Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, New Expanded Edition [Paperback]

Barbara Findlen (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2001

In this new, expanded edition of the acclaimed collection, writers and activists such as Rebecca Walker, Nomy Lamm, and Inga Muscio are joined by Lisa Miya-Jervis, publisher of Bitch; Alison Crews, editor of Girl-Mom; and Daisy Hernandez of Ms. Together, they cover a wide range of topics, from blending careers and feminist politics to the intersection of traditional culture and third-wave sensibilities.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Third-wave feminists are less angry, more realistic and deal with more subtle obstacles than their foremothers. These and other popular conceptions of young feminists are explored, questioned and sometimes blown to bits in the revised and expanded edition of Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, edited by Barbara Findlen. According to these undefeated and impressive young women, violence, rape, shame and self-hate still rear their ugly heads in the lives of girls and women. And, they attest, young feminists are as angry, self-expressive, political and interested in claiming their due as their predecessors.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This lively anthology counters the notion that feminism is on the wane. Findlen, managing editor of Ms. magazine, offers a collection of essays by young feminists, part of a generation that wrestles with a broad range of issues from race and sexual orientation to maternity. These writers, including well-known feminist Rebecca Walker, don't speak in definitives but acknowledge the many options that women have or ought to have. The collection includes a range of viewpoints--a Jewish woman dissects the paternalism in her religious culture, an Asian laments the lack of representation of Asians in feminist groups, a deeply religious Baptist African American ponders the multiplicity of her identities. The book begins with girlhood recollections of feminist--and sexual--awakenings and then moves on to struggles with identity and the boiling issues facing women, including abortion and sexual violence. The topics range from the mundane to the "underground grrrl movement," from economics to AIDS and other health issues. Women of any feminist sentiment will find themselves in the pages of this compelling and impassioned collection. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press; 2nd edition (July 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580050549
• ISBN-13: 978-1580050548
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen Up!, January 2, 2002

By 

A. Craft (Ypsilanti, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, New Expanded Edition (Paperback)

There couldn't be a better title for this book. Each essay begs you to "listen up" and listen good. The women in this book focus on all areas of feminism, and their feminist experiences at different times in their lives. Some are about trying to reconcile their circumstances with their feminist ideals, such as the feminist aerobics instructor, or the feminist who nearly had to become a go-go dancer just to pay the rent. My favorite essays were the ones that focused, at least in part, on what it's like to be growing up now, in a time where all too many people think that feminism is dead and/or dying. I have too many favorites to begin listing them here, but I definitely recommend this book to any one who is a feminist (no matter your age); think you might be a feminist, but don't want "that label"; or if you adamantly aren't a feminist, but you know one. I don't think any one will regret buying it.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Voices that ring true..., April 26, 2003

By 

Crystal (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, New Expanded Edition (Paperback)

Profound, eloquent articulate, wrenching. After the first reading, nearly every page has markings, passages I relate to, echoes of my life or thoughts, or points I find myself surprised or ashamed to have missed, overlooked or ignored. There are notes in the margins of every essay, authors or other figures I don't want to forget, awakenings that came at the end of a paragraph sentence, or even mid-sentence.

In the essay by Curtis Sittenfeld, titled "Your Life as a Girl," I saw myself in literally every paragraph, from the early triumph of running the timed mile and beating not only all the other girls, but all but one or two of the boys, to the first time I gave up trying (be it a math problem or the precise spin of a football throw), admitting myself the weaker, slower or less intelligent. The year I spent perpetually chilled, wearing clinging fabrics to show the body I'd "worked" so hard for, while at home I piled on the layers and spent hours in front of the space heater, and nights dreaming of lavish meals I would never eat. The year upon year upon year spent camouflaging the giddy pleasure at being deemed worthy of brief attention by the object of my (temporarily) undying affection, followed inevitably by the crushing voice that convinced me that my poochy belly was the reason for my unrequited devotion. Most nights are now spent dreaming not of romance (at least not the kind they build novels around) or wealth, but of crossing that finish line to sit with the boys and gloat, watching all the rest straggle in after me.

To wit, an essential read for any woman searching for a voice she relates to, but always coming up short of that perfectly articulated match. These are voices you can trust to speak clearly, loudly, angrily, humorously and with integrity and honesty about the challenges we still face.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars still worth listening too, June 19, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, New Expanded Edition (Paperback)

Not sure how to rate this, as all the old essays are here and just as good as I remember them. However, I felt, for the most part, that the quality of the new pieces did not measure up to the old. It wasn't necessarily the abundance of four-letter words, but what it was (or wasn't) exactly, I couldn't quite put my finger on. I suppose you could say they felt more tossed off. If it's true, as a reviewer said, that the new authors are angrier, that's intriguing. Has nothing been accomplished in a decade, or are women just less shy about demanding change? I wish I knew.

I did like the new essay from the woman who attended Smith as a Francis Perkins Scholar (I also went to school in that area) and was forced to also jump through the demeaning hoops of the state welfare system. Also interesting was "Class Feminist" - I'm not too (sadly) surprised that a teen would be ostracized for assuming that label, but that a teacher would by her colleagues....

And I didn't think there was that much male bashing - but then, I am female.