Two titles that breathe new life into feminism

If you had told me 10 years ago that one day British publishers would be publishing so many feminist books that I’d have to cram two of them into one review, I’d have been very pleased, but also very surprised. It wasn’t that feminists of all ages didn’t exist back then, it was more that the mainstream media, on this side of the Atlantic at least, seemed determined to ignore their existence. But the last few years have seen the welcome return of feminism to the mainstream, and these two books are among the latest results.

Virago’s Fifty Shades of Feminism is a collection of short pieces by a wide variety of women, all talking about what feminism means to them. Medical doctor Sayantani DasGupta’s Can Sisterhood Be Global? asks why so many white feminists seem determined to save “oppressed brown women” rather than listen to them. Author Kate Mosse explains why she co-founded the literary award formerly known as the Orange Prize. Naomi Alderman compares the world of literature and video games and reveals where she’s encountered the most misogyny. And journalist Laurie Penny, best known for her insightful reportage and comment pieces, contributes an exhilarating poem about her generation of feminists.

There are, of course, many more than 50 shades of feminism, as the editors acknowledge in the introduction: “[These women] don’t pretend to be representative and neither does this volume.” And while there are a diverse range of voices in the book, they seldom contradict each other (there is a lot of criticism of the sex industry, but no sex-work advocates are given space). But what unites all the writers is a sense of community with other women, a belief that things will keep getting better, and a sense of continuity summed up by a wonderful illustration by the great cartoonist Posy Simmonds. It shows an Edwardian suffragette and a 1980s Greenham Common protester, each being led away by policemen dressed in the uniforms of their respective eras. The policemen are solemn. But the two women are looking at each other and smiling.

Guardian journalist Hadley Freeman’s Be Awesome is also optimistic and encouraging, though in a very different way. It isn’t specifically a book about feminism. Instead, it’s a very entertaining book of essays and personal advice written by someone who happens to be a feminist, looking at everything from how to cheer up an unhappily single friend to the danger of over-identifying as a teenager with characters played by Winona Ryder (a common malady among dark-haired girls of Freeman’s generation, as I can attest).

Freeman may focus on the concerns of middle-class and, for the most part, straight women, but she tackles them very well. She’s particularly good on the complex relationship between women and fashion, acknowledging the industry’s misogynistic aspects while pointing out that men often dismiss high fashion as trivial because it’s not about making women look sexy: “[Male] desires are being ignored.”

Like many of her peers, Freeman has a complicated attitude to women’s media, and it’s refreshing to read an insightful and funny feminist critique of women’s magazines written by someone who doesn’t automatically dismiss the entire industry and who acknowledges that some magazines are much better than others. The fact that this piece is written as a pitch-perfect parody of bland glossy magazine interviews is the icing on the cake.

In fact, throughout the book, Freeman proves herself to be an excellent satirical parodist, particularly in the superb A Day In Your Life in Daily Mail Headlines, which highlights that newspaper’s ability to criticise women for, well, just about everything: “’Not so glam now! Hadley dares to leave the house at 9a.m. without any make up’… ‘Tea for Two? No, just one, actually: Sad Hadley cuts a lonely figure as she buys just one cup of tea in the office canteen.’”

But although the book is often very funny, Freeman’s criticism of the misogynistic messages received by girls and young women packs a powerful punch, particularly when she tackles the media’s prurient, hypocritical treatment of anorexia. “The bizarre value attributed to women’s bodies … can, to someone who is looking for a way to articulate their unhappiness, present subconsciously a perfect solution.”

Freeman can sometimes be a little glib, particularly in the chapter on what to do when your best friend has a baby, but generally her voice is funny, insightful and delightfully deadpan. It’s also kind. This is a book that wants its readers to feel better about themselves, and it succeeds. Her advice is both witty and practical, and every young woman worrying about her lack of love life should heed her wise declaration that “one’s attractiveness is not measured in how many people have seen you naked. It’s actually measured in the quality of your dance routine to She’s Like the Wind by Patrick Swayze. Personally, I’m VERY attractive.”

She urges women to avoid pointless self-deprecation, and to be proud of their achievements, skills and, yes, perfectly chosen outfits. And she offers a wide range of excellent role models, both fictional and real. Any book that urges its readers to appreciate the wittily subversive likes of Auntie Mame, Amy Poehler, Bea Arthur, Kay Thompson’s Eloise and Jessica Mitford is painted in my favourite shade of feminism.

Be Awesome: Modern Life for Modern Ladies, By Hadley Freeman, 4th Estate, £8.99, 286pp
Fifty Shades of Feminism, Edited by Lisa Appignanesi, Susie Orbach and Rachel Holmes, Virago, £12.99, 324pp

Anna Carey is a writer and journalist. Her latest novel is Rebecca Rocks.