Must-Reads for 2011 (If You Haven't Already Read Them...)

I get it. You’re a busy woman. You barely have time to clip your toenails, let alone sit down and read a book. Or, perhaps you love reading, but find yourself in need of some guidance. There’s so many titles out there, where do you start?

I’m not suggesting these books to you, I’m prescribing them. Many women are sick. They’re sick of their lives, sick of dealing with bullshit, and sick of their partners or parents. The cure? education.

Below, I’ve listed my top three non-fiction reads for women. Non-fiction describes a genre of literature grounded in fact rather than creation. If you’re only going to read three books for the rest of your life, they should be these three texts, because these female authors will change you.

1. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963)
Often cited as the most influential female author of her time, Betty Friedan broke the silence of a generation of women, fueling the second-wave of feminism in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.

“The Feminine Mystique” is Friedan’s name for the pervasive myth of femininity. This myth is generated and circulated in every form of media, from TV shows, to women’s magazines, to advertising. According to the myth, a woman’s sole purpose in life is to be a wife and mother.

Friedan outlined how although the women of her time were more liberated than ever before, they still felt something missing. They could only become low-salary workers or mothers, and neither role allowed them to self-actualize as human beings.

This book is pivotal to understanding femininity—to understand it’s past, to come to terms with its present, and to help shape its future.

2. Gender Trouble by Judith Butler (1990)
A breakthrough text in gender and sexuality studies, Gender Trouble is cited as one of the leading books in postmodern feminist theory. Judith Butler invented the term “gender performativity,” the concept that gender is essentially a performance. She’s also known as the leading voice in the argument for the sex/gender separation, which is the notion that one’s sex (i.e. their biological “parts”) is different than their gender (i.e. the culturally constructed role they perform).

Judith Butler invokes French philosopher Michel Foucault’s theories on discipline and control as presented in The History of Sexuality in order to argue that a woman’s “role” isn’t natural but cultural, a product of discourse.

Currently, with all of the controversy surrounding the sex trade in Canada and gay rights in the United States, Butler’s work is perhaps more relevant today than ever.

3. The Beauty Myth by Naomi Woolf (1991)
Do yourself a favor and read this book. Just read it. I can’t say enough about how this text influenced and empowered me— as a woman, as a person, and as a citizen of a capitalistic, consumer society. Woolf goes through aspects of a woman’s life (work, culture, religion, hunger, violence, etc.) describing how the beauty myth informs each aspect and plays out in the lives of girls and women.

Subtitled “How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women,” The Beauty Myth examines the relationship between women and media, and offers that Beauty is like a Victorian corset, a rigid and disabling costume that women must wear in order to be accepted in society. While feminist rethinking has since positioned women in a more active, empowered role than Woolf imagined in 1991, The Beauty Myth is still held as
one of the most sharp and insightful reads in the history of women’s writing.

Runners Up: Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin, The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg.

Amanda Cosco
		About the author:
		Amanda Cosco is a freelance writer. The city is her muse.  After completing a master’s degree in English Literature at Ryerson University in Toronto, Amanda packed up her life and moved to the city in pursuit of jazz, sex, and soup. Amanda completed her bachelor of arts at York University, where she had one foot in literary studies and one foot in journalism, earning her a double-major in English and professional writing. Amanda has presented her scholarly work at academic at conferences across Toronto, and her research on the metaphor of hunger in women’s fiction has received over $30,000 in grants and prizes. With her pen name, Lady Medusa, Amanda has left her digital footprints all over the internet. Currently, she’s blogging for several social media websites, and composing her first book of poetry, entitled "Autobiography of Skin. Follow her on Twitter @ladymspeaks
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