Feminism

Arab and Arab American Feminisms, edited by Rabab Abdulhadi, Evelyn Alsultany, and Nadine Naber, is a book I wish every feminist/woman

Judith Butler
Routledge; May 2006
Paperback, 272 pages
9780415389556

Inga Musico
Seal Press; October 2002
Paperback, 416 pages
9781580050753

- Abdo, Nahla
- Zed Books / August 2011
- Paperback / 224 pages
 - ISBN 9781848139541

• Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile
• UBC Press 2010
• Paperback, 554 pages
• 9780774816281

From the 1950s to the late 1990s, agen

• Vicki L. Eaklor
• The New Press 2011
• Paperback, 274 pages
• 9781595586360

Placing GLBT people at the center of the history

• Cameron Duder
• UBC Press 2010
• Paperback, 313 pages
• 9780774817394

The lives of lesbians who grew up bef

• Jacquelyne Luce
• UTP, 2010
• Paperback, 304 Pages
• 9781442610088

Available March 2010. An in-depth study of lesbian, bi, and queer women's experiences of thinking about and trying to become a parent, Beyond Expectation draws on eighty-two narrative interviews conducted during the late 1990s in British Columbia. Jacquelyne Luce chronicles these women's experiences, which took place from 1980 to 2000, during a period that saw significant changes to the governance of assisted reproduction and the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and same-sex partners. Beyond Expectation looks closely at the changing contexts in which women's experiences occurred and draws attention to complex issues such as 'contracting' relationships, mediating understandings of biology and genetics, and decision-making amidst various social, legal, and medical developments. Luce skillfully juxtaposes the stories of her interviewees with the wider public discourses about lesbian/bi/queer parenting and reproductive technology and highlights gaps in existing legislative reforms. Most importantly, Beyond Expectation foregrounds the lived experiences of lesbian, bi, and queer women as they negotiate kinship at the intersection of reproduction, technology, and politics. Jacquelyne Luce is a research fellow at Zeppelin University.

• Susan J. Douglas
• Henry Holt and Co.; 2010
• Hardcover; 368 Pages
• 9780805083262

• Susie Orbach
• Picador; 2009
• Paperback; 224 pages
• 9780312427207

• Mary P. Sheridan-Rabideau
• SUNY Press, 2008
• Paperback, 204 pages
• 9780791472989

This book explores the rise and fall of a grassroots, girl-centered organization, GirlZone, which sought to make social change on a local level. Whether skateboarding or designing Web pages, celebrating in weekend “GrrrlFests” or producing a biweekly RadioGirl program, participants in GirlZone came to understand themselves as competent actors in a variety of activities they had previously thought were closed off to them. Drawing on six years of fieldwork examining GirlZone from its inception until its demise, Mary P. Sheridan-Rabideau offers insights on the current state of and study of literacy in the extracurriculum. She addresses how girls have become cultural flashpoints reflecting societal—and particularly feminist—anxieties and hopes about the present and the future. Sheridan-Rabideau does more than chronicle the pressure girls face; she offers advice on how feminists, cultural critics, and activists can effect social change on local levels, even in today’s increasingly globalized contexts. Mary P. Sheridan-Rabideau is Associate Professor of English and Director of Composition at the University of Wyoming. She is the coeditor (with Gesa E. Kirsch, Faye Spencer Maor, Lance Massey, and Lee Nickoson-Massey) of Feminism and Composition: A Critical Sourcebook.

• Sherene Razack
• Second Story Press, 1991
• Paperback, 189 pages
• 9780929005195

In this penetrating analysis of women's rights before the law, Razack considers the history of LEAF and its work.

• Luce Irigaray
• Routledge, 1990
• Paperback, 138 pages
• 978041771986

Exploring womens experiences of motherhood, abortion, the AIDS crisis and the beauty industry, this book presents one of the most important thinkers of our day in her own words. A passionate celebrator of 'sexual difference', Luce Irigaray was never simply after the social equality that her generation so publicly demanded. She was seeking more fundamentally a society that celebrated the differences between the genders and their coming together in a union without hierarchy.

• Carol J. Adams
• Continuum Books, 2004
• Paperback, 192 pages
• 9780826416469

How does someone become a piece of meat? Carol J. Adams answers this question in this provocative book by finding hidden meanings in the culture around us. From advertisements to T-shirts, from billboards to menus, from matchbook covers to comics, images of women and animals are merged - with devastating consequences. Like her groundbreaking The Sexual Politics of Meat, which has been published in two editions, The Pornography of Meat uncovers startling connections: Why pornography demonstrates such a fascination with slaughtering and hunting Fixations on women's body parts expressed through ads for the breasts, legs, and thighs of chickens and turkeys Animals to be eaten as meat presented in seductive poses and sexy clothing Back-entry poses in pornography, implying that women - especially women of color - are like animals: insatiable How meat advertising draws on X-rated images Why at least one prominent animal-rights group is actually "in bed" with pornographers. With 200 illustrations, this courageous and explosive book establishes why Adams's slide show, upon which The Pornography of Meat is based, is so popular on campuses across North America and is reviled by the groups she takes on with insight and passion. From the rise of chain steakhouses to the language of the hunt, from the halls of government to the practice of artificial insemination on farm animals, The Pornography of Meat shows exactly how harm to others parades as fun.

• Carol J. Adams
• Continuum Books, 2006
• Paperback, 272 pages
• 9780826411846

First published in 1990, the Sexual Politics of Meat is a landmark text in the ongoing debates about animal rights. In the two decades since, the book has inspired controversy and heated debate. The Sexual Politics of Meat argues that what, or more precisely who, we eat is determined by the patriarchal politics of our culture, and that the meanings attached to meat eating are often clustered around virility. We live in a world in which men still have considerable power over women, both in public and in private. Carol Adams argues that gender politics is inextricably related to how we view animals, especially animals who are consumed. Further, she argues that vegetarianism and fighting for animal rights fit perfectly alongside working to improve the lives of disenfranchised and suffering people, under the wide umbrella of compassionate activism.

• Angela Y. Davis
• Vintage Books, 1990
• Paperback, 238 pages
• 9780679724872

A collection of her speeches and writings which address the political and social changes of the past decade as they are concerned with the struggle for racial, sexual, and economic equality.

• Nadje Sadig Al-Ali
• Zed Books, 2007
• Paperback, 292 pages
• ISBN: 9781842777459

Nadje al-Ali challenges the myths and misconceptions which have dominated debates about Iraqi women, bringing a much needed gender perspective to bear on a central political issue of our time. She traces the political history of Iraq from post-colonial independence, to the emergence of a women's movement in the 1950s and Saddam Hussein's early policy of state feminism. The book also discusses the increases in social conservatism, domestic violence and prostitution, and shows that, far from being passive victims, Iraqi women have been, and continue to be, key political actors. The impact of Islam on women's lives is analysed in the context of the recent invasion and occupation, and it is argued that US-led calls for liberation may in the long term serve to oppress the women of Iraq further.

• Lori Chambers
• University of Toronto Press, 2007
• Paperback, 258 pages
• ISBN: 9780802082466

This book is not currently in stock, but is available to order (2-4 weeks). In 1921, despite the passing of legislation intended to ease the consequences of illegitimacy for children (Children of Unmarried Parents Act), reformers in Ontario made no effort to improve the status of unwed mothers. Furthermore, the reforms that were passed served as models for legislation in other provinces and even in some American states, institutionalizing, in essence, the prejudices evident throughout. Until now, historians have not sufficiently studied these measures, resulting in the marginalization of unwed mothers as historical subjects. In Misconceptions, Lori Chambers seeks to redress this oversight. By way of analysis and careful critique, Chambers shows that the solutions to unwed pregnancy promoted in the reforms of 1921 were themselves based upon misconceptions. The book also explores the experiences of unwed mothers who were subjected to the legislation of the time, thus shedding an invaluable light on these formerly ignored subjects. Ultimately, Misconceptions argues that child welfare measures which simultaneously seek to rescue children and punish errant women will not, and cannot, succeed in alleviating child or maternal poverty. Lori Chambers is an associate professor in the Department of Women's Studies at Lakehead University.  

• Vicki L. Ruiz & Ellen Carol DuBois (eds.)
• Routledge, 2008
• Paperback, 638 pages
• ISBN: 9780415958417

Unequal Sisters has become a beloved and classic reader in American Womens History. It provides an unparalleled resource for understanding womens history in the United States today. When it was first published in 1990, it revolutionized the field with its broad multicultural approach, and continued, through its next two editions, to emphasize feminist perspectives on race, ethnicity, region, and sexuality. This classic work is in its fourth edition, and has incorporated the feedback of end-users in the field, to make it the most user-friendly version to date.

In her third year of medical training - discouraged by how little focus there was on caring - a young woman was faced with a decision: she could throw her hands up and quit or she could risk speaking up and work toward change. She decided to send out a call for submissions, asking women to share their experiences of health care and caring. Her inbox immediately overflowed with stories from women across Canada. Together this amazing group of women wrote Women Who Care. Women Who Care is a collection of thirty-two women's stories about caring. Through prose and poetry, our book captures the personal and professional values and expectations of women caregivers at each stage in their lives and careers. It examines women's experiences as the providers and recipients of health care. Edited by Nili Kaplan-Myrth, MD PhD
with Lori Hanson and Patty Thille http://womenwhocare.ca/

• Joyce Green, editor
• Fernwood; May 2007
• Paperback; 224 pages
• 9781552662205

The majority of scholarly and activist opinion by and about Aboriginal women claims that feminism is irrelevant for them. Yet, there is also an articulate, theoretically informed and activist constituency that identifies as feminist. By and about Aboriginal feminists, this book provides a powerful and original intellectual and political contribution demonstrating that feminism has much to offer Aboriginal women in their struggles against oppression. The contributors are from Canada, the USA, Sapmi (Samiland) and Aotearoa/New Zealand. The chapters include theoretical contributions, stories of political activism and deeply personal accounts of developing political consciousness.

• Marilyn Waring
• University of Toronto Press; May 2009
• Paperback; 172 pages
• ISBN: 978-0802093752

Marilyn Waring is a truly absorbing figure known as a distinguished public intellectual, a leading feminist thinker, environmentalist, social justice activist, and for her early political career after election to New Zealand?s parliament at age twenty-three. Assembling some of her most thought-provoking writings, 1 Way 2 C the World is a compelling collection of essays and reflections on many important issues of our time. Written in lively, crisp, and often humourous prose, Waring provides illuminating commentary on topics such as gay marriage, human rights, globalization, the environment, and international relations and development. Including accounts of being in India at the time of Indira Gandhi?s assassination, and in Ethiopia?s during the 1984 famine, Waring?s vivid writing remains contemporarily relevant, while this collection includes recent writings on the post-9/11 world. Brimming with pieces that are essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of the world, 1 Way 2 C the World is bound to fascinate and inspire. Marilyn Waring is a professor in the Institute of Public Policy at the Auckland University of Technology

• bell hooks
• South End Press; 1981
• Paperback; 205 pages
• 9781897071199

A groundbreaking work of feminist history and theory analyzing the complex relations between various forms of oppression. Ain't I a Woman examines the impact of sexism on black women during slavery, the historic devaluation of black womanhood, black male sexism, racism within the recent women's movement, and black women's involvement with feminism.

• Jessica Mills
• AK Press; Nov 2007
• Paperback; 329 pages
• 9781904859727

Jessica Mills is a touring musician, artist, activist, writer, teacher, and mother of two. Disappointed by run-of-the-mill parenting books that didn't speak to her experience, she set out to write a book tackling the issues faced by a new generation of moms and dads. The result is a parenting guide like no other. Written with humor, extensive research, and much trial and error, My Mother Wears Combat Boots delivers sound advice for parents of all stripes. Amid stories of bringing kids (and grandparents) to women's rights demonstrations, taking baby on tour with her band, and organizing cooperative childcare, Jessica gives detailed nuts-and-bolts information about weaning, cloth vs. disposable diapers, the psychological effects of co-sleeping, and even how to get free infant gear. This book provides a clever, hip, and entertaining mix of advice, anecdotes, political analysis, and factual sidebars that will help parents as they navigate the first years of their child's life.