the-last-pterosaur gave a really great introduction to Feminism. Like TLP said, feminism covers a very wide range, so it is important to understand that if one book doesn't click with you, I recommend reading another book with a different approach.

For example, Bell Hooks is great read, because she's concise, easy to understand, and fair to both genders. However, she admits to being a radical feminist, and has a religious and Marxist slant. She also prefers the group over the individual, which is in contradiction to choice feminism. Don't let that discourage you though. It's no doubt a great book.

On the other end of the extreme is the relatively new book 'Freedom Feminist' from Christina Hoff Sommer. Dr. Sommers is a controversial feminist, because while she continually identified as a feminist for decades, many feminists feel she is strongly anti-feminist. Out of all the great feminists I know, Dr. Sommers seems to be the one that care most about men's issues. She is a favourite of mine, and she was the first person to introduce me to the positive side of feminism.

There are a number of controversial topics on what separates feminist branches from each other.

Like TLP said, some feminists are pro-sex feminists. They believe that women have the freedom to do anything with their own bodies. Anti-sex feminists counter by saying that revealing clothing, pornography, and prostitution use women for the benefit of men. As a result, they believe these fields promote sexism.

On a larger scale but similar to the pro-sex/anti-sex dilemma, choice feminism believe that women should have the freedom to choose what they want to do, and that all voluntary acts contribute to woman empowerment. Anti-choice feminism believes that choice is only an illusion, and that a woman should act in a manner that does not disadvantage other women. As an extreme example, if a woman supports the patriarchy, she will strengthen a system that oppresses women. As a result, anti-choice feminists believe that women should not have the choice to support the patriarchy.

Some radical feminists believe that the entire system at the very root is patriarchal, so the only way to completely rid of the patriarchy is to demolish the current government, and rebuild it from ground zero. Many of these radical feminists envision a Marxist model where class/race/gender is all treated equally. Other feminists prefer to keep the democratic structure intact and move towards equality in a steady and stable manner.

Some feminists believe that marriage is a system created by the state to oppress women, and believe that we should abolish marriage entirely. Before you freak out, I suggest you read one of the books suggested by TLP. The books will suggest the reasoning much better than I do. Some feminists don't think marriage is entirely evil, and that with some adjustments and the removal of gender roles, marriage can stay.

Some feminists believe that because women are the ones being oppressed, we should concentrate on women's issues first, and on abolishing the patriarchy. They believe that once the patriarchy is gone, most male-only problems will disappear. Other feminists believe that we should tackle male and female issues simultaneously.

Some feminists are pro-censorship. They feel that all material (literature, internet, games, movies) that might be offensive should be government regulated and, if needed, banned. Some radical feminists even argue that free-speech is dangerous, because it can promote hate speech, and therefore hate culture. Btw, our society is already practicing censorship with child pornography. Some feminists are anti-censorship, and they believe in free thinking. While these feminists will openly condemn and write articles warning people about sexist products, they will not motion for the government to ban these materials. On a much smaller scale, these anti-censorship feminists might downvote a sexist reddit post, reply to it, but they will not use the "report" feature merely to silence opposing ideology.

Another controversial topic is reverse racism and reverse sexism. If a black woman has a negative opinion on white men and treats him poorly because of his gender and race, is that considered reverse racism or reverse sexism? Or is it something else? Can a weaker group with less power oppress a stronger group with more power? Or does the perceived oppression of the stronger group actually come from the stronger groups's own hand?

After writing all this, I think I might have confused the readers more than helped them. There are still MANY more controversial topics about feminism that I haven't touched. I hope that after reading the books, you can appreciate how large and diverse feminism has become.