Feminist Theory
Jul 10 2007 20:24
I've said I'll organise a reading group in feminist and queer theory for the anti-sexism society at my university next year. It's going to be bi-weekly (probably) over 2 terms so I basically need 10 texts. I've got a few things I want to cover but obviously it would be a bit shit to just do random chapters of random books. Does anyone have any suggestions as to useful texts and a way to illustrate progression and debate within feminist thought?
Cheers 
Jul 10 2007 20:50
#2
hmm, the only feminist stuff i've read is some of the marxist/autonomist stuff - mariarosa dalla costa, selma james, sylvia federici. sylvia federici's 'caliban and the witch' is fucking cool for historical context, and the interweaving of gendered oppression and class struggle, iirc the chapter on 'the accumulation of labour and the degradation of women' would be a good one to do early in the course.
martha acklesberg's book on the mujeres libres in the spanish revolution is meant to be good too, and a chapter could fit in later on as a concrete example of women in struggle? not sure about critiques of the public/private distinction though
Jul 11 2007 19:46
#3
Yeah I'd love to do something towards the end taking a radical perspective on feminism but for the bulk of it I think I need less radical stuff - any thoughts?
Jul 11 2007 20:03
#4
Joseph K. wrote:
iirc the chapter on 'the accumulation of labour and the degradation of women' would be a good one to do early in the course.
which i forgot to say is a lot easier reading than it sounds 
not sure about other stuff though like i say cos i've not read much else
Jul 12 2007 09:33
#5
i dunno, shit like the beauty myth... germaine greer stuff or something? i read a feminist book once, it was by greer and it was famous, can't remember the name though, it was pretty rubbish.
Jul 12 2007 12:02
#6
John. wrote:
i read a feminist book once, it was by greer and it was famous, can't remember the name though, it was pretty rubbish.
The Female Eunuch?
Jul 12 2007 16:55
#7
nosos wrote:
I've said I'll organise a reading group in feminist and queer theory for the anti-sexism society at my university next year. It's going to be bi-weekly (probably) over 2 terms so I basically need 10 texts. I've got a few things I want to cover but obviously it would be a bit shit to just do random chapters of random books. Does anyone have any suggestions as to useful texts and a way to illustrate progression and debate within feminist thought?Cheers :)
I'd recommend getting a hold of Nicholson's Second Wave Reader. Most of the really important second wave (and some 'third' wave) feminist essays are in that.
On Queer Theory obviously the last chapter of Gender Trouble is where it starts in full. However, I'd really recomend Rosemary Henessy's essay "Queer Theory, Left Politics" for a good pro-queer theory take on queer theory. Her book 'Profit and Pleasure: Sexual Identities in Late Capitalism.' is also probably quite good, I haven't read it.
More generally see 'Materialist Feminism: A Reader' and see if you want to read any of the articles in that.
Also you have to, insist on this, read Dalla Costa and James' 'Power of Women and Subversion of the Community'. If you want a copy of that PM your e-mail and I'll send it to you, the version in the libcom library is a mess, I have it tidied up a bit.
Also Federici's stuff is always interesting and Caliban and the Witch is fucking brilliant. Have a look at that and read at least one chapter from it. They're stand alone chapters.
After that to be honest the chances of you getting people to read what you want them to read would be difficult.
(The public/private thing is touched on in Caliban and the Witch and in 'Power of Women and Subversion of the Community'.)
Jul 12 2007 16:56
#8
John. wrote:
i dunno, shit like the beauty myth... germaine greer stuff or something? i read a feminist book once, it was by greer and it was famous, can't remember the name though, it was pretty rubbish.
What the fuck is the story with this post. Just cos Greer and Naomi Wolf are full of shit doesn't mean that feminism isn't important.
Jul 12 2007 17:40
#9
I think Susan Griffin is interesting - 'A Chorus of Stones', 'Woman and Nature', and 'Pornography and Silence'.
The most inspiring expression of feminism I've ever read is in 'Dear Comrades' which is a collection of letters written to the radical Italian newspaper Lotta Continua in 1977. Essential book really.
Jul 12 2007 17:44
#10
Sadly, I can think of more folks to stay away from than to read. 
Jul 12 2007 18:08
#11
j.rogue wrote:
Sadly, I can think of more folks to stay away from than to read.
innit.
if you want to read something aimed at young women today!!! by young (white fairly well off) women today!!! then you could go for that Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Vallenti, which is apparently aimed at getting women who dont id as feminists to do so. from what i hear it's very liberal empowerfulling feminism, theres a big clue about this on her site (feministing) - "Feminism is fun again!". But I reckon it might be a good place to start if some of the group are new to feminism, because it sounds like an easy non-taxing read and might stimulate a bit of an argument.
if you want to read summat by a radical feminist id consider dworkins 'right wing women'.
eta if youre in the uk i reckon RWW woud be quite interesting what with all this rubbish from the tories about giving people tax breaks for being married, and all the chat about 'what women want' from them and labour.
Jul 12 2007 18:59
#12
I really have no idea about the general politics of the group apart from the obvious fact that if they're in a university anti-sexism society then they're not gonna be keen on sexism. I'm not actually involved in the group, I'm just doing it because my mate asked me to and I liked the idea of finally being able to actually cross 'learn lots about feminism' off my longterm to do list.
Cheers all for the above suggestions.
When I get back to my university library and can have a look at these books, I'm going to try and compile the list. I'll post it up on here to see what people think.
Jul 12 2007 19:15
#13
a classic critique of traditional marxism from a marxist-feminist viewpoint is Heidi Hartmann's "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism" in "Women and Revolution" with a variety of other viewpoints. the socialist-feminist piece by Iris Young in that volume is pretty good also.
Jul 12 2007 19:18
#14
Oh I'll have a look ta. I like Iris Young
Jul 12 2007 21:43
#15
Socialism, Anarchism & Feminism by Carol Ehrlich?
Jul 12 2007 22:27
#16
Hannah Arendt has an interesting take on the public/private thing, which, although she's a woman & that, isn't particularly feminist. Although, of course, feminism in the academy being as it is, she's often taken as being a feminist, just because she's a woman. Sigh.
Luce Irigary is quite good on this sort of thing -- she's written loads of books, but they're all basically the same, so I'd go for a short one. Some of her more recent stuff on sexuate rights (a feminist take on human rights) is quite interesting.
If I was going to pick one book by Julia Kristeva, I'd go for Strangers to ourselves, because it's quite an easy read. However, if I was going for pure reading pleasure, I'd recommend Powers of horror. Either that or Black Sun.
And the stuff that Helene Cixous co-wrote with Jacques Derrida (Steps in the ladder of writing, for instance) is beautiful stuff, although not entirely comprehensible, it has to be said.
Jul 12 2007 22:40
#17
It's worth pointing out that all of those (apart from Arendt) are "third wave."
If you wanted to chart the progression of feminism, I reckon a good way to do it would be to look at the various debates that feminists have had with enlightenment thought in the last 100 years or so. From Woollenstonecraft's appropriation of the idea of the universal rights bearing subject, and its application to women, to the third wave critique of the universal rights bearing subject as being inherently gendered, to Irigaray's "fourth wave" appropriation of rights discourse, but with the proviso that women have rights that men don't, simply because they're women.
Jul 13 2007 12:53
#18
Hi nosos, where are you from? If you're anywhere near manchester there already is such a group. But anyway, just recieved these links regarding trans feminism which might be of interest to you, haven't read them yet so i don't know if they're any good or not.
http://www.humboldt.edu/~mpw1/Feminism/
http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc/2000/hillr1-final.PDF
http://eminism.org/
Jul 13 2007 13:03
#19
georgestapleton wrote:
John. wrote:
i dunno, shit like the beauty myth... germaine greer stuff or something? i read a feminist book once, it was by greer and it was famous, can't remember the name though, it was pretty rubbish.What the fuck is the story with this post. Just cos Greer and Naomi Wolf are full of shit doesn't mean that feminism isn't important.
You what?
Yeah mad, the female eunuch, that was it.
Jul 13 2007 16:21
#20
I dunno. Someoe says reccommend some femisit literature. And you respond telling him to read shit, cos you read a feminist book once and it was shit gives the impression that you think feminism is a load of shit. Maybe thats not what you meant but its how it came across.
Also.....
That Hartman essay is alright and is in the nicholson reader as is irigaray's This Sex Which Is Not One which is her most 'important' esay i guess. Personally i think Irigaray's a reastionary tit though. Also I'd advise against taking arf's advice on what to read; her feminism has as much to do with womens liberation as bolshevism has to do with communism. Although I suppose reading lenin is worthwhile if only to understand how and why he's wrong and so by analogy....
Jul 13 2007 17:16
#21
Sam wrote:
Hi nosos, where are you from? If you're anywhere near manchester there already is such a group. But anyway, just recieved these links regarding trans feminism which might be of interest to you, haven't read them yet so i don't know if they're any good or not.
http://www.humboldt.edu/~mpw1/Feminism/
http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc/2000/hillr1-final.PDF
http://eminism.org/
I second the Emi Koyama recommendation (eminism.org).
Jul 13 2007 20:24
#22
Sam wrote:
Hi nosos, where are you from? If you're anywhere near manchester there already is such a group. But anyway, just recieved these links regarding trans feminism which might be of interest to you, haven't read them yet so i don't know if they're any good or not.
http://www.humboldt.edu/~mpw1/Feminism/
http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc/2000/hillr1-final.PDF
http://eminism.org/
I'm actually living in Manchester at the moment! I'll be back in Coventry in September though (where the group is). I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it - currently writing my masters dissertation and rewriting two essays so don't have time to read much non-related - but could you send me details? Ta
Also cheers for the links - I'll take a look
I particularly want to cover the feminist critique of the public/private distinction within liberalism. Not least of all because I keep referencing it in arguments and the content of my reference stems solely from stoned conversations with people who know much more about feminist theory than I do.