Mordant Belle

The Feminine Mystique
By Betty Friedan, 2001, W. W. Norton & Company Reprint edition, 512 pages
Mel’s Reading Status: READING

Commentary:
I have begun to read this a few times, and have read three individual chapters for various Women’s Studies classes, but I have never read this from cover to cover. There’s also a great intro the the edition by Anna Quindlen.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
Originally published in 1963, this book is credited with the birth of the contemporary women’s movement in the ’60s and ’70s, as it served as a “wake up call” for dissatisfied house wives. As Wikipedia notes, the main argument of this book was to refute the popular notion that women of that time could only find fulfillment through childbearing and homemaking. While the book is often (rightly) criticized as being primarily relevant to white, middle class women, it is still an important staple in the feminist cannon.

Additional Comments always welcome.

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Women, Race, and Class
by Angela Davis, 1983, Vintage, 288 pages
Mel’s Reading Status: UNREAD

Commentary:
Angela Davis is pretty much required reading, especially for feminists who care about understanding the impacts of race and class as they intersect with gender. A word of caution, however: the WOC blogs I read complain about us white folks thinking that reading and quoting Angela Davis (and other prominent WOC authors) at certain times makes us “un-racist”, or serves to address the concerns of minority women and poor women. It does not.

It certainly is a good starting point, though.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
Angela Davis is one of the most prominent multiracial feminists out there. This book was the first of it’s time to really explore the ties between the suffragettes and the abolitionist movement of the first wave. In many ways, the suffragettes (the first feminists, though they did not identify themselves as such; the term became more widely used later during the women’s liberation movement) were compelled to form a women’s rights movement in conjunction with abolition. In both the first and the second wave, women’s political consciousness was born fighting for rights for minorities, only to discover (in the case of the suffragettes) that they could not speak at rallies or appear in public because of stigmas about women (they were expected to stay behind a screen at public meetings). In another interpretation, working for civil rights for others made women more aware of the stigmas and restrictions placed against themselves. So in many ways, women’s liberation was born out of the fight for rights for African Americans.

Davis is an ubernerd in terms of education; she went to many colleges both in the U.S. and abroad, showing her deep love of learning. She was associated with both the Black Panther Party and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in the ’60s and ’70s. She is a socialist and was previously a political candidate in the Communist Party USA. She became famous after she was connected to the murder of a judge who was held hostage during a Black Panther prison escape attempt; she fled underground, and was eventually captured, arrested, tried, and acquitted in a famous trial. She is now a professor at the University of California and Presidential chair at UC Santa Cruz.

Additional Comments always welcome.

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This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
By Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua, 2002, 3rd Woman Press, 370 pages (3rd edition)
Mel’s Reading Status: UNREAD

Commentary:
I really want to read this book, but ran into several issues getting my hands on the 3rd edition, not the least of which being that my library’s copy is missing. Most of the copies of the 3rd edition that I find online are much too expensive; most were over $200, some were only $100. Anything less than $100 was very used. This is the second, and biggest, problem I ran into while trying to locate this book. The second edition, however, is much less expensive, though it lacks the newer material. Both of these editions seem to be out of print.

UPDATE: I finally got my hands on a gorgeous copy of the 3rd edition, by basically stalking the “New & Used” from Amazon.com and AbeBooks. It was awesome, I found one that was barely used, for only $42. If you want to get your hands on this book, I would recommend doing that.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
Originally published in 1984 (1983? ‘84? Sources vary!), this anthology, which includes poems, prose, and essays, was edited by two radical women of color (Chicanas, both). This Bridge Called My Back was groundbreaking, the first well-known book that really held white feminists’ feet to the fire, so to speak, about their deliberate ignorance of the racial disparities within the feminist movement, and called for a radical restructuring of America. This third edition contains all the original material from the first two editions, including their forwards, prefaces, and introductions, as well as a new forward by Moraga that she began writing on September 11, 2001.

Additional Comments always welcome.

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Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women
By Susan Faludi, 2006, Three Rivers Press, 592 pages
Mel’s Reading Status: READING

Commentary:
This book is difficult to read so far, simply because of the sheer volume of information. But it’s absolutely crucial reading, for anyone, but especially feminists. I recommend you read it in small spurts — I’m taking it chapter by chapter, giving it time to digest.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
Originally published in 1991 (the cover I have here is for the 15th Anniversary edition), it’s a little out of date in terms of numbers. However, the phenomenon are still there, the analysis is still right on, and the truths it unveils are still disturbing at how much of the discrimination faced by women is part of a system. The book is INSANELY well-researched, literally TONS of numbers; Faludi is a Pulitzer-prize winning former Wall Street Journal reporter, and it shows. Feminist beginners should definitely read this as soon as they can stomach it; this is one of those texts that long-timers will refer back to again and again.

Additional Comments always welcome.

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The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
By Naomi Wolf, 2002, Harper Perrenial, 368 pages
Mel’s Reading Status: READING

Commentary:
I am in the process of reading this book, and it’s so powerful. It’s one of those things that really wakes you up to how much of what we suspect, what we have this instinct is going on but can’t quite put our finger on because it seems so normal, so Just The Way Things Are, is a SYSTEM. It’s not an accident, but an institution, an actual system and process that was put in place to preserve the majority of people from having equal access to power.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
Summary Via Amazon.com: In a country where the average woman is 5-foot-4 and weighs 140 pounds, movies, advertisements, and MTV saturate our lives with unrealistic images of beauty. The tall, nearly emaciated mannequins that push the latest miracle cosmetic make even the most confident woman question her appearance. Feminist Naomi Wolf argues that women’s insecurities are heightened by these images, then exploited by the diet, cosmetic, and plastic surgery industries. Every day new products are introduced to “correct” inherently female “flaws,” drawing women into an obsessive and hopeless cycle built around the attempt to reach an impossible standard of beauty. Wolf rejects the standard and embraces the naturally distinct beauty of all women.

Additional Comments always welcome.

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