Discussions about feminism seem to be everywhere these days. Despite its ubiquity, it seems that a lot of people, well meaning and otherwise, don’t really have a firm grasp on what feminism actually means. Some people seem to think equality has been reached and that we are living in a matriarchal utopia where women are safe everywhere (we aren’t!), or that via Choice feminism, any choice a woman makes is inherently feminist (it’s not!), or that feminism is the looming presence of #GirlBoss variety economic grinding and women smirking while holding mugs emblazoned with “Male Tears” on the side (hmmm…). So what is feminism? Simply, it is the concept that the sexes should have economic, social, and political parity. So why is it so controversial and to whom? If you want to learn more about feminism, its origin and its necessity, the wealth of information out there can seem daunting. Here are five essential books that will help you learn about feminist theory, spark your curiosity, and make you feel empowered:

1. Fight Like A Girl by Clementine Ford

If you are ready to have the fires of feminism stoked within you, start with this one. Clementine Ford has written a fierce, funny, highly personal feminist manifesto that will fill you with rage and with hope at different points. In Fight Like A GIrl, Ford lays bare the various ways women still face inequality, and she exhorts us to uncover our anger at these institutional inequities so that we will continue to fight. Bonus: Clementine Ford has a busy Instagram page (@clementine_ford) where you can get a daily dose of feminism from this brilliant firebrand.

• Fight Like A Girl

2. Feminism Is For Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks

This brief primer is your essential guide to feminist theory. In this highly approachable, optimistic read, hooks details the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of feminism, as well as the various challenges facing feminists today. In her straightforward style, hooks also illuminates the successes and failures of modern feminism, and always finds a path to hope for the future by illustrating ways to move away from the patriarchy, racism and homophobia.

• Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

3. The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

Written in 1990, not every argument has withstood the test of time. That being said, we find ourselves ever more entrenched in a society that values modified, flawless looks. With the rise of “tweakments,” weight loss shots, body dysmorphia brought on by social media filters, Wolf’s fiery assessment of our unattainable beauty standards and why it behooves society to keep women insecure and entrenched in a constant chase for beauty remains compelling today.

• The Beauty Myth

4. Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All by Laura Bates

A rallying cry often heard among certain groups who are against feminism is that women have attained equality and feminism is done, callooh callay, problem solved, let’s all just go home. These people seem to be unable to countenance the stark fact of men’s violence against women, and that due to online radicalization, it is swiftly rising. In her stark and eye-opening book, Laura Bates plumbs the depths of the manosphere to discuss the insidious and pervasive nature of these new platforms for misogyny, and how they trickle up through the various layers of our society to threaten the safety and lives of women.

• Men Who Hate Women

5… also 6. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan AND Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks

I cheated by adding two books! That makes it six books! Regardless of my inability to stick to a numbered list, these two really have to be read together. The Feminine Mystique is the book that served as one of the catalysts to Second Wave Feminism. A riveting, if dated read, it has been at the top of feminist reading lists for over fifty years due to its scathing indictments of the treatment of women. That being said, it is a book that needs to be taken with heaping scoops of salt and has been rightly criticized for years (for big reasons: racism, homophobia, classism, and veracity). In hooks’ book, she directly takes on Friedan’s complete erasure of huge swaths of women, and takes aim at how she only focused on the trials and tribulations of a particular class of women: white, middle class, college educated. The Feminine Mystique is a worthwhile read for its historical influence, and still has some relevance regarding women and domesticity and the mistreatment of women in healthcare, but it is also absolutely necessary to follow her book with the tonic of inclusivity, intersectionality, and the direct criticisms provided by hooks in Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center.

• The Feminine Mystique
• Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center

Fin

Thus ends my essential intro to feminism reading list. There are so many books that are vital to understanding feminism today from Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall , Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit (who coined the phrase ‘mansplain’), and so on and so on, that I think a Part Two to this will follow soon. Nevertheless, if you are ready to learn, to laugh, to get angry, and to get ready to fight, these are a great place to start. Get ready to feel frisky, my friends.