A venit toamna, acopera-mi inima cu ceva, cu umbra unui copac sau mai bine cu umbra ta.
Mă tem că n-am să te mai văd, uneori, că or să-mi crească aripi ascuţite până la nori, că ai să te ascunzi într-un ochi străin, şi el o să se-nchidă cu o frunză de pelin.
Şi-atunci mă apropii de pietre şi tac, iau cuvintele şi le-nec în mare. Şuier luna şi o răsar şi o prefac într-o dragoste mare.
This is definitely one of the must-reads for any intersectional feminist. A bit dated at this point, but still important, it takes a look at the very issues of exclusion that have hindered the feminist movement since abolition days.
2. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
Honestly, this will just be one of the best books you’ll ever read. It’s not only an important queer, feminist book, it’s also just a beautifully told story of struggle and love.
3. Woman, Native, Other by Trinh T. Minh-ha
Minh-ha delivers a full-frontal attack against the notion of erasure as a means of unified feminism. She argues for a feminism that fights against oppression of all kinds, because women all over the world face oppression at the hands of different forces and factors. And she attacks everything that “others” everything non-white or non-Western. It’s bold and awesome and a classic of postcolonial feminist theory.
4. Assata by Assata Shakur
Assata is part memoir of the radical awakening of a young black woman in the ‘60s and ‘70s, part personal testimony of a broken, racist justice system. In all its parts it’s a lyrical, addictive read that immerses you in one of the most important eras in the Black liberation struggle. By the end you’ll be outraged, angry, and itching for revolution.
5. Random Family by Adrian LeBlanc
Adrian LeBlanc took a lot of care with this book. Working over 10 years and forming close relationships with the families she writes about, LeBlanc offers up an intimate portrait of the lives of two women in a social class that often goes overlooked or misrepresented in popular U.S. culture and scholarly study. It’s importance is in the deeply personal rather treatment, rather than the almost zoological portrayals that often befall lower economic classes.
6. Sex Workers Unite! A History of the Movement from Stonewall to Slutwalk by Melinda Chateauvert
Sex workers are often cast as unwilling victims. Melinda Chateauvert challenges this portrayal by showing that many sex workers are in fact empowered, legitimate workers and have been powerful agents of social change throughout history. This book will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about sex work.
7. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen
An oldie but a goodie, The Sacred Hoop is a corrective on the crucial role of indigenous women in history and tribal tradition. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s an important one that asserts the presence of Native American women.
8. This Bridge Called My Back by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
This anthology is incredible! It’s got essays, interviews, poetry, and even visual art from women of so many different backgrounds. It’s kind of what intersectional feminism should look like in book form. Or, at least, darn close to it.
9. Women and Gender in Islam by Leila Ahmed
Need to check your assumptions about Islam and the treatment of women in the Middle East? Leila Ahmed’s book is an invitation to do just that. So many stereotypes and assumptions about Muslim women and their treatment under Islam abound, but one can hardly make snap judgements about Islam any more than you can about any other religion. Ahmed dives into the text itself and the history of the Western gaze that has led to misunderstanding about Islam and gender.
10. Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
With Gender Trouble, Judith Butler went straight for bold by questioning the very notion of gender as a part of feminism. If you took a Gender Studies course in college, it was probably on the syllabus. But it’s always worth another look, considering the book was originally written in the ‘90s, when Butler’s straight talk about the complexity of gender and sexuality was pretty ground-breaking. Since then, Butler’s reconsidered some of her ideas in newer books that are also worth picking up.
11. Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Not every book you read has to be a heavy non-fiction read. Actually getting a little fiction into your intersectional diet is a healthy way to dig into perspectives outside of your own on a more personal level. Brick Lane is a look at a young Bangladeshi woman coming of age in the middle of an arranged marriage and thrust into a new culture miles away from home. Whatever perspectives you’re looking to explore, there are so many stories out there that want to be read!
12. On Intersectionality by Kimberlé Crenshaw
Since an intersectional feminist’s work is never done, naturally, you can look forward to a new book on intersectionality straight from the woman herself. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s latest comes out in October this year.
You know what’s awesome? Research. You know what’s not awesome? Not being able to get access to research because it’s stuck behind a paywall and you don’t belong to an institution/your institution doesn’t subscribe to that particular journal.
FEAR NOT.
Here is a list of free, open access materials on a variety of subjects. Feel free to add if you like!
Ubiquity Press- Journals covering archaeology, comics scholarship, museum studies, psychology, history, international development, and more. Also publishes open access ebooks on a wide variety of subjects.
Europeana- Digital library about the history and culture of Europe.
Internet Archive- In addition to books, they have music and videos, too. Free! And legal! They also have the Wayback Machine, which lets you see webpages as they looked at a particular time.
Elsevier Open Access- Elsevier’s kind of the devil but you might as well take advantage of this. Mainly STEM, also a linguistics journal and a medical journal in Spanish.
"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."