Sep 27, 2026
Susan Brownmiller’s 1975 book focuses on rape as a form of violence against women and examines its social and political implications. It helped bring sexual violence into broader feminist debates, arguing that rape could not simply be treated as an individual crime detached from the structures surrounding women’s lives.
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Published in 1983, Jaggar’s work connects feminist theory with questions about human nature, political philosophy and social organisation. Rather than treating women’s oppression as a single-issue problem, it examines how different feminist traditions understand power, equality and social change. It is included among the essential readings for feminist jurisprudence and gender justice at Dr B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi.
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First published in Hindi in 1966, this novel centres on Mitro, a woman who refuses to remain silent about her sexuality and desires. Sobti's portrayal of a woman openly challenging the expectations placed upon wives and daughters-in-law made the novel an important intervention in Indian literature around female sexuality and autonomy.
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First published in 1970, Sexual Politics examines the relationship between gender, power and literature. Millett argues that apparently private relationships and cultural representations can reflect wider systems of male dominance, bringing questions of sexuality and patriarchy into feminist political discussion. It remains part of academic feminist reading lists.
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Written around 1405, The City of Ladies is a remarkable early defence of women’s intellectual and moral worth. Christine de Pizan imagines a city inhabited by exemplary women from history and mythology, challenging the misogynistic ideas about women that were widespread in medieval Europe. The book is often regarded as a pioneering work in the history of feminist thought.
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First published in 1998, this pioneering oral history documents women’s movements in India through interviews, photographs and archival material. Rather than presenting feminism only through famous leaders, Kumar records the experiences and activism of women whose contributions were often left out of conventional histories.
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A particularly obscure choice, this collection contains eight stories by Marathi writer Laxmibai Abhyankar, whose work was largely forgotten after her death. The surviving stories explore women’s lives within urban and rural households at a time when questions of women’s emancipation were beginning to emerge in Marathi literature. Her only surviving work was later translated into English by her granddaughter.
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First published in 1981, this anthology brought together writings by women of colour addressing race, class, sexuality, identity and feminism. Its contributors challenged the tendency of mainstream feminist movements to treat the experiences of white women as universal. The collection became an influential text in women of colour feminist thought.
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Lesser known facts about TS Eliot