We Should All Be Feminists

 

We Should All Be Feminists

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Publisher: Anchor, 2015 (Paperback, 49 pages)

Rating: 

Thoughts:

This short book is based on the TEDx Talk given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Euston. She delivers an intelligent conversation around feminism, what it means, and why it is important. I definitely understand why Sweden chose to distribute this book to all 16 year-olds in the country. A must read for anyone who enjoys Adichie’s work, or anyone looking for a quick introduction to feminism.

Memorable Quotes:

“The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.”

“We spend too much time teaching girls to worry about what boys think of them. But the reverse is not the case. We don’t teach boys to care about being likable. We spend too much time telling girls that they cannot be angry or aggressive or tough, which is bad enough, but then we turn around and either praise or excuse men for the same reasons. All over the world, there are so many magazine articles and books telling women what to do, how to be and not to be, in order to attract or please men. There are far fewer guides for men about pleasing women.”

“Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.”