Reviews

This was a book selected to be read this month as part of an organized publishing initiative, #PubWorkersforJustice.

In sum, it makes the case that mainstream feminism, what is commonly thought of as “feminist,” barely scratches the surface when it comes to the adversity marginalized women face. Each section takes a talking point or subject, then discusses the myriad nuances that are usually ignored, and how it is typically feminists who are cishet, white, able, and financially stable that obscure those nuances or ignore them completely in favor of getting themselves a seat at the table, with no regard for anyone else.

Feminism is often considered completely separately from “other issues” like poverty, gun violence, starvation, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the abolition of policing and prisons. In actuality, these issues aren’t “other” for women—they intersect, and to be feminist is to support all women, including the women at these intersections. It is obviously difficult to understand an experience you never had and may never have, but making the effort is essential, and if your desire for equality is limited to you and those who are “like” enough to you, it’s not actually equality.

I found the abortion discussion particularly compelling, especially because of Kendall’s insistence that the conversation about abortion is often co-opted by those claiming to be advocates for disabled people claiming the right to choose is tantamount to eugenics. Kendall reminds us that fighting for a person’s bodily autonomy and choice of whether or not to be pregnant is not just something we do for abled people: disabled people, too, deserve that right, and despite that are vulnerable to forced sterilization and barred from making their own reproductive choices. And the choice a person may make about whether or not to have a disabled child is informed by more factors than disability alone—the choice of whether or not to have a child is rife with inhibiting factors like financial instability and difficulty finding access to necessary programs and childcare.

Basically, feminism is much more complicated than a single (popular, white, affluent) experience. And regardless, we all have to do something about it. This is definitely the kind of book that can open some liberal eyes, and hopefully some conservative ones, too, as long as you’re willing to read it.