My beginner's feminist reading odyssey - come and chat to me about what I've read so far and what I should read next!

[FrozenNorthPole]

I posted here about 8 weeks ago for guidance on which books and blogs to read to begin to understand what it means to be a feminist nowadays / key issues / important works etc. I got some brilliant advice, ordered a load of second hand books from amazon, and got reading. If anyone fancied chatting to me about any or all of the books it'd be great ... beyond mumsnet there isn't really anyone who has an interest.

(I should add that the focus of my PhD - due in 7 months is body image and eating disturbance in preadolescents, so I was after stuff relevant to this as well as more general texts).

It's been pretty exciting so far. I feel bits of the world around me suddenly make far more sense, and the books have given words and confidence to shapeless thoughts that I'd tried to push to the back of my mind for too long. I feel braver and I feel angrier. Now I've opened Pandora's box the knowledge of the injustices everywhere can't go back in.

On a professional level, it's underscored my research commitment to understanding the body-related cognitions of young girls. There's even more at stake than I realised. I hope to work on a post-doc project developing cognitive dissonance techniques to try and undermine the entrenched thin-ideal internalisation and body dissatisfaction I come across.

Anyhow ... erm, back to the books.

So far I've read
The Second Sex - heavy going but beautifully written; lots of looking up sources and references
Delusions of Gender - brilliant (this was actually the first book that I saw recommended here, and I've loaned it to a colleague whose research into stereotype threat is cited in it)
Fat is a Feminist Issue - it's certainly led me to challenge my own concepts of what being personally thin / fat mean to me. I really struggled to engage with some of the more psychodynamically-oriented bits.
The Equality Illusion - interesting but not necessarily revelatory.
Female Chauvinist Pigs - written with a lovely light, acerbic touch albeit with a necessarily 'pop' non-fiction tone at times (I kept yearning for citations)
Living Dolls - the second half of this overlapped considerably with delusions of gender but it was no bad thing to have the key points about determinism reiterated

... and I've got left to read
Backlash
Reclaiming the F word

Any further recommendations would be gratefully received - academic texts or popular equally welcomed

[MillyR]

Hunger strike by Orbach.
Anorexic bodies by MacSween.

Both feminist books. The latter critiques the former.

[FrozenNorthPole]

Thank you

What's your take on Orbach generally?

[DontdoitKatie]

Have you seen our lovely feminist bookclub?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/1201486-2011-Feminist-Theory-Book-Club-Suggestions

Any of the ones in there, and there are also bookclub threads to consult about what other people have said about them.

I'd also say for your own particular academic interest Beauty and Misogyny by Sheila Jeffreys and The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf would be interesting and useful. Can't remember if I recommended them the last time.

You've been very busy!

[MillyR]

I haven't read any Orbach other than Hunger Strike. I thought that her explanation of society's expectations of women and their bodies, and how this has an impact on all women, and how this forms a lot of the psychological underpinnings of anorexia was really good.

The issue with it, and the issue MacSween picks up on far more articulately, is that Orbach isn't really presenting much of a solution. Her solution really is for the woman to stop seeing her body in such a misogynistic way and stop separating it from her sense of self. But that is actually incredibly difficult to do, because even if the woman changes, the rest of the world won't. The rest of the world will still keep feeding the woman distorted and damaging messages about her own body. To believe those messages are untrue is a kind of madness - the woman would have to go against the rest of society to believe something positive and humane about her own body. It kind of left me feeling that to be a feminist you have to be a little insane, because most people in society have such a different perspective on women and the world.

Sorry, rambling.

[FrozenNorthPole]

Don't do it (Dittany?) - ah, you did recommend The Beauty Myth, I bought it but forgot to put it on my list. I'm about half-way through - I've been going slowly because there are so many bits I want to annotate and mark up for inclusion in my thesis. The only bit that I got a bit lost with was the 'professional beauty qualification' bit under Work but I need to go back and re-read it when it's not late at night. Beauty & Misogyny has gone on the list; thank you!

MillyR - I see what you mean: as far as Fat is A Feminist Issue goes, Orbach's solution is hours and hours of psychotherapy I think (as well as supportive all-women groups). She focuses a lot on 'what fat means to you' and 'what thin means to you' but I don't think she necessarily underscores, as you say, the fact that the woman can try and change what she thinks as much as she likes but if the world around her stays the same it is incredibly difficult to do.

DH is currently deployed with the army, so I spend my evenings mumsnetting, breastfeeding and reading books. Mind you, I can't see myself changing my habits when he gets back - this new philosophical engagement is far too interesting. Going to go and read the Book Club thread now

[DontdoitKatie]

Yes, sorry, its dittany. Royal wedding name.

[Beachcomber]

"It kind of left me feeling that to be a feminist you have to be a little insane, because most people in society have such a different perspective on women and the world."

Now, isn't that true.

You do, don't you. You have to accept that lots of people will think you are insane (and call you names if you are well known.)

[EllieG]

What you starting on next? I am looking for my next book - I'll read same one then maybe we can chat together you can explain the difficult bits

[FrozenNorthPole]

I think my next book is going to be Backlash, whilst I hunt for the recommendations (I like a good second-hand book bargain). What have you been reading recently? i've still got half of The Beauty Myth left to go. Read the section on 'Religion' last night and thought it was utter genius ...

I think I'll start Backlash in maybe a week's time

Re: the insanity thing, I guess I have the advantage that most people think I'm quite mad already (and too opinionated for my own good). So one more 'odd' obsession for people to roll their eyes about

[EllieG]

I'm right at the start of my new feminist reading - haven't done anything like yours - most recently read the Equality Illusion and was about to start on Wifework. Have just ordered Backlash and Delusions of Gender - hopefully will be down from amazon in a week but got it second-hand so not sure how long will take. Will read Backlash first if you're starting that next.

[FrozenNorthPole]

I think I've been using the feminist reading as a way to avoid finishing the chapter that I need to get done as it's a lot more pleasurable. Pleased you've got Backlash on the way; I think you'll really like Delusions of Gender too so would be equally happy to chat about that if it arrives from Amazon first and you start it. My discipline is psychology although not the cognitive neuroscience bits. I share my office with a cognitive neuroscience postgrad who rates Cordelia Fine