Six leading feminists recall the writing that first opened their eyes to the women's movement
From The Guardian overnight.
Exemplary inspirations ... (left to right) Kate Millett, Virginia Woolf, Naomi Wolf. Photographs: Guardian/Corbis
Jessica Valenti
When I first saw my mother's copy of Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women, I remember being a little afraid of the cover, which featured a picture of a bizarre woman-like mask reflected in a compact mirror. Being the morbidly curious 13-year-old that I was though, I picked it up. I've never read a book faster.
Almost immediately, I was confronted with ideas that made sense of the thoughts I'd been having - that I wasn't good enough, pretty enough, smart enough. It was such an incredible feeling to know that so many of my insecurities weren't really about me, but were manifestations of a culture hell-bent on keeping women in their place.
Almost immediately, I was confronted with ideas that made sense of the thoughts I'd been having - that I wasn't good enough, pretty enough, smart enough. It was such an incredible feeling to know that so many of my insecurities weren't really about me, but were manifestations of a culture hell-bent on keeping women in their place.
Books That Changed Our Lives would be a good Festival topic I reckon. Get 3 or 4 interesting persons to speak about those books that changed their lives,
1 comment:
Such an interesting article. I agreed with the writer who chose "The Beauty myth". Being too young to have been around for the first wave of feminism, it was revelation to find out there is more than one way of being enslaved. It is scary how many young women don't consider themselves feminist.
"Female Chauvinist Pigs: The rise of raunch culture" by Ariel Levy is a good recent read.
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