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kcarri's review against another edition
3.75
TL;DR: Great primer for those new to socialist and feminist theory though a little outdated now (and trust me, a lot has happened since 2018 that it matters.)
rybarr's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
mike_danley's review against another edition
2.5
Man, did McCarthyism really do a number on the American left...
Okay, first the positive. Gotta give Ghodsee credit for the research done in this.
But circling back to my opening line of thought. It really did do a number on Americans in general, didn't it? Especially in stunting the American left. Ghodsee's analysis essentially comes down to...she wants all the benefits of what ACTUALLY EXISTING SOCIALISM delivered/continues to deliver across the world, whilst simultaneously being thoroughly dismissive/anti-communist about all the countries that achieved these massive gains for their people.
This made for an extremely frustrating read...
brb, whilst I go and bang my European Marxist brains against a hard wall...
This is your brain on liberalism... 🍳
Okay, first the positive. Gotta give Ghodsee credit for the research done in this.
But circling back to my opening line of thought. It really did do a number on Americans in general, didn't it? Especially in stunting the American left. Ghodsee's analysis essentially comes down to...she wants all the benefits of what ACTUALLY EXISTING SOCIALISM delivered/continues to deliver across the world, whilst simultaneously being thoroughly dismissive/anti-communist about all the countries that achieved these massive gains for their people.
This made for an extremely frustrating read...
brb, whilst I go and bang my European Marxist brains against a hard wall...
This is your brain on liberalism... 🍳
ryanv9961's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
clarehiyama's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
I had some serious issues with this book and analysis, but I do think Ghodsee effectively lays out a case for socialist policies from the perspective of how it can help women. It’s quite clear and easy to read and understand. My primary issue is that in writing a short and somewhat simplified book about women and socialism, Ghodsee completely neglects to explore or even acknowledge that the exploitation of women under capitalism is not a singular condition, and that patriarchal capitalism is experienced very differently by women depending on their social location. She writes primarily about problems that plague white, middle class women, who, under capitalism, are often able to exchange some freedom for economic security through romantic and sexual exchange with white men. This is a classic problem in white feminist writings; she doesn’t acknowledge that some women can’t actually do that. She makes a few throwaway comments about women of color but they are peripheral to the main argument. The good thing is that most policies she advocates certainly would also help women who are oppressed by white supremacy, ableism, and cis- and heterosexism, but they are not enough to actually free all women without also destroying these other systems of oppression too. I don’t even think she would disagree but I felt that that angle was almost completely missing from her book. Even though it’s short, it’s still important. A feminism that focuses only on what women have in common will inevitably prioritize the issues that affect the most powerful women first, rather than centering women who have the least power.