Recommended reading

The Fair Agenda team have curated a list of recommended resources for your feminist 'book' club - with content that we think are particularly relevant and thought-provoking for those of us who care about gender justice in this moment.

We'll provide 2-3 offerings, and you can choose to focus on the one that works best for you.

Each suggestion will include an indicative time, and will always be less than three hours. The Fair Agenda team will seek to always include at least one option that is freely available - so as many people as possible can participate.

New recommendations will be added every six weeks; so you can always use this as a resource to guide your next Feminist 'Book' Club plan!

Option #1: Yoorrook: Truth Be Told (Yoorrook Justice Commission)

Recommended excerpts:

  • Excerpt of Thinking Black, Fighting Back: 124 - 128 

  • Excerpt of Broken Promises: 178 - 179 

  • Testimony of Aunty Caroline Briggs AM - 280 - 285

  • Testimony of Aunty Di Kerr OAM - 298 - 301

  • Testimony of Nerita Waight - 338 - 343

  • Testimony of Aunty Nellie Flag - 348 - 351

Why read it in this moment?

The Uluru Statement from the Heart called for Voice, Truth and Treaty.

Victoria is the first state to deliver Treaty - building on the truth telling process of the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

Heading into this year’s state election - that Treaty is now under threat, with the Opposition Leader committing to repeal Treaty if elected.

Understanding the importance of Treaty, and the role of First Nations justice in a gender just future has never been more important.


Where you can access it

Option #2: Hope in the Dark (Rebecca Solnit)

Recommended excerpt:
‘Foreword to the Third Edition: Grounds for Hope’ (pages xi - xxvi)

Content note: this excerpt references sexual assault and touches on suicide. This may not be the best option for everyone.

Why read it in this moment?

Best explained by Solnit herself, in the opening paragraph:

“Your opponents would love you to believe that it’s hopeless, that you have no power, that there’s no reason to act, that you can’t win. Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away. And though hope can be an act of defiance, defiance isn’t enough reason to hope. But there are good reasons.”

Where you can access it

Option #3: Doppleganger: A trip into the mirror world (Naomi Klein)

Specifically:

The Chapter ‘MAGA’s Plus-One’

Why read it in this moment?

In recent years, prominent climate and social justice advocate Naomi Klein has been increasingly confused with another prominent former feminist advocate, Naomi Wolf. 

But in recent years, Naomi Wolf has shifted from her former work as an author of The Beauty Myth, to frequent host on Steve Bannon’s podcast. This book is Naomi Klein’s investigation of how people get drawn into conspiracies and far right movements.

This chapter particularly focuses on the strategies being used by Bannon and the MAGA movement to draw people in, and as Klein says, the way they are “studying all our hypocrises and inconsistencies so that he can make a show of doing the exact opposite.” 

An incisive and challenging reflection for social justice movements and advocates on behaviours and norms that can help grow or shrink our audiences.

Where you can access it

  • Your local library

  • All good bookstores