There is no right way to be a feminist, but these books provide insight from people who are well-versed in their respected fields. They all have different perspectives but emphasize the same thing: gender equality needs to be accomplished now.
1. Missoula by Jon Krakauer
This incredibly researched book reveals how common sexual assault is in college and how most of the time rape on these campus goes unreported.
“It was actually pretty common for women not to scream or call the cops in rape cases I prosecuted,” Roe said, “at least partly because women aren’t wired to react that way. We are socialized to be likeable and not to create friction. We are brought up to be nice. Women are supposed to resolve problems without making a scene—to make bad things go away as if they never happened.”
2. Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
Dunham's candor, interlaced with her wit, animates this book into something that inspires me to take more risks in a male dominated society.
“There is nothing gutsier to me than a person announcing that their story is one that deserves to be told, especially if that person is a woman.”
3. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
A dystopian novel illuminating that women are more than their bodies and that the government should have absolutely no say about what we do with them.
“Don't let the bastards grind you down.”
4. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
“I believe feminism is grounded in supporting the choices of women even if we wouldn’t make certain choices for ourselves.”
5. The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb
This book is an engaging dialogue of how just acknowledging the work women do at home is not enough, that the work and family debate needs to be eradicated all together.
"If we value work at home then we should value it properly, and that means not just lamenting that women don’t get paid for it, but also that our system doesn't really encourage men to do it."
6. How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
Hilarious and saucy. Her anecdotes will have you dying of laughter, and her insight will have you questioning the kind of place you live in.
“When a woman says, ‘I have nothing to wear!’, what she really means is, ‘There’s nothing here for who I’m supposed to be today.”
7. Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
For those subtle sexist comments that women encounter every day and the assumptions made about woman every single day.
“Every woman knows what I’m talking about. It’s the presumption that makes it hard, at times, for any woman in any field; that keeps women from speaking up and from being heard when they dare; that crushes young women into silence by indicating, the way harassment on the street does, that this is not their world. It trains us in self-doubt and self-limitation just as it exercises men’s unsupported overconfidence.”
8. Bossypants by Tina Fey
Fey perfectly sums it up; until a woman is called bossy, is she really a woman?
“Do your thing and don't care if they like it.”
9. We Should All Be Feminist by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Adichie has a welcoming, warm voice that passionately describes gender politics worldwide.
“We spend too much time teaching girls to worry about what boys think of them. But the reverse is not the case. We don’t teach boys to care about being likable. We spend too much time telling girls that they cannot be angry or aggressive or tough, which is bad enough, but then we turn around and either praise or excuse men for the same reasons."
