Weekly Geeks 4 – Social Issue
This week’s theme: Choose a political or social issue that matters to you. Find several books addressing that issue; they don’t have to books you’ve read, just books you might like to read. Using images (of the book covers or whatever you feel illustrates your topic) present these books in your blog.
When I saw this week’s theme, I knew right away which social/political issue I wanted to write about: feminism. Feminism is extremely important to me, I wish we’d come far enough in our society to recognize that women are people deserving of equality just as the other 50% of the population, but unfortunately America is still not perfect in that respect. We’ve come a long way from the pre-suffragist, early 1900′s, but not far enough in my opinion. Something that I am very passionate about is studying feminism and looking at the world through my gender-focused lenses. To do this, I frequent several feminist blogs such as Feministing, Feministe, The Curvature, and Pandagon, to name a few, and I also try to read as much feminist literature as I can. Here are some examples of books I have read and enjoyed:
I actually just read and reviewed this book the other day. SUCH an important contribution to feminist thought.
I read this collection of essays in college, in a women and gender studies class that I was taking. Some wonderfully talented and amazing women contributed to this work (Anna Quindlen is one) and I really enjoyed reading it. Here is the Amazon info.
This is another one I read recently. Jessica is the founder of Feministing.com and has a great way of making feminism seem like the most obvious choice in the world, especially to younger girls who may not already be exposed to some of her ideas.
Now onto a few I haven’t read….
This is Valenti’s new book, and one I just ordered from Amazon the other day. It promises to be just as good, if not better than, her first.
This one is on my current TBR pile, and I actually have it lined up pretty soon as a selection for one of the challenges I’m participating in. It’s another collection of essays, which I’m always a fan of.
This is one of the many books by bell hooks that I’m interested in reading. I’ve read a few essays by her, and they are always thought-provoking and intense. She writes a lot about the intersection of race, class, and feminism, so she truly deals with a lot of the stuff that many feminists don’t want to delve into. I’m hoping to read something by her very soon.
Well that’s about it. I’m looking forward to reading everyone else’s weekly geeks about important social issues. Like I said, there are a lot of issues that are important to me, so I’m sure a lot of you bloggers’ posts will interest me!
I’d also highly recommend any books by Susan Brownmiller, Carol J. Clover, Cynthia Heimel, and Linda Williams.
I think we agree on most things, but overall, I’d rather be a woman here than almost anywhere else. I’m in what was once a male dominated field and I’ve done quite well for myself because of the laws and opportunities we have.
cjh
Those all sound interesting, especially the Valenti book.
I think I tend to think certain things for granted, but every now and then something happens that reminds me of the kind of world we still live in.
A girl was raped at my university last week, and I couldn’t believe how many examples of the “blame the victim” mentality I came across – and coming from both men and women. I heard comments from “I don’t believe in the concept of rape” to “she teased him, so she deserved it”. Not to mention the amount of people who automatically assume that the girl is making it up for attention. This is particularly disturbing when coming from the mouths of 18 year old girls.
Anyway. Sorry for the rant.
Hey, you mentioned my friend Cara’s blog! Maybe you found mine through hers? Anyway, she’s the best and I’m glad you enjoy her writing.
Full Frontal Feminism is on my wishlist, but I haven’t read it. I’m really interested in Valenti’s book! I think I’ll add that to the wishlist now.
Oops, I meant to say Valenti’s NEW book in that last part.
i can’t remember a time when i wasn’t a feminist, and i’ve been reading feminist stuff for at least twenty years. i just came across Valenti’s books last week, and they’ve been added to my “to read” list. i’m currently reading Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, which gives a great historical perspective on women. BTW i picked Teen Dating Violence for my theme – which ties into what Nymeth was saying in her comment.
Betty Friedan was actually, at one point, on faculty at the writing program I attended. I’m disappointed I never got to actually study with her (or Hubert Selby, Jr., who was also on staff at one point). I’m a big fan of Friedan and her writing.
That said, I think writers like Valenti give feminism a bad name. I don’t think Friedan would be happy to be associated with her.
(I read the first few pages of the Valenti book in question and found it both dopey and facile, two words I would never associate with Friedan, nor actual feminism)
I did my Weekly Geeks challenge on feminism as well. I think I am going to put Full Frontal Feminism on my to-read list, it looks interesting — I enjoyed your review of it as well!
I especially like the title of “We Don’t Need Another Wave.” I think that the wave thing can get divisive, and it is so limiting to pretend that feminism has only “happened” since the 1800s and only in a few recognized “waves.”
This weekend my girlfriend read me some quote from the paper that mentioned the “third and fourth waves” of feminism and we were like, there’s already a fourth? They were calling us the third wave ten years ago!
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