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Feminist Resource List
This document provides a varied list of feminist resources, including academic readings in feminist theory as well as accessible blog articles, videos, zines/comics, and organizations.
Be aware feminism is composed of a diverse group of individuals and a diverse range of discourse, and there have been and still are many debates within feminism. As a result, no matter how thorough this list cannot be comprehensive.
To download:
FEMINIST RESOURCE LIST
INTRODUCTION: ABOUT THE LIST
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This document provides a varied list of feminist resources, including academic readings in feminist theory as well as accessible blog articles, videos, zines/comics, and organizations. To read more about the motivations for creating this resource, see my blog entry "A Prayer to Future Feminists."
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In an attempt to organize the expansive list, I have arranged sources by category. Because of my own scholarly location, this list does tend to be US-centric (especially in regards to historical work listed). However, I have made an effort to include intersectional, transnational, and global feminist work. I have included some work that is not explicitly feminist, but which speaks to women’s history or studies of sexuality/gender in important ways. This list also includes several foundational readings which have been critiqued since their publication; despite this, I felt it was important to provide resources that capture the way feminism has evolved over time [with a focus on the last fifty years specifically].
I often link to amazon.com so you can read reviews and use the “look inside” feature for books.
With that said, I encourage ordering any books through your local bookstore.
WHY A FEMINIST RESOURCE LIST?
Even though feminism is gaining prominence in today's world most people don't actually know much about feminism, engage with feminists in their everyday lives, or know how to find out more information if they wanted to. It's not always easy to track down sources, to know what is foundational work in both academia and activist circles, and to learn more about the history of women's rights, women's liberation, and intersectional feminism.
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Even though it's likely most people have feminists in their social networks, they might not be consciously aware of this since not everyone who is a feminist openly, consistently identifies as one. Sadly, feminism today is often still stigmatized, and many people (especially white people) selectively disclose their feminist identity only when it is relatively safe to do so. Feminism has in many ways become cool only in-so-far as one's practice of feminism is surface level and non-confrontational, while deep discussions or political action in the name of feminism are still highly conflict-ridden and controversial. The sad truth is that identifying openly as a feminist can sometimes damage one's relationships or careers.
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Given the wide breadth of feminist work out there today and the many decades (centuries, really) of activism and research feminists have been engaged in, it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start. Even those who are feminists may only be familiar with specialized areas within the movement, because thanks to the sea of information and heated debates within feminism sometimes we end up isolated from broader dialogue with other feminists.
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The reality is that unless someone is lucky enough to know a self-identified feminist or has been able to study gender, sexuality, and women's studies at the university level, many people simply don't know how to begin learning more about feminism or about the wide variety of feminist work being done. In some ways, there is simply too much information out there. We have google at the tips of our fingers, but unless we know what to search for, the quality of the information we have access to can be skewed, buried in the sea that is the internet today. (And of course, let's acknowledge there is a clear class divide in who has access to university spaces or the internet. It's vital that feminism become rooted in class solidarity and efforts to overcome the digital divide and the often-times inaccessibility of academic feminism.)
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Even today, much of our popular culture perpetuates inaccurate and problematic stereotypes of feminism and feminists (or straight up lies). When something is discredited, it's harder for people to take it seriously. Especially in our current political climate, it's important for feminists to help combat this by helping to direct and build our own communities of knowledge and of feminist educators. In other words, it is vital for feminists to openly and consistently identify as feminists, to work toward documenting the work movement members are engaged in, to build networks of solidarity and knowledge production, and to participate in codifying such knowledge as explicitly part of the feminist movement.
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I made this list to help work toward these goals, and to also make the process of sifting through a sea of information easier for all those interested in learning more about feminism, whether you are completely new to the movement or a long-time feminist hoping to deepen one's knowledge. Given my own positionality, this list leans more heavily toward academic feminist work, but I have made an effort to include a wide variety of sources to try and include more accessible resources throughout. My hope is that people who are interested in learning about feminism or deepening their understanding of feminism can do so more readily with this resource. With this said, given the breadth and depth of feminism, it is still a woefully incomplete list so I encourage people to explore beyond the resources included here.
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This is the list I wish I had years ago, when I was just beginning to learn what feminism actually meant, the history of the movement, and why it is so vital to continue feminist work today. It is a list I am offering you today, with a prayer to all future feminists.
A PRAYER TO FUTURE FEMINISTS
I am my ancestors' wildest dreams, the granddaughter of the witches that did not burn.
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I speak as those seeds, who from darkness became the weeds that tear out concrete, that break down walls, the retake public spaces.
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I speak as those silenced generations, lost to time, lost to power:
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You are not lost to the deepest part of ourselves, that longs for connection, that longs for the wisdom of the one who survives against all odds, the one who (nevertheless) persists.
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I speak as those embattled, enraged beings who are sick of the (illusion of the) cage, who are fighting to be free:
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Your struggle is not in vain.
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For all those who have been disappeared, who have been targeted, who have been harassed, and who have been abused;
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For those who have yet to find themselves in the historical oppression patriarchy teaches us to inscribe in all our bodies, in all our minds, in all our hearts:
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We will seek you out.
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We will be the mirror that allows you to see and free yourself.
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For those who would undermine the colonization of their self, for those who would deconstruct the map of power we are subject to;
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For those who seek to be better, to leave a legacy of equity for our future selves, for our future planet:
You do not do so alone.
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We will be the waves at your back, crying for justice, crashing at the bars set to contain us.
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I speak as those who fear for themselves, who fear for each other;
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as those who are angry, fed-up, and frustrated;
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I speak as those who fear the future coming for us like the whisper of death and the haunting of subjugation, seemingly inescapable:
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Do not lose hope.
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Remember, the chains that bind us also bind us together.
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The chains that bind us give us the very weapon we need to break the cycle.
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May we find each other in our resilience, in our strength, in our resistance.
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May we recognize that "unity" does not mean sameness, and that "to unify" does not mean to lose what makes us uniquely powerful.
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May we recognize imperialist, white supremacist, settler-colonial patriarchy is the enemy of all of us, but also the unifying thread that makes this fight our fight, our struggle.
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May we support each other, honor each other, and challenge each other to admit to our failures, flaws, and complicity.
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May we support each other, honor each other, and challenge each other to seek out the path with heart even though it may be the tangled labyrinth of our darkest dreams.
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Go forth, future feminists, and together let us uncover the bones of justice, the archaeology of equity.
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Go forth, future feminists, and be your ancestors' wildest dreams.
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To download:
FEMINIST RESOURCE LIST
Don't see something you feel should be on the feminist resource list? Contact me with the citation, and in the near future I'll update the list and post a revised version.