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Nov
11
Get Your Feminist Fix with Jennifer Baumgardner’s F ‘EM!
2011 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Published October 2011 by Seal Press
It would be an understatement to say that Jennifer Baumgardner’s work has made an impression on me. Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future is high on the list of books that legitimately changed my life, and I’ve had a wicked crush on Baumgardner’s “women can be sexy AND feminist” brain ever since. In F ‘em (which I’ve decided sounds like “eff ‘em,” not “femme”), she reflects on 15 years of activism and lecturing by new essays, previously published pieces with updated commentary, and interviews with notable feminists who inspire her work.
Baumgardner opens by noting that while many people relate to the core ideas of feminism—egalitarianism, eradicating sexism, acknowledging that women have been historically oppressed—most are also confused by it. What does it mean to be a feminist? What does feminism demand of a person? Is it possible to live a feminist life without knowing the label? (She would say yes.) But Baumgardner is less concerned with prescribing feminist behavior than with analyzing the future of the movement.
It’s not the decisions one makes so much as the ability to make a decision that indicates whether feminism has arrived in your life.
In the first piece, entitled “The Third Wave is 40,” Baumgardner explains her frustration at the lack of a common understanding of feminist history as she recalls the evolution of feminism and remarks that third wavers wrote “the first feminist books written by people raised with feminism ‘in the water.’” (Unfortunately, the handy breakdown of said evolution doesn’t appear until the final essay.)
In “Feminism is a Failure, and Other Myths,” she takes on Ariel Levy, attacking the argument that “sex and sexiness can’t be used by women—only against them” and calling for fewer critics shaking their fingers and more examples of “free, powerful sexuality” for young women. This theme continues in “Would You Pledge Your Virginity to Your Father?” which explores the purity balls to which the book’s title refers.
An essay about RiotGrrrl and the womyn’s music movement pays homage to bell hooks and the importance of “taking feminist theory and anti-racist theory and changing it into language that could be absorbed in various places by people who weren’t going to college,” and interviews with Kathleen Hanna (of Bikini Kill), Bjork, Ani DiFranco, and Indigo Girl Amy Ray reinforce the tie between art and activism.
Baumgardner touches on family and friendship, pregnancy and parenting, and a host of other issues in this collection. I found something of value in every last piece, and I loved “Sustainable Feminism” so much that I wanted to make copies of it to distribute to everyone I know. Baumgardner acknowledges that “social justice campaigns are long,” and suggests that we look beyond traditional ways of organizing in order to create “a feminist practice that can be nourished throughout one’s life,” and I cannot overstate how deeply the idea of feminism as a practice—not just a philosophy—resonates with me and how important I think it is. Whether you’re a long-time fan of Baumgardner’s work or just coming to her brand of feminist writing, you’ll find inspiration, fresh ideas, and food for thought in F ‘em.
Related posts:
- Book Review: TRUE CONFESSIONS edited by Susan Gubar
- Ms. Magazine Names “Kick-Ass Girls & Feminist Boys” of Young Adult Fiction
- Book Review—Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists edited by Courtney E. Martin & J. Courtney Sullivan
- Books for Your Beach Bag: Women’s Studies Edition
- My “Click” Moment (or, how church camp made me a feminist)
I have had a long standing curiosity for all things feminist. F ‘em sounds like liberation and information rolled into one. Thank you for the review on this, as I now want to run off and purchase a copy for myself.
Oh, Brittney! Do it! And get MANIFESTA and Jessica Valenti’s THE PURITY MYTH along the way.
Thanks! I didn’t know she had a new book out. I loved “Manifesta” and “Grassroots.”