Body Politics Mental Health Feminist Psychology +4 Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia Hadley Freeman (2024) A memoir from bestselling 'House of Glass' author Hadley Freeman, recounting her battle with anorexia from ages 14-17 in psychiatric hospitals, tracking the recovery journeys of women she was hospitalized with 20 years later, and revealing the deep connection between eating disorders and the difficulties girls face coming of age. Called 'riveting' by The New York Times. Read More →
Medical Patriarchy Critique Women's Health Feminist Psychology +4 Hysterical: A Memoir Elissa Bassist (2022) Acclaimed humor writer Elissa Bassist's memoir about reclaiming her authentic voice in a culture that doesn't listen to women. Between 2016-2018 she saw 20+ medical professionals for mysterious ailments, until an acupuncturist suggested her physical pain could be caged fury. This is medical mystery, cultural criticism, and rallying cry. Semi-finalist for 2023 Thurber Prize for American Humor. Read More →
Body Politics Women's Health Reproductive Rights +1 Happening L'Événement Annie Ernaux (2000) Happening is an autobiographical novella by French Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, documenting her true experience of undergoing an illegal abortion as a university student in 1963. With calm and precise prose, this work transforms a personal bodily experience into a profound reflection on class, gender, and body politics. Read More →
Elderly Women's Rights Ageism and Gender Gender Socialization +2 The Fountain of Age Betty Friedan (1993) Thirty years after 'The Feminine Mystique,' Betty Friedan challenges another powerful societal myth: the 'mystique of age.' She attacks the 'medical model of decline' and argues that old age is not a pathology or loss, but a unique life stage full of vitality, growth, and self-realization. Read More →