March is a wonderful month — the flowers start to bloom, the sun gets a little bit stronger and we honor the trailblazing female activists of history. Even if Women’s History Month is no longer celebrated by federal agencies, we will still be celebrating womanhood and feminism all month long. Here are our favorite feminist reads, which will both anger and uplift you.
“The Beauty Myth” by Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf’s “The Beauty Myth” is a nonfiction deep dive into beauty standards and the way they are used to keep women down. Wolf’s overarching thesis revolves around the universally accepted myth of the importance of beauty, which is used to control women by dictating their diets, exercise habits, professional behaviors, sexuality and more. Wolf examines cultural and social trends to understand the relationship between women’s physical appearances and the upkeep of patriarchy, culminating in a powerful and approachable feminist scholarship.
“Bright Young Women” by Jessica Knoll
“Bright Young Women” switches between the perspectives of two young women who are brought together by the horrific actions of a man who murders college-age women. In 1978, at her sorority house in Tallahassee, Florida, Pamela Schumacher is a key witness in a brutal attack and murder. Meanwhile, Tina Cannon has been investigating what happened to her friend Ruth ever since she mysteriously disappeared in broad daylight in Seattle, Washington. The tragedies that these two women experience bring them together, and together they take action to find the perpetrator. The story is based on Ted Bundy, but it shifts the focus away from him and onto the women he murdered and the countless lives his actions affected. Knoll’s novel allows the women to reclaim their stories and seek justice for each woman Bundy harmed.
“The Woman Destroyed” by Simone de Beauvoir
Philosopher and writer Simone de Beauvoir elegantly laces together three existentialist stories in her novel, “The Woman Destroyed.” In the first section of the novel, “The Age of Discretion,” a woman with a career as a successful professor and writer struggles in her professional life and with her fleeting son who has recently married. The woman in “The Monologue,” the next section, is not only left by her husband, but also her son. The final section, “The Woman Destroyed,” tells the story of a woman who struggles to reimagine her life after her husband leaves her for a younger woman. Each of these women are incredibly lonely and experience indifference from the men in their lives.
“On Women” by Susan Sontag
As one of the greatest modern thinkers and writers of our time, Susan Sontag’s collection of essays aptly reflect her thoughts about womanhood. Published posthumously and edited by Sontag’s son David Rieff, “On Women” touches on everything from aging and beauty to fascism. The essays provide digestible feminist theory and an insight into the intellectual’s understanding of sex and gender philosophy.
“The Days of Abandonment” by Elena Ferrante
Elena Ferrante’s bestseller, “The Days of Abandonment,” paints a beautifully tragic story of a mother who increasingly succumbs to her depression. Olga, a woman in her late 30s, is abandoned by her husband of 15 years, Mario, and left to take care of her two children all by herself. In the beginning of the story, Olga lives in denial and refuses to accept her situation. However, as the book goes on, her mind enters into a state of psychosis, and she fails to maintain the health of herself and her children. She struggles to understand what she will be if she is not a wife. Ferrante delicately presents her female protagonist’s struggle to regain her identity as a woman without a partner — a cutting comment on our patriarchal society that makes women feel like they need a partner to have value.
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