Schuller's essential audiobook--wonderfully narrated by Christine Lakin and Mela Lee--expertly defines both white and intersectional feminism and compares and contrasts the work of some of the movements' female standard bearers. This compare/contrast literary format is both an ingenious way to illustrate white feminism's faults and harms, but to also keep this academic discussion easily digestible and accessible to all readers. Her thesis is forthright and bold: White feminism (through 1940s suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Facebook leader Sheryl Sandberg of Lean In fame) has failed to work towards intersectional feminism that promotes a true gender equality that dovetails with the fights for racial, economic, sexual, and disability justice. In short, white feminism promotes equality for white, middle-class women and forgets to include ALL women, including trans women, Black women, poor women, and disabled women.

Schuller isn't shy in her condemnations of the work of well-know white feminists. The writings and work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Alice Fletcher, Margaret Sanger, Pauli Murray, Janice Raymond, and Sheryl Sandberg are dissected to show their flaws and how they held back opportunities for all women by centering white women in the narrative for equality. On the flip side, the work and achievements of often-overlooked (at least in school and history books) Black, trans, and indigenous women are touted. I had no clue a trans woman activist named Sandy Stone worked tirelessly to promote trans rights in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet, I HAD heard about Anita Bryant, an anti-trans writer and singer from the same time period.

I highly recommend this book, particularly for white women. It's an essential examination of white feminism's past and present insistence on centering white, middle-class women as the only ones who deserve true equality. Instead, as Schuller advocates for here, intersectional feminism is the true goal. It centers all women, no matter economic circumstance or racial, ethnic, or gender identity. For all women to be treated equal in the world's power structures, all women need to be fought for...not just white, middle-class women.

Much thanks to @NetGalley and @HachetteAudio for the free copies of this book in exchange for an honest review.