *Deserves to be read by young and old, male and female, the world over in the same way Harry Potter and The Hunger Games were * Sunday Independent *A dark dream. A vivid nightmare. The world O'Neill imagines is frightening because it could come true. She writes with a scalpel * Jeanette Winterson *Deep, dark and frighteningly believable, this book will stay with you for a long time * Marie Claire *Compelling writing ... this only-too-real dystopia grips from beginning to end * SFX *Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale with a post-millennial twist * The Journal.ie *The bleakness of The Catcher in the Rye, the satire of The Stepford Wives and it made me recall Nineteen Eighty-Four ... a fresh and original talent * Irish Independent *Terrifying but captivating * Company *A sparkling debut that will really make you think * Heat *'Compelling and frightening' * Irish Examiner *An ingenious exploration of gender roles, female identity and female competition * Buzzfeed *'Terrifying and heartbreaking, O'Neill's story reads like an heir to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and MT Anderson's Feed, and, like those two books, it's sure to be discussed for years to come' * Publisher's Weekly *'A stunning debut set in a dystopian future that has everyone talking . . . once read, will never be forgotten' * Irish Independent *Dark, gripping . . . should be mandatory reading everywhere * The F Word *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the majority of mainstream writing and discussions on music, women appear purely in relation to men as muses, groupies or fangirls, with our own experiences, ideas and arguments dismissed or ignored. But this hasn't stopped generations of women from loving, being moved by and critically appreciating music, even - and sometimes especially - when we feel we shouldn't. Under My Thumb: Songs that Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them is a study of misogyny in music through the eyes of women. It brings together stories from journalists, critics, musicians and fans about artists or songs we love (or used to love) despite their questionable or troubling gender politics, and looks at how these issues interact with race, class and sexuality. As much celebration as critique, this collection explores the joys, tensions, contradictions and complexities of women loving music - however that music may feel about them. Featuring: murder ballads, country, metal, hip hop, emo, indie, Phil Spector, David Bowie, Guns N' Roses, 2Pac, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, AC/DC, Elvis Costello, Jarvis Cocker, Kanye West, Swans, Eminem, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Combichrist and many more.Trade Review"Broad and interesting…a necessary and enlightening read." --The Wire

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe 1979 publication of Susan Gubar and Sandra M. Gilbert’s ground-breaking study The Madwoman in the Attic marked a founding moment in feminist literary history as much as feminist literary theory. In their extensive study of nineteenth-century women’s writing, Gubar and Gilbert offer radical re-readings of Jane Austen, the Brontës, Emily Dickinson, George Eliot and Mary Shelley tracing a distinctive female literary tradition and female literary aesthetic. Gubar and Gilbert raise questions about canonisation that continue to resonate today, and model the revolutionary importance of re-reading influential texts that may seem all too familiarTable of ContentsWays in to the Text Who are Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar? What does The Madwoman in the Attic Say? Why does The Madwoman in the Attic Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne summer, Alice Maddicott was adopted by a beautiful tabby called Dylan, and together they shared six years of loving friendship. Alice collected second-hand photos - orphan images - and in her sadness after Dylan's death, she pored over the old photographs of women and their cats. Cats in gardens, cats on laps, cats in alleys and on steps, accompanied by women who were diffident and affectionate, fierce and whimsical, young and old. What did these cats mean to the women who cared for them? Why have cat-owning women always been viewed with suspicion? And where did the Crazy Cat Lady stereotype emerge from, when other cultures revere rather than fear this relationship? Examining these questions and many more, Cat Women is a moving exploration of wild natures and domestic affections.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA new definition of woman has taken hold in Western societies. Instead of a matter of biology and material reality, we are told it is an identity. Anyone who declares herself to be a woman is a woman; the body has henceforth become irrelevant. Gender, we are told, is a spectrum, and it resides in the mind. In countries such as Norway, Canada, Argentina, and Australia, laws have been enacted that give anyone the right to change his or her legal sex, irrespective of whether the person has had a medical procedure. At the same time, the industry for gender reassignment surgery is growing at an unprecedented pace. Seven out of 10 teenagers who seek treatment are now girls. The new definition of sex has been hailed as progressive. But is it really? And is it new? In this groundbreaking book, Swedish feminist and Marxist author Kajsa Ekis Ekman traces the ideological roots of this new definition.Table of ContentsContents Introduction 1 Part 1: Seventy-One Genders - A Revolution in the Making 1. "We're Expanding the Concept of What It Means to Be Human" 9 2. "Transwomen Are Women - But What Is a Woman?" 12 3. Boys Climb Trees, Girls Make Bead Necklaces: The Return of Stereotypes 18 4. Chasing the Gendered Brain 25 5. Gender Is in the Eye of the Beholder 42 6. 2007: The Order of Modernity 50 7. 2017: The Gender-Congruent Person 55 8. Help - My Son Loves Pink! 62 9. An Invisible Theory 71 10. The History of Sex : One-Sex and Two-Sex Theories 76 11. Return of the One-Sex Theory 83 12. What Happens to Biological Determinism When There Is No Body? 85 13. How Feminism Started Loving Gender 89 14. How Patriarchy Incorporated Its Dissidents 100 Part 2: One Pill Makes You a Girl, One Pill Makes You a Boy - The 71 Genders Become Two 15. When States Reassign Their Citizens' Sex 119 16. "Doctors are Salivating at the Prospect of Applying Puberty Blockers" 125 17. They Will Probably Become Infertile, But That's the Price You Pay - The New Era of Sterilisations 135 18. When States Convert Homosexuals 144 19. What Is a Man without a Penis? 149 20. Younger, Faster, Happier? 153 21. Hormone Evangelists in the Pharmaceutical Industry 160 22. Tumblr, Trans and Trauma - Testimonies from Teens 171 23. Mastectomy or Death: Harnessing the Threat of Suicide 182 24. The Industry Under Pressure 202 Part 3: The One Sex Theory 25. A Tale of Trans People? 207 26. Woman: A Dangerous Word 209 27. Vagina: A Dangerous Word 218 28. The Creation of the Cis-Person - or How We Fell in Love with Gender Roles 222 29. Gender Self-Identification 235 30. A Room of One's Own 238 31. Unspeakable Violence 247 32. Every Man's Right 250 33. Invisible Trans Men 253 34. Open Female Spaces, Closed Male Spaces 257 35. "The End of Women's Sport as We Know It" 262 36. "It Started with the Realisation that Women Do Not Exist" - A Fatal Blow to Equality Policies 275 37. "She Deserves a Kick in the Ovaries" 280 38. Sex, Race, Class, or ... An Exception to Intersectionality 292 39. Nature/Nurture - A Dialectical View 304 40. Notes on the Word 'Woman' 309 References 313 Index 329

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn On the Inconvenience of Other People Lauren Berlant continues to explore our affective engagement with the world. Berlant focuses on the encounter with and the desire for the bother of other people and objects, showing that to be driven toward attachment is to desire to be inconvenienced. Drawing on a range of sources, including Last Tango in Paris, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Claudia Rankine, Christopher Isherwood, Bhanu Kapil, the Occupy movement, and resistance to anti-Black state violence, Berlant poses inconvenience as an affective relation and considers how we might loosen our attachments in ways that allow us to build new forms of life. Collecting strategies for breaking apart a world in need of disturbing, the book’s experiments in thought and writing cement Berlant’s status as one of the most inventive and influential thinkers of our time.Trade Review"The author is as sharp as ever at drawing from postcolonial, queer, and affect theory. Fans of Berlant’s bright, electrifying thinking will want to check this out." * Publishers Weekly *"In Inconvenience, that pedagogy is sly, confiding, and digressive. . . . On the Inconvenience of Other People is, finally, a book in all its feels—from happiness to a death wish—all at once. And it’s the last work of a scholar whose theory felt personal, and whose death was mourned far beyond those who knew Berlant: a perfect encapsulation of intimacy within publicity and the publicity of intimacy, a monument to their very work." -- Hannah Zeavin * Bookforum *"A coherent and helpful addition to the ideas, now influential throughout the culture, that Berlant wrought in 2011’s Cruel Optimism." -- Jo Livingstone * 4Columns *"Offers moments of stunning clarity with the kinds of pithy declarative revelations that can easily spiral a reader toward an entirely new outlook on life. Their writing is a paragon of world-breaking and world-making insight." -- Megan Volpert * Popmatters *"Berlant was anything but ordinary. They wanted their writing to draw the reader into the unpredictability of their own mind. . . . Berlant asked the reader to remain in the thought with them, accepting its formlessness and volatility. Writing was a race against life. . . . The breathlessness was left intact in the prose. If the result is that one sometimes comes away from Berlant’s books with only an impressionistic understanding, that might be an appropriate response to a theorist of vibes." -- Erin Maglaque * London Review of Books *"A book about proceeding in brokenness, On The Inconvenience of Other People is simultaneously an experiment, if not a map, on how to do theory in a damaged world." -- Lilly Markaki * LSE Review of Books *"Berlant offers brilliant insights about the progressive and regressive forces that produce, promote, and frustrate individuals' (perceived) freedoms. Recommended. Graduate students and faculty." * Choice *Table of ContentsNote to the Reader vii Preface. What Now? ix Introduction. Intentions 1 1. Sex. Sex in the Event of Happiness 31 2. Democracy. The Commons: Infrastructures for Troubling Times 75 3. Life. On Being in Life without Wanting the World: No World Poetics, or, Elliptical Life 117 Coda. My Dark Places 149 Acknowledgments 175 Notes 177 Bibliography 205 Index 231

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Times Higher Education Book of the WeekA virulent strain of antifeminism is thriving online that treats women's empowerment as a mortal threat to men and to the integrity of Western civilization. Its proponents cite ancient Greek and Latin texts to support their claimsfrom Ovid's Ars Amatoria to Seneca and Marcus Aureliusarguing that they articulate a model of masculinity that sustained generations but is now under siege. Not All Dead White Men reveals that some of the most controversial and consequential debates about the legacy of the ancients are raging not in universities but online. A chilling account of trolling, misogyny, racism, and bad history proliferated online by the Alt-Right Zuckerberg makes a persuasive case for why we need a new, more critical, and less comfortable relationship between the ancient and modern worlds in this important and very timely book.Emily Wilson, translator of The OdysseyExplores how ideas about Ancient Greece and Rome are used and misused by antifeminist thinkers today.TimeZuckerberg presciently analyzes these communities'embrace of stoicism as a self-help tool to gain confidence, jobs, and girlfriends. Their adoration of men like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Ovidis founded in a limited and distorted interpretation of ancient philosophylending heft and authority to sexism and abuse.The NationTraces the applicationand misapplicationof classical authors and texts in online communities that see feminism as a threat.Bitch MediaTrade ReviewA chilling account of trolling, misogyny, racism, and bad history proliferated online by the Alt-Right, bolstered by the apparent authority of Greek and Latin Classics. Zuckerberg makes a persuasive case for why we need a new, more critical, and less comfortable relationship between the ancient and modern worlds in this important and very timely book. -- Emily Wilson, translator of The OdysseyExplores how ideas about Ancient Greece and Rome are used and misused by antifeminist thinkers today. * Time *Zuckerberg characterizes the ‘Red Pill’ online community as the corner of the internet dominated by men’s-rights activists, the alt-right, pickup artists, and the sex-eschewing communities known as Men Going Their Own Way…Virtually all these subgroups appropriate classical literature for their own purposes. * The Atlantic *Zuckerberg presciently analyzes [‘red-pill’] communities’ (and sections of Silicon Valley’s) embrace of stoicism as a self-help tool to gain confidence, jobs, and girlfriends. Their adoration of men like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Ovid, whose Ars Amatoria earned him the reputation of being history’s first pickup artist, is founded in a limited and distorted interpretation of ancient philosophy, she writes, lending heft and authority to sexism and abuse. * The Nation *The book is an achievement… An admirable foray into the difficult and often distressing terrain of far-right politics, and an important contribution to the growing collection of essays, archives and discussions centered on the place of classics in today’s thorny political landscape. * Times Literary Supplement *Traces the application—and misapplication—of classical authors and texts in online communities that see feminism as a threat. * Bitch Media *Zuckerberg argues that it is important to study why classical texts have been weaponized by [The Red Pill] and how, regardless of their ‘appropriation of antiquity,’ the ancient texts are already problematic themselves. * Los Angeles Review of Books blog *Not just an incredibly important book that teaches readers about the tactics of a far-right, antifeminist online community, the ‘manosphere,’ but also demonstrates ways in which experts can use their knowledge to deconstruct the use and abuse of history. * EuropeNow *A clear explanation of the machinations of the red pill community…Offers some sense of how individuals with an interest in progressive politics might respond to not only the abuse of ancient works, but also to the works themselves. In dissecting the far right’s misuse of these texts, Zuckerberg opens the door to a reconsideration of what is and isn’t the ‘foundation of Western Civilization.’ * Ploughshares *Aims to take back the writings of the ancients from misogynist online communities. * Publishers Weekly *This brilliant new book offers a must-read analysis of classicizing antifeminist diatribes that will enlighten or serve as a timely warning to all liberals, as well as to members of the Alt-Right and Red Pill men’s groups (if only they would read it). -- Paul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A LifeA fearless online pioneer in her role as the editor of Eidolon, Zuckerberg is perfectly placed to guide us through the radicalized virtual territory of the Alt-Right. Not only does she force us to face the worst of what Classical authors say about male superiority and sexual privilege, weaponized in the roiling echo chambers of reddit, she also compels us to reflect on why we nonetheless teach and take pleasure in Greek and Roman texts. -- Joy Connolly, author of The Life of Roman RepublicanismIf there was ever a time to dispel myths of racial and gender superiority, it is now. Donna Zuckerberg has written an important book to help us understand how the Western classical canon is weaponized to diminish the humanity of women by anti-feminist online communities. This is a must-read. -- Safiya Umoja Noble, author of Algorithms of OppressionA clear-eyed look at the dangers of misogyny and racism underlying the reception of Classics. Zuckerberg strikes an admirable balance between defending the study of ancient Greek and Roman authors—those all too familiar ‘dead white men’—and rejecting the insidious assertions of patriarchy and white supremacy that the Alt-Right claims to derive from antiquity. This remarkable book never loses sight of what the Classics can mean to the next generation. -- Gregory Nagy, author of The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours[Zuckerberg] is ideally placed to analyze the deeply unpleasant phenomenon of these men appropriating ancient authors—Ovid, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius—to try to bolster their vicious world view…This book is her attempt to document this appropriation of Classics by people who neither know nor care how limited their understanding is. * Spectator *Both a survey of the contemporary landscape the alt-right trawls, as well as a primer in the major Classical texts and precepts they (mis)use. * PopMatters *Required reading for classicists who want to understand how the works we study resonate in contemporary politics. -- Ellen Muehlberger * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *With the proliferation of anti-feminist rhetoric online, the extreme right is using ancient philosophy to boost its credibility. As Stoic ethics moves from lecture halls to Reddit, classicist Donna Zuckerberg exposes this misappropriation, meant to enforce the concept of male superiority. * Nature *Zuckerberg tracks the alt-right’s appropriation of the classics, from the use of classical texts among Men’s Rights Activists to the superficial use of Ovid as inspiration for pickup artists. -- Joel Christensen * Boston Review *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A real hero looks like Nice Leng''ete . . . [An] elegant and inspiring memoir'' New York Times Nice Leng`ete was raised in a Maasai village in Kenya. In 1998, when Nice was six, her parents fell sick and died, and Nice and her sister Soila were taken in by their father''s brother, who had little interest in the girls beyond what their dowries might fetch. Fearing the cut (female genital mutilation, a painful and sometimes deadly ritualistic surgery), which was the fate of all Maasai women, Nice and Soila climbed a tree to hide.Nice hoped to find a way to avoid the cut forever, but Soila understood it would be impossible. But maybe if one of the sisters submitted, the other would be spared. After Soila chose to undergo the surgery, sacrificing herself to save Nice, their lives diverged. Soila married, dropped out of school, and had children -- all in her teenage years -- while Nice postponed receiving the cut, continued her education, and became the fiTrade ReviewA real hero looks like Nice Leng'ete, the Kenyan anti-female-genital-mutilation activist whose response to her childhood was to improve the experience for others . . . [An] elegant and inspiring memoir -- Sonia Faleiro * New York Times *An incredibly powerful story that offers real hope for the future * Kirkus *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''An exhilarating read'' New StatesmanIn Feminism Against Progress, Mary Harrington argues that the industrial-era faith in progress is turning against all but a tiny elite of women. Women's liberation was less the result of human moral progress than an effect of the material consequences of the Industrial Revolution. We've now left the industrial era for the age of AI, biotech and all-pervasive computing. As a result, technology is liberating us from natural limits and embodied sex differences. Although this shift benefits a small class of successful professional women, it also makes it easier to commodify women's bodies, human intimacy and female reproductive abilities.This is a stark warning against a dystopian future whereby poor women become little more than convenient sources of body parts to be harvested and wombs to be rented by the rich. Progress has now stopped benefiting the majority of women, and only a feminism that is sceptical of it can truly defend female interests in the 21st century.

Read more less