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shawcrit's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent collection - I learned something new from each essay, and they are all informative, well-researched, and accessible. This would be an excellent introduction for people not sure where to start reading about intersectional feminism, or people who are challenging the toxicity of white (mainstream) feminism for the first time.
zombiezami's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Grief
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Slavery, Deadnaming, Classism, Dysphoria, Ableism, Abortion, Biphobia, Body shaming, Colonisation, Murder, Deportation, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Medical content, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Violence, and Gun violence
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Pedophilia, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Incest, and Infertility
bethnewhart's review against another edition
5.0
All the essays in this book are great and essential, but I especially loved Gabrielle Bellot's critical look at Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her history of TERF comments. She's so often included in collections like this one and still lauded as a perfect feminist by a lot of people, so it's important that she's held accountable and that this book amplifies intersectional voices. Would highly recommend 👍
anneke_b's review against another edition
4.0
Can one overdo it? This book is so, SO important. But the problem for me is that I have read so many of these collections of essays lately, and they all were very eye opening, that I think I have hit the spot that I am a bit oversaturated. I just realize more and more that I do not get things. I have never given much thought about fat shaming, for example. And I feel so bad after reading this that I do not seem to get ANYTHING right, which is okay. Change is uncomfortable. But it is so overwhelming at times...
I will pick this one up again though, just need a break for a month or 2.
I will pick this one up again though, just need a break for a month or 2.
amy_park's review
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
An essay collection delving into intersectionality within feminism. I found the collection insightful and it made me think more about how as women we need to support one another by giving everyone a voice. I didn't jell with some writing styles and some essays went over my head due to the language used. I liked that both American, Irish, Caribbean, Asian and British voices were represented. Some good points overall.
kelswid's review against another edition
3.0
a bit 101, but I think that was the point, and that's fine, and in all fairness a lot of the things they're writing about here are much more in the mainstream discourse now than they were in 2018. I did find it to be a bit repetitive after awhile--I think every single essay defined intersectionality, which, again, fine! it's an important concept with broad applicability! but I found myself mostly wishing I had just read a full-length book from many of the writers instead. which in some ways just is the double-edged sword of the anthology, and I'm excited to read more from a lot of these writers!
joemacare's review against another edition
3.0
Anthologies of this kind usually struggle with two challenges: variability in the quality of the pieces, and how to avoid every other chapter restating the same arguments and assumptions. June Eric-Udorie's collection handles the first challenge more successfully than the latter. Emer O'Toole's is the only piece in here that isn't good, and that's because its assimilationist, concession-making argument seems to stand in opposition to the rest of the book's politics (it does at least make a very cogent argument though, even if I'm not convinced).
The latter problem for anthologies isn't as successfully dodged, and I found myself wishing that the book had defined a few concepts (such as intersectionality) once in the foreword and then cut any repetition of that from the individual essays. Still, this is an essential gift for your well-meaning liberal friend who isn't very online, and a very comprehensive guide to what mainstream feminism (and other liberalisms and leftisms!) tend to leave out of their analysis, from fatphobia and ableism to anti-Blackness and imperialism, and the best essays here, from authors like Juliet Jacques, Zoé Samudzi, Charlotte Shane, Selina Thompson, and Frances Ryan, are worth anyone's time.
The latter problem for anthologies isn't as successfully dodged, and I found myself wishing that the book had defined a few concepts (such as intersectionality) once in the foreword and then cut any repetition of that from the individual essays. Still, this is an essential gift for your well-meaning liberal friend who isn't very online, and a very comprehensive guide to what mainstream feminism (and other liberalisms and leftisms!) tend to leave out of their analysis, from fatphobia and ableism to anti-Blackness and imperialism, and the best essays here, from authors like Juliet Jacques, Zoé Samudzi, Charlotte Shane, Selina Thompson, and Frances Ryan, are worth anyone's time.
05hamiltonk's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this essay collection! It showcases a wide range of voices on different issues within mainstream feminism and explores how to make feminism intersectional. So important for anyone who calls themselves a feminist to hear these perspectives and learn from them. It definitely had me challenging my own views and biases on certain topics. And also had me screaming finally, someone is saying this shit!
carriepond's review against another edition
4.0
It took me awhile to get through this collection; there was so much to digest in each essay that I would only read one or two a day. This is a great primer for those interested in thinking intersectionally, but the essays are not easy-to-digest instruction manuals for how to include x type of woman in feminism. Rather, the essays address the various ways mainstream feminism fails to address issues affecting a variety of women because their experiences don't reflect the experiences of white, cis, hetero, and middle-class/wealthy women. It's a great collection to lead to self-reflection on our own blind spots and ways we could be better.
I really enjoyed most of these essays. The first few drug along for me because they seemed to try to tackle too much and were hard for me to really get into. Particular favorites were: "Borderlands" by the trans writer Gabrielle Bellot, Evette Dionne's "Intersectionality and the Black Lives Matter Movement," and "A Hundred Small Rebellions," about Eishar Kaur's experience as a Punjabi women in the UK. Also: "Ends, Means, and Subterfuge in Feminist Activism" in which Emer O'Toole's discussion of the referendum in Ireland to grant women the right to abortion and her discussion of the dire consequences of a lack of access to abortion in Ireland felt very timely in light of the current anti-abortion full court press by state legislatures here in the US. Also loved Aisha Gani's "Representation as a Feminist Act," Brit Bennett's "Body and Blood," and Mariya Karimjee's "Brown on the Outside."
I really enjoyed most of these essays. The first few drug along for me because they seemed to try to tackle too much and were hard for me to really get into. Particular favorites were: "Borderlands" by the trans writer Gabrielle Bellot, Evette Dionne's "Intersectionality and the Black Lives Matter Movement," and "A Hundred Small Rebellions," about Eishar Kaur's experience as a Punjabi women in the UK. Also: "Ends, Means, and Subterfuge in Feminist Activism" in which Emer O'Toole's discussion of the referendum in Ireland to grant women the right to abortion and her discussion of the dire consequences of a lack of access to abortion in Ireland felt very timely in light of the current anti-abortion full court press by state legislatures here in the US. Also loved Aisha Gani's "Representation as a Feminist Act," Brit Bennett's "Body and Blood," and Mariya Karimjee's "Brown on the Outside."