This document is the start of an open bibliography written by and for computer scientists (particularly those interested in NLP and/or Data Science) learning about Gender and Queer Studies; feminist and intersectional theory and methodologies; and other issues relating to "bias," unfairness, and injustice.
Suggestions for additions to the bibliography can be made by opening an issue. Please include enough bibliographic information to make your suggestion findable, a short summary of what it contains/why you found it useful, and any relevant tags. New tag suggestions are also welcome!
"Introductory" texts are relatively easy to understand without background knowledge in feminist theory or Gender Studies.
"Classic" texts are foundational or otherwise important within Feminist/Gender Studies, but not necessarily an easy or quick read.
Under the section Other Material you will also find "misc. resources" which includes anything not classifiable as a text (typically pointers to other resources/bibliographies).
Some entries have additional tags at the end to make searching this list easier. A key is provided here:
- Data🟥 -- Focuses on or is particularly relevant to Data Science or Computer Science.
- Inter.🟦 -- Specifically and primarily focuses on explaining intersectionality.
- Race🟪 -- Focuses on questions/issues relating to race and ethnicity1.
- LGBTQ+🏳️🌈 -- Focuses on questions/issues relating to the LGBTQ+ community, with respect to gender and/or sexuality.
Feminism is for Everybody -- bell hooks. First published 2000. bell hooks defines feminism as "a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression." Based on this definition, she presents a theory of feminism focused on justice and respect and guides the reader through both historical feminist movements and the importance of incorporating feminist ideals and practices in our day to day lives.
Data Feminism -- Catherline D'Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein. Published 2020, available open access here. Covers many Feminist thinkers and ideas at a very accessible level and relates them directly to issues in Data Science, with plenty of examples. Data🟥
Living a Feminist Life - Sara Ahmed. Published 2017, the book was written alongside Ahmed's blog which contains many similar pieces. Addresses the ordinary everyday experiences of being a feminist and doing feminist work.
Gender Trouble -- Judith Butler. First published 1990. Explores the nature of gender as a cultural (rather than biological or fixed) phenomenon.
Black Feminist Thought -- Patricia Hill Collins. First published 1990. Explores ideas and works of Black feminist intellectuals, with emphasis on the double burden of racism and sexism faced by Black women. Collins offers a focus on the importance of knowledge outside of ``traditional'' scholarship, analyzing oral histories, poetry, and works of fiction in addition to academic articles. Race🟪
Doing Gender -- Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman (1987). Gender and Society vol. 1 pp 125-151. Attempts to answer the question ``How does being a gendered person in society work?'' Theorizes distinctions between sex, sex category, and gender (which should be analyzed independently) and argues that gender is “accomplished” by routine interactions rather than being something innate.
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack -- Peggy McIntosh. (1989). A short introduction to race, privilege, and what those further up a hierarchy can do to lessen or end power imbalances. Race🟪
Data, Technology, and Gender: Thinking About (and From) Trans Lives -- Anna Lauren Hoffman (2017). Spaces for the Future pp. 3-13. Discusses issues in, and impacts of, ``big data'' and the design of technology with respect to actual and potential violent impacts on trans people. Data:red_square: LGBTQ+🏳️🌈
Gender as a variable in NLP -- Brian Larson (2017). Proceedings of the First ACL Workshop on Ethics in Natural Language Processing pdf here. A practical guide to ethical experimental design for NLP researchers interested in looking at gender as a variable. Data🟥
Harms of Gender Exclusivity and Challenges in Non-Binary Representation in Language Technologies -- Sunipa Dev, Masoud Monajatipoor, Anaelia Ovalle, Arjun Subramonian, Jeff Phillips, and Kai-Wei Chang (2021). Proceedings of the 2021 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing pdf here. Thorough introduction to the complexities of gender and how these tie into harms caused by non-binary erasure in language technologies. Data🟥 LGBTQ+🏳️🌈
Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective -- Donna Haraway (1988). Feminist Studies vol. 14 pp 575-599. Questions the meaning and legitimacy of “objectivity” in scientific inquiry, which tends to privilege and position (white, Euro-centric) masculinist thought as the unmarked norm from which all other people deviate. Haraway argues instead for “embodied knowledge” where the position of the researcher(s) is acknowledged and considered as part of the research process.
Recognition without Ethics? -- Nancy Fraser (2001). Theory, Culture, & Society vol. 18 pp 21-42. A critical discussion of justice, inclusion, and "identity politics" (in the feminist studies sense of the term).
Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. -- Kimberlé Crenshaw (1991). Stanford Law Review vol. 43(6) pp 1241-1299. Considered the foundational text for intersectionality, Crenshaw coins the term to discuss the double-bind of Black women in anti-discrimination legal cases in the USA. The issue they face is not being "either or" (like white women or Black men), where a case can be decided as discrimination on the basis that the person in question would have been hired but for their gender or race, but being "both and." Inter.🟦
Queer: A Graphic History -- Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele. Published 2016. A nonfiction graphic novel that gives an accessible overview to various ways of thinking about gender and sexuality, as they have evolved over time. Very quick read, doesn't go into much depth on anything. LGBTQ+🏳️🌈
Nonbinary Linguistics Bibliography -- Available here. Maintained by Kirby Conrod, who describes it as "a crowdsourced, informal annotated bibligraphy of non-binary and transgender linguistics in languages other than English." Although this resource is mostly intended for linguists, it is very useful for NLPers who are not working with English and want to think through ways to include non-binary people and genders in their research. LGBTQ+🏳️🌈
The Feminist Data Manifest-No -- A declaration refusing harmful data regimes and committing to new, better, data futures. Also contains an extensive "playlist" of other mostly-tech-y manifestos "to help us imagine together a new, better world and how to build it."
Footnotes
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Often uses intersectionality, but may not be focused on explaining the concept of intersectionality. ↩