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Must-Read Books for Feminists
15
items 15 titles that shaped feminist thought, storytelling, and resistance. These books are must-reads for those interested in feminism.
Sections
4
Feminism 101
Voices of Resistance and Power
Deep Theory, Big Ideas
Bodies, Beauty, and the Politics of Visibility
Feminism 101
These are the books that welcome you in. They are accessible, clear, and deeply human introductions to feminist thought.
A warm, timeless invitation into feminist thinking. hooks shows that feminism isn’t just theory, it’s a daily practice rooted in love and justice.
Feminism is for Everybody
A slim powerhouse that distills feminism down to its most hopeful essence. Perfect for anyone who’s ever wondered what feminism really means.
We Should All Be Feminists
Smart, funny, and deeply relatable. Gay captures the contradictions of being feminist in a messy, imperfect world, and makes you feel seen in the process.
Bad Feminist: Essays
The essay that coined “mansplaining.” Solnit connects gender, power, and silence in ways that still hit hard a decade later.
Men Explain Things to Me
Voices of Resistance and Power
These books crackle with defiance. They challenge, provoke, and reframe what liberation looks like.
Lorde’s essays are electric. She writes about difference, anger, and survival with such grace that every page feels like a revelation.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Rage. Ambition. Attention. Eltahawy reclaims the emotions women are told to suppress and turns them into tools for freedom.
The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls
A foundational text mapping how struggles for gender, racial, and economic justice have always been intertwined. Davis makes history feel urgent.
Women, Race & Class
A fierce reality check for mainstream feminism. Kendall reminds us that food, safety, and education are feminist issues.
Hood Feminism: Notes from Women a Movement Forgot
Deep Theory, Big Ideas
For when you’re ready to go beyond the basics. These books challenge how we think about gender, power, and identity itself.
Ahmed makes theory personal, tracing how feminist practice shows up in everyday life and institutions. It’s like walking alongside a brilliant friend.
Living a Feminist Life
The classic that redefined how we understand gender and identity. Dense, yes, but deeply rewarding once you let it unfold.
Gender Trouble: Feminism & Subversion (Routledge)
Manne maps how misogyny operates as a system that punishes women for stepping out of line. It’s unsettling and clarifying.
Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny
Bodies, Beauty, and the Politics of Visibility
These books unpack how bodies—especially women’s bodies—become battlegrounds for power, purity, and control.
Nearly a century old, Woolf’s reflection on creativity, money, and space still feels like a manifesto for anyone fighting to be heard.
A Room of One's Own
A sharp critique of how beauty standards are weaponized against women, which is even more relevant in the age of filters and “clean girl” culture.
The Beauty Myth: Feminist Critique on Beauty
Cottom blends humor, intellect, and lived experience to tackle beauty, race, and power. Academic brilliance that still feels conversational.
Thick: And Other Essays
A stunning analysis of how fatphobia is rooted in anti-Blackness and colonial ideals. It changes how you think about body politics entirely.
Fearing the Black Body: Racial Origins of Fat Phobia