5 Non-Fiction Books To Fortify Your Feminism This International Women's Day!
International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of amazing women everywhere. However, it’s also a time to reflect on how far feminism still has to go, especially when it comes to intersectionality.
Feminism has too often been reduced to a white middle-class movement that ignores how layers of oppression related to race, class, sexuality, gender identity, and disability combine with women’s issues. With that in mind, here are 5 of the best intersectional feminist reads that will give both your knowledge and empowerment a boost:
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Summary: Bad Feminist is a collection of essays in which Roxane Gay explores what it is to be a woman of colour in society today. Written with incredible range, the collection brings intersectional feminist concerns to topics including body image and reality TV to black representation in popular films.
Why I Chose It: As the title suggests, this is a refreshingly honest read. Gay admits that she hasn’t got all the answers and sometimes gets feminism wrong, but emphasises the importance of trying to work through issues anyway. I went through the entire spectrum of emotions, from shock to anger to laughing out loud!
“In truth, feminism is flawed because it is a movement powered by people and people are inherently flawed.” - Roxane Gay
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Eve Was Shamed by Helena Kennedy
Summary: Written by one of Britain’s few woman barristers, Eve Was Shamed is a shocking revelation of how women remain discriminated against by the law. It is also a powerful call for change.
Why I Chose It: Eve Was Shamed is one of those books that’s impossible to read without feeling angry! It’s a productive kind of anger though (mostly), that allows space to lament what still hasn’t changed but also to consider the solutions.
Kennedy exemplifies the importance of an intersectional feminist approach as she considers how misogyny, race, class and trans issues all act together to affect women’s experiences in the justice system.
“It is hard to get across the idea that a woman is entitled to have sex with the whole of the football team, but draw the line at the goalie.” - Helena Kennedy
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Taking Up Space by Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ogunbiyi
Summary: Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ogunbiyi recently graduated from Cambridge. They use their experiences, combined with numerous quotes from other students, to highlight the difficulties faced by black women in Britain’s elite academic institutions.
Taking Up Space aims to guide black girls through the experience of university education. For readers who are not women of colour, the book acts as a powerful call to notice glaring problems we have been privileged enough to ignore, and to join the collective effort towards decolonising academia.
Why I Chose It: As a student, this book really made me think about my curriculum and how Eurocentric it is. The education system seems like the obvious place to start teaching about feminist issues in an intersectional way, so it’s shocking how wrong we’re still getting it.
This one is a must-read for anyone involved in education or academia.
“Don’t ever feel the need to make yourself palatable, or bitesize. [...] Their discomfort is not your problem” - Ore Ogunbiyi
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For more fiction and non-fiction reads by black authors see Rosie Doyle’s article on Black Lives Matter: Book Recommendations from Black Activists
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Summary: In 2009, Michelle Obama became the first black FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States). Entering the White House, however, is just the beginning. In Becoming we learn how she combined motherhood with politics and advocated passionately on her own terms, to ultimately be recognised as one of today’s feminist icons.
Why I Chose It: Becoming is full of women role models, from Michelle Obama herself to those who inspired her. Combine these with the author’s appreciation of feminist solidarity, urgent foregrounding of intersectional feminism, and an honest, relatable tone and you’ve got yourself one heck of an empowering memoir!
“If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.” - Michelle Obama
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It’s Not About the Burqa, edited by Mariam Khan
Summary: In this collection of essays, British Muslim women push back against the narratives that have traditionally been constructed for them, not by them. The essays speak to the diverse experiences of these women, as they share opinions on topics from marriage and divorce to fashion and advertising.
Why I Chose It: All too often we expect one person from a marginalised group to speak for everyone. In response, these essays bring nuance and individuality, challenging discourses that homogenise the experience of Muslim women in Britain.
‘I believe the role of the writer is to tell society what it pretends it does not know.’ - Mariam Khan
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Written by Florence Edwards
