Monday, February 17, 2014

Female Friendly Book Recommendations

Today I uploaded a video about female friendly television shows. This basically means shows that have female characters and actually utilize them. If you take away the woman from the show, the story would change quite a bit. The women in these shows are treated with respect and as equals to the men. Most of these shows I recommend have female main characters or have more women in its cast as most of the other shows airing right now. Not only that, but I tried to include shows with a high level of diversity, meaning shows that have more diversity than just including some white cishet women in their cast of white cishet dudes.


Now, I'm a booktuber at heart. Yes, I've been branching out into discussing other types of media with a feminist focus. However, my youtube channel is still where my adventure into literature is taking place. I say 'adventure' because I have so much more to explore. With television and movies I feel like I am versed in the canon and the current industry. There are far less accessible TV shows than books (for years after they are published books are semi-easy to get ahold of, where as there are still episodes of classic Doctor Who missing and I still can't find a way to legally watch Birds of Prey). It also takes less time to watch a movie or a few episodes of a TV show than to read a 400 page book (at least for me).

This is a long winded way to say that I would have liked to shoot a video about female friendly book recommendations, but I really don't even know where to start! There are so many books. There are so many books in the feminist canon alone. I feel like I haven't even brushed the surface. I feel like I can't recommend female friendly books when there are SO MANY out there. I also feel like I can't recommend female friendly books when I feel like I haven't read the best ones. I feel like I've only read about 150 books in my lifetime not counting children books under 100 pages.

However, I do feel like I can give you my "rule" when I'm picking out a book when I want something pro-women. You know, when you are sick of reading about dudes and their dude problems or sick of abusive-like relationships. This is just my personal opinion and method. I tend to try any books written by women (women of color is always a plus) not written by Stephenie Meyer or anyone inspired by Stephenie Meyer. If you're REALLY not feeling the possibility of really shitty relationships, you could stray away from the romance genre (if you're a YA fan, I would suggest at least staying away from supernatural romance. If you're not a strict YA person, I would avoid it in it's entirely, just in case). So basically, my female friendly book suggestions are literary fiction or classics written by a woman of color or a woman already lauded as being a feminist. Just stay away from Stephenie Meyer and books written by white cishet dudes if you're looking for something that won't make you as a woman slightly cringe.

You now understand that I am not nearly educated enough to give female friendly book recommendations. Please give me your recommendations!!