October 30, 2020

Carol Hay and Serena Parekh

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes CAROL HAY—associate professor of philosophy at University of Massachusetts Lowell—and SERENA PAREKH—associate professor of philosophy at Northeastern University—for a discussion of their latest books, Think Like a Feminist: The Philosophy Behind the Revolution and No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis.

Details

Think Like a Feminist is an irreverent yet rigorous primer that unpacks over two hundred years of feminist thought. In a time when the word feminism triggers all sorts of responses, many of them conflicting and misinformed, Professor Carol Hay provides this balanced, clarifying, and inspiring examination of what it truly means to be a feminist today. She takes the reader from conceptual questions of sex, gender, intersectionality, and oppression to the practicalities of talking to children, navigating consent, and fighting for adequate space on public transit, without deviating from her clear, accessible, conversational tone. Think Like a Feminist is equally a feminist starter kit and an advanced refresher course, connecting longstanding controversies to today’s headlines.

Think Like a Feminist takes on many of the essential questions that feminism has risen up to answer: Is it nature or nurture that’s responsible for our gender roles and identities? How is sexism connected to racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of oppression? Who counts as a woman, and who gets to decide? Why have men gotten away with rape and other forms of sexual violence for so long? What responsibility do women themselves bear for maintaining sexism? What, if anything, can we do to make society respond to women’s needs and desires?

Ferocious, insightful, practical, and unapologetically opinionated, Think Like a Feminist is the perfect book for anyone who wants to understand the continuing effects of misogyny in society. By exploring the philosophy underlying the feminist movement, Carol Hay brings today’s feminism into focus, so we can deliberately shape the feminist future.

About Author(s)

Serena Parekh is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University in Boston, where she directs the Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Program (PPE). Her primary philosophical interests are in social and political philosophy, feminist theory, and continental philosophy. Her newest book is No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis.

Carol Hay is an associate professor of philosophy at University of Massachusetts Lowell and author of the award-winning Kantianism, Liberalism, and Feminism: Resisting Oppression. She’s written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Aeon magazine. She divides her time between Boston and San Francisco.