Read Some Banned Feminist Literature!

[IMPress Polly]

I've been asked what feminist literature I prefer most more than once of late, so here are a few of my highest recommendations, organized by author:

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Sheila Jeffreys

Gender Hurts
The Spinster and Her Enemies
Beauty and Misogyny
Man's Dominion: The Rise of Religion and the Eclipse of Women's Rights

Janice Raymond

A Passion for Friends
Women as Wombs

Andrea Dworkin

Pornography: Men Possessing Women
Right Wing Women
Intercourse

Mary Daly

Pure Lust
Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedry of the English Language

Germaine Greer

The Whole Woman

Also:

This Bridge Called My Back (multiple authors)
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Most of these books are now banned from your local university and bookstores. Too controversial to be permitted these days. The best literature usually is that way. Yeah, as you can also gather, most of the best feminist literature dates to the 1980s, IMO. That was kind of a heyday for it, in my view, kind of like how I view the early '90s as a heyday of feminist music.

If you (anyone) want me to briefly summarize any of these, I can.

[Boris The Animal]

Yeah, if I want a good laugh.

[MisterVeritis]

Why would any book be banned?

Do you mean universities don't compel students to buy them?

[Mister D]

Why would any book be banned?

Do you mean universities don't compel students to buy them?

"Banned" in this case means they don't meet the demands of serious scholarship.

On second thought perhaps academic standards are oppressive and patriarchal.

[Chris]

I see no evidence of any books being banned except: "Andrea Dworkin opposed LEAF's position, arguing that feminists should not support or attempt to reform criminal obscenity law.[91] In 1993, copies of Dworkin's book Pornography were held for inspection by Canada Customs agents,[92] fostering an urban legend that Dworkin's own books had been banned from Canada under a law that she herself had promoted. However, the Butler decision did not adopt Dworkin and MacKinnon's ordinance, Dworkin did not support the decision, and her books (which were released shortly after they were inspected) were held temporarily as part of a standard procedural measure, unrelated to the Butler decision." @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Dworkin

They're available on amazon.com.

[Standing Wolf]

Yeah, as you can also gather, most of the best feminist literature dates to the 1980s, IMO. That was kind of a heyday for it, in my view, kind of like how I view the early '90s as a heyday of feminist music.

I'm interested in your view of where Women stand today, in terms of rights, opportunities, access to the justice system, etc., compared with the '80s or even earlier.

I guess the question springs, as much as anything, from what you wrote about "the best feminist literature dat[ing] from the 1980s". Do you believe that this is rooted in the problems, or at least the depth and seriousness of them, being different thirty years on? If I read one of those books from the '80s, would some of the references and observations seem dated or inapplicable to the way things generally are today?

[IMPress Polly]

I'm interested in your view of where Women stand today, in terms of rights, opportunities, access to the justice system, etc., compared with the '80s or even earlier.

I guess the question springs, as much as anything, from what you wrote about "the best feminist literature dat[ing] from the 1980s". Do you believe that this is rooted in the problems, or at least the depth and seriousness of them, being different thirty years on? If I read one of those books from the '80s, would some of the references and observations seem dated or inapplicable to the way things generally are today?

Not really. This is all radical feminist literature and that branch of the movement has been mostly a generational phenomenon. It was never the dominant trend, but it had a heyday between 1967 and roughly the mid-'80s. It was specifically born out of the anti-Vietnam War movement, which is something the likes of which we haven't seen since in this country. The country was being driven very much by politics (the politics of life and death, mind you) in and around that time and the militancy of some of the feminists of that era was a byproduct of that. Subsequent generations of Americans have grown up in less politically-charged climates. The 1980s was a point at which that generation of radical women was broadly maturing into their 30s and 40s and becoming established, and churning out, broadly speaking, their best literature as a result of that station and their protracted experience in the movement. That's my opinion anyway.

These books include arguments against heterosexuality, against things like the concept of gender (gender roles, gender rules, the theory of the gendered brain, the transgender movement, etc.), the beauty industry, the sex industry, religion, marriage, and multi-culturalism, calls to significant degrees of female separatism, arguments for alternative spellings and word appropriation, etc. Like I said, these are some of the more radical views that there have been and represent the losing side of the ideological divide in the movement that had become very clear and sharp in the 1980s. Needless to say, I feel that these arguments transcend the timeframe in which they were written and still feel very fresh and unorthodox today. Many of these women are still with us, but they are no-platformed just about everywhere they may attempt to speak. The mainstream women's movement does not support them.

Sheila Jeffreys in particular is an author whom remains very relevant to radical feminist thinking today. Three out of the four books by her date to 2005 (Beauty and Misogyny), 2012 (Man's Dominion), and 2014 (Gender Hurts) respectively. The publication of Gender Hurts was, I would say, the main factor in shifting the focus of radical feminist thinking to its current one, for example. I feel that she is the most important author of radical women's literature alive today and my personal favorite.

[Standing Wolf]

Not really. This is all radical feminist literature and that branch of the movement has been mostly a generational phenomenon. It was never the dominant trend, but it had a heyday between 1967 and roughly the mid-'80s. It was specifically born out of the anti-Vietnam War movement, which is something the likes of which we haven't seen since in this country. The country was being driven very much by politics (the politics of life and death, mind you) in and around that time and the militancy of some of the feminists of that era was a byproduct of that. Subsequent generations of Americans have grown up in less politically-charged climates. The 1980s was a point at which that generation of radical women was broadly maturing into their 30s and 40s and becoming established, and churning out, broadly speaking, their best literature as a result of that station and their protracted experience in the movement. That's my opinion anyway.

I was an older teenager as the '60s became the '70s, so I well remember the radical divisions in society at that time. Even the emergence of Trumpism and the movement of both major political parties toward their respective fringes have not created the sort of social upheaval, suspicion and radicalism that was an everyday fact of life then. Not yet, anyway.

These books include arguments against heterosexuality, against things like the concept of gender (gender roles, gender rules, the theory of the gendered brain, the transgender movement, etc.), the beauty industry, the sex industry, religion, marriage, and multi-culturalism, calls to significant degrees of female separatism, arguments for alternative spellings and word appropriation, etc. Like I said, these are some of the more radical views that there have been and represent the losing side of the ideological divide in the movement that had become very clear and sharp in the 1980s. Needless to say, I feel that these arguments transcend the timeframe in which they were written and still feel very fresh and unorthodox today. Many of these women are still with us, but they are no-platformed just about everywhere they may attempt to speak. The mainstream women's movement does not support them.

To be honest, if those women are still campaigning against heterosexuality - of which some of us have grown rather fond - "the theory of the gendered brain" - established science, by the way - marriage and multiculturalism, I'm not shocked or surprised that they are not widely supported.

[IMPress Polly]

To be honest, if those women are still campaigning against heterosexuality - of which some of us have grown rather fond - "the theory of the gendered brain" - established science, by the way - marriage and multiculturalism, I'm not shocked or surprised that they are not widely supported.

I'm not surprised by it either, and I would frankly be shocked if someone like yourself, or anyone here really, were to embrace more than one or two of their distinctive ideas. Accordingly, I considered the OP something verging on a troll thread.

In all seriousness though, personally I'm not closed-minded to these sorts of ideas necessarily. *CONTROVERSY!*

[Standing Wolf]

I'm not surprised by it either, and I would frankly be shocked if someone like yourself, or anyone here really, were to embrace more than one or two of their distinctive ideas. Accordingly, I considered the OP something verging on a troll thread.

Agreed.

In all seriousness though, personally I'm not closed-minded to these sorts of ideas necessarily. *CONTROVERSY!*

I'm open to hearing about and discussing virtually any theory or idea. Simply dismissing something without rational analysis and thoughtful comment, usually with accompanying insults directed toward the author, is the antithesis of what a discussion board should be.