Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Todos deberíamos ser feministas by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

42 reviews

theotherboleyn's review against another edition

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4.0

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livingblurr's review against another edition

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fast-paced

0.75

We discussed Ms.Adichie’s work in my AP English class in regards to the struggles Nigeria faces today and while she is undeniably someone who has an immense talent in regards to writing, I found this book to be lacking true substance as an entity. 

After reading a chunk of it for an assignment, I had purchased the physical version and I was excited to read it with the idea that I would be introduced to feminism through a new, perhaps more intersectional approach but sadly, I found quite the opposite to be the case.

Ms. Adichie heavily relies on a heteronormative approach when discussing her idea of “feminism” since there is a continuous theme of marriage always subsequently present due to her cultural upbringing. It does not focus on the power imbalance caused by misogyny perpetuated within a broken system ran by the patriarch but much rather on the extra workload the women takes on. Which in itself is important to acknowledge but treating the symptoms in itself will not effectively rid society as a whole of the gender bias set up over hundreds of decades.
Additionally, the concept of “gender” and “sex” are constantly mingled and used as synonyms when they are not - sex describes the biological gender one presents with as birth whilst gender is an individual expression of your identity.

Further drawing from my point, I found the constant usage of “female” uncomfortable as it degraded women to something as shallow as their sex, which they are not, and appeared to have a certain bias against non cis-women. 

Again, she mentioned that “Gender and class are different” but did not provide further insight on how they correlate in regards to intersectional feminism as they need to coexist in order to understand that socioeconomic status matters a lot. 

It is plainly a very simple introduction to feminism that boils down to “stereotypes bad!!! We need change but men are not the source of all evil!!! But here!! More stereotypes!”

The fact that the author is a terf makes this unrecommandable 
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culpeppper's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

2.5

Overall, this essay reads as outdated and basic. It fails to dig deep, which is fine, but tends to re-tread itself with similar ideas being explored, mainly boiling down to woman = man but society thinks woman < man. Also, a lot of her understanding of gender is restricted in thinking sex assigned at birth is your gender and her language reflects that, so I do disagree with her on some fronts from that perspective, while also understanding there are differences in the way we've experienced the world. 
Adichie is saying things that would have been radical to hear an African woman say on a stage in 2014, maybe, but it doesn't hold up in 2024 unless you're looking specifically for a Nigerian-American woman's thoughts from around the 2010s. 
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gussurireads's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

2.0

Cometi o erro de comprar 3 dos livros dela em promoção, sem conhecer melhor a autora e a sua obra. 

Acabei por descobrir que a autora é de facto trans-exclusionária (ou TERF, se preferirem), o que é bastante evidente se lerem este ensaio curto e ensaio onde a autora continua a perpetuar ideias como a inferioridade biológica da mulher, linguagem cisheteronormativa e binarismo de género. Poderia servir como uma boa introdução ao tema do feminismo mas feminismo não intersecional não serve ninguém.

O conto "Casamenteiros" incluído nesta edição foi bastante mais interessante: fala dos primeiros tempos do casamento arranjado entre uma jovem nigeriana e um médico emigrante nigeriano nos EUA. Uma perspectiva interessante mas mais um vez, pouco aprofundada, e a sua inclusão não merece a pena a compra desta edição.
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mxrx456's review against another edition

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1.75

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koreanlinda's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.25

It is a short essay, full of passionate push for gender equality (mostly in Nigeria, and maybe also in the US). I ended up leaving a lower rating because of the author's binary view on gender and repeated insistence that men are physically stronger than women. The book was published in 2012 when nonbinary gender identities were not as well known as now; however, the author's extreme divide between men and women effectively erased people outside that binary and made it hard for me to stay focused on her narrative. I would recommend other feminist books that have more "updated" views on gender.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in Feb 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda
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paulinskaja's review against another edition

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informative

1.0

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parasolcrafter's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

5.0

ive come across full length books that dont talk about feminism as in-depth and succinctly as this essay does, like...this is so short but is so expertly written.
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santhiego's review against another edition

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informative inspiring fast-paced

3.0

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melitiamelitia's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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