Nasty Women

Hillary should have won. She didn't and now we're terrified. "Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump's America" is a literary response to the 2016 Election from some of America's most persistent feminist writers. Editors Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Kate Harding have compiled personal stories, analytical data, and political argument into this collection of essays. In each, the female identifying author examines their past experiences and fears for the future. Many openly discuss their election night triggers. Others, wade deep into the sticky political mire oozing out of Capitol Hill. The authors use the written word to prepare for the long fight ahead.

"Nasty Women" is rife with dignified rage, and righteous grief. Black, white, brown, native, immigrant, binary, nonbinary, femme, butch, nonconforming, trans, bi and other identifying women deserve better than Trump. It is we who will be hurt the most by his conservative puppetry. Jill Filipovic writes about the effect of enforcing the Global Gag Rule in "Advice to Grace in Ghana." In "Nasty Native Women," Mary Kathryn Nagle explains the U.S. Government 's ever tenuous relationship with the Tribal Nations. Repealing the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 will harm those living on Reservations more than white people will recognize. Cheryl Strayed's "She Will" is a somber personal missive about voting "with her vagina" and the effect of sexism on families. Others tackle misogyny in the form of presidential debates as domestic violence, Hillary hate, and Bernie Bros.

The editors take seriously the belief that feminism must be intersection if it is to exist at all. Trump didn't just attack white women. Sarah Michael Hollenbeck writes about her sexist experiences as a disabled woman considering children in, "As Long as It's Healthy." "X Cuntry: A Muslim-American Woman's Journey" is a journal of Randa Jarrar's humorously exhausting American cross country adventure among racists. In, "Trust Black Women," Zerlina Maxwell reminds the reader that black women are erased from history but are always in the front lines of the fight. Samantha Irby writes the only comedic essay. "Country Crock" is hilarious but brief. It gives necessary levity to a difficult to digest book.

Some of these essays are personal accounts from moments after the election results were released. Some of them are data focused in order to highlight the tragedy that having an inexperienced reality TV star in office indicates. Then there are those that do both. Meredith Talusan flexes her bravery in "We've Always Been Nasty: Why the Feminist Movement Needs Trans Women and Gender-Nonconforming Femmes." She rightly accuses U.S. politics of having a gender problem while waxing on her personal experiences as a trans immigrant of color. The political is always personal no matter what the government tells us.

"Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump's America" can be a difficult book to read. The authors wherein are affected by Trump's White House residency. Their stories and articles are pained and therefore painful for the reader to experience. Engaging in their work may require self-care.

"Nasty Women"
Edited by Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Kate Harding
Picador Paperback Original
$16.99
https://us.macmillan.com/picador/