Rain and Thunder Media List

The Radical Notion: A Feminist Journal was founded in 2020 to create a space for the resurgent wave of feminist thinking and activism. This not-for-profit magazine is run by an all-women collective of radical and socialist feminists. They are committed to the materialist analysis of sex-based oppression, and to challenging the material and symbolic structures of male dominance.

4W exists to give a platform to today's feminists who are boldly stepping outside of the mainstream narrative to unapologetically bring you stories about the issues affecting women today.

Feminist Current provides a unique perspective on gender, women's rights, violence against women, pop culture, politics, current events, sexuality, and many other issues that are often underrepresented or misrepresented by mainstream, progressive, and feminist media sources.

Women's Media Center is a progressive, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which works to raise the visibility, viability and decision-making power of women and girls in media and, thereby, ensuring that their stories get told and their voices are heard.

SheSource is an online database of media-experienced women experts who the Women's Media Center connects to journalists, bookers and producers.

Lesbian Connection is a free worldwide forum of news & ideas for, by and about Lesbians.

Maize: A Lesbian Country Magazine is the primary communications vehicle among lands and wimmin with an Earth connection or an interest in Lesbian community. Published quarterly, Maize records Lesbian lives and culture. Maize also publishes an annual Connections & Resources Directory.

Ms. Magazine Reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the feminist front lines for over fifty years.

Spinifex Press is an independent feminist book publisher based in Australia.

Radical Feminist Perspectives Webinar Series hosted by Women's Declaration International is run by radical feminists whose voices have been canceled or silenced in universities, schools and the media. The series includes discussions on radical feminist texts and topics and centers the voices and experiences of radical feminists from around the world.

Women's Liberation Radio News seeks to provide the unique and under-represented voices of girls and women with a national and international grassroots venue to break the sound barrier women are blocked by under the status quo rule of men. We are a non-commercial, member-operated news and cultural information team strictly guided by the principles of radical feminism. We promote access to media production equipment and tools so that silenced women can "be the media".

Joy of Resistance: Multicultural Feminist Radio covers the ongoing worldwide struggle of women for full equality and human rights, unfolding in every country and culture on the planet. The show airs every Sunday from 6-7pm EST and can be streamed at http://wbai.org.

WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service is an all-woman independent radio production company that produces and distributes news and current affairs programs by and about women around the world.

 

Additional Feminist Resources

Feminist Media:

Websites:

Books:

Reading Lists:

 

Feminist Media

Publications/Journals

Mother Warriors Voice
Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Journal by and for Lesbians
Trivia: Voices of Feminism

Radio

Women's Media Center Live with Robin Morgan

News

Feminist Daily News Wire
Women's eNews
Women in Media and News

Films/Videos

A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde (1995). Directed by Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson.
A Place of Rage (1991). Directed by Pratibha Parmar.
An Angel at My Table (1990). Directed by Jane Campion
Antonia's Line (1995). Directed by Marleen Gorris.
Bandit Queen (1994)
Born in Flames (1983)
Costa Brava (1995)
Daughters of the Dust (1991). Directed by Julie Dash.
Edge of America (2003)
Fire (1996). Directed by Deepa Mehta.
Foxfire (1996)
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)
I Shot Andy Warhol (1996). Directed by Mary Harron.
I The Worst of All/Yo, la peor de todas (1990). Directed by Maria Luisa Bemberg.
Lianna (1983)
Look Us in the Eye: The Old Women's Project. Directed by Jennifer Abod.
No! The Rape Documentary (2006). Directed by Aishah Shahidah Simmons.
Question of Silence (1982). Directed by Marleen Gorris.
Thelma and Louise (1991)
Warrior Marks (1993). Directed by Pratibha Parmar
Water (2005). Directed by Deepa Mehta.
Women Make Movies

Art/Artists

Artwork by Max Dashu
Artwork by Favianna Rodriguez
The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago/Exhibit at Brooklyn Museum
Fund For Women Artists
Guerrilla Girls

Websites

General

Aboriginal Women's Action Network
Andrea Dworkin
Carolyn Gage
Chris Stark
Diana Russell
Equality Now
Hustling the Left
No Status Quo
Old Lesbians Organizing for Change
Old Women's Project
Welfare Warriors

Anti-Pornography

Culture Reframed: Building Resilience and Resistance to Hypersexualized Media & Porn
Bin the Bunny

Anti-Prositution/Trafficking

Apne Aap
Breaking Free
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
GEMS
Polaris Project
Prostitution Research and Education

Body and Size Acceptance

About Face
Adios Barbie! A Body Image Site for Every Body
Body Positive
International Size Acceptance Association
Jean Kilbourne

Media Literacy & Education

Adbusters Media Foundation & Magazine
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
Gender Ads Project
Media Education Foundation
Media Watch

Women's Health

Women's Health Specialists: The Feminist Women's Health Centers of california
Feminist Women's Health Center

Women's Self-Defense

Beauty Bites Beast: A Film by Ellen Snortland
Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) Global

Books

General

Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color (1990) edited by Gloria Anzaldua; Aunt Lute Books.

Female Sexual Slavery (1979) by Kathleen Barry; New York University Press.

Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed (1999) edited by Diane Bell and Renate Klein; Spinifex Press.

Nothing Mat(t)ers: A Feminst Critique of Post-Modernism (1992) by Somer Brodribb; Spinifex Press.

Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader (2000) edited by Barbara A. Crow; New York University Press.

Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (1978) by Mary Daly; Beacon Press. Revised edition from 1990 has a new intergalactic introduction by the author.

Letters from a War Zone (1988) by Andrea Dworkin; Lawrence Hill Books or Secker & Warburg.

Life and Death: Unapologetic Writings on the Continuing War Against Women (1997) by Andrea Dworkin; Free Press.

Our Blood: Prophecies and Discourses on Sexual Politics (1976) by Andrea Dworkin; Harper and Row or Women's Press.

Woman Hating (1974) by Andrea Dworkin; E.P. Dutton or Plume.

The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (1983) by Marilyn Frye; Crossing Press.

Willful Virgin: Essays in Feminism 1976-1992 (1992) Marilyn Frye; Crossing Press.

The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and Other Plays (1994) by Carolyn Gage; Herbooks.

Like There's No Tomorrow: Meditations for Women Leaving Patriarchy (2002) by Carolyn Gage; Common Courage Press.

Fugitive Information: Essays from a Feminist Hothead (1993) by Kay Leigh Hagan; HarperCollins.

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (1981) by bell hooks; South End Press.

Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (1989) by bell hooks; South End Press.

Radical Feminism (1973) edited by Anne Koedt, Ellen Levine, and Anita Rapone; Quadrangle.

The Sexual Liberals and the Attack on Feminism (1990) edited by Dorchen Leidholdt and Janice G. Raymond; The Athene series, Pergamon Press.

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture (2005) by Ariel Levy; Free Press.

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name(1983) by Audre Lorde; Crossing Press.

Sister Outsider(1984) by Audre Lorde; Crossing Press.

The Black Unicorn (1995) by Audre Lorde; W.W. Norton & Co.

Coal (1996) by Audre Lorde; W.W. Norton & Co.

Only Words(1993) by Catharine A. MacKinnon; Harvard University Press.

Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues(2006) by Catharine A. MacKinnon; Bellknap Harvard.

Women's Lives, Men's Laws (2005) by Catharine A. MacKinnon; Belknap Harvard Press.

The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History (1998) edited by Wilma Mankiller, Gwendolyn Mink, Marysa Navarro, Barbara Smith, and Gloria Steinem; Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Sexual Politics (1969) by Kate Millett; Granada Publishing.

This Bridge Called My Back (1981) edited by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua; Persephone Press.

Movement in Black (1978) by Pat Parker; Crossing Press.

Jonestown & Other Madness (1989) by Pat Parker; Firebrand Books.

Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology (1983) edited by Barbara Smith; Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.

Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them: From Aphra Behn to Adrienne Rich (1982) by Dale Spender; Routledge & Kegan Paul.

 

Anti-Pornography

Pornography: the Production and Consumption of Inequality (1998) by Gail Dines, Robert Jensen and Ann Russo; Routledge.

Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981) by Andrea Dworkin; E P Dutton, or Women's Press Ltd.

Pornography: Driving the Demand in International Sex Trafficking (2007) edited by David E. Guinn and Julie DiCaro; Captive Daughters Media.

Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (2007) by Robert Jensen; South End Press.

The Price We Pay: The Case Against Racist Speech, Hate Propaganda, and Pornography (1995) edited by Laura Lederer and Richard Delgado; New York: Hill & Wang.

Take Back the Night: Women on Pornography (1980) edited by Laura Lederer; William Morrow & Co, or Quill.

In Harm's Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (1997) edited by Catharine A. MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin; Harvard University Press.

Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm (1993) by Diana E.H. Russell; Russell Publications.

Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography (1993) edited by Diana E. H. Russell; Athene series, Teachers College Press.

Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography (2004) edited by Christine Stark and Rebecca Whisnant; Spinifex.

 

Anti-Prostitution/Trafficking

To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today’s Slaves (2008) edited by Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd; Cornell University Press.

Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (1999)  by Kevin Bales; University of California Press.

The Prostitution of Sexuality (1995) by Kathleen Barry; New York University Press.

Sex Trafficking: The Global Market in Women and Children (1993) by Kathryn Farr; Worth Publishers.

Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress (2003) edited by Melissa Farley; Haworth Maltreatment & Trauma Press.

Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections (2007) by Melissa Farley; Prostitution Research & Education.

Comfort Women (1994) by George Hicks; W.W. Norton & Company, 1994.

Sold (2006) by Patricia McCormick; Hyperion Teens.

The Idea of Prostitution (1997) by Sheila Jeffreys; Spinifex Press.

The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade (2008) by Sheila Jeffreys; Routledge Press.

Listening to Olivia: Violence, Poverty and Prostitution (2004) by Jody Raphael; Northeastern University Press. 

Making Sex Work: A Failed Experiment with Legalised Prostitution (2007) by Mary Lucille Sullivan; Spinifex Press.

Demand Dynamics: The Forces of Demand in Global Sex Trafficking (2003) edited by Morrison Torrey and Sara Dubin, International Human Rights Law Institute, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. 2003 Demand Dynamics conference report. Available through online at www.law.depaul.edu/ihrli.

 

Body and Size Oppression

With the Power of Each Breath:  A Disabled Women’s Anthology (1985) edited by Susan E. Browne, Debra Connors, and Nanci Stern; Cleis Press.

The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness (1981) by Kim Chernin; Harper & Row.

The Invisible Woman: Confronting Weight Prejudice in America (1995) by Charisse Goodman; Gurze Books.

When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies: Freeing Yourself from Food and Weight Obsession (1995) by Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter; Fawcett Columbine.

Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful Cultural Practices in the West (2005) by Sheila Jeffreys; Routledge.

Shadow on a Tightrope: Writings by Women on Fat Oppression (1995) edited by Lisa Schoenfielder and Barb Wieser; Aunt Lute Books.

Belly Songs: In Celebration of Fat Women (1993) by Susan Stinson; Orogeny Press. (Poetry)

Fat Girl Dances with Rocks (1994) by Susan Stinson; Spinsters Ink. (Novel)


Lesbian Feminism

For Nights Like This One: Stories of Loving Women (1983) by Becky Birtha; Frog in the Well.

Lover's Choice (2001) by Becky Birtha; Crosisng Press.

Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Values (1988) by Sarah Lucia Hoagland; Institute of Lesbian Studies.

All the Rage: Reasserting Radical Lesbian Feminism (1996) edited by Lynne Harne & Elaine Miller; Teachers College Press.

The Lesbian Heresy: A Feminist Perspective on the Lesbian Sexual Revolution (1993) by Sheila Jeffreys; Spinifex and The Women's Press.

Unpacking Queer Politics : A Lesbian Feminist Perspective(2003) by Sheila Jeffreys; Polity Press.

Changing Our Minds: Lesbian Feminism and Psychology (1993) by Celia Kitzinger and Rachel Perkins; Onlywomen Press.

Call Me Lesbian: Lesbian Lives, Lesbian Theory (1992) by Julia Penelope; Crossing Press.

Amazon to Zami: Towards a Global Lesbian Feminism (1996) edited by Monika Reinfelder; Cassell.

 

Sexuality/Sexual Politics


Intercourse (1988) by Andrea Dworkin; Arrow Books.

The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality 1880-1930 (1985) by Sheila Jeffreys; Pandora Press.

AntiClimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution (1990) by Sheila Jeffreys; Women's Press.

Unleashing Feminism: Critiquing Lesbian Sadomasochism in the Gay Nineties (1993) edited by Irene Reti; HerBooks.


Violence Against Women

The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Surivors of Child Sexual Abuse (1994) by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis; Collins Living.

Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (1975) by Susan Brownmiller; Fawcett Books.

Transforming a Rape Culture, Revised Edition (2005) edited by Emilie Buchwald, Pamela R. Fletcher and Martha Roth; Milkweed Editions.

The Age of Sex Crime (1987) by Jane Caputi; Women's Press.

Loving to Survive: Sexual Terror, Men's Violence, and Women's Lives (1994) by Dee Graham; New York University Press.

Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide (2005) by Andrea Smith; South End Press.

Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women (1996) by Alice Walker and Pratibh Parmar; Harvest Books.

Crossing the Boundary: Black Women Survive Incest (1994) by Melba Wilson; Crossing Press.


Reading Lists

Choosing Lesbianism

*Compiled by a Rain and Thunder subscriber

Politics and Compulsory Heterosexuality

AnnTagonist. "A Lesbian Is Political Whether It Is or Not." Although some feminists criticize 'political lesbianism' as an appropriation of someone else's 'real' identity as a political stunt, this author argues that all lesbianism is political.

Bev Jo et al. "Heterosexuality/Selling Out is Not Compulsory." In Dykes Loving Dykes. Chapter that critiques the compulsory nature of heterosexuality, asserting that heterosexual women consciously choose the privilege of heterosexuality over lesbianism or celibacy.

Brennan, Cathy. "When I Grow Up I Want to be a Lesbian." Argues that shutting former heterosexual or bisexual women out of lesbian community prevents women from deconstructing their heterosexual grooming and keeps the women's movement divided.

Political Lesbians in Sisterhood. "Don't Love Your Enemy, Love Your Sisters." 2012. A contemporary revision of the original 1979 Love Your Enemy statement. All women can make the legitimate political choice to become lesbians.

Rich, Adrienne. "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence." Posits orientation towards women, sexually and otherwise, as natural, and contributes the concept of 'compulsory heterosexuality,' a social force that redirects women's natural orientation. Also contributes a 'lesbian continuum,' a range of woman-directed experiences between women not limited to sexual contact, thus expanding on the popular genital definition of 'lesbian.'

Radical Lesbian Feminists. "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are." 2013. Thanks older women for welcoming her when she became a lesbian and welcomes other women.

Radicalesbians. "The Woman Identified Woman." 1973. Argues that viewing feminism or womanhood through the lens of male acceptability prevent both liberation and personal authenticity. Redirecting energy away from men and towards women is crucial to both goals.

Suzanna Danuta Walters. The Power in 'Choosing to Be Gay.' 2014. Argues that born-that-way politics and faulty science that medicalizes 'gayness' hamper the progress towards civil rights.

Ethics and Critiques

Bev Jo, Linda Strega, and Ruston. "Heterosexism Among Lesbians is Lesbian-hating." In Dykes Loving Dykes. 1990. Updated 2011. Discusses how ex-heterosexual Lesbians who remain heterosexual-identified bring heterosexism and violence into the Lesbian community.

Koedt, Anne. "Lesbianism and Feminism." 1971. Argues that lesbianism is not itself a revolutionary position.

Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group. Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism. 1981. Heterosexuality (relationships and sex) is a foundation of male supremacy, thus lesbianism is a political strategy. Offended lots of women for calling heterosexual women 'collaborators' and asserting that 'serious feminists have no choice but to abandon heterosexuality.' Limited notes from the original conference presentation and letters of debate from dissenters. (For a quick summary of Love Your Enemy, see Bidel, Julie. 'My Sexual Revolution.' 2009.)

Radical Lesbian Feminists. "Political Lesbian Mythbusting." 2013. Responds to contemporary criticism of political lesbianism, and argues that that criticism is making some women afraid to come out as lesbians.

The Experience of Changing

Gage, Carolyn. "Heterosexuals Anonymous: A Recovery Meeting in One Act."

Gage, Carolyn. "I'm Just Not Attracted to Women" in Sermons for a Lesbian Tent Revival. 2008.

Terri Strange. "So You Think You're a Dyke." 2013. Political consciousness and healing from trauma let lesbianism unfold naturally.