From the Bookshelf of Buddy Reads…

We Should All Be Feminists

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Start date: February 6, 2019

Finish date: February 6, 2019

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By Aqsa , Dracarys! · 19 posts · 97 views

last updated Feb 08, 2019 02:49PM

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What Members Thought

Jul 19, 2014 Steph rated it it was ok

Shelves: fem-theory-cultural-studies, first-read-in-2014, giveaways-arcs, nonfiction, stories-essays-speeches, my-unfave-is-problematic, poc-author, ebook-laptop-phone, place-africa

I really like what Adichie is trying to do with this essay - provide a short, foundational argument about the importance of feminism. She does accomplish this, and it is a very well-written essay, with interesting insights into the gendered culture of Nigeria. But Adichie’s feminism and mine don’t quite match up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

6 likes · Like · see review

Apr 04, 2018 malak rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-books

picked this book randomly from the library, for 52 pages, everyone should read this book!

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 07, 2018 Rahma rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018-reads

Definitely eye-opening! Highly recommended.

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 11, 2017 Teri rated it it was amazing

This is feminism for me. Short book but it put in to words many of the thoughts I had been trying to form about how I feel to be a woman. If you are a woman or know one, you should read this book. Your life will be better for it.

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 03, 2020 f. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, favourites-activism, favourite-non-fiction, feminism

i truly love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Dec 30, 2022 Kristina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, inspirational, mental-health, useful, non-muggle, non-fiction, favorites, humour, happiness, philosophy

Fantastic essay on feminism. It’s a very short one, but it feels complete as it touches on many different areas and misconceptions about what feminism is and what it’s not.

Feminism is a term that is indeed heavy with baggage, so this book comes as a much-needed conversation everyone should have with themselves and their friends.

Many things in the book are so relatable and click easily with me.
Gender equality has gone a long way, and we are indeed more equal now than before, but there is still a Fantastic essay on feminism. It’s a very short one, but it feels complete as it touches on many different areas and misconceptions about what feminism is and what it’s not.

Feminism is a term that is indeed heavy with baggage, so this book comes as a much-needed conversation everyone should have with themselves and their friends.

Many things in the book are so relatable and click easily with me.
Gender equality has gone a long way, and we are indeed more equal now than before, but there is still a lot of unconscious bias in both men and women. Therefore, we should all be feminists as gender equality will make not only women happier but also men.

Some notable quotes:

“If we do something over and over, it becomes normal. If we see the same thing over and over, it becomes normal.”

“A woman at a certain age who is unmarried, our society teaches her to see it as a deep personal failure. And a man, after a certain age, isn’t married, we just think he hasn’t come around to making his pick.”

“Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.”

“The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.”

“A Nigerian acquaintance once asked me if I was worried that men would be intimidated by me. I was not worried at all—it had not even occurred to me to be worried because a man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the kind of man I would have no interest in.”

“A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves. And this is how to start: We must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently.”

“I looked the word up in the dictionary, it said: Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. My great-grandmother, from stories I’ve heard, was a feminist. She ran away from the house of the man she did not want to marry and married the man of her choice. She refused, protested, spoke up when she felt she was being deprived of land and access because she was female. She did not know that word feminist. But it doesn’t mean she wasn’t one. More of us should reclaim that word. The best feminist I know is my brother Kene, who is also a kind, good-looking, and very masculine young man. 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.” ...more

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