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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
funny
informative
That was fucking awesome! I both read and listened to this and as the book goes on Clementine gets angrier and angrier and so did I.
“Princess for a day? No thankyou.
Queen, commander and general in charge of my life for the rest of all time!
I Fucking do “
Lots of research went into this book and huge amounts of knowledge and common sense. I will never marry so she was preaching to the converted but I hope more women (and men but who am I kidding) read this and understand this absolute sermon of a book. GOLD !
“Princess for a day? No thankyou.
Queen, commander and general in charge of my life for the rest of all time!
I Fucking do “
Lots of research went into this book and huge amounts of knowledge and common sense. I will never marry so she was preaching to the converted but I hope more women (and men but who am I kidding) read this and understand this absolute sermon of a book. GOLD !
I genuinely enjoyed most of this book but I could not get past the lack of footnotes or a bibliography.
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Mind opening and informative
DNF - enjoyed her previous books but not this one sadly. I hated the ranty writing style and lack of references. Apparently it gets better towards the end but I just couldn't make myself keep reading.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
A blistering take down of marriage and the way it serves patriarchy. Angry, funny, confrontational, hopeful
I love clementine so much i’m not even going to pretend to be objective. This feminist gem by goddess clementine presents a case against marriage for modern women and explains how capitalist patriarchal structures need women to believe in and strive for marriage in order to maintain control over women’s agency and freedoms. It covers so many topics as well - as always, it’s witty, well-researched, and cutting. loved it. loveloveloved it.
The Case Against Marriage could have been such a well thought-out and engaging book that challenges the institution of marriage and the power structure it is designed to uphold. Instead, Clementine Ford’s style of writing - condescending, sarcastic and purposely antagonising - overshadows all credible arguments that she makes throughout the book and turns readers against her.
The book presents interesting statistics and makes a compelling argument against marriage. Ford takes a look at this historical context of marriage - how it has been used by a patriarchal society to assert dominance and control over women, how marriage is often the only option for a woman wanting to escape particular living circumstances or undermine women’s rights and autonomy. Once established, she turns her focus to contemporary times - capitalism and the perfect wedding, cringeworthy proposals and engagement announcements on social media, and how women in marriages continue to do bulk of the domestic labour with no aid, acknowledgement or compensation from their husbands.
Should Ford simply have wanted to stand upon a soap box and preach to an already converted (white, middle class, privileged) choir, this book would be sufficient. For a book that explores how power and domination is perpetuated and held up by the institution of marriage it is oddly silent on domestic violence, fails to look at other demographics (which she asserts in her prologue that she does not write about since it is not her lived experience, but remaining silent on it also suggests laziness at best, and at worse, a refusal to research and engage with issues that does not affect her personally but remains crucial to broader discussions).
The lack of self-awareness in I Don’t is astounding and what could have been an interesting conversation piece in contemporary times instead turns into an exercise in white Feminism which falls apart on Clementine Ford’s lack of intellectual curiosity, condescending tone and need to uphold her own ego. I can’t help but wonder how right wing communities would weaponise and wield this book against women if they ever got their hands on it.
The book presents interesting statistics and makes a compelling argument against marriage. Ford takes a look at this historical context of marriage - how it has been used by a patriarchal society to assert dominance and control over women, how marriage is often the only option for a woman wanting to escape particular living circumstances or undermine women’s rights and autonomy. Once established, she turns her focus to contemporary times - capitalism and the perfect wedding, cringeworthy proposals and engagement announcements on social media, and how women in marriages continue to do bulk of the domestic labour with no aid, acknowledgement or compensation from their husbands.
Should Ford simply have wanted to stand upon a soap box and preach to an already converted (white, middle class, privileged) choir, this book would be sufficient. For a book that explores how power and domination is perpetuated and held up by the institution of marriage it is oddly silent on domestic violence, fails to look at other demographics (which she asserts in her prologue that she does not write about since it is not her lived experience, but remaining silent on it also suggests laziness at best, and at worse, a refusal to research and engage with issues that does not affect her personally but remains crucial to broader discussions).
The lack of self-awareness in I Don’t is astounding and what could have been an interesting conversation piece in contemporary times instead turns into an exercise in white Feminism which falls apart on Clementine Ford’s lack of intellectual curiosity, condescending tone and need to uphold her own ego. I can’t help but wonder how right wing communities would weaponise and wield this book against women if they ever got their hands on it.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
When I finished the book my reaction was "thank god"
I wanted to read this book to consider more ideas against the institution of marriage. I Got tired of the many angry rants - I'm fine with Clem being angry, rightfully so. However, I don't find the angry rants compelling- emotionally or intellectually. In contrast, chapters with social commentary EG the proposal chapter was a lot more compelling - which is why I picked up this book.
- Considering that marriage rates have decreased, and de facto relationships have grown in popularity, it would have been interesting to see her explore this. Do the same arguments still hold? If so, perhaps the issue isn't marriage.
Or is the argument that marriage makes it difficult for women to leave (socially, contractually and associated financially) - then the other arguments don't really hold specifically to marriage, but rather to all hetero relationships ?
- Ahhh when she discusses infant mortality rates etc she uses global averages, then clarifies that the majority occurs in sub-saharan Africa. She's picking and choosing when to talk about BIWOC as she finds convenient?? Theres also so much to say around Australia / global north's female/ reproductive health issues.
This is also damaging because her other points also disproportionately affect BIWOC, not only health issues
I wanted to read this book to consider more ideas against the institution of marriage. I Got tired of the many angry rants - I'm fine with Clem being angry, rightfully so. However, I don't find the angry rants compelling- emotionally or intellectually. In contrast, chapters with social commentary EG the proposal chapter was a lot more compelling - which is why I picked up this book.
- Considering that marriage rates have decreased, and de facto relationships have grown in popularity, it would have been interesting to see her explore this. Do the same arguments still hold? If so, perhaps the issue isn't marriage.
Or is the argument that marriage makes it difficult for women to leave (socially, contractually and associated financially) - then the other arguments don't really hold specifically to marriage, but rather to all hetero relationships ?
- Ahhh when she discusses infant mortality rates etc she uses global averages, then clarifies that the majority occurs in sub-saharan Africa. She's picking and choosing when to talk about BIWOC as she finds convenient?? Theres also so much to say around Australia / global north's female/ reproductive health issues.
This is also damaging because her other points also disproportionately affect BIWOC, not only health issues