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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Like
Interesting stories which led me to looking more into certain movements and into the history of feminism.
I found the incisive tone she had here and there very appealing and appropriate, adding value to various parts of the stories.
Presents not only well known stories, but also ones which were only briefly if ever in the spotlight.
Dislike
At times leaves out bits of information and cherry picks other bits that seem to support her points(good, valid points). I would have expected a better approach from a journalist of her level.
As a conclusion, all I can say with certainty is that we need to communicate more and better and we need way better research focused on women and bias.
Interesting stories which led me to looking more into certain movements and into the history of feminism.
I found the incisive tone she had here and there very appealing and appropriate, adding value to various parts of the stories.
Presents not only well known stories, but also ones which were only briefly if ever in the spotlight.
Dislike
At times leaves out bits of information and cherry picks other bits that seem to support her points(good, valid points). I would have expected a better approach from a journalist of her level.
As a conclusion, all I can say with certainty is that we need to communicate more and better and we need way better research focused on women and bias.
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Brilliant, funny, inspiring. Feminism is messy but worth it!
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
I love this book, it's one that I'm sure I will reference/refer to loads in the future. I appreciate the presentation of the women as fully 3-dimensional, we absolutely have a tendency to polarise figures in history as either angels or evil so some nuance in that discussion was great. Occasionally I found it a little info heavy as I'm sure far more of this book passed right over my head (although probably not helped by the fact that I seemed to read most of this book whilst extremely tired...). I do wish that Lewis had been more varied with the stories involved as despite being self-aware to the overwhelmingly white British (+ Irish) representation (it was acknowledged at the start) I feel like this would have been the perfect opportunity to explore stories from countries outside of the UK as most of the stories seemed to be new topics that Lewis explored for research for the book anyway.
Really appreciated the Bibliography at the end -- great place to start for exploring the topics covered in more detail + adored the manifesto, I felt like it gave me clarity on what I want to tackle in my journey as a feminist.
Really appreciated the Bibliography at the end -- great place to start for exploring the topics covered in more detail + adored the manifesto, I felt like it gave me clarity on what I want to tackle in my journey as a feminist.
Honestly? I read this before I found out she was a terf which made me put the book down. There were moments in the book which made me ask myself “Did she really say that?”
The battles are difficult, and we must be difficult too.”
A funny, honest, and insightful journey to the history of Feminism.
Helen Lewis does a marvellous job while talking about all the lesser known difficult women and about the temptation of tidying their stories up.
Sex, play, education,abortion were my favourite chapters from the book (that I pick with rather difficulty)
Goes on the favourites shelf for sure.
A funny, honest, and insightful journey to the history of Feminism.
Helen Lewis does a marvellous job while talking about all the lesser known difficult women and about the temptation of tidying their stories up.
Sex, play, education,abortion were my favourite chapters from the book (that I pick with rather difficulty)
Goes on the favourites shelf for sure.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
DNF- Negative views of sex work and terf-y vibes when talking about trans people
Received through NetGalley for an honest review - and thank god I got it!
"Feminism should be less concerned with individual choices than the conditions in which they were made."
I really enjoyed this non-fiction feminism book & manifesto at the end. I actually had tears in my eyes at the end because it made me quite emotional. This is an easy to read, well researched, informative book that covers all waves of feminism and some lesser known "difficult" feminists. A lot of this information is available elsewhere (Invisible Women), but I enjoyed Helen's personal insights into the issues, and her focus on the not-so-perfect feminists that we sometimes ignore or "cancel".
Her ideas about feminism as a whole made the book stand out for me. She questioned the third wave a lot, which I sometimes found quite contradictory, but I enjoyed this a lot. One of her key arguments throughout the whole book is that feminists argue too much between ourselves about being the "perfect" feminist and that the third wave is trying to make feminism quite homogenous. However, she points out that feminism is trying to represent the views of approx 3.5 billion people and therefore, how can there be one feminism?
Feminists are too hard on ourselves and on others. We're all fighting for one cause; equality! So why do we make it so difficult for other women (and men and others of course) to just do this in their own way, instead of focussing on perfection in feminism?
"This is something which often happens to women who challenge the status quo: any whisper of personal privilege is used to paint their concerns as piffling, a sideshow to other, greater oppressions. OK, OK, some women have a rough time, runs the patronising logic, but what do these ones have to complain about?"
On a very personal note, the chapter titled "violence" was the most hard-hitting for me. The night I read this chapter, I had witnessed domestic abuse in my street. I had just spoken to the police and given my statement, tucked myself into bed, and opened this book to find it was the violence chapter - I couldn't believe it. I sat for a few minutes thinking... this book isn't just statistics and data, it is REAL! All of this book describes real women's lives and struggles for the fight against the patriarchy.
This book made me angry that we have to sum up all the issues across the world that women face in 11 chapters to make it digestible. It made me angry for all the times I've fought against people who don't believe that women face discrimination. It made me sad for all the women that can't abort babies that they're rapists gave them, for the women that take abuse at home because they have no option to leave, for the women that get put in freezing huts every time they bleed, for the women that get casual sexual harassment from their boss.
We need to keep fighting, the war against the patriarchy is not over!
"To me, patriarchy is a system where men control most of the power and money, and use that control to their own advantage. It does not mean every individual man is consciously oppressing every individual woman."
"Feminism should be less concerned with individual choices than the conditions in which they were made."
I really enjoyed this non-fiction feminism book & manifesto at the end. I actually had tears in my eyes at the end because it made me quite emotional. This is an easy to read, well researched, informative book that covers all waves of feminism and some lesser known "difficult" feminists. A lot of this information is available elsewhere (Invisible Women), but I enjoyed Helen's personal insights into the issues, and her focus on the not-so-perfect feminists that we sometimes ignore or "cancel".
Her ideas about feminism as a whole made the book stand out for me. She questioned the third wave a lot, which I sometimes found quite contradictory, but I enjoyed this a lot. One of her key arguments throughout the whole book is that feminists argue too much between ourselves about being the "perfect" feminist and that the third wave is trying to make feminism quite homogenous. However, she points out that feminism is trying to represent the views of approx 3.5 billion people and therefore, how can there be one feminism?
Feminists are too hard on ourselves and on others. We're all fighting for one cause; equality! So why do we make it so difficult for other women (and men and others of course) to just do this in their own way, instead of focussing on perfection in feminism?
"This is something which often happens to women who challenge the status quo: any whisper of personal privilege is used to paint their concerns as piffling, a sideshow to other, greater oppressions. OK, OK, some women have a rough time, runs the patronising logic, but what do these ones have to complain about?"
On a very personal note, the chapter titled "violence" was the most hard-hitting for me. The night I read this chapter, I had witnessed domestic abuse in my street. I had just spoken to the police and given my statement, tucked myself into bed, and opened this book to find it was the violence chapter - I couldn't believe it. I sat for a few minutes thinking... this book isn't just statistics and data, it is REAL! All of this book describes real women's lives and struggles for the fight against the patriarchy.
This book made me angry that we have to sum up all the issues across the world that women face in 11 chapters to make it digestible. It made me angry for all the times I've fought against people who don't believe that women face discrimination. It made me sad for all the women that can't abort babies that they're rapists gave them, for the women that take abuse at home because they have no option to leave, for the women that get put in freezing huts every time they bleed, for the women that get casual sexual harassment from their boss.
We need to keep fighting, the war against the patriarchy is not over!
"To me, patriarchy is a system where men control most of the power and money, and use that control to their own advantage. It does not mean every individual man is consciously oppressing every individual woman."