feminism 101- recommend a book or movie

[mopinko]

so, i have a friend who is 40, educated, but says she's read zero feminist theory.
maybe she and i dont have the same idea of that word, but...
she's someone who is a mess because of a macho, toxic family. she should just tell them to go fuck themselves, but she really wants to try to articulate what the fucking problem is.

so, she wants recommendations.
i'm gonna look through my library and see what i have. but it seems like forever ago that reading led me to thinking and being someone who is whole, and makes no apologies for it. (or so i tell myself.)
i dont remember where my path started beyond ms magazine and 'fat is a feminist issue'.

what books or movies opened your eyes?

[FalloutShelter]

1. A couple of popular culture statement movies:

Norma Rae, Silkwood and Erin Brockivich are all about women finding their power as whistle blowers in systems that did not value their voices.

On edit: Hidden Figures

[mopinko]

3. this isnt really what i was thinking.

i'm sure she's seen plenty of strong women.
she needs to pick apart how and why she was treated like the dog in her home. she's never done that.
i plan to pass on some early steinem books i have.

she needs to figure this put about her mom, too. which is why 'fat is a feminist issue' popped into my head. cuz her mom is real heavy, and has the usual health bs, plus autoimmune shit.
she tried to tell me she didnt judge her, til i pointed out that pity is a judgement.

she doesnt need inspiration so much as understanding.

[FalloutShelter]

4. Sorry, I misunderstood your request.

Sounds like she would benefit from a support group.
I hope she will take your support and advice in the spirit in which it is offered.

[mopinko]

5. it's okay. and yeah, she

has gotten a lot of support from me, and she appreciates it.
she is actively trying to work this stuff out, which is usually the hard part.
i'm honest with her, and i think it's helping her put her finger on some things.

[WhiteTara]

2. I'll start

The Great Cosmic Mother
When God Was A Woman
Daughters of Copper Woman
Crone


These are seminal works that give you another perspective about humanity.

[cbabe]

6. All good choices.

Thought I was the only one who ever heard of Copper Woman. Cheers.

Femine mystique
Men explain things to me
The beauty myth

[WhiteTara]

7. The Copper Woman story is among my favorite

I think probably the most profound book of my list is The Great Cosmic Mother by Monica Sjoo and Barbara Walker.

Lynn Redmond's When Women Were Drummers is also great.

I like Betty Friedan
but the other two are later than my generation but I can see that they would be of definite benefit to help women struggle through the maze of the patriarchy and how to be authentic humans in our female form.

[musette_sf]

8. Marilyn French, The War Against Women

[mopinko]

9. now that name rings a bell.

i had to look it up. i knew i had read her- the women's room.
i swear i read this stuff so long ago.

i think the bell jar is one she should read, too.

[musette_sf]

10. A really, really important book,

especially in light of the terrorism going on in Texas, is The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler.

https://www.thegirlswhowentaway.com/

The torture, imprisonment, and vile unspeakable cruelty of the Baby Scoop Era should be etched on every woman's brain and soul.

I did not have sex as a young woman until RvW was made law. There was NO WAY I was going to have my life taken away from me, to be imprisoned and tortured in gestational slavery. Even with birth control, that was a chance I was not willing to take if contraception failure meant certain torture and imprisonment.

[musette_sf]

11. The Telling Collection, Women Before Roe

by Ruth Woolman. It makes me cry every time I read it.

[Stargleamer]

12. Feminism Unmodified by Catharine MacKinnon

and all other books written by Catharine MacKinnon & Andrea Dworkin