December 20, 2021
“Women’s stories of their struggles with money are shrouded in secrecy and shame,” writes activist Walker (Black, White, and Jewish) in this inspiring anthology in which 29 women open up about their finances, as well as how doing so has freed them from the “heterosexist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.” In “Money Wounds,” Latham Thomas recalls seeing her Black mother, a realtor, thrown to the ground by the police in Oakland when she tried to deposit a commission check, while, in “The Price of Air,” Nina Revoyr writes of the expense of living somewhere with decent air quality. In “Composting Capitalism,” adrienne maree brown recounts getting her credit cards frozen after years of being a “tax resister” to protest defense spending. Gabby Bellot considers the cost of being trans in “Sharks in the Banya” (“transitioning... is a financial privilege,” she writes); and in “Come Fund Me,” Porochista Khakpour outlines her experience crowdfunding: “donations had the feeling of hugs from afar.” As Walker writes, “our money stories resist their own telling, as if the revelations might bring down an empire,” and the essays, taken together, make a powerful case for the importance of disclosure. It’s a sobering and eye-opening look at what really happens behind the purse strings.