International Women's Day

Abortion Without Apology: A Radical History for the 1990s  by Ninia Baehr 1990

Homegrown: Engaged Culutral Criticism  by Bell Hooks and Amalia Mesa-Bains 2006

Slut: Growing Up Female With a Bad Reputation  by Leora Tanenbaum  2000

Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter  by J. Nozipo Maraire  1997

Weight: 2 lbs

Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere

The books that fall into the loose category of “Women’s Studies” are absolutely the most difficult for me to let go.  I usually ignore them when I am trying to pick out which book I will get rid of next.  I figure I have months, years before I have to go there.  Yesterday was International Women’s Day, so in honor of that I have decided to a let a few go.

ZenZele is written by an incredibly brilliant woman who has lived all over the world.  She was born in Zimbabwe and has studied at Harvard, Columbia, and Yale.  She is a doctor and studied neurology.  She is married with children.  She wrote ZenZele, which went on to be published in numerous languages and won all sorts of awards.  This is the kind of person that makes you look back on your own life timeline and then question how you could possibly waste so much time!  Apparently, there was so much more than you noticed.

Leora Tanenbaum’s record is nothing to scoff at.  She has written multiple books, articles, and blog entries.  As a self-identified Slut, I could not help but pick up this book all those years ago when it came out.

I will read anything by Bell Hooks and was excited to get to know Amalia Mesa-Bains.  I do not guess I need to keep going through each author’s credentials.  They are all amazing.  Homegrown is about creating “cross-cultural and cross-issue coalitions” in the face of the polarizing media, amongst other things.

Abortion Without Aplogy gives a brief and bold history of the abortion rights movement, complete with interesting and blunt illustrations, political cartoons, and activist art.

Please let me know if you would like any of these books.  I will not release them right away.  Also, let me know if you did anything for International Women’s Day.