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We Should All Be Feminists

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Start date: March 1, 2017

Finish date: March 31, 2017

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: March Bonus Read for Women's History Month.…more
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What Members Thought

Feb 11, 2025 Jaclyn~she lives! catching up on reviews~ rated it liked it

“My own definition is a feminist is a man or a woman who says, yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better. All of us, women and men, must do better.”

“What if, in raising children, we focus on ability instead of gender? What if we focus on interest instead of gender?”

I think everyone should watch Adichies Ted talk "We Should All be Feminists."

There's nothing bad in this print version of her talk, but I have to admit there is nothing groundbreaking here “My own definition is a feminist is a man or a woman who says, yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better. All of us, women and men, must do better.”

“What if, in raising children, we focus on ability instead of gender? What if we focus on interest instead of gender?”

I think everyone should watch Adichies Ted talk "We Should All be Feminists."

There's nothing bad in this print version of her talk, but I have to admit there is nothing groundbreaking here. While i have enjoyed Adichie's fiction, I found this to be underwhelming. Perhaps that is because I've seen this book everywhere and seen it recommended all over the internet.

I feel that some of the emotion and direction of the language is stagnant on the page, where as her delivery in the Ted Talk is more evocative and powerful.

Overall the message of this talk is important and valid, it just rings a little like a bell thats been pulled too soon. I wish that Adichie had used this print version as an opportunity to expand beyond the limitations of a thirty minute Ted Talk.

I don't think We Should All Be Feminists is bad. I do think it is kind of sad that this is being celebrated though, when in reality we should be at a point where we have more feminist literature with substantiated and pointed ideas about how we can reshape gender ideology. It's sad that as a society we haven't evolved further than this by now.

It is necessary that we educate ourselves on this, consume literature, listen to discussions on gender and make actionable steps to change how we see gender and how others make assumptions based on gender. Boys can like pink and play with dolls. Girls can play in the mud and like cars. These things shouldn't be inherently associated with one gender or the other.

“I am trying to unlearn many lessons of gender I internalized while growing up. But I sometimes still feel vulnerable in the face of gender expectations.”

“What struck me—with her and with many other female American friends I have—is how invested they are in being “liked.” How they have been raised to believe that their being likable is very important and that this “likable” trait is a specific thing. And that specific thing does not include showing anger or being aggressive or disagreeing too loudly. 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.” ...more

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Feb 06, 2018 Kate rated it really liked it

This is a speech given by the author imploring all human beings to be feminists.

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Mar 07, 2020 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is an inspiring treatise on the importance of feminism.

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Oct 30, 2020 Musings on Living rated it it was amazing

Shelves: black-author, must-read-again, non-fiction, contemporary-fiction, ownvoices

This is an important book! There are so many highlights and quotes that I want to memorize. I'm definitely going to be reading this again and again. Everyone should read this book. ...more

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