Kramarae, Cheris, and Paula A.
Treichler. A Feminist Dictionary.
Boston: Pandora, 1985.
In the words of the authors, this is "a word-book
with several purposes: to document words, definitions, and conceptualizations
that illustrate women's linguistic contributions; to illuminate forms of
expression through which women have sought to describe, reflect upon, and
theorize about women, language, and the world; to identify issues of language
theory, research, usage, and institutionalized practice that bear on the
relationship between women and language; to broaden knowledge of the feminist
lexicon; and to stimulate research on women and language." I encountered
this book as a senior in high school; I don't find it coincidental that
at that same time, I began questioning how language constructs who we are.
Heilbrun, Carolyn G. Reinventing
Womanhood.
New York: Norton, 1979.
An interesting examination of how women can
create identity through autobiography.
Cixious, Helene, and Catherine
Clement. The Newly Born Woman.
Trans. Betsy Wing. Theory
and History of Literature, Vol. 24. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P,
1986.
I still remember the first time I read Kristeva.
I immediately immersed myself in the Trinity of French feminism:
Kristeva, Cixous, and Irigaray. Taken away with the connection between
body and language, I yearned to with "white ink." The professor of
my class told me that it was a nice dream, but not very practical.... hmmmm.....
Plath, Sylvia. The Collected
Poems.
Ed. Ted Hughes. New York:
Harper, 1981.
Notice who edited this book? Sylvia,
who truly "found" her voice at the end of her life, had part of it taken
away by Ted Hughes, her adulterous ex-husband who burned her journal covering
the last year of her life. In that journal she recounted her feelings
at being rejected by him. He was unable to take away her poems, but
he was able to profit from them. Do I sound angry?
Anne Sexton. The Collected
Poems.
Boston: Houghton, 1981.
Isn't she wonderful? So much anger...
so much passion...
Haraway, Donna J. Simians,
Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature.
New York: Routledge, 1991.
This is the book that holds within its sacred
pages the "Cyborg Manifesto." Often misunderstood, it is quoted by
so many as a rationale for the whole human/computer/teaching/learning interface.
A must-read.
Haraway, Donna J. Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium.FemaleMan_Meets_OncoMouse:
Feminism and Technology.
New York: Routledge, 1997.
Haraway's latest book, it is as obscure and
dense as her others. And equally valuable. Expect to see it
quoted often.
Cherny, Lynn, and Elizabeth Reba
Weise, Eds. Wired_Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace.
Seattle: Seal, 1996
A book crammed with nice personal essays from
women using computers and technology in a variety of ways: love,
work, and play.
Gilbert, Laurel and Crystal Kile.
SurferGrrrls.
Seattle, Seal, 1996.
I am filled with praise for this book.
The two authors have put together a fun and informative read, one that
speaks to both beginners and experts.
Gilligan, Carol. In
a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development.
Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1982.
The book that set the standard for the rest,
Gilligan shifts the focus on women for one of the first times in psychology
scholarship.
Belenky, Mary Field, et.al.
Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind.
BasicBooks, 1986.
Often cited in tandem with Gilligan, this
book continues her work, but with an emphasis on women and identity through
voice.