I received an email from Jess McCabe of The F Word this morning, which she has given me permission to reproduce here, as I thought the readers here might have some ideas for her. 
Hi m’dears,
Just wondering if you’d be able to help – I just happened to be adding a book to the parenting section of The F-Word shop, and realised it’s a bit… err… woefully understocked!
Any recommendations on books/other resources it would be good to add?
This is what we have so far: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/thfwo-21?_encoding=UTF8&node=24
All the best,
Jess McCabe
I figured the readers (and writers!) here might be able to give some recommendations of books fitting the ideals of ‘feminist parenting’ – so over to you!
Advertisement
July 14, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I can’t answer that question because I haven’t ever read a single book on “feminist parenting” (believe it or not).
Erm, for parenting I would recommend Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn whose well-researched and well-referenced book I might call “children’s lib” and therefore suggest it has synergy with “women’s lib” but other than that… I don’t know, sorry!!
July 15, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Melissa Benn’s Madonna and Child: Politics of Modern Motherhood is very good, although a few years old now. I read Naomi Wolf’s Mis-conceptions, which attempts to do the same, but found it offensively bourgeois and relying predominantly on anecdote rather than data for issues like the health of the pregnant woman.
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s Mother Nature is supposed to be an absolutely fantastic demolition of the idea of the innate maternal instinct from an anthropological point of view. Other books I haven’t yet read include Susan J Douglas’s Mommy myth, Ann Crittenden’s The price of motherhood, and Amy Richards’s Opting in: having a child without losing yourself.
A friend absolutely RAVED about FM Deutsch’s Halving it all: how shared parenting actually works, which I think is more of an actual parenting manual than the previous books!
July 15, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I read a book recently called “My Mother Wears Combat Boots: A Parenting Guide For The Rest of Us” by Jessica Mills. It’s aimed slightly more towards punk musicians/fans and anarchists but it’s definitely got a lot of feminism in it too. It was pretty good, I quite liked it.
I’m also getting ready to read “Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence” by Rebecca Walker, daughter of Alice. I’m not sure how feminist it is, per se, but I’m sure it will have feminist leanings, considering the source. I’ll let you know after I’ve read it.
I’m very pleased to see The F Word trying to be more inclusive of feminist parenting. Thank you, Jess!
July 16, 2009 at 10:34 am
Thanks for the suggestions