Feminist Book Society Anti-Patriarchal Reads Book Box
We are so excited to be collaborating with the Feminist Book Society to choose some essential feminist reads. They have chosen a selection of contemporary and classic non-fiction for you to jump into, to help you understand the issues, get angry and inspired and work out what exactly to do with that energy!
A great gift for the feminist in your life.
Rosie and Eli from FBS tell us more about their choices below:
Fix The System, Not The Women by Laura Bates
Laura Bates is one of our heroes, and one of the most impactful feminist activists at
work today. It’s hard to choose which of her ground-breaking books to celebrate
here, but Fix The System, Not The Women shines a forensic spotlight on the
misogyny that society was built and thrives upon.
It lays out the damaging, horribly effective ways in which this system protects and
normalises itself – both illicitly and blatantly – by prioritising a culture of victim-
blaming, demanding emotional labour of those most disenfranchised in order to raise
a challenge to it and demonising those who succeed in taking a stand.
And it wouldn’t be a Laura Bates book if it didn’t expertly present tangible actions for
how to dismantle this system, balancing her lived daily experience with the shocking
and powerful stories of people at the frontline. All this while delivering the clearest
message yet: that this is not our mess to clean up.
all about love by bell hooks
We have asked every single panellist at our events: ‘What is the feminist book that
made you?’. Over the past five years, this book is rightly one of a few titles that have
been chosen many times…
This is one of those books you wish you read sooner and are so grateful to spend
time with. It is the first of bell hooks’ works we read, but sat on our bookshelf for too
long due to a misplaced sense of feeling intimidated by her wisdom, and an incorrect
assumption that this was a polemic solely on romantic love. Accessible, warm, and
vibrating with soft power, each chapter explores different forms of love – and
demonstrates how interconnected each is, and should be, with our lives and wider
society. Crucially, it will make every reader even more compassionate for having
read it. It has been an important book for over twenty years, but is more vital now
than ever.
Do Something: Activism for Everyone by Kajal Odedra
Kajal is a phenomenal activist, and at the time of writing was CEO of Change.org,
which is how we first came across her. With this book, she sets out in practical and
empowering terms how to build activism into your life – from a local community issue
to campaigning for a change to the law. She generously shares her wisdom and
communications acumen, inferring her experience with a confident humility. Kajal
has taken care that her writing is accessible to teenagers as well as adults, and her
style is that of your smartest friend sitting you down with a notebook and a cup of tea
and saying, ‘Ok, so here’s what you do…’
In the short time since its 2019 publication, the need for campaigning has
proliferated, and it can feel overwhelming to take up a mantle of any scale. But with
candour and wit, Kajal’s step-by-step guide is a true toolkit for how to make change,
and the impact of doing so on your own sense of self and achievement.
We are so excited to be collaborating with the Feminist Book Society to choose some essential feminist reads. They have chosen a selection of contemporary and classic non-fiction for you to jump into, to help you understand the issues, get angry and inspired and work out what exactly to do with that energy!
A great gift for the feminist in your life.
Rosie and Eli from FBS tell us more about their choices below:
Fix The System, Not The Women by Laura Bates
Laura Bates is one of our heroes, and one of the most impactful feminist activists at
work today. It’s hard to choose which of her ground-breaking books to celebrate
here, but Fix The System, Not The Women shines a forensic spotlight on the
misogyny that society was built and thrives upon.
It lays out the damaging, horribly effective ways in which this system protects and
normalises itself – both illicitly and blatantly – by prioritising a culture of victim-
blaming, demanding emotional labour of those most disenfranchised in order to raise
a challenge to it and demonising those who succeed in taking a stand.
And it wouldn’t be a Laura Bates book if it didn’t expertly present tangible actions for
how to dismantle this system, balancing her lived daily experience with the shocking
and powerful stories of people at the frontline. All this while delivering the clearest
message yet: that this is not our mess to clean up.
all about love by bell hooks
We have asked every single panellist at our events: ‘What is the feminist book that
made you?’. Over the past five years, this book is rightly one of a few titles that have
been chosen many times…
This is one of those books you wish you read sooner and are so grateful to spend
time with. It is the first of bell hooks’ works we read, but sat on our bookshelf for too
long due to a misplaced sense of feeling intimidated by her wisdom, and an incorrect
assumption that this was a polemic solely on romantic love. Accessible, warm, and
vibrating with soft power, each chapter explores different forms of love – and
demonstrates how interconnected each is, and should be, with our lives and wider
society. Crucially, it will make every reader even more compassionate for having
read it. It has been an important book for over twenty years, but is more vital now
than ever.
Do Something: Activism for Everyone by Kajal Odedra
Kajal is a phenomenal activist, and at the time of writing was CEO of Change.org,
which is how we first came across her. With this book, she sets out in practical and
empowering terms how to build activism into your life – from a local community issue
to campaigning for a change to the law. She generously shares her wisdom and
communications acumen, inferring her experience with a confident humility. Kajal
has taken care that her writing is accessible to teenagers as well as adults, and her
style is that of your smartest friend sitting you down with a notebook and a cup of tea
and saying, ‘Ok, so here’s what you do…’
In the short time since its 2019 publication, the need for campaigning has
proliferated, and it can feel overwhelming to take up a mantle of any scale. But with
candour and wit, Kajal’s step-by-step guide is a true toolkit for how to make change,
and the impact of doing so on your own sense of self and achievement.
We are so excited to be collaborating with the Feminist Book Society to choose some essential feminist reads. They have chosen a selection of contemporary and classic non-fiction for you to jump into, to help you understand the issues, get angry and inspired and work out what exactly to do with that energy!
A great gift for the feminist in your life.
Rosie and Eli from FBS tell us more about their choices below:
Fix The System, Not The Women by Laura Bates
Laura Bates is one of our heroes, and one of the most impactful feminist activists at
work today. It’s hard to choose which of her ground-breaking books to celebrate
here, but Fix The System, Not The Women shines a forensic spotlight on the
misogyny that society was built and thrives upon.
It lays out the damaging, horribly effective ways in which this system protects and
normalises itself – both illicitly and blatantly – by prioritising a culture of victim-
blaming, demanding emotional labour of those most disenfranchised in order to raise
a challenge to it and demonising those who succeed in taking a stand.
And it wouldn’t be a Laura Bates book if it didn’t expertly present tangible actions for
how to dismantle this system, balancing her lived daily experience with the shocking
and powerful stories of people at the frontline. All this while delivering the clearest
message yet: that this is not our mess to clean up.
all about love by bell hooks
We have asked every single panellist at our events: ‘What is the feminist book that
made you?’. Over the past five years, this book is rightly one of a few titles that have
been chosen many times…
This is one of those books you wish you read sooner and are so grateful to spend
time with. It is the first of bell hooks’ works we read, but sat on our bookshelf for too
long due to a misplaced sense of feeling intimidated by her wisdom, and an incorrect
assumption that this was a polemic solely on romantic love. Accessible, warm, and
vibrating with soft power, each chapter explores different forms of love – and
demonstrates how interconnected each is, and should be, with our lives and wider
society. Crucially, it will make every reader even more compassionate for having
read it. It has been an important book for over twenty years, but is more vital now
than ever.
Do Something: Activism for Everyone by Kajal Odedra
Kajal is a phenomenal activist, and at the time of writing was CEO of Change.org,
which is how we first came across her. With this book, she sets out in practical and
empowering terms how to build activism into your life – from a local community issue
to campaigning for a change to the law. She generously shares her wisdom and
communications acumen, inferring her experience with a confident humility. Kajal
has taken care that her writing is accessible to teenagers as well as adults, and her
style is that of your smartest friend sitting you down with a notebook and a cup of tea
and saying, ‘Ok, so here’s what you do…’
In the short time since its 2019 publication, the need for campaigning has
proliferated, and it can feel overwhelming to take up a mantle of any scale. But with
candour and wit, Kajal’s step-by-step guide is a true toolkit for how to make change,
and the impact of doing so on your own sense of self and achievement.
WHO WE ARE
Feminist Book Society
Bookish. Curious. Inclusive. Challenging. Kind.
We are Rosie and Eli, and we are two of the co-founders of Feminist Book Society.
We curate unique and unmissable author events to spark the feminist debates we
should all be having right now. For each panel, we bring together three authors you’d
never expect to see sharing a stage, to discuss a burning feminist issue which unites
their work. With our engaged audience, we champion the fight for gender equality
through everything we’re thinking, feeling, reading and writing.
We celebrate authors of fiction and non-fiction – from escapist beach reads to prize-
winning literary novels, Big Ideas and compelling polemic. We’ve had the pleasure of
hosting authors such as Brit Bennett, Charlie Craggs, Sara Collins, Scarlett Curtis,
Bernardine Evaristo, C N Lester, Annie Macmanus, Ayisha Malik, Doon Mackichan,
Kate Mosse, Susie Orbach, Curtis Sittenfeld, Lisa Taddeo, Tara Westover…
Check out our website for our events, from our very first author panel back in 2018 at
London’s Waterstones TCR, to our current space at the nonprofit House of St
Barnabas in Soho (via a pandemic-era online series). We’ve a view to expand into
other parts of the UK in 2024 so sign up to our newsletter to hear more!
In 2021, we proudly published our first charity anthology This Is How We Come Back
Stronger, featuring over thirty leading feminist writers on turning crisis into change. In
collaboration with Sheffield-based independent publisher AND OTHER STORIES –
and The Feminist Press in the US – 20% of every copy sold goes to Women’s Aid
and Imkaan to support their fight to end violence against women and girls.
