by Breanne Fahs
Verso
3/24/2020, hardcover
SKU: 9781788735384
The most comprehensive collection of feminist manifestos, chronicling our rage and dreams from the nineteenth century to today
In this landmark collection spanning three centuries and four waves of feminist activism and writing, Burn It Down! is a testament to what is possible when women are driven to the edge. The manifesto--raging and wanting, quarreling and provoking--has always played a central role in feminism, and it's the angry, brash feminism we need now.
Collecting over seventy-five manifestos from around the world, Burn It Down! is a rallying cry and a call to action. Among this confrontational sisterhood, you'll find
- "Dyke Manifesto" by the Lesbian Avengers
- "The Ax Tampax Poem Feministo" by the Bloodsisters Project
- "The Manifesto of Apocalyptic Witchcraft" by Peter Grey
- "Simone de Beauvoir's pro-abortion Manifesto of the 343
- "Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female" by Frances M. Beal
- "The Futurist Manifesto of Lust" by Valentine de Saint-Point
- "Zapatista Women's Revolutionary Laws"
- "Riot Grrrl Manifesto" by Bikini Kill
- "Anarchy and the Sex Question" by Emma Goldman
Breanne Fahs argues that we need manifestos in all their urgent rawness--their insistence that we have to act now, that we must face this, that the bleeding edge of rage and defiance ignites new and revolutionary possibilities is where new ideas are born.
Reviews:
"An invaluable reminder of feminism's radical and revolutionary visions. It's also, to those least inclined to read it but most in need of doing so, a powerful threat." --Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her
"This exhilarating work of love and scholarship is a radiant gift to all who value liberation and justice. Reading it filled me with hope, inspiration and an electric connection to the angry, dissatisfied comrades who have come before me--as well my outraged contemporaries. A must-read, an antidote to powerlessness, a literary companion for the ages." --Michelle Tea, author of Against Memoir
About the Author:
Breanne Fahs is Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University. She is the author of Performing Sex, Valerie Solanas, Out for Blood, and Firebrand Feminism, and co-editor of The Moral Panics of Sexuality, and Transforming Contagion. She is the founder and director of the Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality Group at Arizona State University, and also works as a clinical psychologist