by Marta Breen & Jenny Jordahl
This unapologetically feminist graphic novel walks through some of the greatest challenges against, accomplishments for, and icons of women’s equality. Overall, it’s a solid read with a simple but engaging style, and any portrait of incredible women throughout history is always a welcome one. However, the overall purpose and intended age remained vague, which is unfortunately what kept this book from being a home run.
It’s challenging to not compare Females with Brazen, another graphic novel also focused on celebrating women. But while Brazen focuses on the lives of 29 extraordinary women, Females takes a more linear approach. The first vignette is a profile of “the first martyr of the women’s movement,” Iranian activist Tahirih from the 19th century. Her life was tragic and fascinating, and worth honoring.
But then, the narrative became almost exclusively focused on Western history, focusing on US and European history through slavery, women’s right to vote, and birth control, until a profile of Malala Yousafzai at the end.
Granted, there is certainly attention to detail and care for historical facts, without bogging down the narrative, especially when women spoke direct quotes from their papers and speeches. And it’s clear that Breen’s intended to encapsulate the women’s movement internationally, and several half and full spreads show countries who have granted women the right to vote, or women who have been heads of state. But it isn’t enough when most of the book centers on largely white, American and British women.
Of course, there isn’t enough time to tell everyone’s stories, but it always troubles me when the Western narrative is centered in an international movement. Tahirih and Malala feel like bookends, rather than integral pioneers who are part of the same movement as Margaret Sanger and Sojourner Truth. Huge swaths of the globe are left out of this history, including most of Asia, Central and South America, and Africa.
And while every section had one profile to anchor it, it was a huge shame that Marsha P. Johnson, trans woman of color who sparked the Gay Liberation Movement of the 1970’s (and likely murdered for it), is mentioned but not given the spotlight with a full biography. Sylvia Rivera deserved a mention here too.
Regardless, the book brings up several important factors, including how white feminism in the early 20th century excluded Black women and women of color, as well as major issues like abortion, queer love and same sex marriage, and birth control. All are done well with the historicity of the movements (with queer love going back to Sapphos), but it loses its teeth near the end of the abortion chapter; instead of taking a bite out of the pro-life movement, with a shrug just says, “the fight continues.” Some might also take issue with the fact that the queer love chapter doesn’t name other orientations and stripes of the rainbow, preferring to keep things vague.
This leads me to my second issue, which is Females’ intended demographic. The answer is at least high school (juniors and seniors at the earliest), as the book doesn’t shy away from mentioning assault and a few other themes some might find mature, along with a few violent panels. This is a great first primer to (Western) feminism and core issues around women’s rights for a mature young adult – it’s a beginning, but certainly not exhaustive.
Jordahl’s art is simple yet effective with strong expressions and larger panels, usually between two and five. Each chapter has a predominant color along with black and white, which was striking and compelling. While the style felt accessible for younger readers, as I mentioned before, there are still some powerful, even disturbing moments – and perhaps rightfully so, as they are almost exclusively about violence against women.
This review of Females might be a bit different, had I read it before Brazen. It’s solid on its own, especially for younger readers, but lacks diversity, detail and polish that made Brazen one of my favorite books last year. Regardless, it’s worth it especially for parents looking to begin conversations around feminism and gender equality with their teens.
Reading Art 