Comments on: What feminist book would you have 12-18 year olds read?

By: Peggy Nature

Peggy Nature — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 21:20:20 +0000

I’d also really strongly agitate for “The Handmaid’s Tale” but parts of it might be too sexually explicit. It’s wonderful though, and would definitely make an impression on kids that they wouldn’t soon forget. Very easy to draw parallels between the story and the real world as well, plus it’s just exciting and fun to read.

By: Peggy Nature

Peggy Nature — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 21:17:51 +0000

I would say “The Beauty Myth” or “Reviving Ophelia.” Some of Gloria Steinem’s books are very accessible…like “Outrageous Acts and Everday Rebellions.”

By: Teddy Ostrow (Ms)

Teddy Ostrow (Ms) — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 22:37:42 +0000

“The Mists of Avalon”–Marion Zimmer Bradley. Arthurian legend told from the point of view of Morgan le Fay, who is depicted as Morgaine, a Wiccan priestess, who is part of a community of priestesses on the Isle of Avalon. One of my all-time favorites.

The Peter Pullman “His Dark Materials” 3-part series, featuring Lyra, who thinks and acts for herself.

for high-school jrs/srs: Naomi Klein, “No Logo”, about consumerism.

By: siren

siren — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 00:37:45 +0000

I would highly recommend The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

I read it the first time my senior year of HS and it’s still my favorite more than a decade later. Every time I pick it up it reinforces the convictions I have about what kind of person I want to be.

By: lemonpeelings

lemonpeelings — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 22:30:04 +0000

I’m not sure it’s overtly feminist, but the best coming-of-age novel I’ve ever read is Alice Munro’s Lives of Girls and Women. It hits the nail on the head so many times, that I felt it could have been written about my own feelings as a teenager. Maybe your teachers would appreciate a reminder of what life is like for young women.

By: Elena

Elena — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 22:01:55 +0000

A lot of these suggestions are “eat your vegetables” books, which I think is not a very wise way to introduce the idea of sexism to preteens and young teens. What they really should read is plenty of books about girls and by women- classics like Laura Inghalls Wilder and Maya Angelou. There is nothing like a good novel to help people really GET something. Is there any graphic novel that does for sexism what Maus did for the Holocaust? That would be great. Probably the Handmaid’s Tale would be great for older teens, or Sex Wars by Marge Pierce. The problem is that when you discuss the real horror of sexism and sexual violence, you get into angry parents territory, because you have to read and discuss so called lurid topics. Not looking at these topics, however, is to perpetuate them because violence against women is by its very nature a private and often ‘lurid’ matter.

By: reader

reader — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:26:58 +0000

Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher
The Girl Within, Emily Hancock
Against Our Will, Susan Brownmiller
Feminist Pleasure and Feminist Beautification, Ann Cahill
The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan

By: Feminist Mom

Feminist Mom — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 16:09:08 +0000

As a high school teacher, I have seniors in my women’s studies course read “Body Outlaws” edited by Ophira Edut. It’s an excellent anthology for young women, focusing mostly on body and image issues.

By: Spicy

Spicy — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 13:34:06 +0000

I’d recommend Egalia’s Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes

By: Nella

Nella — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:58:55 +0000

It isn’t easy to find these days, but i’d recommend Jean Ure’s ‘Plague’ series for raising gender questions. The individual books are ‘Plague 99′, ‘Come Lucky April’ (sometimes published as ‘After the Plague’) and ‘Watchers at the Shrine’. I think most of Ure’s books discuss relevant issues to some extent, but these are the most blatant.

By: Angiportus

Angiportus — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:29:15 +0000

THe LGBTQ Guide–not sure I’ve got it spelled right–for kids who aren’t sure they are straight. I saw it in our library, paperback, blue and black spine. I’ll ask the librarians about more possibilities today or tomorrow.

By: Anna in Cairo

Anna in Cairo — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 10:27:35 +0000

There is a self-help book I got for my son called the teenage guy’s guide to everything (or something like that) which discusses many issues including girls that I felt was written in a pro-feminist type of way. He has found it very useful especially as he does not necessarily want to discuss all these issues with his mom all the time.

But this may be less relevant in the US. Here in Egypt the adults just don’t discuss any of these issues with the kids and they are absolutley in need of any guidance they can get- in the US I assume it is like it was when I was a kid, with stuff like this being discussed regularly in the classroom and with parents. (My kids’ school counselor borrowed “the 7 habits for teens” from me because he did not know how to discuss sexual issues with the kids and found the stuff in that book to be helpful. This is a guy whose job is to counsel the kids. It is just way not OK for the stuff to be discussed in this culture and thus kids are confused, end up getting most info from each other and it is wrong, or have a really negative self-image because they get all these cultural/sociall messages that all the things they think about are morally wrong.)

By: Anna in Cairo

Anna in Cairo — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 10:22:31 +0000

For young adult fiction, younger than 12, there aer a lot of books from my generation that were really influential to me and might have been even more so had they been taught in my school. The Ramona books as someone upthread said and the Judy Blume books. (In fact I often thought she’s good for both genders, and it is good for them to read the ones addressed to the other - like I think reading “superfudge’ and “tales of a 4th grade nothing” made me a lot more understanding of boys). For older kids as you were asking, I think the Margaret ATwood books like the Handmaid’s Tale are easy enough to read that they would work. What about some of the Earthsea books? Or some Anne McCaffrey? They sort of show societies where things are BETTER and the characters accept it as such. We don ‘t have to make the kids drown in negativity after all.

As for nonfiction, the Faludi book might be good (I have not read) or Friedan? It’s pretty easy to read (I just read it for the first time at age 37, but I think the grade level of writing is pretty accessible for kids).

By: Doctor Science

Doctor Science — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 03:21:11 +0000

Now that I’ve had time to actually talk to the Future of Feminism, she says “the trouble with non-fiction is that you tune it out after a while.” It turns out she doesn’t even *remember* “Backlash” all that well, but she strongly recommends a novel, Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment “Non-fiction just tells you, fiction *shows*, and show is always more persuasive than tell.”

By: Adrian

Adrian — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 02:34:14 +0000

I suspect the modern youth equivalent to _Our Bodies, Our Selves_, may well be http://www.scarleteen.com/ They have lots of good information, political and social as well as physical. It’s written for young men as well as young women, and it’s written to be very accessible. If the teachers are willing to read something online, or if they can print excerpts from the net, it might be just what the original poster wants.

By: B

Wed, 31 May 2006 20:02:30 +0000

In that case I recommend you to go to www.rfsu.se (the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education) they have lots of experience and material - including free pdfs for downloading (and in english). It is all geared for education - usually for teens as well. I am also fairly certain that they would be very helpful and supportive if you ask them for suggestions.

Otherwise what about reading Faludi and maybe some classics like Kollontaj, Woolf and Mill? Those, or excerpts from those books, ought to work well both with the teachers and the older pupils.

By: Doctor Science

Doctor Science — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:52:00 +0000

My own baby (HS junior) feminist was very influenced by Susan Faludi’s “Backlash”. I will ask her for more recs when she gets home from school.

By: rachel

rachel — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:39:27 +0000

12-18 is a huge age group. I teach 7th grade and they are in no way capable to read and understand a book a high school senior or freshman in college might read. I would second Speak, by Laurie Anderson as a good choice for high school students, some of my 12 year olds read it and didn’t quite “get” all of it.

By: jam

jam — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:32:34 +0000

oops, repeated Astra…

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:32:23 +0000

FWIW, Our Bodies, Ourselves certainly addresses the current times, seeing as there have been two new editions this decade alone. Some sections are more for young people than others, but still an excellent resource. It is, obviously, pretty female-focused, though.

I’d also second Manifesta, which, while not perfect, is very accessible, and also makes one feel like there’s work to be done (as opposed to that evil sexism is taking over the world, and it’s all so big and impossible that we should give up). I also like Listen Up, which is a collection of essays, including a couple from high-school aged women.