Shannon Turlington

The Women’s March on Washington is what is inspiring me right now. It started out as just an idea following on the surprising election results and has now grown, grassroots-style, into the largest protest and demonstration to take place in response to the inauguration. The march is for everyone, regardless of gender identity, who believes that women’s rights are human rights. The primary march will be held in Washington, DC, but there will be supporting marches in cities, large and small, around the world. Where I live, there are at least three supporting events within easy driving distance.

I was impressed with the Women’s March Global Mission for Equality, and I hope this signals the beginning of a powerful and effective worldwide movement. I only wish that education of girls and women was a plank in the mission statement, because I personally believe that education is the key to empowering women.

For those of us who enjoy self-education, I offer my favorite feminist reads to help you resist in the coming years:

• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Female Man by Joanna Russ
• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
• The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper
• The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
• The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant
• Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
• Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
• When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
• Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
• The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
• The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Ammonite by Nicola Griffith