Feminism Books

Cosmetic surgeries are at an all-time high, Ozempic is bringing back 'heroin chic' and the manosphere on the rise - after four waves of feminism, what went wrong? Despite decades of progress, modern womanhood feels more challengin…

Nan Goldin's deeply personal exploration of female trauma and resistance. Sisters, Saints and Sibyls is a tribute ‘to all rebellious women struggling to survive in society.’ Focusing on the tragic life of her sister, Barbara, Nan …

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2023 A WATERSTONES BOOK OF YEAR FOR POLITICS 2023 ‘I learned something new on every page of this totally essential book’ Sathnam Sanghera ‘By thinking about gendered inequalit…

AI is here, bringing a seismic shift in the way our society operates. Might this mean a future reimagined on equitable terms for women and marginalised groups everywhere?Not unless we fight for it.At present, power remains largely…

How do we talk about porn? Why it is that when we do talk about porn, we tend to retreat into the abstract? How do we have meaningful conversations about it with those closest to us? In Porn: An Oral History, Polly Barton interrog…

A superb and illuminating history of Imperial Rome's most important women – dispelling the myths and misogyny that have distorted their reputations for over 2000 years. Writer, activist and journalist Joan Smith has worked for yea…

From the dawn of Old English to the present day, Dr Jenni Nuttall guides readers through the evolution of words we have used to describe women and the experiences they might share including menstruation, sexuality, the consequence…

The book will help women uncover their sense of awe and wonder that has been buried by the layers of shame and self-objectification that get piled on us by the patriarchy. For too long we have internalised the belief that our bodi…

IT'S NOT IN YOUR HEAD. IT'S IN THE DATA.To be a woman today is to be overwhelmed from every angle. The data proves that the odds are still stacked against us - biologically, culturally, economically.But that same data can empower …

THE UNTOLD STORY OF HOW WOMEN MADE THE WORLD WEALTHYHumanity's journey from poverty to prosperity is filled with men who have become household names. But how many female entrepreneurs, merchants and industrialists can you name?Eco…

A Cosmopolitan best book about sex and intimacy that everyone should read!'Funny, wise, revelatory – a revolution wrapped in a love story' - Natasha Lunn, author of Conversations on Love'Hopeful, funny, sexy – a book I'm going to …

What kind of art does a monster make? And what if monster is a verb? Noun or a verb, the idea is a dare: to overwhelm limits, to invent our own definitions of beauty.In this dazzlingly original reassessment of women's stories, bod…

In this bold and radical book, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini goes in search of the true roots of gendered oppression, uncovering a complex history of how male domination became embedded in societies and spread acro…

Open up this cabinet of curiosities and you'll find objects that have been highly esteemed and others that are humble and domestic. Some (like a sixteenth century glass dildo) are objects of female pleasure, some (a thumbscrew) of…

'Reveals an until-now hidden history of women's self-portraiture. A gift that keeps on giving' ALI SMITH, NEW STATESMAN, Books of the Year'A fascinating survey . .. Extraordinary' DAILY MAIL'A bewitching, invigorating history' OLI…

The book will help women uncover their sense of awe and wonder that has been buried by the layers of shame and self-objectification that get piled on us by the patriarchy. For too long we have internalised the belief that our bodi…

Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry? That the Peasant’s Revolt was started and propelled by women, protesting a tax on women? Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just th…

'He understands only the women he invents – the others not at all' Thomas Hardy is one of the most beloved and most-read British authors. His influence on literature and the minds of his readers is singular. But how is it that th…

Written during the height of second-wave feminism, Sontag's essays remain strikingly relevant to our contemporary conversations. At times powerfully in sync and at others powerfully at odds with them, they are always characteristi…

What does it mean to be a good man? To be a good father, or a good partner? A good brother, or a good friend? In this insightful analysis, social historian Ivan Jablonka offers a re-examination of the patriarchy and its impact on …

Focusing on fifty diverse women artists, from Lavinia Fontana and Artemisia Gentileschi through Judy Chicago, Ana Mendieta and the Guerrilla Girls to Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman and Louise Bourgeois, this book equips the reader …

As any feminist who talks about the problems of girls and women will know, the first question you will ever be asked is 'But what about MEN?' After eleven years of writing bestsellers about women and dismissing this question, havi…

Linda Nochlin’s seminal essay on women artists is widely acknowledged as the first real attempt at a feminist history of art. Nochlin refused to handle the question of why there had been no ‘great women artists’ on its own, corrup…

In 1981, Rebecca Solnit rented a studio apartment in San Francisco, her home for the next twenty-five years. There she began the process of forging a voice in a society that preferred women to be silent. Liberated by West Coast ac…

 From Boudicca to Ukraine, battlefields have always contained a surprising number of female fighters. We have all heard of Joan of Arc, but not the cross-dressing soldiers whose disguises were so effective the men around them…

From the self-described 'black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet', these soaring, urgent essays on the power of women, poetry and anger are filled with darkness and light.

How bitches, trainwrecks, shrews, and crazy women have taken over pop culture and liberated women from having to be nice. Female characters throughout history have been burdened by the moral trap that is likeability. Any woman who…

From the bestselling and Booker Prize–winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo’s memoir of her own life and writing, and her manifesto on unstoppability, creativity, and activism Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker …

The Wolves is a gift of profound insight, wisdom and love. An oracle from one who knows' Alice WalkerIn the classic Women Who Run With The Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes tells us about the 'wild woman', the wise and ageless presen…

Dabiri writes with empowering enthusiasm on alternatives to the way we look at beauty, and encourages us to rebel against current beauty standards' Psychologies'Powerful' The i, Best New Books to Read in October 2023For too long, …