The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
The bestselling classic that redefined our view of the relationship between beauty and female identity. In today's world, women have more power, legal recognition, and professional success than ever before. Alongside the evident progress of the women's movement, however, writer and journalist Naomi Wolf is troubled by a different kind of social control, which, she argues, may prove just as restrictive as the traditional image of homemaker and wife. It's the beauty myth, an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society's impossible definition of "the flawless beauty."
Pussy: A Reclamation by Regena Thomashauer
Get ready to encounter a book that will change your experience as a woman, in a powerful new way. Author, educator, and School of Womanly Arts founder Regena Thomashauer has been working with women for the past 25 years, and what began as just a few women in her living room has since grown into a global movement with thousands of graduates worldwide.
In her newest book, Pussy: A Reclamation, you’ll discover what no one taught you about the source of your feminine power and how to use it. It’s no secret that women today are still undervalued at home, at work, and in relationship. Too many of us are at war with our bodies and disconnected from our truth. See, we live in a culture that teaches us to turn off. To play small. To take care of everyone else first. To keep a lid on our dreams and a cork on our truth.
This book is written to reacquaint a woman with her own power source—which is the part of herself she has been taught to ignore, push down, and despise. Indeed, the word that most viscerally sums up that power is, as Regena puts it, “arguably the most powerful pejorative word in the English language.” Like any expletive used effectively, the title of this book is meant to be a wake-up call. It is a reclamation, in a world that desperately requires the feminine.
Embrace: My Story from Body Loather to Body Lover by Taryn Brumfitt
A warm, frank and funny account of Taryn Brumfitt's journey from hating her body to being a free-thinking exponent on the value and power of a positive body image. Raises important questions about the pressures society puts on women to conform to a certain body shape, and asks what we can do to prevent this having a negative effect on the next generation.
Beyond Beautiful: A Practical Guide to Being Happy, Confident, and You in a Looks-Obsessed World by Anuschka Rees
Empowering, insightful, and psychology-driven, Beyond Beautiful is filled with proven, no-BS strategies for proactive self-care. This stylish and practical handbook takes a deep-dive into all of the factors that make it hard to feel good about yourself, and offers sage answers to tricky questions, like:
- Why do I hate the way I look in pictures?
- How can I stop feeling like a total slob compared to everyone on social media?
- How exactly does this self-love thing work?
- How do I find the confidence to use less make up, stop shaving, or wear what I want?
- Is body positivity really the answer?
Illustrated with full-color art, Beyond Beautiful is a much-needed breath of fresh air that will help you live your best life, know your worth, and stop wasting any more precious energy and mental space worrying about the way you look.
Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic. by Lisa Lister
A compelling book urging modern women to reconnect with their inborn femimine powers. Reclaim your inner witch with the magical rituals, divination tools, spells and ancient wisdom in this revolutionary book. A witch is a woman in her power. She's wise, a healer, someone who is aligned with the cycles of Mother Nature and the phases of the Moon. Yet for so long, the word 'witch' has had negative connotations - being used as an insult, a slur and to perpetuate fear. In this book, third generation hereditary witch Lisa Lister explains the history behind witchcraft, why in past centuries the word 'witch' has led women to be tortured, drowned and burned at the stake, and why the witch is now waking once again in women across the world today.
Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic by Esther Perel
Esther Perel takes on tough questions, grappling with the obstacles and anxieties that arise when our quest for secure love conflicts with our pursuit of passion. She invites us to explore the paradoxical union of domesticity and sexual desire, and explains what it takes to bring lust home. In her 20 years of clinical experience, Perel has treated hundreds of couples whose home lives are empty of passion. They describe relationships that are open and loving, yet sexually dull. What is going on?
In this explosively original book, Perel explains that our cultural penchant for equality, togetherness, and absolute candor is antithetical to erotic desire for both men and women. Sexual excitement doesn't always play by the rules of good citizenship. It is politically incorrect. It thrives on power plays, unfair advantages, and the space between self and other. More exciting, playful, even poetic sex is possible, but first we must kick egalitarian ideals and emotional housekeeping out of our bedrooms.
While Mating in Captivity shows why the domestic realm can feel like a cage, Perel's take on bedroom dynamics promises to liberate, enchant, and provoke. Flinging the doors open on erotic life and domesticity, she invites us to put the "X" back in sex.
Goddesses Never Age: The Secret Prescription for Radiance, Vitality, and Well-Being by Dr. Christiane Northrup
Though we talk about wanting to "age gracefully," the truth is that when it comes to getting older, we’re programmed to dread an inevitable decline: in our health, our looks, our sexual relationships, even the pleasure we take in living life. But as Christiane Northrup, M.D., shows us in this New York Times best-selling guide, we have it in us to make growing older an entirely different experience, both for our bodies and for our souls.
In chapters that blend personal stories and practical exercises with the latest research on health and aging, Dr. Northrup lays out the principles of ageless living, from rejecting processed foods to releasing stuck emotions, from embracing our sensuality to connecting deeply with our Divine Source. Explaining that the state of our health is dictated far more by our beliefs than by our biology, she works to shift our perceptions about getting older and show us what we are entitled to expect from our later years—no matter what our culture tries to teach us to the contrary—including:
• Vibrant good health
• A fulfilling sex life
• The capacity to love without losing ourselves
• The ability to move our bodies with ease and pleasure
• Clarity and authenticity in all our relationships—especially the one we have with ourselves
"Taking all the right supplements and pills, or getting the right procedure done, isn’t the prescription for anti-aging," Dr. Northrup explains. "Agelessness is all about vitality, the creative force that gives birth to new life." Goddesses Never Age is filled with tools and inspiration for bringing vitality and vibrancy into your own ageless years—and it all comes together in Dr. Northrup’s 14-day Ageless Goddess Program, your personal prescription for creating a healthful, soulful, joyful new way of being at any stage of life.
Please note that all of these synopses are taken from the Good Reads website. I could have linked the Amazon shop to buy these books but I encourage you to support your local independent book store or library! We gotta help keep those guys alive! If you have any suggestions to add to this list I would LOVE to hear to hear it… Contact me HERE