This list is stil a work in progress, but I really wanted to get it posted. I have either read parts of/all of the texts below or they have been recommended to me. Please reblog and add your own suggestions to the list. Each time someone adds something new, I’ll go back to this original post and make sure to include them. Thanks and enjoy!
Books
- Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis
- Women Culture and Politics by Angela Davis
- Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
- Borderlands/La frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua
- Aint I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks
- Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks
- Feminist Theory from Margin to Center by bell hooks
- Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
- Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity by Chandra Talpade Mohanty
- Medicine Stories by Aurora Levins Morales
- Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home by Anita Hill
- Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty by Dorothy Roberts
- Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide by Andrea Smith
- Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition Against Multiple Oppressions (Feminist Constructions) by Maria Lugones (submitted by oceanicheart)
- Feminism FOR REAL: Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex of Feminism by Jessica Yee (submitted by oceanicheart)
- Communion: The Female Search for Love by bell hooks (via easternjenitentiary)
- Nervous Conditions by Tsisti Dangarembga (via easternjenitentiary)
- A Taste of Power by Elaine Browne (via tinajenny)
- Talkin’ Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism by Aileen Moreton-Robinson (via jalwhite)
- I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism by Lee Maracle (via jalwhite)
- Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics by Joy James (via jalwhite)
- Re-Creating Ourselves by Molara Ogundipe-Leslie (via reallifedocumentarian)
- Chicana Feminist Thought by Alma M. Garcia (via eggplantavenger)
- Queer Latinidad by Juana Maria Rodriguez (via eggplantavenger)
- The Truth That Never Hurts by Barbara Smith (via sisteroutsider)
- Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition Against Multiple Oppressions by Maria Lugones (via guckfender)
- Consequence: Beyond Resisting Rape by Loolwa Khazzoom (via galesofnovember)
- The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid (via wherethewildthingsmoved)
Anthologies
- Companeras: Latina Lesbians by Juanita Ramos and the Lesbian History Project
- Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism edited by Daisy Hernandez
- This Bridge Called My Back edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
- this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation edited by Gloria Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating
- Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critial Perspectives by Feminists of Color edited by Gloria Anzaldua
- Women Writing Resistance: Essays from Latin America and the Caribbean edited by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez
- Unequal Sisters edited by Ellen DuBois and Vicki Ruiz
- Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings edited by Alma M. Garcia (submitted by oceanicheart)
- Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice (submitted by oceanicheart)
- The Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology
- I Am Your SIster by Audre Lorde (via marlahangup)
- Indigenous Women and Feminism: Politics, Activism, Culture edited by Cheryl Suzack, Shari M. Huhndorf, Jeanne Perreault, Jean Barman (via jalwhite)
- Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire edited by Sonia Shah (via jalwhite)
- Pinay Power: Feminist Critical Theory: Theorizing the Filipina/American Experience edited by Melinda L. de Jesus (via titotibok)
- Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire edited by Sonia Shah (via titotibok)
- MOONROOT: An Exploration of Asian Womyn’s Bodies (more Asian Pacific Islander American ones here) (via titotibok)
- Making Space for Indigenous Feminism edited by Joyce Green via jalwhite)
- All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us are Brave: Black Women’s Studies, more commonly known as But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies edited by Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scot, and Barbara Smith (via jalwhite)
- Homegirls: A Black Feminist Anthology edited by Barbara Smith (viasisteroutsider)
- Theorizing Black Feminisms: The Visionary Pragmatism of Black Women edited by Stanlie James and Abena Busia (via sisteroutsider)
- Black Woman edited by Toni Cade Bambara (via ancestryinprogress)
Essays
- “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” by Kimberle Crenshaw
- The Combahee River Collective Statement
- “Tomboy, Dyke, Lezzie, and Bi: Filipina Lesbian and Bisexual Women Speak Out” by Christine T. Lipat and others (via titotibok)
- “Rizal Day Queen Contests, Filipino Nationalism, and Feminity” by Arleen De Vera (via titotibok)
- “Pinayism” by Allyson G. Tintiangco-Cubales (via titotibok)
- “Practicing Pinayist Pedagogy” by Allyson G. Tintiangco-Cubales and Jocyl Sacramento (via titotibok)
- “Asian Lesbians in San Francisco: Struggle to Create a Safe Space, 1970s – 1980s” by Trinity Ordona (via titotibok)
- “A Black Separatist” by Anna Lee (via girlsandgifs)
- “For the Love of Separatism” by Anna Lee (via girlsandgifs)
- “Separation in Black: A Personal Journey” by Jacqueline Anderson (via girlsandgifs)
- “Separatism is not a Luxury: Some Thoughts on Separatism and Class” by C. Maria (via girlsandgifs)
- “Coming Out Queer and Brown” by Naomi Littlebear Morena (via girlsandgifs)
- “Internalising the Lesbian Body of Color” by Jamie Lee Evans (via girlsandgifs)
- “In Search of Our Mother’s Garden” by Alice Walker (via wherethewildthingsmoved)
Other authors and poets you should know
- Maya Angelou
- Toni Morrison
- Alice Walker
- Nawaal El Sadaawi
- Mary Crow Dog
- Zora Neale Hurston
- Arundhati Roy
- Zadie Smith
- Dorothy Roberts
- Nikki Giovanni(submitted by my bff maskofmaterials)
- Lucille Clifton (submitted by my bff maskofmaterials)
- Gwendolyn Brooks (submitted by soemily)
- Octavia Butler (submitted by soemily)
- Nalo Hopkison (submitted by soemily)
- Trinh T. Minh-Ha (via eggplantavenger)
- Ananya Roy (via eggplantavenger)
- Paola Bacchetta (via eggplantavenger)
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (via pitcherplant)
- Andrea Smith (via crankyindian)
- Ashley Love (via guckfender)
- Linda Martin Alcoff (via guckfender)
- Oyèrónké Oyěwùmí (via guckfender)
- Staceyann Chin (via guckfender)
yesterday in my class on gender (in which all the students identify as feminists) my professor had to spell audre lorde’s name. and then she spelled it incorrectly.
(via supersoygrrrl)
Very interesting interview with Tina Fey, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Dana Carvey, Tracy Morgan, and some older SNL alumni.
Oprah approaches the idea of women in comedy, and Jane Curtin reveals the misogynist rhetoric at SNL during the 1970’s— particularly coming from John Belushi.
It’s fun to watch the awkwardness as Jane Curtin bears it and Chevy Chase plays nice.
(via g00dg0dlemon)
My name is Kelly Schomburg, I’m the girl with the red hair in these pictures. I was protesting at the Occupy Wall Street march yesterday when I and several other women were sprayed with mace and subsequently arrested. Many have already seen the video, which has been spreading like wildfire over twitter, Facebook, tumblr, and other video feeds, along with hundreds of other photos and videos. This is my recount of what happened.
Trigger Warning for police violence under the cut.
Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) on the House floor Wednesday called on Congress to do something about the pervasive problem of sexual harassment and rape that in the U.S. military.
“I rise today, as I have done virtually every week, to tell a story of a man or woman in the military who has been raped,” she said. “Nineteen thousand are raped every year in the military, only 13 percent report the rapes, because there has been such an ineffective addressing of this issue.”
“It is time for us to act, we have known of this problem for over sixteen years. We have had eighteen years of reporting on this issue and yet nothing changes.”
She went on to tell a story about a woman who was repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted while serving in U.S military. Her superiors told her that the men were just “being playful.” The woman was later raped by another member of the military while serving in Italy. Despite evidence against her perpetrator, he was found not guilty.
(via womenaresociety)
On this date in 1848, the first United States National Women’s Rights Convention began in Seneca Falls, NY. The driving force behind the convention was Lucretia Mott, who had been denied a seat at an abolitionist conference in the UK several years earlier because of her gender. The conference was attended by over 300 people, mostly women. Frederick Douglass also attended, in solidarity with the women he’d met on the abolitionist speaking circuit.
Tropes vs. Women: The Smurfette Principle
“The Smurfette Principle is the tendency for works of fiction to have exactly one female amongst an ensemble of male characters, in spite of the fact that roughly half of the human race is female. Unless a show is purposefully aimed at a female viewing audience, the main characters will tend to be disproportionately male.”
“Boys define the group, its story, and its code of values. Girls exist only in relation to boys” - Katha Pollitt
Basically, this means that men are the default and women get to be sidekicks or sexy decorations.*This video discusses the lack of main (not recurring) female characters in Transformers, Inception, The Daily Show, The Big Bang Theory, The Muppets, Winnie the Pooh, and explains the disturbing history of the Smurfette character. I’ll admit, I was initially resistant because I love so many of the films/TV shows being analyzed - but that doesn’t necessarily mean the film/show is bad or offensive in itself: it’s the collective trend of excluding fully developed female and other “minority” characters from substantial representation that is seriously problematic.
And, ALWAYS REBLOG:
The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies, which assesses female presence in films by asking three simple questions:
1. Does the movie have at least 2 women in it, who have names?
2. Do they talk to each other?
3. Do they talk to each other about something other than a man?
(It’s disheartening to see how many mainstream films fail this test.)
You’re probably thinking of words like slut, whore, bitch, cunt (I told you not to hold back!), skank.
Okay, now, what are the worst things you can call a guy? Fag, girl, bitch, pussy. I’ve even heard the term “mangina.”
Notice anything? The worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. Being a woman is the ultimate insult. Now tell me that’s not royally fucked up.
