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trin's review against another edition
1.0
Condescending, hypocritical, and bizarrely naive.
I barely know where to start with this; I only started taking notes halfway through and I may come back later with more thorough annotations, but for now, let's begin where Crispin ends -- with her own final summation of her basic thesis.
By "this," of course, she means Feminism the Jessa Crispin Way -- a movement which apparently holds no room for people with mental or physical health issues, poor people (despite all the author's mentions of support!), or anyone who isn't strong enough to instantly dump all aspects of our patriarchal (and capitalist -- gosh you guys, I'm not providing any alternatives but isn't capitalism the worst?*) society out of our lives. Like, right now. Oh sorry, you still like "your shows"? I guess that means you can't sit at Jessa Crispin's non-feminist feminism table.
Crispin's main targets here seem to be #basicbitches and the internet. There's a definite "get off my lawn" quality to this book, and in Crispin's lavish defense of Second-Wave Feminism, to the point that she (twice!) bends over backward to defend the transphobic and racist comments of Second Wavers who just don't understand "relatively new" terms like intersectionality...before paragraphs later, decrying white feminists who don't understand intersectionality. (I also really enjoyed the chapter that began, "I just want to be clear that I don't give a fuck about your [men's] response to this book. Do not email me, do not get in touch," and ended, "Men can and must participate in this project [feminism].")
Look: on some level, we are all hypocrites. There is conflict and imperfection within all of us. Some of us, for example, might try to fight for feminism however we can: with how we relate to others, with how we relate to ourselves, with our money (hiss! yes, even evil money!), with our vote... And then, when we get tired, because this fight -- hell, just existing in this broken society -- is fucking exhausting, those selfsame some of us might want to watch Netflix for a little while. So sue us.
Crispin, while being a human person and thus subject to human weakness, seems to have no sympathy or room in her movement for weakness in others. Personally, I would rather have billions of imperfect feminists who are trying -- to unpack their own shit, to fight in any way they can -- than an elite crew of irreproachable feminists who never succumb to leg shaving** or online shopping or other tools of the patriarchy. But then, that's just me: a woman who could never be considered a feminist by Crispin's unimpeachable standards.
*This is snotty, but Crispin's attack on people who want to "make their money" smacks to me of the rhetoric of someone who has never been poor.
**She brought it up.
I barely know where to start with this; I only started taking notes halfway through and I may come back later with more thorough annotations, but for now, let's begin where Crispin ends -- with her own final summation of her basic thesis.
If you're not up for this, if you just want your life to be comfortable, if you just want to make your money and watch your shows and do as well as you can in this lifetime, then admit it to yourself. You are not a feminist. Just stand in your truth and get it over with.
By "this," of course, she means Feminism the Jessa Crispin Way -- a movement which apparently holds no room for people with mental or physical health issues, poor people (despite all the author's mentions of support!), or anyone who isn't strong enough to instantly dump all aspects of our patriarchal (and capitalist -- gosh you guys, I'm not providing any alternatives but isn't capitalism the worst?*) society out of our lives. Like, right now. Oh sorry, you still like "your shows"? I guess that means you can't sit at Jessa Crispin's non-feminist feminism table.
Crispin's main targets here seem to be #basicbitches and the internet. There's a definite "get off my lawn" quality to this book, and in Crispin's lavish defense of Second-Wave Feminism, to the point that she (twice!) bends over backward to defend the transphobic and racist comments of Second Wavers who just don't understand "relatively new" terms like intersectionality...before paragraphs later, decrying white feminists who don't understand intersectionality. (I also really enjoyed the chapter that began, "I just want to be clear that I don't give a fuck about your [men's] response to this book. Do not email me, do not get in touch," and ended, "Men can and must participate in this project [feminism].")
Look: on some level, we are all hypocrites. There is conflict and imperfection within all of us. Some of us, for example, might try to fight for feminism however we can: with how we relate to others, with how we relate to ourselves, with our money (hiss! yes, even evil money!), with our vote... And then, when we get tired, because this fight -- hell, just existing in this broken society -- is fucking exhausting, those selfsame some of us might want to watch Netflix for a little while. So sue us.
Crispin, while being a human person and thus subject to human weakness, seems to have no sympathy or room in her movement for weakness in others. Personally, I would rather have billions of imperfect feminists who are trying -- to unpack their own shit, to fight in any way they can -- than an elite crew of irreproachable feminists who never succumb to leg shaving** or online shopping or other tools of the patriarchy. But then, that's just me: a woman who could never be considered a feminist by Crispin's unimpeachable standards.
*This is snotty, but Crispin's attack on people who want to "make their money" smacks to me of the rhetoric of someone who has never been poor.
**She brought it up.
killercomplex's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.0
some good ideas, some absurd ones. the section on women accusing men of sexual abuse is shallow, superficial and just Bad.
danacanterino's review against another edition
3.0
Es un libro cortito e interesante, que creo que vale la pena leer. Tiene algunos puntos en los que estoy totalmente a favor: como que cualquier acto que haga una mujer es feminista o llamarse feminista, y luego repetir acciones misóginas. También, el tema de la cancelación de personas por actitudes misóginas y que el feminismo generalmente, se enfoca en mujeres de clase media/alta blancas.
Pero luego, tiene otras ideas, que si bien son muy interesantes, jamás dice cómo llegar a eso. Odio el sistema capitalista, pero no propone otro, y si bien la crítica es interesante, al no dar otra opción, queda todo lo expuesto un poco trunco.
Te das cuenta que Jessa Crispin es exactamente, lo que critica en su propio libro. Ella es una mujer blanca de clase privilegiada y sentí en todo el libro, como la autora habla desde una postura dónde "ahora la mujer ingresó a la esfera pública, así que todo está mejor", como si el mundo fuera más justo y no hubiera una desigualdad evidente entre nacer hombre o mujer.
Entiendo que habla de su postura, en otro país, que esa USA. Pero en mi país, cada 34 horas asesinan a una mujer por violencia machista, 6 de cada diez niñas han vivido violencia sexual y en sectores de poder no llegamos ni al 30%. Así que, no. Falta un inmenso camino por recorrer, y tirarle mierda al sistema, sin dar otro en su reemplazo, diciendo que estamos enojadas y que es puro odio hacia el mismo sistema o los hombres, me parece básico y plano.
Pero luego, tiene otras ideas, que si bien son muy interesantes, jamás dice cómo llegar a eso. Odio el sistema capitalista, pero no propone otro, y si bien la crítica es interesante, al no dar otra opción, queda todo lo expuesto un poco trunco.
Te das cuenta que Jessa Crispin es exactamente, lo que critica en su propio libro. Ella es una mujer blanca de clase privilegiada y sentí en todo el libro, como la autora habla desde una postura dónde "ahora la mujer ingresó a la esfera pública, así que todo está mejor", como si el mundo fuera más justo y no hubiera una desigualdad evidente entre nacer hombre o mujer.
Entiendo que habla de su postura, en otro país, que esa USA. Pero en mi país, cada 34 horas asesinan a una mujer por violencia machista, 6 de cada diez niñas han vivido violencia sexual y en sectores de poder no llegamos ni al 30%. Así que, no. Falta un inmenso camino por recorrer, y tirarle mierda al sistema, sin dar otro en su reemplazo, diciendo que estamos enojadas y que es puro odio hacia el mismo sistema o los hombres, me parece básico y plano.
danicapage's review against another edition
2.5
Where to begin with this one?!? First, I think that much of Jessa Crispin is criticizing here has merit. What she calls "universal feminism," others have called a failure to be intersectional or "white feminism." Her point that by trying to be universally accepted and liked, feminism has weakened itself and lost much of its power is spot on. Her points that merely including white women in fields that were predominantly white men before is not really expanding and more inclusive, really it's just redefining who is excluded is thoughtfully done. Her points about how when white women partake in and exploit the same structures that were once used to subject, oppress, or demean them to do so to others are also accurate.
Basically, her critiques of white feminism (feminism obsessed with capitalism), though she doesn't really use the term often, are thought-provoking, as are her ideas that women aren't necessarily better, that having women in office doesn't necessarily make things better etc. She poses a lot of insightful inquiries.
But she also weakens her argument by having some rather contradictory or unexplored points. Several times she contradicts herself in ways that are quite puzzling. She decries tactics and then later praises them. She excoriates certain actions by some and then later praises those same acts by others. She also makes several great points about how feminism may need to interrogate more their binary thinking but then falls prey to that same binary thinking. Several of these chapters felt like they could have been written by men's rights groups, which is a shame since I think she did make some very valid points in them that she then weakened considerably.
Some parts had me nodding my head; some shaking it in consternation. I am always willing to read books with diverse viewpoints, and I don't criticize books for merely having differences of opinion. What I do knock this book for is that I think sometimes style was prioritized over substance. She also fell prey to overclassification, over-grouping, unfounded and unexplained claims, etc. Those I do knock the book for. Ultimately, it felt like the author was simply knocking anybody who views feminism differently than she does. It read like another "the problem is classism, not racism or feminism" diatribe. I do agree that feminism has a lot of culpability on both those fronts, but sexism is also a problem. That brings me to another major complaint--she seems to think that women with money can just buy their way into acceptance and that there aren't roadblocks or hurdles at the top levels anymore, that women have "made it" in many ways, which I find to be a wild assertion. And one that the author contradicts later on.
This could have been very well done with some tighter editing and refinement.
I'd recommend Brown Scars/ White Teas, Against White Feminism, White Feminism (Koa Beck), Brittney Cooper, Morgan Jerkins, Roxane Gay, and many others over this. I'm glad I read it; it was very thought-provoking but also head-shaking at times.
Basically, her critiques of white feminism (feminism obsessed with capitalism), though she doesn't really use the term often, are thought-provoking, as are her ideas that women aren't necessarily better, that having women in office doesn't necessarily make things better etc. She poses a lot of insightful inquiries.
But she also weakens her argument by having some rather contradictory or unexplored points. Several times she contradicts herself in ways that are quite puzzling. She decries tactics and then later praises them. She excoriates certain actions by some and then later praises those same acts by others. She also makes several great points about how feminism may need to interrogate more their binary thinking but then falls prey to that same binary thinking. Several of these chapters felt like they could have been written by men's rights groups, which is a shame since I think she did make some very valid points in them that she then weakened considerably.
Some parts had me nodding my head; some shaking it in consternation. I am always willing to read books with diverse viewpoints, and I don't criticize books for merely having differences of opinion. What I do knock this book for is that I think sometimes style was prioritized over substance. She also fell prey to overclassification, over-grouping, unfounded and unexplained claims, etc. Those I do knock the book for. Ultimately, it felt like the author was simply knocking anybody who views feminism differently than she does. It read like another "the problem is classism, not racism or feminism" diatribe. I do agree that feminism has a lot of culpability on both those fronts, but sexism is also a problem. That brings me to another major complaint--she seems to think that women with money can just buy their way into acceptance and that there aren't roadblocks or hurdles at the top levels anymore, that women have "made it" in many ways, which I find to be a wild assertion. And one that the author contradicts later on.
This could have been very well done with some tighter editing and refinement.
I'd recommend Brown Scars/ White Teas, Against White Feminism, White Feminism (Koa Beck), Brittney Cooper, Morgan Jerkins, Roxane Gay, and many others over this. I'm glad I read it; it was very thought-provoking but also head-shaking at times.
serru's review against another edition
4.0
A quick read that articulated pretty much all of my concerns with contemporary feminism that also made me rethink some of the things I consider "feminist". She makes some very good points about outrage culture and the use of politically correct language. Overall, this was a thought-provoking read, no matter which side of the debate you're on. I was hoping she'd have more actual statistics and data to back up her arguments, as well as some suggestions for what we can do about the situation. But I see the subtitle for this book calls it a manifesto, so it may be too much to ask for a solution. I suspect the issue is too big and complex for a neat solution anyway.
anweshab's review against another edition
5.0
A very thorough analysis of the confused state of feminism today. Not a fact book, but her opinions coincide with so much I have been feeling and observing lately. My mom and I have conversations around similar tones frequently, about how women are indeed exploiting the same patriarchal constructs we hate to promote themselves shamelessly, to gain power, to further their mediocre careers no matter who they hurt in the process. This is particularly an urban female trait. In countries like India, women are getting advanced degrees and white collar jobs by exploiting their biology, often very mediocre women who don't deserve the opportunity by merit alone. This opportunity rarely furthers their agency, rarely leads to self discovery, as much as it's a greedy money grab... a way to, as Crispin says, sustain a lifestyle that their husbands are unable to support on a single income. I agree with Crispin on almost all counts, but I recognize even as I do, how much of a hypocrite that makes me. And I think that is the key. I know I have failed feminism, I acknowledge that. There is much to change in my actions if I wish to truly work for the movement, but that doesn't make her work inaccurate as many of the single-star reviewers have pointed out. I also see no condonement of trans- or homophobia as a few reviewers have mentioned.
lexie_gabrielle's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0