Sam Mills

The Indigo Press is an independent publisher of contemporary fiction and non-fiction, based in London. Guided by a spirit of internationalism, feminism and social justice, we publish books to make readers see the world afresh, question their behaviour and beliefs, and imagine a better future.

Sam Mills

Sam Mills

Sam Mills studied English Language and Literature at Oxford University and worked as a journalist and publicist before becoming a full-time writer.

Her debut novel for adults, The Quiddity of Will Self, was described by The Sunday Times as ‘an ingenious, energetic read’ and by the Guardian as ‘extraordinary’. Her literary memoir of caring for her father, Fragments of My Father, was published by Fourth Estate in May 2020.

Chauvo-Feminism: On Sex, Power and #MeToo

Everybody knows a Chauvo-Feminist…

The 2017 #MeToo movement was a flagship moment, a time which empowered women to share their stories of sexual harassment and abuse in a spirit of solidarity and in demand of change. But have some men simply changed tactics?

Acclaimed author Sam Mills investigates the phenomenon of the chauvo-feminist, the man whose public feminism works to advance his career, whilst his private self exhibits age-old chauvinistic tactics. Through testimonies and her own experience, Mills examines the psychological underpinnings of the chauvo-feminist, exploring questions of modern relationships, consent, and emotional abuse and asks how we might move beyond ‘trial by Twitter’ to encourage an honest and productive dialogue between men and women.

Author Sam Mills introduces her feminist essay on sex, power & #MeToo

Control of Our Destinies

‘Current attacks on women who failed to fight or speak up remind me of the way that men were treated when they came back from the First World War. Their shell shock was initially downplayed and derided because in the public imagination the men ought to have returned as jolly war heroes rather than wrecked and distraught souls suffering hallucinations and the shakes.’

Read Sam Mills’s exclusive essay Control of Our Destinies, written to support the publication of her Mood Indigo essay Chauvo-Feminism: On Sex, Power and #MeToo.

Control of our Destinies writer Sam Mills reads from her new essay

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Sam’s recommended reading list

Check out Sam’s list of books that inspired her essay Chauvo-Feminism: On sex, power and #MeToo, from Lauren Elkin’s Flâneuse, to Helen Lewis’s Difficult Women.

A long form essay based on Adichie’s brilliant TEDx talk, this sums up all the main arguments of contemporary feminism in succinct, poetic, punchy prose.
Criado Perez highlights how the world is still far from equal for men and women using a wealth of statistics. E.g. women involved in car crashes are nearly 50% more likely to be seriously hurt, (even though men are more likely to crash) because cars are designed around the body of “Reference Man”.
Credited with sparking the second wave of feminism in the US, this book gave voice to a generation of women who felt unhappy and alienated in their narrow roles as mothers and housewives, and helped to liberate women from the domestic sphere.
Lewis examines women who have been key figures in the battle for feminism – rather than reducing them to feisty heroines and cliches, she examines them as rich, multi-dimensional characters who were not necessarily likeable or sympathetic in their pursuit of equality. Lewis argues that, “History is always more interesting when it is difficult. The battles are difficult, and we must be difficult too.”
Woolf’s iconic feminist essay argues that literature and history is a male construct that has been used to marginalise women, and includes her famous argument that ‘A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction’.
The titular essay of this superb collection went viral and prompted the creation of the term ‘mansplaining’ (though Solnit herself is often miscredited with coining the term). The collection also explores violence against women, knowledge and authority and Virginia Woolf.
A witty and perceptive book about what it is to be a man in the 21st century, examining the rigid roles that men are often cast into and the damage this does to men.
A glorious mixture of memoir and cultural history, Elkin’s book explores the Flâneuse – ‘a determined resourceful woman keenly attuned to the creative potential of the city, and the liberating possibilities of a good walk’, examining figures such as George Sands, Agnes Varda and Sophie Calle.

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