Feminism in 2025: 8 Books That Get It Right

As feminism continues to evolve in 2025, its conversations grow richer, more diverse, and urgently relevant. From groundbreaking essays and fiery manifestos to fiction that captures lived experiences, these eight books represent the pulse of contemporary feminist thought.

Whether you’re new to feminism or a seasoned reader, these titles invite you to rethink identity, power, and justice in fresh, nuanced ways.

1. Authority: Essays by Andrea Long Chu

Andrea Long Chu’s Pulitzer-winning book, Authority is a fierce, provocative collection that challenges our assumptions about desire, identity, and control. Through a personal lens, Chu explores how authority shapes feminist discourse, dismantling neat categories and pushing readers toward new understandings of power and selfhood. This is a must-read for anyone seeking to engage with feminism’s evolving language.

2. Nonbinary Revolution by Lou Ms. Femme

Gender binaries have long shaped societal norms—and feminist conversations are no exception. Lou Ms. Femme’s Nonbinary Revolution offers an intersectional manifesto that exposes colonial roots of rigid gender categories. More than theory, it’s a call for an inclusive feminism that embraces fluidity and challenges systemic oppression in bold new ways.

3. The New Age of Sexism by Laura Bates

In The New Age of Sexism, Laura Bates turns her sharp eye on the digital world, where AI, deepfakes see, and social media fuel modern misogyny. This book unpacks how technology is both a tool and battleground for feminist activism, urging readers to remain vigilant as sexism morphs and adapts in the online age.

4. Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq

Storytelling holds immense power, and Heart Lamp delivers with deeply intimate tales of Muslim women from southern India. Winner of the International Booker Prize, Mushtaq’s stories illuminate intersections of culture, gender, and faith with tenderness and unflinching honesty. Fiction lovers will find here both beauty and political urgency.

5. Putafeminista: A Manifesto of Sex Worker Feminism by Monique Prada

Prada’s Putafeminista breaks taboo and stigma with an unapologetic voice, centering sex worker experiences often marginalized in mainstream feminism. It’s a vital text demanding that feminist movements confront hypocrisy and colonial bias, urging solidarity through understanding rather than judgment.

6. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

Data is power, but what happens when women’s realities are erased from it? Invisible Women is a groundbreaking investigation into gender data gaps in healthcare, urban planning, and policy-making that perpetuate inequality. Perez’s work is a call for inclusive, evidence-based feminism rooted in real-world impact.

7. Against White Feminism by Rafia Zakaria

Rafia Zakaria delivers a searing critique of mainstream feminism’s Western, often exclusionary frameworks. Against White Feminism demands a reckoning with privilege and structural racism within feminist spaces, and offers a roadmap toward a truly global and intersectional movement.

8. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A modern classic,Adichie’s concise essay remains profoundly relevant. Grounded in intersectional awareness and personal anecdotes, it invites everyone—regardless of gender—to understand feminism as a shared human pursuit of equality and dignity.

Why These Books Matter in 2025?

This curated list captures feminism’s complexity today: its expanding definitions, its battles on new frontiers, and its enduring fight against erasure and exclusion. From essays and manifestos to short stories and data-driven analyses, these books offer diverse entry points to engage deeply with gender justice.

They remind us that feminism is not a monolith but a living, breathing conversation shaped by race, culture, technology, and lived experience. Reading these titles is not just an intellectual exercise—it’s an invitation to listen, learn, and join a movement continually reimagining itself in the face of new challenges.

Whether you want to confront digital misogyny, explore queer and nonbinary identities, or deepen your understanding of feminist global politics, these eight books offer something vital. As 2025 unfolds, may they inspire you to think critically, feel deeply, and act boldly.

Views expressed by the author are their own.