A (new) Flapper Manifiesto
A reading list that will nurture your inner flapper.
Photo by Alejandro Boras Duncan.
Crystal rings, Carra Studio. Silk gloves, sytlist’s own.
For some, this was a wave of free and spirited women, embracing a lifestyle viewed by many people in those years as scandalous, dangerous, or even immoral. For others, this was the first generation of independent women who pushed boundaries in terms of economy, politics, and feminine sexual liberation.
Historically, the age of the flappers ended in 1929 with the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. But in a whole different sense, we could be talking about a concept that did more than dissipate. It has evolved and transformed itself through time, reborn in the spirit of numerous women around the world no matter their age, cultural backgrounds, or social status.
We prepared a short reading list by women authors whose bravery, intelligence, and rebellious sense of freedom have inspired thousands of people around the world, giving a whole new meaning to the flapper philosophy in a contemporary society.
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“Persepolis”, Marjane Satrapi
Presented as a comic book in black and white, Persepolis is the autobiographic life story of author, Marjane Satrapi, who grew up as a woman in Téhéran during the Islamic revolution. It illustrates the challenges she faced when moving to Europe in her adulthood.
Photo: IG @marjane__satrapi
“How to cure a ghost”, Fariha Róisín
A compilation of poems following a young, queer, Muslim woman’s journey to self-acceptance. Róisín’s poems (illustrated by Brooklyn-based artist Monica Ramos) are a full immersion into Muslim identity and intercultural dialogues. If, like us, you became addicted to the series Milk & Honey and The Sun & Her Flowers by poetess Rupi Kaur, you are definitely going to love Fariha’s work.
Photo: IG @fariha_roisin
“Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly”, Guerrilla Girls
Born in 1985, The Guerrilla Girls are a collective of political feminist artists who, through provocative street art, media campaigns, and large-scale exhibitions have called out numerous big art institutions like the Museum of Modern Art for its lack of representation of female artists, as well as exposing discrimination and corruption in film, politics, and pop culture all around the world.
The Art of Behaving Badly is the first book that reunites the journey of the GG since its foundation to present.
Photo: IG @guerrillagirls
“Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots”, Deborah Feldman
Followed by the Netflix miniseries Unorthodox, this memoir portrays Feldman’s life growing up in an ultra-religious Jewish community in Brooklyn which, to the date, maintains a code of customs regulating everything from what people can wear, read, eat, enjoy and even to whom they can speak to. The author describes her experience after entering into an arranged marriage, not having access to sexual education and escaping from her community.
Photo: IG @tonya.reads
“Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Visual Pleasure”, Anna Backman Rogers
Sofia Coppola is not the first female director whose movies have been described as “all style, no substance”. In the illustrated book “Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Visual Pleasure”, professor in Aesthetics and Culture, Anna Backman Rogers analyses Coppola’s work through some of the main insights of feminist philosophy and psychology demonstrating the rich and ambiguous meanings of her movies. The author explores subjects such as the subversion of patriarchy (as seen in The Virgin Suicides) to the “female gothic” (The Beguiled).
Photo: IG @cathylomax
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
In this collection of essays, American writer and poetess Audre Lorde (also known under the pseudonyms of Gamba Adisa or Rey Domini) shares a black, queer, feminist perspective into a discussion around a racist, misogynic and homophobic society.
Photo: IG @audrelorde
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
A compilation of essays that talk about cultural prisms that shape us as women and how hard it is to see ourselves clearly in a culture that revolves around the self, especially when it comes to Internet Culture. Jia shares her experiences around reality TV, rape culture, and religion around the mandate that everything, including our bodies, should always be getting more efficient and beautiful until we die and how we as women can escape the river of self-delusion.
Photo: IG @thefuture_bookclub