The Feminist Academy · Reading Roadmap
Most feminist reading lists are intimidating. And then life happens: you read three chapters, put the book down, and feel as if you are not feminist enough to join in.
The point of this roadmap is to take that pressure away. Nobody finishes every book. You need a path, not a perfect reading record.
September → April
bell hooks
What does patriarchy do to boys and men, and what does it cost everyone? bell hooks looks at power, care and the possibility of change.
This is not a simple story in which men are bad. It is an invitation to think about masculinity honestly, and about what a less harmful way of living might ask of us.
Laura Bates
What happens when old sexism is rebuilt inside new technology? Laura Bates looks at how bias and misogyny are reproduced through AI and emerging technologies.
The book asks who benefits when prejudice hides behind the language of innovation, and gives us useful questions for looking at systems presented as neutral.
Sara Ahmed
What does it mean to say no, make a complaint, or refuse to stay quiet? Sara Ahmed writes about refusal, complaint and the work of speaking up.
Institutions often protect themselves, and the person who names harm so often becomes the problem. This book helps us see that pattern more clearly.
Virginia Woolf
Who gets the money, space and time needed to think and create? Virginia Woolf makes the material conditions of art impossible to ignore.
It is a book about the room a life needs, as much as it is a book about writing.
Andrea Dworkin
Why might some women align themselves with movements that limit women's freedom? Andrea Dworkin follows that difficult question with force and refuses easy answers.
Right-Wing Women is uncomfortable on purpose, so it rewards active, questioning reading rather than passive agreement.
Florence Given
What might feminism make possible when it is not only naming harm? Florence Given writes about pleasure, desire and the right to define yourself.
Women Living Deliciously brings the list towards a fuller life, with room for wanting things and making choices.
Victoria Smith
What happens to women when they are no longer treated as young or decorative? Victoria Smith writes about ageing, contempt and the social punishment directed at women who no longer fit that ideal.
Hags gives language to a misogyny that is everywhere, then too often brushed off as harmless.
Victoria Smith
How much anger are women allowed, and what happens when we are not endlessly nice? Victoria Smith writes about women's anger, conflict and ambivalence.
(Un)kind resists good-woman and bad-woman storytelling, leaving more room for complicated feelings and honest disagreement.
Read one chapter. Listen to a masterclass. Underline one sentence. Bring one question. That is enough to begin.
The monthly book club is for women, non-binary people and feminist souls. It is £25 a month, and you do not have to finish the book to join the conversation.