Bitch: In a Praise of Difficult Women

1. In the New York Times, Karen Lehrman criticizing the author as writing "a lot of rhetorical grandstanding, undigested dogma and ''Prozac Nation''-type narcissism" and suggests "many difficult women led miserable lives because they never understood that there doesn't have to be a contradiction between taking care of your own needs and those of others." Thoughts? 
   
   
2. In Feminist Book Review, Marina DelVecchio writes the contrary: "This is a powerful book with an even more powerful message that articulates how female strength and power has been appropriated and misinterpreted by male writers, theologians, and scholars. Since the time of Eve and Delilah to the present, strong women have been looked upon with negativity and derision, their power over men diminished to the manipulative use of their beauty and sexual prowess, even if they were not beautiful or sexy to begin with; but the blame had to go somewhere for man’s downfall, and of course, the man could not blame himself." Thoughts?
   
   
3. Dana Kennedy says, "[Wurtzel] defends the marriage of Hillary and Bill Clinton as a triumph of perseverance; she champions Amy Fisher; she points out, as many feminists were loath to, that the relationship between Nicole and O.J. Simpson was more complex than merely victim and villain." How did those defenses, champions, and dissections sit with you? How did you agree with the author? How did you disagree?
   
   
4. In a review, Anita Smith wrote "the author confesses in a later rant manifesto that she wrote a lot of Bitch when she was strung out on drugs, namely coke, and the sad thing is, then it made more sense." How does this statement impact your reading, appreciation, or critique of the book? If at all?
   
   
5. The book was published in 1998. How does it age? 

Daughters of Mother Earth: The Wisdom of Native American Women

1. In chapter one, Allen writes, “The Natives regard the European intrusion as but a fraction of our ancient experience . . . “ How do you see the European intrusion as dictating the historical perception of Natives? 
   
   
2. In chapter two, Maracle writes, “Polygamty is the general human response to an inadequate male population.” Discuss how that is detailed in this chapter and how it impacts women. 
   
   
3. In chapter three, McGowan details the lost matriarchy. How has colonialism affected power among Native women? How has this lost power impacted families, children, and men?
   
   
4. In chapter four, Mann discusses federal recognition and its dis/empowerment. How do you understand and articulate that impact on Natives ability to govern and prosper?
   
   
5. How did the expression of Sky/Male and Earth/Female (Air and Water) impact your understanding of constructs? 

Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection

1. How does the author help you appreciate, understand, and/or value the relationships of boys? How does it help you recognize how people in your life have failed to value these relationships? 
   
   
2. How does the author ask you to define intimacy? Or redefine it?  How is that intimacy specific for boys and friendship versus girls and their friendships?
   
   
3. What, if any, gender stereotypes do you hold that negatively impact boys? How difficult is it for you to break them? 
   
   
4. How has your perception of what is a "normal boy" changed from reading the book? What about your perception is shaped by your own race, gender, status, ethnicity, etc? 
   
   
5. The book was the inspiration for the film, Close. If you have seen the film, what parallels struck you? If you haven't, what would you want to see shown in a film inspired by the book?

Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change

1. One reader, critiques, “The memoir portions are interesting and well written, but the cultural analysis is not. Because the book is so short--and, to be honest, rather vague in places--much of it consists of brief ideas and quotes with relatively little analysis.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?
   
   
2. In a review, Christine Yunn-Yu Sun writes, “Because our lives are intimately linked to the lives of others, it is critical that our everyday labour of care is treated with the reverence and respect that it truly deserves. That, as Garbes argues, is positive social change.” Describe how you exhibit and witness others revering everyday labor for social change.
   
   
3. On page 71, Garbes writes, “ . . . love is an action verb. . . acts of service and attention to the body . . . drool wiping, hand washing, nose blowing . . . to stroke their hair.” How do you interpret this and how does it make you feel and think about love and mothering?
   
   
4. On page 91, Garbes quotes Dani McClain, “ . . . healthy parenting means parenting in a community . . . in a generational environment.” Was this your childhood experience? How or how not? 
   
   
5. On pages 204-205, Garbes discusses the gift economy. How do her suggestions make you feel? Are they possible? Are they better?

The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics

1. How did this book change or reinforce your ideas around veiling?
   
   
2. Which, if any, essay was the most impactful for you? And Why?
   
   
3. On page 73, Gupta writes, ". . . the sari is that which transforms male into female, female into the divine . . . the sari communicates a timeless, essential 'feminine' that goes way beyond biology." How does Gupta's descriptions of how cloth is used and revered impact your understanding of male versus female?
   
   
4. In 12 Virtue and Sin, Rita Stephen examines Christians and Muslims versus social restrictions and veiling. What did you appreciate about this essay? 
   
   
5. In 17 Concealing and Revealing Female Hair, Ashraf Zahedi dissects how "men in power have sexualized, theologized, and politicized female hair." What portions of 17 were interesting to you? And why?

Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes

1. In a review, Alexander Almánzar writes “Kulick generously explains why [travestis]. . .  undergo a socially proscribed, and widely, criticized gender transformation, and how soliciting sex . . . assists in building and confirming their self-identity.” How did this aspect of travesti culture impact you? How did it make you question adolescence transgenderism? If at all? 
   
   
2. What, if anything, in the ethnography made you particularly uncomfortable? What, if anything, about Travesti culture evoked empathy?
   
   
3. How do the Travesti resist the male/female binary? How do the Travesti reinforce the binary?
   
   
4. Kulick first published in 1998. Reading now, what has evolved socially? How might Travesti be more accepted? How might some Travesti individuals or culture reject the norms of today?
   
   
5. Travesti put much emphasis on boyfriends. How did the boyfriend dynamic impress upon you? Did it make you feel uncomfortable? Did it make sense to you? If so, how? If not, share. 

Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World

1. In the Washington Post, Susan Okie writes "The scope and detail of “Unwell Women” are vast and, at times, overwhelming. Its most striking lesson is that, when it comes to women’s diseases and their treatment, false beliefs and sexist attitudes have a life of their own. At a moment when the pandemic has illuminated health disparities and when women’s reproductive rights are again threatened, the book is a call to arms for any woman who feels that doctors have not adequately addressed her illness or pain." What have you experienced or witnessed that support what Okie says? What can be done to combat it? 
   
   
2. In Chicago Review of Books, Malavika Praseed writes, "Although there are some digressions in this narrative that may seem noncontributory at the surface, they contribute to an accurate telling of how women’s health has evolved over time. For example, acknowledging the white feminism of the early suffragettes helps to set the stage for health systems in which advocacy for women of color is still lacking." Do you agree? Does the author do a just job of showing an evolution? How so? Or not?
   
   
3. On page 106, Cleghorn writes, "Since the middle of the nineteenth century, progressive campaigners in America had been challenging the ideology that a woman's place in society was defined by her reproductive biology." How are women still defined by reproductive biology? How does this impact the greater society? How have the waves of feminism and what it means to be a feminist changed perspectives on this over time?
   
   
4. In chapter 12, Lifting the Curse, Cleghorn discussed keeping menstruation "invisible." What positive and negative implications were introduced alongside tampons? How are/were women impacted? How was society impacted? 
   
   
5. On page 320, Cleghorn writes, "being unwell has been normalized." How did Cleghorn prove her point in her writings? Where did she fall short? What experiences have you shared or witnessed to prove or disprove this?

Women’s Lives Men’s Laws

1. In the New York Times, Jennifer Michael Hecht writes, “MacKinnon wants a rape law that assesses ‘consensual’ sex in terms of all power differences -- not only age. It's an interesting way of thinking about law and social equality, but who else really believes adult women need or want such protection? She several times mentions men with or without ‘weapons other than the penis.’ Being human means negotiating different kinds of power, and sometimes a penis is just a penis.” What do you think?
   
   
2. On page 45, MacKinnon writes, “mainstream equality thinking, systemic and doctrinal,  . . . means treating likes alike and unlikes unalike.” What does this mean for men and women - and for other groups in society - transgender, queer, Black and Brown, immigrant, etc. etc. in terms of equality?
   
   
3. In the Beyond Moralism chapter, on page 189, MacKinnon asks the question: “is sexual harassment law transforming social inequality into equality of status, or merely mutating moral prohibitions into equality guise?” 
   
   
4. Written before #MeToo, does Women’s Lives Men’s Laws fit within the movement or outside of it? And how?
   
   
5. In chapter 22, MacKinnon addresses Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas. Does this chapter hit you differently than it might have twenty years ago? Why? Why not?