Essential Books for Women

[Mikaela]

One book I would very, very  warmly recommend is "Misogynies" by Joan Smith. It's a collection of extremely perceptive and insightful essays on the gender inequality and repression of women in pop culture, politics, history, religious and societal institutions - some of which may perhaps slip under our radar, some of which we may have become numb to - most of which I am sure we can all nod to in exasperated agreement.

There's essays on a number of issues, among them on the attitude women encounter in rape cases, the male fight against women clergy, the repression of *real* womens' history from (as an example) works on Roman History, an extremely lucid take on why "Page 2 topless girls" demean themselves and all women, and the best treatise on a serial murderer of women that I have ever read - dealing with UK's Yorksihre Ripper and the police's horridly condescending attitude towards his victims, which ultimately led to them haring off in the wrong directions in their investigations and him thereby getting off the hook for far too long, - murdering again and again while the police stumbled in a fog partly of their own making.


I also completely support the recommendation of Morgan's "Descent of Woman". I think the aquatic Ape theory makes so much immediate sense, and demonstrates an ability to go beyond old accepted theories that I both applaud and find mesmerizing.

[serious crayons]

The chapters are all just two or three pages, each presenting some double standard with a catchy name, describing the problem and suggesting a remedy. Some examples (in addition to the title one):

He's a man, she's a mom.

He's chill, she's on the pill.

He's tough, she's a tomboy.

He's gay, she's a fantasy.

He's the boss, she's a bitch.

He's manly, she's Sasquatch [regarding hair removal].

He's lucky, she's Lolita.

He's distinguished, she's driving Miss Daisy.

He can be a beast, she must be a beauty.

And so on. I don't think I agree that all of them predominate all the time, but they are thought-provoking. (If any need further explanation, let me know). At Amazon, as you can see, you can look inside the book. I saw it in a bookstore and could not resist.

[delalluvia]

Who cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles

Great book on a woman's POV of history.  Witty and sardonic.  I love it.

When women were priests by Karen Torjesen
A book on early Christianity which shows women were very active and had roles in leadership - according to Jesus' supposed teachings -  until they were subordinated into meekness and silence.

[Front-Ranger]

Here's that lovely snakegoddess!!

And her wardrobe!!


Thank you Mikeala, that one definitely goes on my Wish List. I heard that a new book has just been published called Her Story, which recounts history adding the feminine back in. One woman that is profiled is Catherine Greene, wife of the revolutionary general Nathaniel Greene, who, they say, actually invented the cotton gin, although the credit went to Eli Whitney. Another woman who should get more credit is Madame Messier, who identified quite a few of the objects in the sky that her husband took credit for.

[delalluvia]

And her wardrobe!!


Thank you Mikeala, that one definitely goes on my Wish List. I heard that a new book has just been published called Her Story, which recounts history adding the feminine back in. One woman that is profiled is Catherine Greene, wife of the revolutionary general Nathaniel Greene, who, they say, actually invented the cotton gin, although the credit went to Eli Whitney. Another woman who should get more credit is Madame Messier, who identified quite a few of the objects in the sky that her husband took credit for.

Probably quite a few inventions by women went unnoticed because - at least in the States - women couldn't hold patents, so their fathers/brothers/husbands got credit for them.

[serious crayons]

Who cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles

Great book on a woman's POV of history.  Witty and sardonic.  I love it.

I'm tempted to get it for the title alone.

[opinionista]

The chapters are all just two or three pages, each presenting some double standard with a catchy name, describing the problem and suggesting a remedy. Some examples (in addition to the title one):

He's a man, she's a mom.

He's chill, she's on the pill.

He's tough, she's a tomboy.

He's gay, she's a fantasy.

He's the boss, she's a bitch.

He's manly, she's Sasquatch [regarding hair removal].

He's lucky, she's Lolita.

He's distinguished, she's driving Miss Daisy.

He can be a beast, she must be a beauty.

And so on. I don't think I agree that all of them predominate all the time, but they are thought-provoking. (If any need further explanation, let me know). At Amazon, as you can see, you can look inside the book. I saw it in a bookstore and could not resist.

I liked She's a Stalker and He's a Romeo. That's so true. Women who go after men are either desperate, sluts or stalkers. Men however, are in love, cute, or passionate, etc.

[Marge_Innavera]

Let us gather a shelf full of essential books for today's woman! In my humble estimation, there are two books which every enlightened woman should own: Women Who Run With the Wolves, and The Alphabet Versus the Goddess. The first book, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, retells some folk and fairy tales and uncovers the ancient truths and archtypes within them.

For people unfamiliar with Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Wikipedia has a very good summary at Wikipedia  Some highlights, including a background sketch making it clear that Estes isn't a sheltered academic:

As post-trauma specialist, she began her work in the 1960s at hospitals caring for severely injured children, 'shell-shocked' war veterans, and their families. Her teaching of writing in prisons began in the early 1970s at the Men's Penitentiary in Colorado; the Federal Women's Prison at Dublin, CA, and in prisons throughout the Southwest. She ministers in the fields of childbearing loss, surviving families of murder victims, as well as critical incident work. She served at natural disaster sites, developing post-trauma recovery protocol for earthquake survivors in Armenia, and teaching citizens deputized to do post-trauma work on site. She recently served Columbine High School and community after the massacre, 1999-2003. She works with 9-11 survivor families on both east and west coasts.

She is controversial for proposing that both assimilation and holding to ethnic traditions are the ways to contribute to creative culture and to a soul-based civility. She successfully helped to petition the Library of Congress, as well as worldwide psychoanalytic institutes, to rename their studies and categorizations formerly called, among other things, "psychology of the primitives," to respectful and descriptive names, according to ethnic group, religion, culture, etc.

And a few memorable quotes:

"Nature and human beings are not separate. You can be sure that when the land and creatures are wounded by humans, that those humans are copying their own psychic wounds into the earth and animals as well; what is wounded and without thought, wounds others..." (from essay "Massacre of the Dreamers")

"When, after a conflict, the best balanced leaders who have a stake in the future of all persons, are bypassed, and instead power is seized by the angriest and most grudge-holding, whose greatest stake is in the past… without new consciousness, and without strong reconciling actions, thus erupts a horrible recycling of living out the least of what is human in this world." (from Letter To The Prince on the Anniversary of Kristallnacht" )

"All strong souls first go to hell before they do the healing of the world they came here for. If we are lucky, we return to help those still trapped below." (from the poem Abre La Puerta in 'Theatre of the Imagination' )

[Marge_Innavera]

Oh, forgot to add ---


Estes is now a contributor at the Moderate Voice blog.   Her current entry is titled Which Political Mixture Are You?

[Brown Eyes]

Who cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles

Great book on a woman's POV of history.  Witty and sardonic.  I love it.

I'm tempted to get it for the title alone.

The topic of cooking made me think of this book...

A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances
by Laura Schenone

<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/6067888-ff4.jpg" border="0" />

This is the "synopsis" from the Barnes and Noble website:

A stunningly illustrated book that celebrates the power of food throughout American history and in women's lives.

Filled with classic recipes and inspirational stories, A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove will make you think twice about the food on your plate. Here is the first book to recount how American women have gathered, cooked, and prepared food for lovers, strangers, and family throughout the ages. We find native women who pried nourishment from the wilderness, mothers who sold biscuits to buy their children's freedom, immigrant wives who cooked old foods in new homes to provide comfort. From church bake sales to microwaving moms, this book is a celebration of women's lives, homes, and communities. Over fifty recipes, from Federal Pancakes to Sweet Potato Pie, are beautifully presented along with over one hundred images from artists, photographers, and rare sources. A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove is the shared history of all American women...