Think Like a Feminist: The Philosophy Behind the Revolution

by Carol Hay

Overview

An audacious and accessible guide to feminist philosophy—its origins, its key ideas, and its latest directions.

Think Like a Feminist is an irreverent yet rigorous primer that unpacks over two hundred years of feminist thought. In a time when the word feminism triggers all sorts of responses, many of them conflicting and misinformed, Professor Carol Hay provides this balanced, clarifying, and inspiring examination of what it truly means to be a feminist today. She takes the reader from conceptual questions of sex, gender, intersectionality, and oppression to the practicalities of talking to children, navigating consent, and fighting for adequate space on public transit, without deviating from her clear, accessible, conversational tone. Think Like a Feminist is equally a feminist starter kit and an advanced refresher course, connecting longstanding controversies to today’s headlines.

Think Like a Feminist takes on many of the essential questions that feminism has risen up to answer: Is it nature or nurture that’s responsible for our gender roles and identities? How is sexism connected to racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of oppression? Who counts as a woman, and who gets to decide? Why have men gotten away with rape and other forms of sexual violence for so long? What responsibility do women themselves bear for maintaining sexism? What, if anything, can we do to make society respond to women’s needs and desires?

Ferocious, insightful, practical, and unapologetically opinionated, Think Like a Feminist is the perfect book for anyone who wants to understand the continuing effects of misogyny in society. By exploring the philosophy underlying the feminist movement, Carol Hay brings today’s feminism into focus, so we can deliberately shape the feminist future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324020271
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/08/2022
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	496,017
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Carol Hay is an associate professor of philosophy at University of Massachusetts Lowell and author of the award-winning Kantianism, Liberalism, and Feminism: Resisting Oppression. She’s written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Aeon magazine. She lives near Boston, MA.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Chapter 1 The F-Word 1

Chapter 2 Oppression: Four Metaphors 31

Chapter 3 The Social Construction of Gender 71

Chapter 4 The Social Construction of Sex 99

Chapter 5 Sexual Violence 131

Chapter 6 Where the Rubber Meets the Road 163

Epilogue Why Not Humanism? 189

Afterword to the Paperback Edition 191

Acknowledgments 197

Notes 199

Index 215

Editorial Reviews

"A timely and accessible introduction to feminist thought in the twenty-first century. Highly recommended."

author of Categories We Live By: The Construction Ásta

"With this book, beautifully written and often disarmingly hilarious, we see clearly the luminous future for feminism, and one of its brightest lights will be Carol Hay."

Clancy Martin

"The best feminist work leaves you changed, unable to look at the world in the same way. Think Like a Feminist does this. Carol Hay provides historical perspective, political awareness, and philosophical insight to cut through confusions about feminism, giving us the tools of analysis and skills of engagement needed to build a more just world."

Sally Haslanger

"Think Like a Feminist has opened my eyes in ways I had not known they were closed. It is a timely and deeply important book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough, especially for those who yearn for justice for all human beings, no matter their sex, gender, or race."

Andre Dubus III

"A timely and accessible introduction to feminist thought in the twenty-first century. Highly recommended."

author of Categories We Live By: The Construct Ásta

05/18/2020

Hay (Kantianism, Liberalism, and Feminism), a philosophy professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, explores the philosophical frameworks of feminism and addresses the movement’s “PR problem” in this accessible, idea-centered account. After sketching the histories of first-, second-, and third-wave feminism as a series of “course corrections” to make the movement more intersectional and inclusive, Hays examines how the stereotypes of “Angry Feminism” and its mirror opposite, “Girl Power Feminism,” allow those invested in maintaining the status quo to rob feminism of its “radical potential.” She analyzes feminist ideas related to oppression, privilege, and identity through philosophical metaphors such as “The Birdcage” and “The Panopticon”; tracks historical conceptions of sex, gender, and gender roles; discusses ideological differences between “anti-porn” and “sex positive” feminists; highlights women’s internalized objectification as a roadblock to advancing feminism; dissects the meaning of “rape culture”; and calls on women and men to examine the subconscious ways in which they support the patriarchy. Hay succeeds in clarifying abstract—and often sobering—concepts with straightforward terminology and a dash of irreverent humor. This crisp, well-informed primer on feminist theory will resonate with young women and experienced activists alike. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Carol Hay is a warm and witty guide through modern-day gender politics, welcoming novices and offering substance to those already with her in the trenches. This is the book to give the questioning young person or the cynical patriarch in your life, but also a good read for your feminist book club or radical action group."

Alice MacLachlan

"A caffeinated tour through the history of feminist thought…Hay addresses small but useful steps we can take to go beyond the realm of ideas and achieve real-world results."

Doug Sparks

"At once welcoming and inclusive, yet uncompromisingly political, Carol Hay recognizes the wide variety of feminist voices while speaking boldly in a voice of her own."

Quill R. Kukla

08/28/2020

Hay (philosophy, Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell) offers a useful primer on the state of feminism in the MeToo era, delineating the history of feminism's various "waves," and how they led to where we are today. The author applies a series of metaphors to break down the levels of oppression that women contend with, and her chapters on gender and sex as social constructions are straightforward and instructive. She also discusses the controversial sect of TERFS (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) and argues that "the future of the feminist movement is one that includes trans women." Hay acknowledges that feminism is as varied as the women who subscribe to it, all of whom have vastly different experiences with regard to race, class, sexuality, and ability. However, that women are disadvantaged in a man's world, and the belief that this reality can and should be changed, remains a core, unifying tenet. Many feminist texts render themselves inaccessible to lay readers; in seeking to avoid this, Hay can sometimes come across as awkwardly chatty, with gratuitous asides. Any primer runs the risk of being reductionist, which Hay occasionally is, but it doesn't undermine the book's overall effectiveness. VERDICT Recommended for all readers, especially those new to feminism.—Barrie Olmstead, Lewiston P.L., ID

Library Journal

2020-05-17
How—and why—do young feminists’ goals differ from those of their mothers and grandmothers? A philosophy professor has answers.

Despite its title, this energetic overview of several centuries of feminist thought offers few self-help tips until, late in the book, Hay suggests ways to deal with annoyances like “manspreading” and “mansplaining.” Instead, with a winning mix of scholarship and irreverence, the author lays out the philosophical underpinnings of feminism and how they have evolved through three waves: the first focused on female suffrage, the second on political and legal goals, and the third on the intersection of sexism and injustices such as “racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, or transphobia.” Hay traces women’s oppression partly to the unequal results of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden: Adam simply “gets kicked out of his parents’ basement and told he has to grow up and get a job” while Eve and her descendants were thrown “under a bus.” The author also shows the clashing responses that women’s predicaments have inspired in fervent theorists and activists—e.g., Aristotle and John Stuart Mill, “Angry Feminists” and “Girl Power Feminists,” “trans-inclusive feminists” and “trans-exclusionary radical feminists.” Hay doesn’t mention Gloria Steinem but sums up the impact of many other signal figures, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, Audre Lorde, Susan Brownmiller, Shulamith Firestone, and Kimberlé Crenshaw. Hay’s approach has its limits: Focused on theories born in capitalist economies, she takes too little note of the ideas of feminists outside North America whose support for socialist programs has helped their democracies race past the U.S. and Canada in achieving widely shared goals such as paid parental leave. Still, this book speaks to second- and third-wavers alike and could build worthy intergenerational bridges.

A lively compendium of what Gloria Steinem didn’t tell you about feminist ideas and why they matter.

Kirkus Reviews