Your cunt is beautiful!

[alline-mathin.livejournal.com]

Greetings vulva superstars! You are fabulous. I am fabulous. We are all that absu-fucking-mazingly fabulous.  


If you don't believe this, to help convince you I recommend the book Cunt: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio. 


See?: http://www.amazon.com/Cunt-Declaration-Independence-Expanded-Updated/dp/1580050751/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236039633&sr=8-1



Yes, it's that good. Especially the second edition where she adds an afterword talking about her mistake in not including transwomen in the original book. This book is chock full of empowerment, feminism, funny and touching stories, social activism, resources, and so much more. I've been trying to get everyone I know to read this book. 


It's excellent!



What other feminist, woman-empowering, and sex-positive books do you like? 

Comments

[airenwoodmoon.livejournal.com]

Never read it, don't have any books to recommend, but I wanted to thank you for the opening comment. I was feeling down and it made my night. :)

(Kagerou icon? I can never spell that...)

[wirelamp.livejournal.com]

you definitely should! i skimmed it a few months ago and even reading it halfway was great.

[alline-mathin.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I could help. ^_^ And yes, that is totally a Kagerou icon. :D

[paperispatient.livejournal.com]

Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape by Jessica Valenti and Jaclyn Friedman. AMAZING. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It may sound really heavy because of the subject matter and parts of it certainly are, but I also found it extremely empowering, and it made me think about a lot of issues related to sex and consent in ways I had never thought of them before.

Abortion and Life by Jennifer Baumgardner. Incredibly moving and fascinating. It's part nonfiction about the history of abortion and where abortion rights stand right now in the US, part philosophical and feminist discussion about abortion and new ways to talk and think about it beyond the "pro-choice vs. pro-life" dichotomy, and part personal narratives by women who have had abortion.

[spinsterkitten.livejournal.com]

I really want to read the upcoming book The Purity Myth!

[paperispatient.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I do too! It sounds so much like the research I did this summer, I'm really eager to see where there are overlaps and where there are things I never thought about.

[cryingcat613.livejournal.com]

I love Jennifer Baumgardner.

[pinkdramon.livejournal.com]

I have "Yes Means Yes," but I haven't gotten around to reading it.

I'm kind of having second thoughts about it now, actually. It's been the subject of a lot of controversy in feminist circles for a couple of reasons. It's not put together real well, (http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2009/02/connections-apostate-and-professor-what.html) and so misses some of the mark it was aiming for. That's not to say the essays themselves are bad - just that the editing could be better.

As near as I can tell though, what's more damning is that it was published by Seal Press. Seal Press either has, or was just about to, published some pretty offensive images (http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/04/25/i-guess-its-a-jungle-in-here-too-huh/) in their books, didn't seek a lot of diversity in its contributions, and one of its own representatives went around the internet last year & unprofessionally insulted a WOC blogger. (http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/04/11/seal_press/)

I'm still catching up to this feminism/seal press schism, but I'm hesitant to sing all-praises for YMY based on what I've seen so far. I'm gona have to think about it some more.

It's not going to be empowering for a lot of women.


Thing is, chances are my library is big enough so that I probably either already own, or am bound to buy, other books by Seal Press at some point, tempted by fate & juicy titles. My willpower isn't very strong.

[paperispatient.livejournal.com]

All I can really suggest is to read it and see what you think. I've certainly had issues with Seal Press in the past, but I don't think it's necessarily fair to let that reflect on the content of every book they publish. And there are things I wholeheartedly agreed with in YMY and things that I didn't; but ultimately I found it fascinating, and I think that review you linked to didn't really go in depth enough - the book isn't claiming that emphasizing female pleasure will stop rape, but it suggests that highlighting female agency and sexuality in a positive light is one of many components to bringing an end to rape culture.

Jennifer Baumgardner

[rooclassic.livejournal.com]

I believe I read a book by her called "Looking Both Ways" (I think that is what it was called. It was a history, and her own history as well, of bisexuality. I enjoyed it.

[atalanta0jess.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of the second edition of our bodies our selves. Its delightfully retro and empowering. (And non-medically up-to-date, just for the record)

[swirlinoblivion.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to post about this book! I LOVE it, and just finished reading it for the second time. I am tempted to buy a bunch of copies and give them to all the women in my life!