What feminist writing should I introduce my daughters to?

Novels. Try The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Little Women can be discussed in some ways as a feminist novel. Wide Sargossa Sea by Jean Rhys – particularly if they’ve read Jane Eyre. A recent one The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka can be looked at as a novel of immigration, but also a feminist novel since it deals with Japanese picture brides.

I would try exploring and talking about the lives of women in the past and present before reading anything didactic.

I found this

It might be a good place to start.

Cixous-The Laugh of the Medusa
Beauvoir-The Second Sex
Butler-Gender Trouble
Barthes-Mythologies (Not a feminist text, but it’s still helpful to dissect patriarchal norms)

the Straw Feminists comic is awesome.

Speaking of Gloria Steinem, the history of the founding of Ms. Magazine is a very good contemporary summary of modern feminism in the US.

Inside MS; 25 Years of the Magazine and the Feminist Movement

De Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex” is hard to read. I tend to pretend that I have read more of it than I actually have.

@Hawaii_Jake Remind me how old they are and I’ll keep posting answers as I think of them. I think I remember that one is 17; some of the books on your link are very good but some would be way too young.

Toni Morrison’s novels would be good, Paritcularly the early ones; Sula and The Bluest Eye.

I guess part of the question is do you want them to learn about the feminist movement or about women’s lives and their oppression?

@janbb The girls are 15 and 17. I want them to learn about both, actually, the movement and women’s lives.

There was a great series on PBS about the Suffragette movement a while back that they might get a lot out of. I’ll see if I can find out the title.

Too late to edit my last post. Being the classicist I am, I immediately start thinking of historical figures of the past. Sojourner Truth’s famous speech “Ain’t I a Woman” comes to mind.

Yes – there are probably anthologies of feminist writings that they can dip into. Are you going to make me put my librarian’s hat on in the summer?

(I took one of the very first women’s studies courses offered in America so this is a cool topic for me.)

You wear that hat with such aplomb. I would expect you to be quite happy with it on.

This looks good. As does this.

And you are a peach to say I wear it with aplomb!

This sounds like a light and interesting introduction to feminism. I have not read it yet.

For novels, I recommend Barbara Kingsolver. Her Bean Trees was a beloved friend in my teenage years. It has some adult themes (nothing explicit) and the main characters are twenty-somethings. Another good option might be Sherri S. Tepper’s Gate to Women’s Country, especially if either of your daughters is into sci-fi. Not in a future-tech kind of sci-fi, but more of a possible-future-society thing. This book also contains adult themes, though the most explicit thing I recall is a detailed description of a gyno exam.

For feminist philosophy, I second Butler’s Gender Trouble. It was my first non-fiction feminist text, and I read it and loved it when I was 19ish.

Don’t forget “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Wolfe.
I also think “The Scarlet Letter” by Hawthorne would be interesting to read for young girls. I think of that book frequently; presents some very direct questions about society and mores.

Here’s the link to the PBS series I was thinking of. It’s a dramatized account of the English suffragette movement and shows force-feeding (not graphically), marches, etc. Worth watching .

If they enjoy good fantasy and science fiction, don’t miss Ursula K. Le Guin. She opens out eyes to other possible worlds.

@all, thank you. There are many great suggestions here. I can’t wait to see what my daughters will be most interested in.

Life stories of Rosa Parks, Susan B Anthony. A lot of good books from Middle Eastern authors about abuse.

What a wonderful father.
On your terrific list you find Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. It’s the first in a trilogy, the others are just as good. Also a film was made from this first book, they might enjoy that too. It’s about two or three years old.
They could read bell hooks.
...and get them some Aretha records! (“Records”, ha ha.)
And a fabulous book about growing up female (and black) in Zimbabwe and being sent from her village to a mission school run by white people: Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga.

NO! don’t watch the golden compass movie!
blah.. well, maybe if your kids are super tiny but it’s really the worst thing I’ve ever seen.
The books are soooooo much better.

If anything, get the audio book, which is very well done with voice actors. The movie, I’m afraid, will only detract from the goodness of the books.

There is so much good to choose from in this thread. Thank you, all. I really appreciate it.

I didn’t like The Golden Compass movie either.

^ I swear I think someone who hated the books made the movie to ruin it.

I need to retract my suggestion of Tepper’s book. After I answered your question earlier and remembered the book, I googled her to find another to pick up. While one of the blurbs I read reaffirmed her unique perspective and her talent as a writer, this article brings up some valid negative points about how she constructs the dystopia in Women’s Country. Worse, it reminded me of a remark she includes about queerness that I find at best appallingly ignorant. So, perhaps not that book. I haven’t read any of her others – maybe one of those at the bottom of that Tor article would be good to pick up. Though I don’t think I will myself, now that I have been reminded of her apparent views. It’s like finding out Beck’s a Scientologist all over again, dammit.

I’m so embarrassed about recommending the Golden Compass movie. You’re all quite right. The book’s way beyond better than it. DON’T LET THOSE GIRLS SEE THAT MOVIE>
Also, don’t let them see the truly awful Alice in Wonderland movie from about two years ago even though it has Johnny Depp in it.

Today’s article and obit about Muriel Siebert (age 80), the first woman member of The New York Stock Exchange. What a trooper she was and a pioneer in the financial services industry, which was amost completely male-dominated for decades

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/25/muriel-siebert-dies/2697957/

“She bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in December 1967 after months of struggling with the male-dominated business world that initially resisted her efforts to join. She established her investment firm the same year…”

”…to her immense anger, she remained the only woman admitted to membership for almost a decade.”

After puberty, as she will have a better understanding of what being a woman is all about. Although I would be careful as education can sometimes be confused with indoctrination.

Margaret Atwood. Her short stories are amazing.

Also, a good television show that I loved and still love is My So-called Life. It’s realistic and great for teenage girls to watch. Plus it’s super relatable.

I haven’t seen much poetry here, so I’ll offer that suggestion. Sylvia Plath and Flannery O’Connor come to mind as the most striking examples. I have a book of the collected works of Plath and I’ve found that they can be powerfully illustrative in a group setting, even with a group of teenagers.

Wonderful to see a feminism-centered question, even better to see why. Much love sir.

@susanc You’re right about the movie. Purely awful. Still, when I read His Dark Materials (the name of the series) I never read it with a feminist eye. It would be interesting to go back and take it in from that perspective. Wonderfully easy-reading and thought-provoking, in any case. Lyra, Will, and Iorek manage to be complex yet still likable.

I don’t know if anyone has read Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ but it is also fascinating in a more mature manner. Takes on organized religion and orthodox Christian dogma much more…directly. Worth a read, even if I am off-subject. :)