Feminist beliefs can be as varied and unique as the individual feminists who hold those beliefs. Still, in trying to determine what feminists of the 1960s and 1970s thought about women, society and equality, it can be helpful to look at significant feminist books of the era. In fact, many key second-wave feminist beliefs are also the titles of feminist books. These ten books help explain feminist beliefs and the ideas of the women’s movement of the 1960s and 70s:
1. The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan's 1963 book is often called “the book that started it all.”
2. Sexual Politics
Kate Millett's early work of feminist theory was important and controversial.
3. Sisterhood is Powerful
This anthology, edited by Robin Morgan, is a collection of writings from across the women's liberation movement.
4. Free to Be You and Me
Marlo Thomas produced this children's book, album and television special, filled with uplifting messages of empowerment.
5. Of Woman Born
Feminist poet Adrienne Rich explored feminist theory and her own personal experience of motherhood in Of Woman Born.
6. The Dialectic of Sex
Shulamith Firestone published her "case for feminist revolution" when she was 25.
7. The Second Sex
Simone de Beauvoir's classic explains how women are seen as "the Other" in a male-dominated society.
8. The Edible Woman
In her first novel, Margaret Atwood explores how women are consumed by their relationships and the men in their lives.
9. The Woman Warrior
Maxine Hong Kingston weaves together feminism, myth, truth and questions of identity in this postmodern autobiography.
10. The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing's classic 1962 novel resonated with many feminists in the 1960s and 1970s.