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Difficult Women
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights | Helen Lewis
9 posts | 8 read | 1 reading | 8 to read
Well-behaved women dont make history: difficult women do. Feminisms success is down to complicated, contradictory, imperfect women, who fought each other as well as fighting for equal rights. Helen Lewis argues that too many of these pioneers have been whitewashed or forgotten in our modern search for feel-good, inspirational heroines. Its time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women. In this book, youll meet the working-class suffragettes who advocated bombings and arson; the princess who discovered why so many women were having bad sex; the pioneer of the refuge movement who became a mens rights activist; the striker in a sari who terrified Margaret Thatcher; the wronged Victorian wife who definitely wasnt sleeping with the prime minister; and the lesbian politician who outraged the country. Taking the story up to the present with the twenty-first-century campaign for abortion services, Helen Lewis reveals the unvarnished and unfinished history of womens rights. Drawing on archival research and interviews, Difficult Women is a funny, fearless and sometimes shocking narrative history, which shows why the feminist movement has succeeded and what it should do next. The battle is difficult, and we must be difficult too.
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review
RaeLovesToRead
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Pickpick

Pictured here with my favourite difficult woman, Pickles 💕💕

Whatever your thoughts on Helen Lewis, this book does an excellent job of showing just how far we've come in the last hundred or so years. It tells the stories of some of the most important struggles feminism has faced, through fascinating accounts of some of the main players: the agitators, the agents of change.

For full review, see Goodreads.

#nonfiction2023 - Just a girl

⭐⭐⭐⭐

JenReadsAlot Oh Pickles 🙂 1y
jenniferw88 😻😻😻 1y
sarahbarnes 💙💙💙 1y
Leftcoastzen 😻😂 1y
68 likes4 comments
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RaeLovesToRead
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#bookspinbingo #roll100 #tbrtarot #offtheshelf2023 #nobuy / #buyless

Ok, so I finished Ship of Destiny at 2am in the morning, a teeny bit before the Bingo board was announced. I'M COUNTING IT AND CROSSING IT OFF 🤣🤣🤣 I may have got pretty much no Bingos last year, but this year will be different.

I'm gonna be a mean, lean, reading machine. One that is neither mean nor lean.

Yuki_Onna 🤣 Go, darling lean mean reading machine!
1y
58 likes1 comment
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OutsmartYourShelf
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Pickpick

It's a very interesting read. I agreed with many of the author's points, especially when it comes to the expectation of perfection within feminism. The author examines some of the issues that surround controversial figures & looks at several areas including work, love, and sex. 4🌟

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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

Framing things around various rights for which women have had to fight, Difficult Women looks at the history of feminism in the UK and the reality that those who effect change are often “problematic.” None of us is just one thing, including the various women profiled here. I LOVED this.

50 likes1 stack add
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Hooked_on_books
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I had hoped to finish the tagged before the next numbers are drawn, but it isn‘t going to happen, so instead of getting a bingo for January #bookspinbingo, I shall be content with 6 near-bingos. 😆🙄 I can‘t wait to see how my next board shakes out!

Crazeedi 6 near bongos are awesome! Congrats!! 3y
TheAromaofBooks I can't deal with how many books one can read without getting a bingo! 😂 3y
51 likes2 comments
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Hooked_on_books
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A HUGE thanks to @CoveredInRust for my #Jolabokaflod swap gifts! I‘m very excited to read this book and that chocolate looks amazing. Especially since I love coconut. 🥥🥥🥥 Thank you so much for these and for sending them this very long way for me. ☺️

I‘m looking forward to seeing the posts from my recipient and everyone else!

CoveredInRust I'm so glad you like them and the distance was no problem at all! Merry Christmas! 3y
Cinfhen Wonderful ♥️ 3y
DebinHawaii Yum! I love Theo chocolate & that coconut one is one of my favorites! 🍫 ❤️ 3y
vivastory Happy Holidays, Holly 🎄📚🎄📚 3y
Hooked_on_books @vivastory You too, Scott! I hope it was an ok day for you today, all things considered. 3y
53 likes1 stack add5 comments
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CarolynM
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The hard truth.

Freespirit Politics at the moment stinks🤑 4y
Reggie This is like when I hear there are gay republicans. 4y
53 likes2 comments
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Tonton
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Wonderful list of the best in 2020; at least the first half! Photo is outside Shibuya Cetral Library, Tokyo.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/14/the-best-books-childrens-poetry-au...

Tanisha_A Great sculpture! That's from the hare and tortoise story, right? 4y
Tonton @Tanisha_A Yes❣️ 4y
39 likes2 comments
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eraderneely
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Mehso-so

This was part-history, part-memoir. I enjoyed the historical bits, especially since most of my experience with feminism is US-based. But I could have done without the author‘s interjections and criticisms of feminist infighting. It also suffered in comparison to Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez which I read a few months ago and loved.