From brilliant polemicals packed with fascinating statistics and anecdotes to riveting novels featuring defiant, iconic heroines, feminist literature has taken many directions since the 1963 publication of Betty Friedan’s groundbreaking “The Feminine Mystique.” After that classic, here is a Top 10 list of feminist literary works, compiled with input from scholars around the country.
1970
“Our Bodies, Ourselves”
by The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective
Periodically updated, this classic has sold more than 3 million copies.
1982
“In a Different Voice”
by Carol Gilligan
Makes the case that men and women have “two disparate modes of experience.”
1983
“The Color Purple”
by Alice Walker
Novel explores racism and sexism faced by black women.
1983
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“Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions”
by Gloria Steinem
Essays on everything from abortion rights to Jackie Onassis.
1989
“The Second Shift”
by Arlie Hochschild
Explores cultural shift among working-couple families.
1991
“The Beauty Myth”
by Naomi Wolf
An instant best seller examining societal pressures on women to conform to a standard of beauty.
1991
“Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women”
by Susan Faludi
Argues Hollywood, fashion industry and the New Right were carrying out an anti-feminist agenda.
1992
“The War Against Women”
by Marilyn French
Publishers Weekly called it a “powerful indictment” on “the global extent of men’s assault on women.”
1998
“The Vagina Monologues”
by Eve Ensler
Hilarious and poignant soliloquies that take aim at women’s inhibitions about their sexuality.
2001
“The Price of Motherhood”
by Ann Crittenden
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A look at the work mothers do, proclaiming that unpaid female labor is “the priceless, invisible heart of the economy.”