Woman by Natalie Angier
Wonderful book that challenges the dubious conclusions about women being "naturally monogamous" and other tales of "women's nature". It also makes you smile while reading it, glad to be a woman.
The Descent of Women by Elaine Morgan
Lovely book. It's the Aquatic Ape theory. The author builds on an earlier theory, long ignored, that the reason human women are shaped the way they are isn't because attracting male lust was the most important thing women's bodies needed to evolve for. Note, it's an old theory, it challenges the beliefs of most of the - male - paleoanthropologists/zoologists (the title is a play on Bronowski's
The Ascent of Man and in the book she also parallels Desmond Morris' theories but comes to a completely different conclusion), but to date, no one in the scientific community has been able to invalidate this theory.
When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone
The scholarship is somewhat wonky, but the author gets her point across. The Divine wasn't always seen as a man, and indeed there is strong evidence that the Ultimate Divine was once considered female.
Bitch by Elizabeth Wurtzel
A collection of essays by the author, praising and dissecting the characters of women - some biblical, the rest real - the author believes society would consider "difficult" or "bitches". An excellent read.
