Reddit mentions: The best african american literature

I recommend Dune, as it's similar to ASOIAF as far as political machinations go to some degree, also epic story lines.

You might also like Hyperion by Dan Simmons, I read the first two books, they're kind of freaky.

I also liked Eon by Greg Bear, which is interesting as it shows a look at a future where a big asteroid appears above earth and it has an object on it that the joint Russian/U.S spaceforce goes to investigate, if you're interested in futuristic politics as evidenced by your love for the Bean series, then I'd say this one is for you. Although it's not quite similar to that in the blatancy of its political machinations, it does show an interesting look at this culture and that is in the background.

He also did a couple of good books like Darwins Radio and Darwins Children. I actually started out with Darwin's Children even though it's a sequel. I really liked it. Think Escape to witch mountain.

Earth by David Brin : Experiments with a black hole on the earth's surface goes horribly wrong, near future society where privacy has become a thing of the past

If you're looking for a good post-apocalyptic romp I'd suggest Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. She also did a great series called the Patternist series. This covers several generations. She also did something widely praised called the Kindred though I have yet to read it. Also Lilith's Brood was cool.

You might also like the Stardoc novels. It's a little bit smaller scale in terms of focus but follow large events.

Also one of my favorite all time books is Mainline. It's about an assassin who can slip through parralel time streams to make a hit. It's pretty awesome.

Ok good luck!

And read Lost World Jurassic Park.

If you're wanting to learn more about feminism, I highly recommend reading bell hooks, especially Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. It's short and a super accessible view on various topics related to feminism. She's a very prolific writer, and she's written on lots of different topics related to teaching, race, and gender.

Audre Lorde is one of my favorite writers, and her book Sister Outsider is a collection of essays and speeches she's written about race, gender, sexuality, and so much more. She described herself as a "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," and I find her work to be powerful and beautiful.

Gloria Anzaldua is another of my favorite writers, and her The Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza is a collection of autobiographical essays and poems. She plays with language, and she wants to make people a bit uncomfortable and to question history. She edited an anthology of essays, poems, and other work by women of color called This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color.

I found this list that someone created, and I really like this list. It includes tons of films and books that I've watched or read. They included tv shows and music in the list as well.

Uma Narayan is one of my favorite feminist scholars. In her book, Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third World Women, she challenges how Western feminists look at issues in other countries. This text is definitely more theory heavy than the others I've suggested.

Dean Spade is a legal scholar, and most people familiar with him are familiar with his work around trans* legal issues. He tries to make this essays accessible, and he tries to focus on finding real world solutions to real world problem. One of my favorite essays is "Mutilating Gender" which is about his experiences attempting to get counseling and chest reconstruction surgery and the patterns he saw socially that made that difficult to accomplish. This text is also a bit theory heavy.

I'm a Women's Studies graduate student, and I teach an intro level Women's Studies course. My research is about representations of Third World women (primarily Indian women), and I look at book, films, and other products of pop culture. For my thesis, I'm examining cultural hybridity in a film, Sita Sings the Blues, and a graphic novel, Sita's Ramayana. If you have a more specific idea of what you want to learn more about, and if you're willing to read some dense, theoretical stuff, I could give you more suggestions for texts or scholars to check out.

Thanks for this thread! I just wanted to let folks know that my latest novel, That Potent Alchemy, is currently on sale for $0.99 at the usual online retailers. Part of the best-selling Treading the Boards Regency series, this [M/F] romance is a standalone story.

Grab it here: https://www.amazon.com/That-Potent-Alchemy-Treading-Boards-ebook/dp/B01IUL6VOY

Is his love her safe place to land…or just smoke and mirrors?

Grace Owens danced her feet bloody to become the finest en pointe prodigy of her generation, but the only accolade she longed for—her father’s approval—never came. Finally, broken and defeated, she cut ties and fled to London to live life on her own terms.

Now, after four years as an actress in London’s smaller theatres, a last-minute production change lands her right where she never wanted to be again. Front and center in the ballet—and back in toe shoes.

From his perch on the catwalks, machinist and stagecraft illusionist Isaac Caird can’t take his eyes off Grace. A woman who wears men’s clothing, but not as a disguise. An exquisite beauty who doesn’t keep a lover. A skilled dancer who clearly hates every pirouette.

The perfect lines of her delicate body inspire him to create a new illusion—with her as the centerpiece—that will guarantee sold-out shows. Maybe even attract a royal’s patronage. But first he has to get her to look at him. And convince her the danger is minimal—especially within the circle of his arms.

Featuring a gender-fluid ballet dancer, an amateur chemist who only occasionally starts fires, and an old rivalry that could tear them apart.

I'm really liking it. It's not "deep" but it is really well written and very entertaining. It's kind of like if we dove into the seedy underbelly of the X-Men world, but written by a black person, starring black people.

The main characters all have a rich history that slowly reveals more and more about that history between the characters over time. There's also a sequel to this book called The Liminal Wars.

I recommend it if you like contemporary fantasy (Neil Gaiman typically writes in this genre, American Gods, The Anansi Boys, etc.) or if the idea of John Wick with x-men style powers excites you.

I have no clue how you are dating someone who has fundamental values and beliefs that are so divergent from your own. It just doesn't make any sense to me. My boyfriend and I argue from time to time about facets or aspects of feminism, but never whether it is justified or needed. We'd never have even started dating if we didn't share such basic views and understandings about society and culture.

I've tried dating even semi-conservative guys in the past, and to me it might as well have been Rush Limbaugh. I'm an above-average political and opinionated person, to be fair, but I still don't get how anyone can think they could possibly "reconcile" such adamant misogyny with a loving, healthy relationship.

I'll agree with your boyfriend on one thing. That "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" shit is trite and and does try to over-classify men and women. True, some of the stuff about communication may resonate with you, but the philosophical foundation upon which stuff like that is written is unintelligent and decidedly antifeminist.

When people come to Reddit with boyfriend or girlfriend problems, I usually advocate just working things out, but this is one of the rare occasions in which I will say it's best to just give up. He is a close-minded, controlling, rude human being and needs to realize how his regressive worldview can and will negatively affect his relationships. Maybe leave him a copy of this book on your way out the door and hope he doesn't burn it.

Octavia Butler's Wild Seed is one of the best science fiction books I've ever read. It is about a lot of things - the power of love, an allegory about slavery, a searing character study of two very different individuals. On top of all that, it has some very interesting scifi ideas going on. Ah heck, just go pick it up, you'll love it if you loved Le Guin and Atwood.

I found the aliens in Octavia Butlers Xenogenisis/Lilith's Brood trilogy (link to book 1) to be extremely interesting and different, but not so far off difference as to be confusing. VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy (book 1) had some pretty far out aliens that definitely fit that bill, though, but is only tangentially military.

edit: just saw I am not the only one to mention Lilith's Brood; props to u/emopest for getting to it first. Leaving the comment because it is just that good!

Dr. Max Tegmark, cosmologist and physics professor at MIT

• Permutation City, by Greg Egan (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Jane Goodall, Primatologist
  
  
• The Story of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Miracle of Life (not listed)
  
  Dr. Sean Carroll, Theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology
  
  
• Dragon's Egg, by Robert Forward (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Temple Grandin, Animal scientist
  
  
• "I’m a Star trek fan..."
  
  Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior astronomer and director at the Center for SETI Research
  
  
• Golem XIV, by Stanislaw Lem (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Chris Stringer, Anthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London
  
  
• Brazil, the movie (YouTube)
  
  Dr. Jack Horner, Paleontologist at Montana State University
  
  
• Jurassic Park, the movie) (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Adam Riess, astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University
  
  
• Contact, by Carl Sagan (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Fountains of Paradise, by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Silo saga, by Hugh Howey (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Stand, by Stephen King (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Watership Down, by Richard Adams (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Steven Strogatz, professor of mathematics at Cornell University
  
  
• The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Chriton (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Colossus: The Forbin Project, the movie (IMDB)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Ainissa Ramirez, materials scientist
  
  
• Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Mario Livio, astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute
  
  
• Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie (IMDB)
  
• Dr. Strangelove, the movie (IMDB)
  
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the movie (IMDB)
  
  Olympia LePoint, rocket scientist
  
  
• Gravity, 2013 (IMDB)
  
• Back to The Future, 1985 (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Danielle Lee, biologist
  
  
• Dune, 1984 (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Michael Shermer, historian of science
  
  
• The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951 (IMDB)
  
  Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist
  
  
• The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951 (IMDB)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 (IMDB)
  
• Planet of the Apes, 1968 (IMDB)
  
• The Terminator, 1984 (IMDB)
  
• The Quiet Earth, 1985 (IMDB)
  
• Contact, 1997 (IMDB)
  
• Deep Impact, 1998 (IMDB)
  
• The Matrix, 1999 (IMDB)
  
• The Island, 2005 (IMDB)
  
• Watchmen, 2009 (IMDB)
  

I just turned in a pretty beastly graphic novel order at work--over a thousand dollars! Among those I'm looking forward to reading are The Hunting Accident, The Last Days of American Crime, Voices in the Dark (which is supposed to be fantastic) and Verax.

Non-graphic novelwise, I'm currently waiting on the new Gregory Maguire book, Hiddensee--I'm not much for deconstructed fairy tales but I love The Nutcracker, so we'll see. Also itching to read both Three Piece Meal, the new one by Zane though god knows when it'll be out, and Fresh Complaint, the new short story collection by Jeffrey Eugenides.

(All links are to Amazon.)

If you're interested, there's a really great set of novellas called Quicksand and Passing by Nella Larsen (here's the audio books [1] [2] for free -- and legal).

They're both relatively short (a little over 100 pages apiece) about an American woman who was biracial (Larsen was biracial herself) and could pass for black or white.

Quicksand is about one such woman trying to find a community where she felt comfortable -- one community ashamed her, one community seemed too radical, another seemed to deify her. This one particularly reminded me of what you said here.

Passing is about two such women who knew each other growing up, but while one stayed with the black community and grew up there, the other hid her ancestry and married a white man (and quite a racist one). They meet up years and years later and discover that they are a bit jealous of aspects of each other's lives.

What makes these books great is they don't pass any judgments. They just examine an extremely complex issue from several very honest perspectives.

Of course, these might be a bit too old-hat for you, but I'd recommend them to anyone. They're quick reads and really interesting.

That's a lot of monolithing you're doing. Dworkin wrote Pornography in the midst of the 1970s-1980s feminist sex wars, which generated radical thought from all angles, including what you consider "sex-positive".

I also find it interesting that your main factor in determining whether someone is a radical feminist is their view on sex/porn. There are a lot of definitions of "radical feminist", but Kathie Sarachild puts it this way:

>Before we go any further, let's examine the word "radical." It is a word that is often used to suggest extremist, but actually it doesn't mean that. The dictionary says radical means root, coming from the Latin word for root. And that is what we meant by calling ourselves radicals. We were interested in getting to the roots of problems in society. You might say we wanted to pull up weeds in the garden by their roots, not just pick off the leaves at the top to make things look good momentarily. Women's Liberation was started by women who considered themsleves radicals in this sense.

You're essentialising a lot of conflicting thought through history. Like Sarachilde mentions, you're grouping in Susan B. Anthony (and Alice Paul). As well as Angela Davis and Shirley Chisholm. May I suggest reading some bell hooks?

I also find it humorous that you bring up Malcolm X. Martin Luther King, Jr. was quite the radical, and Malcolm X was quite reasonable. Question the narratives you have been fed.

Shadow of the Wind is a good suggestion, that popped into my head as well. I'd also say take a look at Lightning Rods. It's got the manic satiric humor you would like, along with some genuine philosophical capital L literature themes she would like. Another one is maybe The Book Thief - this falls more into her category, but I'm willing to bet you'd really like it as well.

No particular kink - mostly dominant lesbian and the curious straight girl theme. I do progress the exploring of sex acts, increasing until there is a steamy spanking scene...

For this sort of tale, I broke them into so many parts (7) so I could keep the 60/40 split of sex vs. story, while building interesting, three dimensional characters. One can have their cake and eat it too, so to speak.

The rewarding part is I have almost as many people purchase book 7 as book 2!

Book 1 was free since saturday, promotion ending today with 560 d/l. Translated to roughly 20 sales/KUs so not bad, I guess.

My bundles are also doing well - but next time I will not offer them in KU! I figure to maximize profits I want my lenders to borrow each book in the series.

Here's a link to the first one if you want to take a look:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LS47BBI

Daddy Long Stroke the only reason I love this book is because it is so badly written and making friends read it out loud will have you laughing for hours!

I'm so late. I have two boxsets. Please help!

Blurb 1: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TRT3G1Z

Black men have guilty pleasures too and you must read why...

Antonio is a star on the court and has doubled his squad on the low with his supermodel wife and across-the-hall teammate, Destiny. Do you think he can keep this going on for long?

Next, you have Mr. Jalen Wilson, the high school English teacher who runs into his former student, Tanisha in her first semester of college. She sees something in him that only can be resolved in one place - the bed. Is Mr. Wilson or Tanisha at fault?

Then, you have Jamal and Shay, two athletes, who have a little daddy-mommy thing on the low while Jamal is married, but he's not the only one hiding something.

Lastly,Tyson, a ball player from Georgia Tech got all the girls on him in Veronica's high school but she wants what she wants. 

Click Buy Now to read these lustful obsessions with arousing consequences today.

​

Blurb 2: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GDSTL59

Black gentlewomen have guilty pleasures, so let's let them call the shots...

Kayla has more on her mind than a hot shower for one when she summons Tyrone, the sous chef, one afternoon. Do you think these two can keep a secret in the house of four?

While dance partner, Imani works her way down her ex, Marquis at a dance competition in Tokyo. Can the young king stay faithful to his new college sweetheart?

Ayana and Taye's unintentional heat, sparked after years away from school, proves that their passions had never gone away. Will Taye hold on for a few more days before returning home to his supermodel wife?

Lastly, Deja got pregnant after a one-night-stand, lost her virginity and now someone isn’t ready...

Yes, but the digital one was not constrained by the Kindle OS… It can work great as a hyperlinked document, but the Kindle is not a great hyperlinked document reader. (It does OK... I read Pym on my Kindle and was pleased with how it handled the footnotes.)

I think you're coming into this with a lot of radical views about what constitutes a feminist.

How do you date a feminist? The same way you date anyone else: be a decent Human Being with an interesting personality.

I'm a feminist and I'm a dude and I date when I can be bothered, and I can earnestly say I've never been accused of flaunting my privilege or a scumbag sexist.

I'm not sure what you've read that equates feminism with a lack of romance, but it sounds like a pretty shitty brand of 'feminism' to me. I would suggest checking out an author like bell hooks if you are interested in learning about actual feminism and not whatever bizarre sect you seem to have come across.

Two that I think are great without going back too far are Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth, and Female Chauvinist Pigs.

I'm looking at amazon.com and thinking of ordering a new one from bell hooks, who I've always liked. As an African-American woman, hooks has always had a broader perspective.

I'd also recommend Susan Faludi's Backlash.

Amanda Marcotte's recent It's a Jungle Out There was a quick read and good.

I'm currently looking at Valenti's Full Frontal Feminism and by Siegel and Baumgardner's Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild, but they're about 4th and 5th on my current reading list and I can't yet say how I'd rate them.

Also on my reading list is Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?: A Debate (Point/Counterpoint) by Warren Farrell, Steven Svoboda, and James P. Sterba on my list. Looking forward to that one. Warren Farrell is a former feminist and the father of the men's liberation movement. The movement had progressive roots, but I think Farrell's moved more center, and certainly the men's movement has some very conservative branches. I think it will be interesting splitting apart any anti-feminism from the pro-men's liberation stuff.

I personally don't think there's any conflict between men and women's liberation, but I want to be more informed as to the current arguments.

Coworker was reading this at work the other day. I'm going to give it a read after I'm through with The Divine Comedy, which is amazing.

> Few writers have shifted political discourse in recent years quite as much as Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

> His seminal longform essay “The Case For Reparations” single-handedly forced a nationwide discussion about reparations for African-American descendants of slaves. After that, his memoir “Between the World and Me” was broadly hailed as the most thought-provoking meditation on race in the U.S. in an entire generation. And there’s over a decade of columns he wrote for The Atlantic that gave rise to innumerable other conversations.

> But since 2018, Coates has taken a step away from non-fiction writing. He's focused on other projects, including completing his first novel, "The Water Dancer," which was released in September. The novel tells the tale of Hiram Walker, who was born into slavery in Virginia, and who comes to realize he possesses supernatural powers that could help him and others gain freedom.

> On Monday, Nov. 4, Coates will be in Miami at the Adrienne Arsht Center discussing the book. WLRN briefly talked with him in advance of the appearance.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

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Out This Week:

• Besieged by Kevin Hearne (Iron Druid Chronicles Short Story Collection) [07/11/17]
  
• Loved by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (House of Night Other World #1) [07/11/17]
  
• A Kiss Before Doomsday by Laurence MacNaughton (Dru Jasper #2) [07/11/17]
  
• Fury of a Phoenix by Shannon Mayer (Nix #1) [07/11/17]
  
• Dark Exodus by Thomas E. Sniegoski (The Demonists #2) [07/11/17]
  
• The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross (Laundry Files #8) [07/11/17]
  
  

  Out This Month:
  

• Enigma by Tonya Kuper (Shrodinger's Consortium #2) [07/03/17]
  
• Heroine Worship by Sarah Kuhn (Heroine Complex #2) [07/04/17]
  
• Waking for Winter by Katherine McIntyre (Philadelphia Coven Chronicles #4) [07/04/11]
  
• Grave Ransom by Kalayna Price (Alex Craft #5) [07/4/17] (I'm not certain I trust this date based off past author habits, but everything is preceding like it should for a real release.)
  
• The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell [07/18/17]
  
• Accidental Sire by Molly Harper (Half-Moon Hollow #6) [07/24/17]
  
• Wildfire by Ilona Andrews (Hidden Legacy #3) [07/25/17]
  
• The Brightest Embers by Jeaniene Frost (Broken Destiny #3) [07/25/17]
  
• Dark Rites by Heather Graham (Krewe of Hunters #22) [07/25/17]
  
• Blood Gamble by Melissa F. Olson (Disrupted Magic #2) [07/25/17]
  
• Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw (Dr. Greta Helsing #1) [07/25/17]
  
• Talon of God by Wesley Snipes and Ray Norman [07/25/17] (Yes, that Wesley Snipes)
  
• A Dragon of a Different Color by Rachel Aaron (Heartstrikers #4) [07/28/17]
  
  
  
  

  Giveaway
  

  Loved by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast Ends July 11th.

It makes me sad to hear you got a bad impression of them from AW. If you'd like a recommendation, I would suggest reading [Feminism Is For Everybody] (http://www.amazon.ca/Feminism-Is-Everybody-Passionate-Politics/dp/0896086283) by bell hooks. It's a great primer for people new to feminism, very accessible, fun to read and not filled with academic jargon. [Here's] (http://excoradfeminisms.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/bell_hooks-feminism_is_for_everybody.pdf) a free e-book version if you don't want to buy a hard copy.

Footnotes

(1) The label "rape culture" is a great example: It's basically devolved into an uber-polarizing red herring that ensures the discussion will entirely spiral into nothing more than frothing accusations of "femnazi SJWs and their safe spaces".

(2) I really REALLY hate the patronizing tone you everyone uses for "safe space". Having a place to vent and talk about issues that are only experienced by marginalized groups --without the conversation being derailed by the mob-- isn't a bad thing. It provides a venue for women to discuss and share ways of how to handle the little things and collectively decide when to turn something into a "big" thing.

(3) Obviously when I say "everyone" I'm exaggerating to describe the workplace... Many of the friends I made there are still my friends today.

(4) Here's a excerpt of chat that I had:

>Friend 1:26 PM:
>lol, he is awesome. but he's abrasive and I am quite used to hearing the opposite from people

>ahhhhhhh

>never mind

>makes perfect sense

>kimb00 1:26 PM:
>huh?

>Friend 1:26 PM:
>becauseboobs
>:)

-------

(5) Reading Material Suggestions:

• Feminism Is for Everybody
  
• Men Explain Things to Me
  
• Why Are Women Biased Against Other Women?
  
• Institutional Sexism
  
• 5 Subtle Ways Men Are Misogynists at Work
  
• 13 Subtle Ways Women Are Treated Differently At Work
  
• 6 things you don’t understand about feminism that you should probably learn before writing about feminism
  
• 5 Logical Fallacies That Show Up in Every Anti-Feminist Argument

MrAffinity wrote:

Bell Hooks, a fantastic feminist author, seems to think so.

http://www.amazon.com/Feminism-Is-Everybody-Passionate-Politics/dp/0896086283

I suggest giving this a read!

Bell Hooks, a fantastic feminist author, seems to think so.

http://www.amazon.com/Feminism-Is-Everybody-Passionate-Politics/dp/0896086283

I suggest giving this a read!

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. It's very intense post-apocalyptic fiction and get this, female protagonist, no major romantic plots or subplots. It's a great book.

The Ragdoll Plagues by Alejandro Morales. Really weird magical realism/cyberpunk stuff. It's been a while since I've read it, but I don't remember there being much if any romantic stuff.

My discipline is Geography, so one of my favorites is Feminism and Geography by Gillian Rose, which I think is actually great even for non-geographers. Feel free to skip the bits about the academy. As for the list I mentioned in an earlier comment, Feminism is For Everybody by bell hooks is probably the most accessible and general book that I'd recommend. It should be on your bookshelf. I wouldn't try tackling Judith Butler if you're not in the mood for an academic slog (even though her work is phenomenal), but Gender Trouble is probably her best-known book. A Field of One's Own by Bina Agarwal is a stellar look at farming economies in South Asia through the lens of feminism. A Cyborg Manifesto (PDF link) by Donna Haraway is fairly polemic among feminists, but she's a name that's almost invariably brought up when talking about posthuman/transhuman theory. She's somewhat problematic, but I personally like her writing style.

My recs for someone who is just getting into Feminism:

• Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
  
• Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation
  
• Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV
  
• Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings

You might be better off with this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Feminism-Everybody-Passionate-bell-hooks/dp/0896086283

I would consider myself a feminist, and I along with all other feminists I’ve met in my city (edit to add: and online! Except for one TERF who was horrible) are all quite passionate about the topics I mentioned :D Other than my personal experience I would say have a look at popular feminist websites for examples of what I’m talking about eg https://everydayfeminism.com

Also feminism as a whole is about fighting misogyny! It is extremely misogynistic to tell men certain jobs and hobbies are beneath them or that they should “man up” and not show emotions or seek help for health, or to tell men that it’s not possible for men to be raped or assaulted, or to rule in women’s favour in child custody battles because of notions that childcare is women’s business

Here are some people and sources to note:

• Julia Gillard
  
  
• Academic study on social paradigms of masculinity impact on male mental health
  
  
• Anya Overmann
  
  
• Bell Hooks and her book, Feminism is for Everybody as well as her mention in this abstract and study

Ever read Pym by Mat Johnson?

Dawn by Octavia Butler comes to mind

http://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Xenogenesis-Bk-Octavia-Butler/dp/0446603775

But Feminism is for Everybody.

You're just going to get turned around in circles looking for answers here.

Start with bell hooks, specifically this.

First of all you are not my friend and secondly you don't need to baby talk me into understanding the definition of an "opinion." Also I won't discuss feminism you because I don't come on reddit to have debates with mens rights activist scumbags. If you want to learn about feminism you could start by reading a book.

Go talk to a therapist for your anger issues.

To get a better understanding of the world, start here.

You might want to educate yourself on the womens movement from the 60's, 70's and 80's. There's also some decent introductory feminist reading that is a good starting point such as feminism is for everybody.

The show Makers on PBS covers a lot of the early womens movement. There was a lot of yelling and screaming there too. You don't get what you want by being polite and asking for it nicely. You fight for it.

People think that feminism is this hate driven thing where they want to cut any dudes dick off because he is a man. No, they don't and that's the male driven media pushing that kind of thought.

It's mostly about abolishing patriarchy (which also hurts men) and want to bring down male privilege. While you might not think you are privileged, you probably are (are you white and male, then you are privileged). Just recognize your privilege, what it means and notice when it is being exercised. Most of the time it's invisible because if you are "the normal" for your country nobody will bother you. If that's the case, maybe travel to a country where you aren't normal or possibly where your country is even hated. Then you will see what it's like to not have that implicit privilege taken away.

> Sexism hurts us all.

Feminism Is For Everybody!

But Julie! I thought "Feminism is for Everybody"?

>When anything true but damning about men as a class comes up, such as they do less childcare and housework, and are paid more than women, there will likely be a twee little intervention, such as 'present company accepted', or 'Nigel is OK though'.

>In recent years, the cry of 'we need more men in feminism'. and 'we must include men' has been creeping in. To counter the accusations of man-hating that feminists like me face all the time, many of the more liberal, 'fun' feminists' bend over backwards to tell men that feminism will fail without their intervention. But the whole point of the women's liberation movement is that is challenges and seeks to overthrow male supremacy, and to liberate women from the shackles of patriarchy. it goes without saying that most men will take exception to this. We wish to remove the privilege they are granted at birth. Feminism is a threat to men, and so it should be.

Drops the mic

> Implicit in this is the idea that only the struggles of those without privilege matter.

How do you figure? Shoot, even the feminists who are so popular to demonize on Reddit will talk about how patriarchy and toxic masculinity is bad for men, too. Men have to be men! Be a man! Wipe away those tears! Be strong and tough and a rock for everyone to lean on, and keep your problems inside! You don't want to make people think you're all emotional like a woman, do you?

Edit: I highly recommend bell hooks' Feminism is For Everybody.

> And Anita would have my respect if she talked about gender generalizations for both genders than just women. It's not Gamers Against Bigotry for her; let's be real, it's Gamers against Bigotry against Women. But somehow even though gamers are primarily men, they don't care if it does not include them.

Heya so this is a super-duper common misconception about feminism that I'll try to call out without getting too tl'dr: Feminism is not exclusively about women, but it is (necessarily) primarily about women. Why? Because the mere fact that we even have "men issues" vs "women issues" to talk about is a directly result of the historical (and ongoing) mistreatment of women. Are men affected by this divide? Of course they are. The vast, overwhelming majority of (not made up) feminists acknowledge this. We should all be interested in dealing with this problem! But we don't call it "egalitarianism", we call it "feminism" for the simple reason that whatever discrimination men face (compared to women) exists only because of an even bigger problem women face (or used to face).

Again, this is super-condensed but I highly recommend this book if you are even the least bit interested in what feminism actually deals with (as opposed to the popular assumptions about it).



....


Having said all that, I cannot wrap my mind around what exactly Anita Sarkeesian would talk about in regards to men specific issues in gaming... There are a few genuine problems specific to men (even middle-class 1st world white men) in the real, outside world but hell if I can think of a single way being a man puts you at any sort of disadvantage in the gaming community of all things.

If you want to talk about bigotry in gaming, you have to talk about gender-based bigotry, and if you want to talk about genter-based bigotry in gaming, how could you possibly not talk about women ???

>To be a feminist means that you are taking the stance that the problems faced by women today are greater than problems faced by men...

I would like to start by saying that nothing in my reply is intended to sound hostile, bitter, or dismissive. That said, your attitude about feminism is representative of an extremely biased approach to understanding the issues feminists seek to address. It is indicative of a general misunderstanding of the basic ideas and (in my mind, more importantly) terminology of feminist theory.

To start with, if you can honestly find me an academically or socially recognized feminist who would truthfully assert that women should be in control and men should not, then I would be absolutely aghast. I'm not talking about some blogger or some crazy in the local paper; I'm talking about someone whose studies, writings, and or activist work has influenced a substantial portion of people identifying as feminists. Feminists do not seek to elevate women to a social or political position anywhere but equal to men. I think this common misconception stems from a grave misunderstanding of concepts/terms such as "privilege" and "patriarchy" as well as a simple judgement based on the roots of the name "Feminism" itself.


>To say men have no problems is to minimize issues that are present in the other sex...


I have never heard any learned feminist argue that in any way. If you think that the argument that women face more adversity in society is the same as saying that men face no problems then you have woefully misinterpreted the statement. If you want to play the oppression Olympics to determine who has it worse, well I suppose that's your prerogative.

What I see in your comment is a quite common issue people exhibit when confronted with feminism: a cursory examination of the name and basic definition (often flawed) is enough to convince you (not you necessarily) that feminists are antagonistic to men both as a group and individually. In reality, while feminism began as a way to give political voice to women completely without power, it has evolved into a complex and diverse school of philosophy which has as its most common element the attempt to understand social problems related to and constructed upon gender. While the most common inequalities feminists address are those that harm women, feminists have also worked to study social issues adversely affecting men. This is because, in typical feminist theory, the root causes of female social issues also adversely affect men.

For example, feminists often talk about "gender roles". What is a gender role? A gender role is a quality or act expected of someone, from birth and throughout their life, assigned to them on the basis of the gender they are assigned at birth. Gender roles that typically adversely affect women: expectations of maternal/parenting instincts, femininity, housewife roles, submissiveness. What separates a gender role from a biological quality is that, whereas a biological trait is something that may be common to a certain group (but often varies heavily within that group), a role is a social construct that denies the validity of a lifestyle not lived within that role. Consequences of breaking from one's role can range from social shaming to (in some places) outright discrimination and violence. Female gender roles harm women because they force our attitudes to condemn women who do not act/appear to act as their roles would have you believe. The flip-side to this in feminism (that feminist detractors ignore) is that men are also have expected roles. Roles such as "the provider", aloofness, strength, and masculinity. These roles provide the basis for social issues that negatively impact men: Men shouldn't hang around children because they shouldn't exhibit any qualities that seem "maternal", Men aren't good candidates for romantic relationships unless they posses material wealth, etc. As should be obvious, the same root causes of female inequality are problems for men as well!


>...only WOMEN face REAL problems, and ONLY men cause them.


As I mentioned earlier, one of the problems I think many people have with feminism comes from a profound misunderstanding of its terminology. Words/Phrases like "Male Privilege" and "Patriarchy" seem to trigger the idea that feminism means "MALES BAD. FEMALES GOOD". This is absolutely not the case. I'll admit, with just a superficial observation, the words themselves don't seem to exactly praise men (whether the words themselves and the feelings they elicit should be renamed is another argument entirely). First, Privilege refers to the idea that certain people, due to existing social prejudices deeply ingrained into every single person in that society, benefit from qualities or conditions that they had no control over. "The Patriarchy" refers to a social system by which the difference between power and no power is guided by the distinction between masculinity and femininity. Notice that it is not the distinction between men and women but the gender roles mentioned earlier: masculinity and femininity. The concept of a patriarchy is that it is circular: The patriarchy encourages that men behave in a masculine way and women in a feminine way, then those who best exhibit masculine traits overwhelmingly occupy the positions of power and influence, where they then serve as social "proof" that masculinity in males is a good thing, beginning the cycle over again. As you can see from this simple overview, feminism does not seek to blame each and every single man for being a man. It seeks to examine the fundamental forces that guide our social interactions, which existed long before any currently living person and (likely) will continue in the future. There is no "evil board of men" that feminists think are turning all the world's men into insufferable misogynists; feminism merely believes that the current system of social dynamics favors the masculine, which overwhelmingly is a trait that is forced into men. This should also be obvious: who represent the vast majority of politicians, CEOs, wealthy and/or influential people? By and large, men. Not because men are inherently evil but because society expects men to do these things, so they do. We hammer it heavily into our children (though more passively than the hammer allegory might suggest).

In summary:
-No, feminists do not think men face no problems in society.
-Feminists do think that men's social issues stem from the same root causes as those of women.
-Feminism (as widely practiced) is about studying and hopefully eliminating the forces oppressing both women and men.
-Feminists do not think all men are evil, they take issue with the idea that society dictates that all men must be X and all women must be Y, and then society determines that X is the best quality of leadership/influence. This is called patriarchy.

I don't take issue simply with your rejection of Feminism, but several statements in your response indicate that your analysis of feminism has been cursory, at best. I highly recommend Feminism is for Everybody, by Bell Hooks for a simple, short overview. I apologize for the length of this comment, I wrote it not just to you but to anyone for whom Feminism seems like dark magic. Additionally, the issues I had with your comment weren't issues that can be addressed usefully with just a quick note. These are complex issues and thus require more than a few sentences.

TL;DR, The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottles refers to the number of different types of pickles the company once sold.