Want to be a feminist, right?  So, what do you need to understand feminist movement and feminist perspective? The answer is FEMINIST BOOKS! Yes! Even a book can be feminist!

So, what are the feminist books? Well, feminist books are the books that depict ferocious, intelligent, brave and perseverant characters of courageous feminists. These books have the power to express how to deal with the unavoidable disorder, evil, inequality, and prejudice whirling around us. Each of the feminist books, autobiographies, and essay collections has the power to draw you in with an excellent script and convincing accounts.

So now, tell me! What better way could you find to get educated, get stimulated, get encouraged, and get excited than picking one of the best feminist books? Trust me; there’s not a bit! So, no matter if you are a stubborn feminist who discerns what she’s all about, a muddled feminist who’s not sure about what modern feminism is all about, or an individual who is a bit tired of hearing the dreary F-word, you’ve just come to the right place.

In the spirit of modern feminism, we’ve piled up a list of top feminist books you must read to understand the feminist movement as well as the feminist perspective. Each of the feminist books mentioned below is worth reading, and ordering to gift all your friends and families to read, as well.

Top feminist books to inculcate feminist perspective and awakening in you!

Are you confused about where to begin with on the entire subject of ‘modern feminism’ and ‘feminism history’? Well, if yes, this article is just for you! For all the knowledgeable and budding feminists out there, we have compiled a list of top feminist books every person needs to read.

So just get on your couch, grab a cup of coffee to soothe yourself and get lost in these dazzlingly provoking feminist books. Read, learn and get inspired! And trust me! Once you are inspired, there’s no turning back!

Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West

Want to get rolling in chuckles and fits of laughter? Want to be agitated with fury? Or want to cry your heart out? How about unloading these entire emotions gift wrapped in a little bundle? Sounds exciting? Well, then one of my favourite feminist books, Shrill is the flawless way for you to spend that next lazy weekend!

Lindy West – the courageous feminist, daring author, and amusing humorist – never intended to live a life of submissive silence. In her smart chronicle, West narrates her changeover from an introverted kid who was embarrassed for her body to a confident lady who adores her body and proudly accepts the designation of “a loud woman.”

The world has long held womankind to unbearable criterions of beauty and pressed them to stay silent and aloof. Opinionated women, who support the significance of feminism today, often receive an abundance of insulting confrontations with adverse associations.

With matchless and breathtaking hilarity, vulnerability, and endless charisma, Lindy bravely shares how to persist in such a “not-so-equal world.” She describes how to survive disgust, aloneness, loss, harassment–and walks away giggling. This feminist book is a rallying yell for campaigners and feminists. A lot of activists find her arguments offensive, awkward, or hard to accept. But the best thing is that she makes no act of contrition for just stating painful realities.

Points to Ponder

What makes this feminist book top my list and what’s it all about?

• Lindy West doesn’t stumble upon as “shrill” in Shrill but as really ingenious, humorous and courageous.  West is a superb, honest feminist who pens about several issues, including her extreme introversion as a child, her parents, and background. She describes her conflicts with herself and others to transform viewpoints on what having a big body means. I love her honest, witty, valiant and smart voice with which she clashes with male humorists to chill out the occurrence of rape jokes.
• Lindy recites her life with a balance of hilarity and despair in Shrill. No matter if it is the incident of an agonizingly reluctant childhood in which she tried to hide her large body (in vain) and even greater thoughts.  No matter if it is the chapter of her confrontation with the humorists over rape jokes. No matter if it is the event of her struggle to persuade herself and the world, that an overweight lady may even have some worth or her unintentional activism and endless encounter with Internet trolls. I love the way she hits upon as outspoken and genuine.
• I must confess Lindy West is hilarious as hell! You just cannot put off from repeatedly snickering all through her humorous, brave, daring, tear-jerking, painstaking, caring, kind-hearted, cool, lively, engaging, and most of all, sensible memoir. She narrates how she went from being the tool of public’s’ witticisms to expressing her jokes (with a thoughtful message that aren’t at somebody’s expense). She discloses the complications and stereotypes she overpowered to make herself perceived, in a society that doesn’t consider that females are or can be humorous (particularly obese women).
• West challenges some piping hot subjects of popular culture at the moment. Taking a candid and inflammatory look at racial discrimination, harassment, fat-shaming, Internet-trolling as well as rape culture, she unravels the crap and spills the beans. The story cries out the indigestible facts with conviction, intellect and a significant dosage of her trademark — black humour.

My recommendation

“Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman” isn’t an assertive story. The book doesn’t indicate that every man jack is pleased to excuse persons who abuse them. It doesn’t mean that you should be genial and kind-hearted to every teen lad who taunts you or shames you for your looks and body. But, in my view, this book has the power to change the quality of your life. West is energetic as well as hilarious. And that’s more than enough to carry the person who reads through the text’s meanderings.

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I Want to Destroy Myself: A Memoir

“I Want to Destroy Myself” epitomizes the ruins of an Indian woman’s marriage.  Malika Amar Shaikh’s biography embodies the fatal gaffs of glass that echo her wrath and ache. The life story published when the feminist movement in India was at its peak . It was the period when women were proclaiming for their constitutional rights and civil liberties. By the same token; Dalit, tribes and labour movement was challenging their civil rights as well.

Issued in the year 1984 in Marathi, the legitimate and upfront account of Malika Shaikh’s marriage to Namdeo Dhasal is a legendary sensation. Malika Amar Shaikh’s biography was an absolute success in Marathi due to the scandalous nature of the book. As a result, the copies of “I Want to Destroy Myself” rapidly flew off shelves from the book-stores. The hero and anti-hero of the “I Want to Destroy Myself” is none other than her spouse, Dhasal, a creative poet and the founder of the Dalit Panthers. The writer examines the patriarchy and masculinity through her biography.

Points to ponder

Issued initially in Marathi, “I Want to Destroy Myself” turned out to be a sensation in a little while. Jerry Pinto’s fabulous translation brings around this honest classic and for the very first time, makes it accessible in English. Here are the essential points that draw my attention towards this intense account of a woman’s agony.

• The unembellished anecdote of a woman’s marriage, “I Want to Destroy Myself” is a chronicle where the woman is on the hunt for her space in a man’s world. The book is a memoir of Malika Amar Shaikh and depicts the life of poets, campaigners, prostitutes, and protestors in Bombay. You just won’t find any other account in Indian writing as candid and merciless as this.
• The book is Malika’s intense, fuming story of her life with Dhasal, her significant other. She explicates how after the early days of affection, and the birth of their child, the marriage smashed into tatters. She censures Namdeo to be an inattentive partner and dad who’s given to liquor, womanizing and domestic abuse — and indifferent to his family. And while he would regret and be penitent for his deeds and his disregard, he never stopped or changed.
• Just before the conclusion, Malika Amar Shaikh’s raises few extremely personal questions while reciting unforgettable episodes. These questions give a picture of extreme prejudice, double standards and sacrificing inclinations of women. “I Want to Destroy Myself” portrays personal anguish of a cheerful and optimistically snooping woman who ended up laying down her arms, thanks to her husband, his machismo, and masculinity.
• The point that the author raises through “I Want to Destroy Myself” is how even ‘broad-minded’ men treat their spouse’s poorly. The book emphasizes on the patriarchal outlook a woman experience within the four walls of the house. The book is an essential read for all Indian women including schoolgirls, scholars as well as Dalit campaigners.

My recommendation

“I Want to Destroy Myself” is a memoir that yells women’s movement through a tortured and crushed voice. The writer who married a reformist expresses the complete denial of self and the torment of holding obstinately to her feminine personality all the way through the anecdote.

The book is a raw interpretation of broken dreams, crushed love, and rumpled self-esteem. It is an account of the courage to persist and live a meaningful life. So, if you believe in the gender equality and consider that patriarchal beliefs need to leave Indian society, then give it a thorough read.

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Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide by Andrea Smith

Do you hold off from the modern debates and open inspection of white supremacist history? Yes? Well, then Conquest is not for you! This book is a harsh, thoughtful, and zealous study of the colonization of America and the battle of Native women.

In this world-shattering book, Andrea Smith discloses the association between the colonization of native lands and violence against women.  Andrea Smith’s work, Conquest, is both stimulating and excruciating that demonstrates the active humiliation and demolition of Native women’s bodies.

Andrea Smith has no worries. She openly challenges stereotyped activist beliefs about universal and native, sexism and racialism, genocide and colonization. The prominent researcher of Native American studies and activist asserts that the group of Native American women experiences the maximum rates of ferocity in the United States. In fact, one out of every three native women is the victim of sexual violence. Moreover, the native women’s murder rate of is far greater than the national average.

Points to ponder

Conquest covers a lot of incredible material in a quick read.

• Andrea Smith unloads political affairs, beliefs, sexuality, economics, colonization, and spirituality in the Conquest. It’s a serious accusation of the United States’ procedures for American Indian individuals. The book emphasizes on the consequences of colonization upon the Native women’s bodies; mainly regarding the personal ferocity, they tolerate.
• The plot begins with the influence of the exploitation imposed on Native American kids at state-authorized boarding schools from the 1880s to the 1980s. Further, Smith cleverly explains the main goal of her project.  She concentrates on sexual violence as an instrument of patriarchy and imperialism in native groups.
• The thing that intrigues me the most is the straightforwardness with which Smith associates sexual violence to bodies, land, and spirituality. And what makes her writing so influential is her image of a series of violence and genocide that has a long past and what appears to be an extensive future. Especially when colonial brashness of cruelty, rape, and control affect the Native group of people!
• Besides being an acknowledged Native American intellectual, Andrea Smith is the co-founder of INCITE! She is one of the premier scholars of United States as well as a reputable organizer. That makes an exceptional combination underlining her praxis to the 21st century’s social justice movement. That makes Conquest a must-read not just for those troubled with Native dominion and violence against women. In fact, the book is a must-read for anti-racists, immigrant rights activists, environmental justice crusaders, reproductive rights supporters, anti-prison campaigners, and antiwar champions as well.

My recommendation

Providing an incredible lineage of colonization and white supremacist genocide in North America, this text offers a hypothetical model that speaks to a comprehensive range of drastic and rational societies. Conquest by Andrea Smith will burn a hole right over your thoughts with its precise study and the brief compilation of info that makes this book one of a kind. It is not only informative but also a healing script. I definitely would suggest all people read it at least once.

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Ain’t I A Woman? Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks

“Ain’t I a Woman?” is a well-thought-out assessment of the predominant misapprehensions, misconceptions, and stereotypes about black women. This meaningful work of feminist history and feminist theory challenges every acknowledged concept about the nature of black women’s survival. Writing down the domination and adverse stereotyping of black women, bell hooks extends the perception to the assessment of the feminist movement.

This revolutionary work of feminist perspective, feminist history, and philosophy evaluate the multifaceted relations between different forms of repression.  One of the major ideas of “Ain’t I a Woman?” is that “the struggle to end racial discrimination and sexism are naturally interwoven.” Bell hooks widely deals with racialism within the feminist movement and debates that you just cannot separate both the aspects of human identity.

Points to Ponder

Here is just a bit of what incites my mind:

• “Ain’t I a Woman?” inspects the influence of sexism on black women all through the slavery and feminism history. It focuses on the historical depreciation of black womankind, black male sexism, racial discrimination within the latest feminist movement, and black women’s participation with feminism. Bell hooks’ vision as a black woman and a feminist encompasses the scope of feminist history and feminist theory and marks the occurrence of a strengthened feminism in the 1980s.
• You may identify the title, “Ain’t I a Woman?” as the famous line of a legendary speech by Sojourner Truth. She spoke of a man who had appealed that females were obviously not up to snuff as they were weak enough to do any work. Sojourner, though, as an ex-slave, contradicted his argument by the effort she underwent. And so the book “Ain’t I a Woman?” takes its signature subject.
• All the same, bell hooks argue over the innumerable type-casts and stereotypes that curb black woman now. She, thus, splashes the way back to the bequest of these type-casts that stood up in the course of slavery. Most of these stereotypes are so destructive and harsh that they have led to incalculable assaults against black women.
• It is quite common to discover feminist books where “feminism history” discreetly reflects “white women’s history.” So, another point is that that bell hooks pulls the attention to the racial discrimination. The book discerns the effects of the double colonization of women owing to their gender and race. It splashes the strides of the feminist movement and civil rights movement in the 1970s. The writer clarifies that in the course of slavery, black woman slaves were pull down to the lowest prestige. Their situations in the world have ever since been terrible.

My recommendation

The inferences behind “Ain’t I a Woman?” link with racialist and sexist stereotypes that fore-run to slavery and are prevailing now as well. In my opinion, the feminist movement appears to be more comprehensive now than it was during the 1980’s, thanks to bell hooks and few other campaigners. But that doesn’t mean that we have enduringly wiped out racial discrimination or that “Ain’t I a Woman?” is not yet as relatable and valid as ever.

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Of course, no list may entirely address all the worth-reading feminist books out there. So, just comment below and let me know what feminist books you feel needs to be included in this list!

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