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Lifting the Veil is a title which carries implications spanning across western and eastern traditions. Consider the image of the veiled bride, a female figure condemned to lifelong possession. The veil is lifted to reveal the bride, for the pleasure of the male gaze. But in this collection of short stories, Ismat Chughtai turns that trope on its head.
more...If you like a story about freeing abused dogs, samosas poisoned with mosquito coils, and greetings like, ‘Namaskar, goat fucker’ with barely intact polite tones, then this book is definitely for you.
more...Roig begins her book with her personal story, tells of her wedding, marriage and divorce, and also explains right at the start the origins of a collective-social longing for marriage, before she then focuses on the individual aspects of marriage and heteronormative relationships.
more...Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs is one of the strangest books I have read recently – and I mean that in an extremely positive way. I admit I had to get into it first, but then this unusual way of talking about dolphins, whales, seals and co. in connection with Black experiences won me over.
more...The lawyer, activist and author Rafia Zakaria came from Pakistan to the USA at the age of 17 and worked for 5 years on the board of Amnesty International USA after having studied law. She has incorporated these experiences into her book Against White Feminsim.
more...Unrast Verlag published Schwarzer Feminismus: Grundlagentexte, a collection of contributions by Black feminists under the editorship of Natasha A. Kelly, in 2019. The book traces the development of the concept of intersectionality, which has increasingly become the focus of feminist debates in Germany in recent years.
more...Judith Coffey and Vivien Laumann critique that antisemitism and Jewish perspectives have thus far often been elided in intersectional debates. At the end of 2021, they published their book Gojnormativität (Goynormativity) to make Jewish positions more speakable and visible. We had the privilege of talking to Judith Coffey about the book.
more...Different communities have reappropriated terms, so surely an emotion can be reclaimed. Anger is not necessarily something evil in itself. Rather, it can be an expression of people’s realization that something is evil – unjust social structures, for example.
more...Sister Outsider by African-American, lesbian, feminist poet and activist Audre Lorde is a foundational text for anyone interested in intersectionality and reflecting on their own social positions.
more...Basil talks about her own politicization and analyses feminist dilemmas in the context of #MeToo and her co-creation of an issue of a leading fashion magazine with numerous other women who form a feminist circle of allies and actually have nothing to do with the fashion world.
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