girldrive

What do twentysomething women care about? What are their hopes, worries, and ambitions? Have they heard of feminism, and do they relate to it? These are the burning questions that photographer Emma Bee Bernstein and I sought to answer when we hit the road in October 2007, determined to discover how our peers viewed their lives as women.

For several months, through dozens of cities, we drove across America in a Chevy Cavalier, photographing young women and finding out what was important to them. Remembering our feminist moms’ legacy, Emma and I also tracked down Second Wave pioneers like Erica Jong and Michele Wallace, as well as younger veterans like Jennifer Baumgardner and Kathleen Hanna, and asked them—where do you see our generation headed?

We chronicled our adventures on our blog, Girldrive. Our book of the same name was released in November 2009.

“What could be more productive than turning off one’s computer, getting into a car, and actually going to find people whose lives intersect with feminism?...When I closed this book, I wanted to get in my car with my best friend and hit the road. If you feel the same way, I say go, go, go. I can’t wait for more reports from the future of feminism.
—Jennifer Baumgardner, author of Manifesta and Grassroots

“Not only do I recommend Girldrive highly...I'm insanely jealous I didn't think of it first.”
—Anna Holmes, Managing editor, Jezebel.com

“Girldrive is the first book on feminism I’ve seen based on the Web 2.0 model: short conversational stories, striking pictures, multi-racial...Girldrive is truly a roadmap to feminism today.”
—Daisy Hernández, Editor, ColorLines magazine

“Girldrive is a fascinating, fiery, dramatic whirlwind tour through modern-day women’s lives...Girldrive is likely to make you excited, impassioned, and at times infuriated—and that’s a good thing."
—Rachel Kramer Bussel, Editor, Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women