Feminism: A Graphic Guide

Women in Saudi Arabia are now allowed to drive; we’re starting to see women of all sizes in our magazines; and historic sexual abuse cases are making headlines and causing change. Do we still need feminism? What does it mean to be a feminist anyway?

In this unique, illustrated introduction, Cathia Jenainati and Judy Groves help us to explore these questions, on a tour of the history of conscious struggle against sexist oppression – from 16th-century challenges to the idea of women as weak and irrational to 19th- and 20th-century ‘waves’ of feminism and suffrage movements, to present-day conversations about MeToo, black feminism, and women’s rights in the Middle East. Culture, critical theory and popular action combine to give us a picture of the challenges faced and victories secured in improving women’s rights and changing attitudes towards gender.

As we’ll see, there is no one, singular feminism, but Feminism: A Graphic Guide will help us to engage with the heated debates that still take place and the work still to be done.

Author Biography

Cathia Jenainati is Head of the School of Cross-Faculty Studies at the University of Warwick, and programme director for the BA Liberal Arts and BASc Global Sustainable Development.

Judy Groves is a painter and illustrator. She has illustrated ten Introducing Graphic Guides, including: Aristotle, Political Philosophy, and Wittgenstein. Judy illustrated the first edition of this book, and many of her images feature in this edition.

Jem Milton is a non-binary comic artist and illustrator based in Glasgow. They make comics about love, queerness and polyamory. Jem provided illustrations for all the new and updated pages in this edition.