A feminist reading list for everyone

Think of this list as your feminism starter pack. Drop any preconceived notions and pick up the book that speaks to you. Whether you’re a sceptic or a feminist scholar, you might just discover something valuable.

Essential

Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks

Hailed as the perfect short introduction to feminism, this book argues why the movement means better equality for all. Hooks wanted to write in a style that was approachable to non-academics and includes a chapter on men and their role in fighting for a better society.

The classics

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Woolf’s influential text explores the need for women to have their own resources and dedicated spaces, free from distractions and societal demands, so they can work and create freely. Written almost a hundred years ago, the text’s arguments both shed light on our progress and the road still ahead.

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

Friedan set out to write about the seeming malaise that overpowered American housewives in the 1950s and came out with an incendiary text against women’s confinement to the domestic sphere. Despite some of its shortcomings, the book may be more important than ever in an age where trad wives are becoming all the rage.

Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Essays and Poems by Audre Lorde

While most of her work was written before her death in 1992, her words continue to resonate with our times. This collection, which was published in 2017, puts together essays and poems that deal with everything from the importance of intersectionality to channelling anger into change without suppressing it and speaking up in the face of oppression.

Aimed at men

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks

Hooks’ famous book is destined for men. Still, it can be read by all to understand the underpinnings of toxic masculinity in our culture and how it contributes to both the patriarchy and inequality at large. Hooks is advocating for emotions to be re-centred in men’s lives and the promise that love can be found everywhere and by everyone if only one is willing to change their ways.

Contemporary feminism

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adapted from the author’s TED talk of the same name, this essay recontextualises feminism in the 21st century. Praised for its lack of blaming and directing energy on finding solutions instead, it has the power to encourage everyone to bring their contribution to the table.

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

This book tackles the effect that race, class and social background can have on a woman’s experience of feminism and womanhood. It seeks to shed light on how many topics that are prevalent in marginalised spaces often lack the benefit of receiving the same platform as some more mainstream issues.

Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

An essay collection of some of Solnit’s best work. The book explores how women’s knowledge and feelings are systematically negated through seemingly banal daily interactions and how this reflects the powers at play in the world. Solnit doesn’t shy away from the uncertainty of our times, and instead argues for hope despite the darkness.

Sexual Revolution: Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback by Laurie Penny

Penny argues that we are in the midst of a new sexual revolution that could redefine gender and power dynamics. However, it is currently under threat from the far right’s increasing hold on culture. The book explores such current contentious topics as incels, emotional labour and rape culture, and does so in an urgent and convincing manner.