Oh, and on the subject of that F-word

Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies): Amazing Women on What the F-Word Means to Them is a fairly inclusive collection of essays and anecdotes curated by Scarlett Curtis. It brings together the voices of women from diverse social backgrounds to discuss feminism, most prominently intersectional feminism.

In an attempt to better highlight the different emotions the term ‘Feminism’ seems to evoke in both others and perhaps ourselves, the book has been divided into various sections-epiphany, anger, joy, poetry, action education, and a section titled further reading which points the reader to other resources on the subject.

On the whole, the book is a relatively decent specimen of intersectional feminism, it pulls from a fairly diverse set of experiences, and attempts  to lend a loud voice to topics otherwise often spoken of in hushed tones such as FGM, periods, the painful reality of motherhood, to name a few…

I think this would have been a really great read when I was in school. It would have been a good jumping-off point into the discussion of Feminism. It’s a good sort of ‘Feminism 101’ manual because it has a brief tracing of the Feminist movement and allows for various definitions to coexist in this collection, without pushing a specific one onto you. It really does allow you to decide and define for yourself what Feminism means to you. Unfortunately with years of feminist readings and Feminist theory studies under my belt, it’s a little late for me to appreciate this book fully.

Personally, I felt this book was slightly underwhelming as well, though it had the potential to be a really good anthology of feminist essays. Some essays were better than others, some felt like they had pretty much lost the plot. However, as the title suggests this is a collection of various women expressing what Feminism means to them, and while that does mean that you may not agree with every point of view, chances are you will also find a few that are relatable and worth reading.