Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self Esteem, and the Confidence Gap


Peggy Orenstein - 1994
    The result was a groundbreaking book in which she brought the disturbing statistics to life with skill and flair of an experienced journalist. Orenstein plumbs the minds of both boys and girls who have learned to equate masculinity with opportunity and assertiveness, and femininity with reserve and restraint. She demonstrates the cost of this insidious lesson, by taking us into the lives of real young women who are struggling with eating disorders, sexual harassment, and declining academic achievement, especially in math and science. Peggy Orenstein's SchoolGirls is a classic that belongs on the shelf with the work of Carol Gilligan, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, and Mary Pipher. It continues to be read by all who care about how our schools and our society teach girls to shortchange themselves.

Everyday Sexism


Laura Bates - 2014
    Astounded by the response she received and the wide range of stories that came pouring in from all over the world, she quickly realised that the situation was far worse than she'd initially thought. Enough was enough. From being leered at and wolf-whistled on the street, to aggravation in the work place and serious sexual assault, it was clear that sexism had been normalised. Bates decided it was time for change. This bold, jaunty and ultimately intelligent book is the first to give a collective online voice to the protest against sexism. This game changing book is a juggernaut of stories, often shocking, sometimes amusing and always poignant - it is a must read for every inquisitive, no-nonsense modern woman.

Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference


Cordelia Fine - 2005
    Even though the glass ceiling is cracked, most women stay comfortably beneath it, and everywhere we hear about vitally important “hardwired” differences between male and female brains. The neuroscience we read about in magazines, newspaper articles, books, and sometimes even scientific journals increasingly tells a tale of two brains, and the result is more often than not a validation of the status quo. Women, it seems, are just too intuitive for math, men too focused for housework.Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, Cordelia Fine debunks the myth of hardwired differences between men’s and women’s brains, unraveling the evidence behind such claims as men’s brains aren’t wired for empathy, and women’s brains aren’t made to fix cars. She then goes one step further, offering a very different explanation of the dissimilarities between men’s and women’s behavior. Instead of a “male brain” and a “female brain,” Fine gives us a glimpse of plastic, mutable minds that are continuously influenced by cultural assumptions about gender.Delusions of Gender provides us with a much-needed corrective to the belief that men’s and women’s brains are intrinsically different--a belief that, as Fine shows with insight and humor--all too often works to the detriment of ourselves and our society.

Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology


Estelle Disch - 1996
    Drawing from a wide range of sources including research articles, essays, and personal narratives, Disch has chosen accessible, engaging, and provocative readings that represent a plurality of perspectives and experiences. Eleven part introductions briefly identify important issues in the general eld of study, describe the readings, identify the central themes emerging throughout the book, and raise questions for students to consider.Contents:Part I: It's not just about Gender 1. The Puerto Rican Dummy and the Merciful Son, Marti;n Espada2. From Nothing, A Consciousness, Helen Zia3. The Past is Ever Present: Recognizing the New Racism, Patricia Hill Collins4. Angry Women Are Building: Issues and Struggles Facing American Indian Women Today, Paula Gunn Allen5. “J.A.P.”-Slapping: The Politics of Scapegoating, Ruth Atkin and Adrienne Rich6. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh7. Controlled or Autonomous: Identity and the Experience of the Network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, Farida Shaheed8. Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism, Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill9. Patriarchy, Allan Johnson10. Reflections on Global Governance and Transnational Feminist Movements in an Era of Infinite War, Rosalind PetcheskyPart II: Gender Socialization11. The Social Construction of Gender, Judith Lorber12. Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities, Michael A. Messner13. Who's the Fairest of Them All?, Jill Nelson14. The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Mari;a, Judith Ortiz Cofer15. He Defies You Still: The Memoirs of a Sissy, Tommi Avicolli16. Growing Up Hidden, Linnea DuePart III: Embodiment17. Beauty Is the Beast: Psychological Effects of the Pursuit of the Perfect Female Body, Elayne A. Saltzberg and Joan C. Chrisler18. Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit, Leslie Marmon Silko19. “A Way Outa No Way”: Eating Problems among African-American, Latina, and White Women, Becky W. Thompson20. Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space, Brent Staples21. Taking It, Leonard Kriegel22. Do You Remember Me?, Barbara Macdonald23. I’m Not Fat, I’m Latina, Christy Haubegger24. The Tyranny of the Esthetic: Surgery’s Most Intimate Violation, Martha A. CoventryPart IV: Communication25. For the White Person Who Wants to Know How to Be My Friend, Pat Parker26. You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, Deborah Tannen27. Real Men Don’t Cry . . . and Other “Uncool” Myths, Phil W. Petrie28. The New Momism, Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels29. Claiming Jezebel: Black Female Subjectivity and Sexual Expressions in Hip-Hop, Ayana Byrd30. Virtual Organizing, Global Activism, Shireen Lee31. Where are the women? The strange case of the missing feminists. When was the last time you saw one on TV?, Laura ZimmermanPart V: Sexuality32. How Men Have (a) Sex, Jon Stoltenberg33. The Myth of the Sexual Athlete, Don Sabo34. Reproductive Rights: A Disability Rights Issue, Marsha Saxton35. The Impact of Multiple Marginalization, Paula C. Rust36. Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power, Audre Lorde Part VI: Families37. The Transformation of Family Life, Lillian B. Rubin38. Bloodmothers, Othermothers, and Women-Centered Networks, Patricia Hill Collins39. Dilemmas of Involved Fatherhood, Kathleen Gerson40. Man Child: A Black Lesbian Feminist’s Response, Audre Lorde41. I Am a Man, Raul E. Ybarra42. What is marriage for?, E.J. Graff Part VII: Education43. Missing in Interaction, Myra and David Sadker44. "What About the Boys?" What the Current Debates Tell Us--and Don't Tell Us--About Boys in Schools, Michael S. Kimmel45. Conflict within the Ivory Tower, Ruth Sidel46. Black and Female: Reflections on Graduate School, bell hooksPart VIII: Paid Work and Unemployment47. The "Success" of Welfare Reform, Sharon Hays48. Sixty Cents to a Man’s Dollar, Ann Crittenden49. Why Are There No Male Asian Anchormen on TV?, Ben Fong-Torres50. The Effects of Affirmative Action on Other Stakeholders, Barbara Reskin51. "Global Woman" by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild52. America's Dirty Work: Migrant Maids and Modern-Day Slavery, Joy M. Zarembka53. The Globetrotting Sneaker, Cynthia EnloePart IX: Violence54. Women, Violence, and Resistance, Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz55. The Ultimate Growth Industry: Trafficking in Women and Girls, Jan Goodwin56. Where Race and Gender Meet: Racism, Hate Crimes, and Pornography, Helen Zia57. Homophobia in Straight Men, Terry A. Kupers58. Stopping Sexual Harassment: A Challenge for Community Education, Robert L. Allen59. How Safe Is America?, Desiree Taylor60. Wielding Masculinity inside Abu Ghraib: Making Feminist Sense of an American Military Scandal, Cynthia Enloe61. Gender in a Time of Holy War, Stephen DucatPart X: Health and Illness62. Masculinities and Men’s Health: Moving toward Post—Superman Era Prevention, Don Sabo63. Health, Social Class and African-American Women, Evelyn L. Barbee and Marilyn Little64. Reproductive Issues Are Essential Survival Issues for the Asian-American Communities, Connie S. Chan65. Why the Precautionary Principle? A Meditation on Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and the Breasts of Mothers, Sandra Steingraber66. Does Silencio = Muerte? Notes on Translating the AIDS Epidemic, Rafael Campo67. To Be Poor and Transgender, Kai Wright Part XI: A World That Is Truly Human68. Statement of Principles, National Organization for Men Against Sexism69. The Blow Up…A Clash of Realities, Gloria Anzaldúa70. American Indian Women: At the Center of Indigenous Resistance in Contemporary North America, M. Annette Jaimes with Theresa Halsey71. Toward a New Civic Leadership: The Africana Criminal Justice Project, Geoff K. Ward and Manning Marable72. Organizing for Peace in Israel: Why Israeli Women Want a Peace Movement of Their Own, Gila Svirsky73. Women and Human Rights, Rita Arditti

Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear... and Why


Sady Doyle - 2016
     She’s Britney Spears shaving her head, Whitney Houston saying, “crack is whack,” and Amy Winehouse, dying in front of millions. But the trainwreck is also as old (and as meaningful) as feminism itself. From Mary Wollstonecraft—who, for decades after her death, was more famous for her illegitimate child and suicide attempts than for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman—to Charlotte Brontë, Billie Holiday, Sylvia Plath, and even Hillary Clinton, Sady Doyle’s Trainwreck dissects a centuries-old phenomenon and asks what it means now, in a time when we have unprecedented access to celebrities and civilians alike, and when women are pushing harder than ever against the boundaries of what it means to “behave.” Where did these women come from? What are their crimes? And what does it mean for the rest of us? For an age when any form of self-expression can be the one that ends you, Sady Doyle’s book is as fierce and intelligent as it is funny and compassionate—an essential, timely, feminist anatomy of the female trainwreck.

The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know


Katty Kay - 2014
    Yet men still predominate in the corporate world. In The Confidence Code, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay argue that the key reason is confidence.Combining cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—Kay and Shipman go beyond admonishing women to "lean in."Instead, they offer the inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve.

I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame


Brené Brown - 2007
    Addiction, perfectionism, fear and blame are just a few of the outward signs that Dr. Brené Brown discovered in her 6-year study of shame’s effects on women. While shame is generally thought of as an emotion sequestered in the shadows of our psyches, I Thought It Was Just Me demonstrates the ways in which it is actually present in the most mundane and visible aspects of our lives—from our mental and physical health and body image to our relationships with our partners, our kids, our friends, our money, and our work. After talking to hundreds of women and therapists, Dr. Brown is able to illuminate the myriad shaming influences that dominate our culture and explain why we are all vulnerable to shame. We live in a culture that tells us we must reject our bodies, reject our authentic stories, and ultimately reject our true selves in order to fit in and be accepted.Outlining an empowering new approach that dispels judgment and awakens us to the genuine acceptance of ourselves and others, I Thought It Was Just Me begins a crucial new dialogue of hope. Through potent personal narratives and examples from real women, Brown identifies and explains four key elements that allow women to transform their shame into courage, compassion and connection. Shame is a dark and sad place in which to live a life, keeping us from connecting fully to our loved ones and being the women we were meant to be. But learning how to understand shame’s influence and move through it toward full acceptance of ourselves and others takes away much of shame’s power to harm.It’s not just you, you’re not alone, and if you fight the daily battle of feeling like you are—somehow—just not "enough," you owe it to yourself to read this book and discover your infinite possibilities as a human being.

Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons


Lynn Peril - 2002
    Attaining feminine perfection meant conforming to a mythical standard, one that would come wrapped in an adorable pink package, if those cunning marketers were to be believed. With wise humor and a savvy eye for curious, absurd, and at times wildly funny period artifacts, Lynn Peril gathers here the memorabilia of the era — from kitschy board games and lunch boxes to outdated advice books and health pamphlets — and reminds us how media messages have long endeavored to shape women's behavior and self-image, with varying degrees of success.Vividly illustrated with photographs of vintage paraphernalia, this entertaining social history revisits the nostalgic past, but only to offer a refreshing message to women who lived through those years as well as those who are coming of age now.

Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls


Rachel Simmons - 2002
    With this book Rachel Simmons elevated the nation's consciousness and has shown millions of girls, parents, counselors, and teachers how to deal with this devastating problem. Poised to reach a wider audience in paperback, including the teenagers who are its subject, Odd Girl Out puts the spotlight on this issue, using real-life examples from both the perspective of the victim and of the bully.

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men


Caroline Criado Pérez - 2019
    From economic development, to healthcare, to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women​, diving into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more. Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, unforgettable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.

How to Be Successful without Hurting Men's Feelings: Non-threatening Leadership Strategies for Women


Sarah Cooper - 2018
    Ask for a pay rise? Pushy.Take credit for an idea? Arrogant.Admit a mistake? Weak.Successfully juggle work and family? Unpromotable.In How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men's Feelings, Sarah Cooper, author of the bestselling 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings, illustrates how women can achieve their dreams, succeed in their careers and become leaders, without harming the fragile male ego.This wickedly funny tongue-in-cheek guide includes chapters on ‘How to Ace Your Job Interview Without Over-acing It’, ‘9 Non-threatening Leadership Strategies for Women’, and ‘Choose Your Own Adventure: Do You Want to Be Likeable or Successful?’. It even includes several pages to doodle on while men finish explaining things.When all else fails, there is a set of cut-outable moustaches inside to allow women to seem more man-like, which will probably lead to a quick promotion!PRAISE FOR 100 TRICKS TO APPEAR SMART IN MEETINGS:'A lot of fun and absolutely on the money' Daily Telegraph, Book of the Year'Even though it's mostly a comedy book, I can't help but think how legitmately useful I would have found this in my early twenties' The Pool'Sarah Cooper is uncannily spot on when describing the seemingly innocent behaviours of people attempting to impress others' Christine Tsai, Founding Partner, 500 STARTUPS

Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate


Leila Ahmed - 1992
    She then focuses on those Arab societies that played a key role in elaborating the dominant Islamic discourses about women and gender: Arabia during the period in which Islam was founded; Iraq during the classical age, when the prescriptive core of legal and religious discourse on women was formulated; and Egypt during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when exposure to Western societies led to dramatic social change and to the emergence of new discourses on women. Throughout, Ahmed not only considers the Islamic texts in which central ideologies about women and gender developed or were debated but also places this discourse in its social and historical context. Her book is thus a fascinating survey of Islamic debates and ideologies about women and the historical circumstances of their position in society, the first such discussion using the analytic tools of contemporary gender studies.

Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School


C.J. Pascoe - 2007
    Based on eighteen months of fieldwork in a racially diverse working-class high school, Dude, You're a Fag sheds new light on masculinity both as a field of meaning and as a set of social practices. C. J. Pascoe's unorthodox approach analyzes masculinity as not only a gendered process but also a sexual one. She demonstrates how the "specter of the fag" becomes a disciplinary mechanism for regulating heterosexual as well as homosexual boys and how the "fag discourse" is as much tied to gender as it is to sexuality.

Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement


Robin MorganMary Daly - 1970
    This anthology captures the range of problems being considered by the new feminists, and the variety of approaches to analysis and action. Over fifty contributors, all women, write about how the "51% minority group" is used and abused by the major institutions of our society--marriage, the family, church, courts, the media, welfare, the schools, the professions, business, and industry. A section on the psychological and sexual repression of women attacks the freudian view of the female, and discusses the problems of the aging woman, abortion and birth control, prostitution, the persecution of lesbians. Black women, a Mexican woman, high school women, ex-New Leftists, housewives, and seasoned feminists speak from their experience in tones that range from detachment to outrage. ARE MEN REALLY THE ENEMY?A Questionnaire by Jayne West, from No More Fun and Games True or False __ Woman's work is never done. __ You can't tell a book by its cover. __ Housework can be fun. __ A female dog is referred to as a bitch. __ One of the more degrading terms that can be applied to a man is "son of a bitch." Multiple Choice 1. Most rapes are committed by: (a) women; (b) children; (c) men (perverts); (d) I am unable to distinguish rape from ordinary sexual relations. 2. Which do you prefer being called: (a) lady; (b) woman; (c) female; (d) girl; (e) none of the above. 3. If I could do away with anything I wanted, the first thing I would do away with is: (a) the family; (b) the state; (c) private property; (d) menstrual periods; (e) all of the above. Essay Discuss the variations in tone possible when asking a male druggist: "Have you Tampax Super?"

Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body


Courtney E. Martin - 2007
    Martin. The new world culture of eating disorders and food and body issues affects virtually all -- not just a rare few -- of today's young women. They are your sisters, friends, and colleagues -- a generation told that they could "be anything," who instead heard that they had to "be everything." Driven by a relentless quest for perfection, they are on the verge of a breakdown, exhausted from overexercising, binging, purging, and depriving themselves to attain an unhealthy ideal.An emerging new talent, Courtney E. Martin is the voice of a young generation so obsessed with being thin that their consciousness is always focused inward, to the detriment of their careers and relationships. Health and wellness, joy and love have come to seem ancillary compared to the desire for a perfect body. Even though eating disorders first became generally known about twenty-five years ago, they have burgeoned, worsened, become more difficult to treat and more fatal (50 percent of anorexics who do not respond to treatment die within ten years). Consider these statistics:Ten million Americans suffer from eating disorders. Seventy million people worldwide suffer from eating disorders. More than half of American women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five would pre fer to be run over by a truck or die young than be fat. More than two-thirds would rather be mean or stupid. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychological disease.In "Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters," Martin offers original research from the front lines of the eating disorders battlefield. Drawn from more than a hundred interviews with sufferers, psychologists, nutritionists, sociocultural experts, and others, her expose reveals a new generation of "perfect girls" who are obsessive-compulsive, overachieving, and self-sacrificing in multiple -- and often dangerous -- new ways. Young women are "told over and over again," Martin notes, "that we can be anything. But in those affirmations, assurances, and assertions was a concealed pressure, an unintended message: You are special. You are worth something. But you need to be perfect to live up to that specialness."With its vivid and often heartbreaking personal stories, "Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters" has the power both to shock and to educate. It is a true call to action and cannot be missed.