Feminists and Flourbombs

Books

1980s

Beyond God the Father by Mary Daly (The Women’s Press, 1986) £7.99.
Religion is a major cause of women's repression over the last 3,000 years argues Daly, now 70, who is a prolific and influential writer on women.

Call Me Woman — A South African autobiograph by Ellen Kuzwayo (Aunt Lute Books, 1985) Out of print but available in libraries.
A remarkable personal and political story covering 70 years of life under apartheid, describing the loss of her farm and imprisonment at the age of 63.

Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach (Arrow, 1998) £6.99.
The title became a catch-phrase of the 1980s, and eating disorders continue to concern feminists.

Man Made Language by Dale Spender (Rivers Oram Press, 1998) £7.99.
A feminist study of language, first published in 1980, which documents how male bias in language undermines women's position in society.

Pornography: Men possessing women by Andrea Dworkin (The Women’s Press, 1981) £8.99.
A radical feminist exploration of how men dominate women from the co-author of a model anti-pornography law arguing that pornography violates women’s civil rights.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (The Women’s Press, 2000) £6.99.
Set in America's Deep South, Celie is raped by the man she calls 'father'; her two children are taken from her, but she finds love with Shug Avery — a glamorous woman singer.

The Rocking of the Cradle and the Ruling of the World by Dorothy Dinnerstein (Souvenir Press, 1978) Out of print but available in libraries.
Psychological and political analysis of how men and women collude to keep women in the role of mother, which oppresses women and brutalises men.

Wayward Girls and Wicked Women (An Anthology of Stories) by Angela Carter (Virago Press, 1986) £6.99.
Stories celebrating female discontent, sexual disruptiveness and bad manners by leading writers including Ama Ata Aidoo, Djuna Barnes, Jane Bowles, Colette, Bessie Head, Katherine Mansfield and Jamaica Kincaid.

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi (Zed Books, 1983) £4.95.
A woman is condemned to death for killing a pimp. The book was banned in Egypt and El Saadawi was arrested. She describes her months in prison.

1990s to date

A Century of Women by Sheila Rowbotham (Penguin Books, 1999) £12.99.
Feminist historian, Rowbotham has been an influential figure in British feminism since the 1960s. As well as analysis of the issues over the century, she includes biographies of key figures.

Am I Thin Enough Yet? The cult of thinness and the commercialisation of identity by Sharlene Hesse-Biber (Oxford University Press, 1997) £14.99.
American women are obsessed with weight — equating thinness with beauty.

Fear of the Dark: Race, gender and sexuality in the cinema by Lola Young (Routledge, 1995) £16.99.
Examines race and gender in film.

Feminism and Film by E Ann Kaplan (Oxford University Press, 2000) £18.99.
Selected essays on feminism and film from 1973 to present day.

Madonna and Child by Melissa Benn (Vintage, 1999) £7.99.
How motherhood fits into society's ideas of women's lives in the 1990s. Looks back to Betty Friedan's 1963 claim that the family was finished.

The Beauty Myth: How images of beauty are used against women by Naomi Wolf (Vintage, 1991) £7.99.
A controversial examination of female beauty and the industry surrounding it.

The Women’s History of the 20th Century by Rosalind Miles (Harper Collins, 2000) £16.99.
By the same author as The Women’s History of the World.

The Women’s History of the World by Rosalind Miles (Grafton Books, 1989) £8.99.

Wild Swans by Jung Chang (Flamingo, 1993) £9.99.
Moving account of 20th century China viewed through the stories of three generations of women, from foot-binding and concubinage to the Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four.

Top