March is women's history month, and we're celebrating by kicking off Readers Resist 2018 with a big conversation- the past, present, and future of the feminist movement. Our Reader's Resist pick for March is Andi Zeisler's 2016 book We Were Feminist Once: From Riot Grrl to CoverGirl®, and the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement.
About the book:
Feminism has hit the big time. Once a dirty word brushed away with a grimace, “feminist” has been rebranded as a shiny label sported by movie and pop stars, fashion designers, and multi-hyphenate powerhouses like Beyoncé. But what does it mean when social change becomes a brand identity?
Andi Zeisler, a founding editor of Bitch Media, draws on more than twenty years' experience interpreting popular culture in this biting history of how feminism has been co-opted, watered down, and turned into a gyratory media trend. Surveying movies, television, advertising, fashion, and more, Zeisler reveals a media landscape brimming with the language of empowerment, but offering little in the way of transformational change. Witty, fearless, and unflinching, We Were Feminists Once is the story of how we let this happen, and how we can amplify feminism's real purpose and power.