feminismSyndicate content

Erin Wunker's debut book a powerful account of feminism in 2016

Notes from a Feminist Killjoy: Essays on Everyday Life

by Erin Wunker
(BookThug,
2016;
23.00)

Today is December 6, the 27th anniversary of the Polytechnique Massacre.

In Notes from a Feminist Killjoy, her new book of essays on moving through the world in a gendered body, Erin Wunker expands on Nicole Brossard's idea that the Massacre was not committed by a "lone wolf." The Massacre -- and its remembrance -- is not just about "M.L. alone, with his anger and his gun," Wunker writes. "This is about the history of misogyny." December 6 is about the particularities of that day -- the murder of 14 women whose names we recite every year -- but it also fits into a much wider, and deeply ingrained, spectrum of violence.

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

Feminism has been taken over by capitalism, and it ain't pretty

We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement

by Andi Zeisler
(PublicAffairs,
2016;
$26.99)

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

The world of feminism nowadays is... saturated.

Women are leaning in, #girlbosses are getting that money, period-friendly underwear is readily available, #GirlsCan empower themselves with bombshell lipstick and oh so much more.

But, is this feminism?

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

Overthrow the system! The fight for women's rights needs a socialist revolution

Marxism and Women's Liberation

by Judith Orr
(Bookmarks Publications,
2015;
$20.25)

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

A bold vision for Canada's future

A Bold Vision: Women Leaders Imagining Canada's Future

by Edited by A Bold Vision Steering Committee
(Women's Network Inc.,
2014;
$18.86)

A bold vision for Canada's future: what would that look like to you?

Would it encompass a new outlook on justice and politics, or would it emphasize equality and equity or would it require a look back on Canada's past in order to better see the future? Would it be all of these things?

When the members of A Bold Vision Steering Committee posed this question to numerous women leaders in Canada, A Bold Vision: Women Leaders Imagining Canada's Future was born.  

The anthology's list of contributors reads like one conjured from the question "If you could have dinner with any Canadian feminist hero, who would it be?"

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

Canada's complicated relationship with pro-choice politics

One Kind Word: Women Share Their Abortion Stories

by Edited by Martha Solomon
(Three O'Clock Press,
2014;
$19.95)

One Kind Word: Women Share Their Abortion Stories is exactly what the subtitle suggests: a selection of portraits and accounts of women who have had abortions in Canada, collected by photographer Kathryn Palmateer and editor Martha Solomon.

The title comes from Lori, the last woman of the collection, who says of her abortion, "The support I would have appreciated: one kind word from anyone."

Lori's wish is echoed through many of the experiences shared by many of the women in this collection who perceive a lack of kindness and respect extended to women who seek an abortion in Canada.

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

Questioning assumptions about female desire

Sex Drive: In Pursuit of Female Desire; What Do Women Want? Adventures in the Science of Female Desire

by Dr. Bella Ellwood-Clayton; Daniel Bergner
(Allen & Unwin; HarperCollins,
2013;
$27.99; $25.99)

Female sexuality has long been viewed as something of a mystery. Women’s distinct lack of penises and threatening ability to create life resulted in centuries of undisputed ignorance. In a patriarchal society, women are placed firmly in the category of "other," as compared to the central character against which all other beings are measured: man.

Only recently have researchers begun to fight the trend, ever-popular within evolutionary psychology, of ignoring all social and cultural factors as well as the individual biases of researchers, to look beyond "caveman" as foundation for scientific study.

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

Women and War: Documenting a century of struggle for peace and justice

How a Century of War Changed the Lives of Women

by Lindsey German
(Pluto,
2013;
$19.99)

Lindsey German has an excellent knowledge of women’s history, and has written two perceptive books about women in the second half of the twentieth century, Sex, Class and Socialism (Bookmarks 1998) and Material Girls (Bookmarks 2007). As is well-known, she is also the National Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, the biggest ever mass movement in Britain, and the one which organised the largest demonstration in British history on February 15, 2003, against war in Iraq. She is therefore the perfect person to write a book about women and war over the last one hundred years, and no one who reads How a Century of War Changed the Lives of Women will be disappointed.

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

It's not about you: Naomi Wolf and Caitlin Moran's self-centred feminism

Vagina: A New Biography

by Naomi Wolf
(HarperCollins,
2012;
$29.99)

Naomi Wolf's fall from grace within the feminist community has been well documented. First there was her baffling, victim-blamey defence of Julian Assange, and now she's been taken to task by writer after writer for her generalizing, the-goddess-is-in-your-vagina take on female sexuality. After having read criticisms of her most recent publication Vagina, such as this from Suzanne Moore in the Guardian:

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

How to say 'yes' to shame-free sex

What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl's Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety

What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl's Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety

by Jaclyn Friedman
(Seal Press,
2011;
$19.50)

After reading What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl's Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety, I had some of the best sex of my life, and felt happier and healthier in my relationship.

No, this isn't a phony endorsement for your run of the mill dating advice or sex tips handbook. It is definitely not in reference to an article I read in Cosmopolitan magazine. In fact, What You Really Really Want is a desperately needed antidote to the slew of toxic sewage in the form of "sex and relationship advice" targeted at girls and women.

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

Stopping sex violence in schools

Hey, Shorty! A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets

by Joanne N. Smith, Mandy Van Deven and Meghan Huppuch
(The Feminist Press,
2011;
$16.50)

"She deserved it." "She was fast." "She shouldn't have been alone." In 2001, Joanne N. Smith listened as young female students regurgitated the opinions of their parents, teachers, and peers, blaming an eight-year-old victim who had recently been followed, dragged, raped and left bloodied on her way to school.

embedded_video

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

  • Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
  • Add context and background.
  • Report typos and logical fallacies.
  • Be respectful.
  • Respect copyright - link to articles.
  • Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

  • Use oppressive/offensive language.
  • Libel or defame.
  • Bully or troll.
  • Post spam.
  • Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.
Syndicate content