Reviews

No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women by Estelle B. Freedman

corabookworm's review

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

If you're looking for a broad examination of women's issues across the world and across history, this is a wonderful book. While very repetitive and sometimes a tad contradictory, Freedman has written a great introduction to the topic of feminism that covers a wide range of ideas and perspectives. I found it a bit dense and hard to get through, but it was genuinely very fascinating. If you're interested in the subject, I'd definitely check it out!

littlejesterdude's review

informative slow-paced

3.75

Had to read this for my English class. Could definitely tell it was written 20 years ago. While a lot of parts felt very repetitive, lots of good points were brought up and I learned things.

kevin_shepherd's review

5.0

Make no mistake, Estelle Freedman's book is a college level course in feminist history. From her first paragraph Freedman plots not only the motivation of feminist ideals but the reasoning and methods of opposition. I wore out my highlighter marking passages I thought were pertinent and/or profound. This is data-rich, thought-provoking, eye-opening material.

Casual readers may find this a bit dense and tedious, but if you're serious about getting a grasp on the foundations and motivations of a movement, regardless of your politics, this is a solid place to start.

m_m_shoe's review

3.0

You can find this review and others on my blog https://montanasmusings.wordpress.com

This book covered a variety of feminist topics, such as reproductive justice, women in politics, body images, etc. It is a good read, but I would recommend it for people who are just beginning to learn about feminism. As someone who is majoring in feminist studies, it was a bit of a repeat of information, but it's still worthwhile to read.

anderska1011's review

5.0

What a great introduction to feminism! I love how this book includes global perspectives and doesn't just focus on white cis-het women's experiences. As someone who counts herself as a budding feminist, this book has really helped me flesh out some of my own opinions and ideas.

i_read_big_boucs's review

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

"Both advocates and critics of female consciousness must take into account that the majority of women in the world continue to perform familial duties, many of them in societies that have not adopted fully the liberal democratic politics that gave rise to Western feminism."

Themes: global and comparative history of feminism – cross-cultural feminism – the equality-difference dilemma – historical materialism – history of feminist ideas – asymmetrical distribution of care work – big feminist themes (work, violence, reproductive politics, sexual politics)

What variations existed in patriarchal systems across time and place? How did it come to be and why was it not overturned? What forms of resistance to patriarchy existed even without the name feminism? Which factors enabled the modern feminist movement to take on? Which political strategies and arguments did it use and which measures did it obtain across the globe?

What makes this book noteworthy, even 23 years later, is how
1) It puts feminism in the context of history (arguing that capitalism allowed for the rise of feminism because it made things worse for women while simultaneously bringing up a politics of right) in a way that explains a lot of things and a lot about how social change happens

2) It deals remarkably with the intersections between gender, race and class. It cleared up a lot of misconceptions for me about how patriarchy differed from place to place, how ideas about gender served also as a way to enforce racial hierarchies, and the role that class played in creating different interests for different women. Very helpful book for enlarging my views beyond white middle-class feminism, as well as questioning the narrative of western superiority. China and the soviet block, for instance, had abortion rights much before the US and Europe. 

3) It tells a solid history of ideas that highlights points of agreement and disagreements not only among feminists but among women. The arguments are explained with impressive clarity. One of the points of focus of the book, and what I perceive the author has the intention of rehabilitating, is the legitimacy of the "motherhood" strategy, which has historically supported women in obtaining rights, but became unpopular in the 90's (for the sensical reason that women should have rights regardless of whether they are mothers). Freedman seems to believe however that in-fighting to try to get other feminists to stop using gender difference arguments is unproductive, and that both strategies have always and should coexist. 

I came to this book after reading Susan Brownmiller's memoir In our times which recounts 60's white middle class feminist group history, as well as after reading an article by the philosopher Mari Mikkola on "Pornography and the Sex wars" which made a case for seeing the different positions of different feminists as a form of labor division in the movement, in which some feminists took on the role of fighting sexual violence while others worked for promoting positive sexuality. This idea of seeing different strands of feminism as complimentary rather than contradictory has been very influential for me lately, and this book fits this vision by explaining the work done by feminists of different backgrounds. 

The book is written really clearly and I would recommend it to someone who does not know much about feminism, though it is quite long to be the perfect introductory book. It gives a good breakdown of key historical women's issues, and it's refreshing to look at it in a historical perspective rather than a political argument text. The ways in which the book felt a bit dated is in its non-mention of trans women (trans men are mentioned vaguely). I think that the author is also a little bit too optimistic about seeing "no turning back" possible, considering the overturning of abortion rights in many places, but honestly, it was kind of nice to see some optimism and the book was very hopeful and empowering. 

Reading this makes me reflect on what the major developments have been in the feminist realm in the past 23 years (accidentally, this book was written the year of my birth) in Western Europe. I would cite 1) #Metoo, a higher emphasis on both sexual violence, the grey zone and positive sexuality, 2) the increased visibility of the trans rights movement and queer aspirations, 3) increased visibility of intersectional politics and politics of coalition with other marginalised group movements, 4) the body positive movement, 5) feminism happening largely on the internet. I look forward to the day women of my generation are old enough to write an updated version of this feminist history and explain the cultural moment I grew up in and the impact it had on us. 

marobbins's review

4.0

I read this book to help me with my feminist theory comps essay and for my women's studies class. Parts of it were a little bit dry, but overall, I found it helpful. It gave me a better understanding of the history of women's rights and of how female representation in politics, literature, and the arts has evolved over time. Some chapters were more pertinent to my scholarly and personal interests than others, but it was interesting to read. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in female representation and feminism.

andytwoods's review

4.0

Excellent introduction for me. Very clever.

songforsunshine's review

4.0

It's a great book. If you have the chance, please do read it, no matter what your gender is.

idk_indigo's review

it was very outdated. i’m sure it was a great book when it was written, but to be honest, i found it difficult to look past.