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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A few days into self-isolation I posted a picture on Instagram of my quarantine reading pile (with compulsory yawning cat in the background). Within a few hours my oh-so-witty teenage brother had commented, referring to the fluorescent yellow spine of Helen Lewis’ new book: “‘Difficult Women’ I didn’t know you had a biography.” He thought he was delivering a devastating burn but the joke was on him because I took that as the highest of compliments. Helen Lewis “reclaims the history of feminism” by repopulating it with forgotten activists, difficult women who refused to conform to societal expectations, often to the point of offending even modern sensibilities. Lewis argues that “we have to resist the modern impulse to pick one of two settings: airbrush or discard. History is always more interesting when it is difficult. We can’t tidy away all the loose ends and the uncomfortable truths without draining the story of its power.” Uncomfortable truths are what make Difficult Women stand out.
Lewis’ most striking example is Erin Pizzey, who set up the first women’s refuge in Britain off her own bat with no official help or funding. Her work changed social attitudes to domestic violence, so by all accounts she should be immortalised in the Feminist Hall of Fame. However, later in life Pizzey fell out with ‘mainstream’ feminists such as the Women’s Liberation Movement, both personally and ideologically. To cut a long and fascinating story short (the full one is in chapter 6, Safety), Pizzey is now a Men’s Rights Activist, a notorious anti-feminist movement whose leaders say things like “a feminist is a loathsome, vile piece of human garbage.” Understandably, this doesn’t endear Pizzey to feminists, especially not those writing the history of the movement in order to further its cause. But as Lewis says, our habit of covering up such unsavoury behaviour or cutting its perpetrators out of our histories entirely is neither truthful nor helpful. Erin Pizzey’s work directly resulted in the 276 refuges with over 3000 beds throughout England in 2017, and thousands of women are indebted to her for that. We cannot forget the good work she did, but by the same token, we should not cover up her position as editor of the MRA website A Voice for Men. Erin Pizzey, like all of us, and like feminism itself, is complicated and contradictory. Each of Lewis’ chapters deals with a different aspect of feminism’s complicated history, with the gritty bits left in.
On top of learning about historical figures that have been left off the school curriculum, my biggest take away from Difficult Women is the importance of feminism’s fight for everyone to have the freedom to make their own decisions even if – and this is the crucial part – others such as myself do not agree with those decisions. This includes women having access to safe abortions even if they aren’t what many would deem ‘good’ abortions (the result of rape or medical necessity) and are instead considered ‘bad’ abortions (the result of carelessness). Equal rights cannot be contingent on someone’s perceived morality or popularity. Feminists need to fight for the rights of all women, even the ones we don’t like. Helen Lewis puts it best:
“There is only one argument to make, and it’s the one Kitty O’Kane made when knocking doors for Repeal the Eighth: ‘Trust women… How far do you expect a woman to have to suffer so that you can decide on her behalf?’ Isn’t that revolutionary? Trust women. Even when they’ve messed up, even when they were drunk, even when they’re sleeping around, even when they are any one of the million other flavours of ‘difficult.’ Trust women.”
Lewis has given me a lot of food for thought, and I have a new appreciation (often paired with revulsion) for difficult women in feminist history. What I have learnt will inform my politics and make me think twice before endorsing the ‘cancel culture’ that expects women to be perfect and unproblematic at all times. Anyone who’s ever questioned the feminist canon of saints and sinners should read Lewis’ book, and have their mind opened to people’s complexities. Trust women to be difficult.
Lewis’ most striking example is Erin Pizzey, who set up the first women’s refuge in Britain off her own bat with no official help or funding. Her work changed social attitudes to domestic violence, so by all accounts she should be immortalised in the Feminist Hall of Fame. However, later in life Pizzey fell out with ‘mainstream’ feminists such as the Women’s Liberation Movement, both personally and ideologically. To cut a long and fascinating story short (the full one is in chapter 6, Safety), Pizzey is now a Men’s Rights Activist, a notorious anti-feminist movement whose leaders say things like “a feminist is a loathsome, vile piece of human garbage.” Understandably, this doesn’t endear Pizzey to feminists, especially not those writing the history of the movement in order to further its cause. But as Lewis says, our habit of covering up such unsavoury behaviour or cutting its perpetrators out of our histories entirely is neither truthful nor helpful. Erin Pizzey’s work directly resulted in the 276 refuges with over 3000 beds throughout England in 2017, and thousands of women are indebted to her for that. We cannot forget the good work she did, but by the same token, we should not cover up her position as editor of the MRA website A Voice for Men. Erin Pizzey, like all of us, and like feminism itself, is complicated and contradictory. Each of Lewis’ chapters deals with a different aspect of feminism’s complicated history, with the gritty bits left in.
On top of learning about historical figures that have been left off the school curriculum, my biggest take away from Difficult Women is the importance of feminism’s fight for everyone to have the freedom to make their own decisions even if – and this is the crucial part – others such as myself do not agree with those decisions. This includes women having access to safe abortions even if they aren’t what many would deem ‘good’ abortions (the result of rape or medical necessity) and are instead considered ‘bad’ abortions (the result of carelessness). Equal rights cannot be contingent on someone’s perceived morality or popularity. Feminists need to fight for the rights of all women, even the ones we don’t like. Helen Lewis puts it best:
“There is only one argument to make, and it’s the one Kitty O’Kane made when knocking doors for Repeal the Eighth: ‘Trust women… How far do you expect a woman to have to suffer so that you can decide on her behalf?’ Isn’t that revolutionary? Trust women. Even when they’ve messed up, even when they were drunk, even when they’re sleeping around, even when they are any one of the million other flavours of ‘difficult.’ Trust women.”
Lewis has given me a lot of food for thought, and I have a new appreciation (often paired with revulsion) for difficult women in feminist history. What I have learnt will inform my politics and make me think twice before endorsing the ‘cancel culture’ that expects women to be perfect and unproblematic at all times. Anyone who’s ever questioned the feminist canon of saints and sinners should read Lewis’ book, and have their mind opened to people’s complexities. Trust women to be difficult.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Bookopolothon: Book the Third
Prompt: History
Oof, this is a difficult one to review.
Let me start by saying trans readers will probably want to skip the chapter on 'Love' altogether (if they haven't already been put off by the name on the cover - I believe for those who are on Twitter, Ms Lewis' reputation as a...let's say 'gender critical feminist'...precedes her*).
The chapter on Safety is also difficult reading, as Lewis veers off the topic of domestic violence to complain about being a victim of cancel culture...yes, I'm as confused as you are.
It's a damn shame because I otherwise loved this book. It's generally well written, with the right balance of facts which make you want to tell the patriarchy to eff all the way off (again) and snarky footnotes which make you laugh out loud (I particularly liked the one explaining what a 'spherical bastard' is, a term which will definitely be entering my everyday vocab). It also introduced me to a number of women I hadn't heard of, and gave me more backstory on women I had.
Overall, a good reminder of how far we've come - and how progress rarely happens without a struggle.
*FYI Ms Lewis, if you, like me, identify as the gender you are on your birth certificate, then yes, you are cisgender. Likewise, if others identify as a gender other than the one on their birth certificate, they're transgender. Neither word is a slur unless you make it one. Hope that clears that up?
Prompt: History
Oof, this is a difficult one to review.
Let me start by saying trans readers will probably want to skip the chapter on 'Love' altogether (if they haven't already been put off by the name on the cover - I believe for those who are on Twitter, Ms Lewis' reputation as a...let's say 'gender critical feminist'...precedes her*).
The chapter on Safety is also difficult reading, as Lewis veers off the topic of domestic violence to complain about being a victim of cancel culture...yes, I'm as confused as you are.
It's a damn shame because I otherwise loved this book. It's generally well written, with the right balance of facts which make you want to tell the patriarchy to eff all the way off (again) and snarky footnotes which make you laugh out loud (I particularly liked the one explaining what a 'spherical bastard' is, a term which will definitely be entering my everyday vocab). It also introduced me to a number of women I hadn't heard of, and gave me more backstory on women I had.
Overall, a good reminder of how far we've come - and how progress rarely happens without a struggle.
*FYI Ms Lewis, if you, like me, identify as the gender you are on your birth certificate, then yes, you are cisgender. Likewise, if others identify as a gender other than the one on their birth certificate, they're transgender. Neither word is a slur unless you make it one. Hope that clears that up?
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
A bit of a mixed bag. Some chapters were great, some I forgot the subject of as I was reading, due to a lenghty tangent the author had decided to go on. Overall a light touch on the stories of women covered in this book (there's always the option to follow up with further reading of course), reasonably enjoyable.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Got instant terf vibes from the author and couldn't face listening to an audiobook where yet another middle class white woman excludes stories of transwomen, women of colour and other marginalized voices.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced