Liberian Literary Magazine
the twenty-first century,
one rooted in inclusion
and awareness. Drawing
extensively on her own
experiences and her
deep understanding of
the often masked realities
of sexual politics, here is
one remarkable author’s
exploration of what it
means to be a woman
now—and
an
of-themoment rallying cry for why
we should all be feminists
Reading Women: How the
Great Books of Feminism
Changed My Life
By: Stephanie Staal
Promoting Liberian literature, Arts and Culture
and was surprised how
much she identified with
the laments and misgivings
of 1950s housewives. She
set out on a quest: to
reenroll at Barnard and reread the great books she
had first encountered as
an undergrad.
From the banishment of
Eve to Judith Butler’s
Gender Trouble, Staal
explores the significance
of each of these classic
tales by and of women,
highlighting the relevance
these ideas still have
today. This process leads
Staal to find the self she
thought she had lost—
curious and ambitious,
zany and critical—and
inspires
new
understandings of her
relationships
with
her
husband, her mother, and
her daughter.
Bad Feminist
by Roxane Gay
When Stephanie Staal
first read The Feminine
Mystique in college, she
found
it
“a
mildly
interesting
relic
from
another era.” But more
than a decade later, as a
married
stay-at-home
mom in the suburbs, Staal
rediscovered
Betty
Friedan’s classic work—
'Pink is my favourite
colour. I used to say my
favourite colour was
black to be cool, but it is
pink - all shades of pink. If
I have an accessory, it is
probably pink. I read
Vogue, and I'm not doing
it ironically, though it
might seem that way. I
once live-tweeted the
September issue.'
In these funny and
insightful essays, Roxane
Gay takes us through the
journey of her evolution
as a woman (Sweet
Valley High) of colour
(The Help) while also
taking readers on a ride
through culture of the last
few years (Girls, Django in
Chains)
and
commenting on the state
of
feminism
today
(abortion, Chris Brown).
The portrait that emerges
is not only one of an
incredibly
insightful
woman
continually
growing to understand
herself and our society,
but also one of our
culture.
Bad Feminist is a sharp,
funny and sincere look at
the ways in which the
culture we consume
becomes who we are,
and an inspiring call-toarms of all the ways we
still need to do better.
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