Womanhood, Redefined: 9 Books That Disrupt the Narrative

By: YJ Wang and Rose White

The default person in a patriarchal world is a man, which may feel most obvious to anyone experiencing this world as a woman. But just knowing this is not enough to realize how deeply ingrained patriarchal design is in our professional lives, our cultural histories, our understanding of human biology, and even in the everyday words we use.

Furthermore, the female experience is not a monolith. Even as they are often obscured within mainstream discussions of womanhood, the experiences of POC women, trans women, poor women, old women, fat women, disabled women, and more, shape and define our understanding of womanhood today. 

With fun (and not-so-fun) facts, case studies, research, and philosophical musings, these books discuss womanhood as a whole, and womanhood in its specificities.

Feminist Designer: On the Personal and the Political in Design

Edited by Alison Place (Recommendation from Rose)

Are you curious about feminism and its many intersections with design? The two can feel far away. Conversationally, this book bridges the gap through many voices and diverse perspectives. Feminism can often have a narrow application within design thinking. Design can be full of buzzwords, which highly clouds the conversation surrounding feminist theory. Following case studies and essays, this book engages a broad spectrum of conversation, confronting the need to expand. As a designer, there are little books I have come across that compare to this one.

Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language

By Amanda Montell (Recommendation from YJ)

From the way we speak to the words we say, the linguistic experience is a gendered one. I’ve always loved Amanda Montell’s astute cultural commentary, and her breakdown of how sexism is embedded in our everyday speech—from the disdain for the “vocal fry” to the evolution of previously mundane terms (like hussy, slut, or bitch) to derogatorily describe women—opened my eyes to the sexist landmines littered across the English language. An illuminating and fun read!

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

By Mikki Kendall (Recommendation from Rose)

Feminism can often be too belittling of a term. Women are not a monolith, especially Black women. This book dissects the pain points and clouds that White Feminism and its icons introduce. Their fame and framework lack inclusivity, and Black women experience the brunt of it. Black women suffer greatly from not having core or basic needs met. A more inclusive framework for feminism needs to exist, and this book proves its importance.

Gender Euphoria

Edited by Laura Kate Dale (Recommendation from Rose)

This book challenges the gender dysphoria narrative that often dominates conversations about transitioning. With essays from non-binary, agender, gender-fluid, and intersex writers, we expand the conversation around joy and how it intersects with identity. Joy plays a major role in the trans experience, and it is crucial to explore how womanhood fits into this broader, evolving dialogue.

Hunger

By Roxane Gay (Recommendation from Rose)

This is a book about the pain that is housed in a body. In this honest, heartfelt memoir, Gay focuses on the journey her body has endured. Relentless and enduring, we follow Roxane as she carves a space of safety within her body and discovers herself after enduring trauma. Her story is not about you agreeing with her desires or decisions, but rather acknowledging her truth.

 Unshrinking

By Kate Manne (Recommendation from YJ)

Being overweight may have a higher correlation to certain health issues, but so does participating in extreme sports, alcohol consumption, and sleep deprivation: yet none of those are seen as moral failing or derogatory identity markers as being fat is. And none of those activities lead to workplace bias, social bullying, or medical misdirection as fatphobia does. And of course, this ire is often disproportionately directed at women. With myth-busting statistics and frightening medical anecdotes, Unshrinking debunks the way we think about health and bodies. But mostly, it’s a reminder to have a little humanity and to think with nuance.

The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having–or Being Denied–an Abortion

By Diana Greene Foster, PhD (Recommendation from YJ)

There are more abortion restrictions now than in the 1970s. These restrictions are largely backed by the assertion that abortion is harmful to women, an assertion that The Turnaway Study soundly proves is not true. Tracking a thousand women over ten years, with first-hand accounts of women who both received and were denied abortions, this book shows how women (and their families) were resoundingly better off after choosing and receiving an abortion.

It also explains the myriad reasons why women seek abortions, with scary statistics on how ineffective most contraceptives are (the average woman on oral contraceptives will experience up to two unwanted pregnancies over a lifetime), and the varied life circumstances that lead women to this difficult choice.

 Black Women Writers at Work

Edited by Claudia Tate ft. Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, and more! (Recommendation from Rose)

Writing is a form of self-care. This collection laid the foundation for future generations of Black Women writers. A long, extensive list of features and essays from the best of the best, this book follows the intricacies of life, writing, and womanhood. From Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Nikki Giovanni, and so many others, it is slowly uncovered who and why writing has made a strong impact on their lives and communities.

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

By Cat Bohannon (Recommendation from YJ)

I like to think of Eve as the female version of Yuval Noah Harrari’s wildly popular Sapiens (also a fantastic read). With highly researched revelations from the realms of modern medicine and evolutionary biology, this book centers women in the story of human evolution. You’ll be sure to be amazed by the extraordinary things that the female body has evolved to do, and how that evolutionary process has come to define humanity today!

Together, these books unravel the complexities of womanhood, challenging the default narratives that have long shaped our societies. They expose the biases woven into our systems, amplify voices that have been historically marginalized, and offer new frameworks for understanding identity, power, and agency. Examining language, design, history, health, and activism, they remind us that redefining womanhood is an ongoing process—one that requires nuance, intersectionality, and a willingness to question what we have been taught. Reading these works is not just an intellectual exercise; it is an act of resistance, a call to see, hear, and uplift the many dimensions of womanhood that shape our world today.