On Women

A pithy and brilliant introduction to Susan Sontag’s feminism, gathering early essays on aging, equality, beauty, sexuality, and fascism Susan Sontag was a genius, and “an incomparable literary heavyweight” (The New York Times). As a critic she is best remembered for her writing on art and culture, as the author of canonical works like Against Interpretation, On Photography, and “Notes on ‘Camp.’” She was also a feminist icon: an activist, a radical, an openly queer intellectual raging against the status quo. But what was her feminism, exactly? What does she have to say about women, sexuality, intersectionality, capitalism, domestic work, and power? This book offers a fascinating window into this question, gathering Sontag’s thoughts on a wide array of subjects. In “The Double Standard of Aging,” she investigates the particular challenges of women growing old. “The Third World of Women” examines the possibility of liberation, and calls us to radical action. Two essays untangle our culture’s approach to beauty, what she calls “that over-rich brew of so many familiar opposites.” Taken together, these pieces underline Sontag’s position as one of the most brilliant, and prescient, feminists of her time, and ours.