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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Germaine Greer is probably the first name that springs to mind when anyone brings up the subject of feminism, whether you know much about the movement or not. I'll admit that this was the case for me anyway, but I have to say that I did not know too much about her. In fact, I believed her to be one of the 'feminazis', man-hating and bra-burning amongst other things. I decided to pick up her seminal text The Female Eunuch because it came on my radar in the last month or so through YouTube, and I figured I'd see what she had to say. So I was surprised when I discovered that my initial impressions through hearsay Greer were not really accurate at all.
Germaine Greer does not hate men, and she does not advocate bra-burning in the slightest, in fact finding it detrimental to the cause. Surprisingly, what I took from this book was a certain level of irritation and disgust aimed more so at the female population. There were a great many sections in this book where I found Greer's words to be angry and dripping with disdain when she talked about things like excessive mothering of children, and the ever-present fairytale notion of love.
Greer splits her book into four sections: Body, Soul, Love, and Hate, along with a chapter entitled Revolution at the very end. Within these sections, she tackles a myriad of subjects, including marriage, work, body hair, jealousy, even resentment. I found certain sections to be more readable than others (the Hate section was particularly difficult and depressing), and I fluctuated between moments being intensely bored, moments being very intrigued, and moments where I found her words incredibly funny. It certainly evoked a range of emotions in me.
Due to the fact that The Female Eunuch was published in 1970, there are certain aspects of the book that I feel are not quite as relevant anymore, and I think that male/female equality has come a long way since then (despite not being perfect). However, there were a lot of points that Greer made within her book that really stuck out to me, particularly notions of love and the rearing of children. It makes me wonder, is the biological clock a real thing or is it just conditioning in our society for most women to feel the need to prolong the human race?
But I digress. If you are at all interested in the feminist movement, I would strongly suggest that you pick up this novel. Although I didn't necessarily enjoy all of the book, due to the writing being a little wordy at points, I am very glad that I finally got around to reading this book. I think that it is an important book, no matter what detractors of Greer say, and even if I don't agree with absolutely everything she says, it's definitely a great talking-point.
Germaine Greer does not hate men, and she does not advocate bra-burning in the slightest, in fact finding it detrimental to the cause. Surprisingly, what I took from this book was a certain level of irritation and disgust aimed more so at the female population. There were a great many sections in this book where I found Greer's words to be angry and dripping with disdain when she talked about things like excessive mothering of children, and the ever-present fairytale notion of love.
Greer splits her book into four sections: Body, Soul, Love, and Hate, along with a chapter entitled Revolution at the very end. Within these sections, she tackles a myriad of subjects, including marriage, work, body hair, jealousy, even resentment. I found certain sections to be more readable than others (the Hate section was particularly difficult and depressing), and I fluctuated between moments being intensely bored, moments being very intrigued, and moments where I found her words incredibly funny. It certainly evoked a range of emotions in me.
Due to the fact that The Female Eunuch was published in 1970, there are certain aspects of the book that I feel are not quite as relevant anymore, and I think that male/female equality has come a long way since then (despite not being perfect). However, there were a lot of points that Greer made within her book that really stuck out to me, particularly notions of love and the rearing of children. It makes me wonder, is the biological clock a real thing or is it just conditioning in our society for most women to feel the need to prolong the human race?
But I digress. If you are at all interested in the feminist movement, I would strongly suggest that you pick up this novel. Although I didn't necessarily enjoy all of the book, due to the writing being a little wordy at points, I am very glad that I finally got around to reading this book. I think that it is an important book, no matter what detractors of Greer say, and even if I don't agree with absolutely everything she says, it's definitely a great talking-point.
Ooooof. I read this because it was gifted to me and had to switch to audiobook because I was rereading the same paragraphs over and over.
Super outdated language and instances of homophobia/transphobia as is expected with a lot of second wave white feminism. Definitely worth cherry picking what chapters you read and skipping any of the science/psychology sections unless you're a glutton for punishment. There are a few quality ideas on gender roles, rape culture, and gender as a social construct but not enough for you to really purchase this book. A better option would be to read critics and other analysis of the book instead.
Super outdated language and instances of homophobia/transphobia as is expected with a lot of second wave white feminism. Definitely worth cherry picking what chapters you read and skipping any of the science/psychology sections unless you're a glutton for punishment. There are a few quality ideas on gender roles, rape culture, and gender as a social construct but not enough for you to really purchase this book. A better option would be to read critics and other analysis of the book instead.
When I asked for this book for Christmas I just thought it was a classic feminist book, I was unaware of Germaine Greer making transphobic and otherwise problematic comments. Then when I started it, I read some Goodreads reviews and was shocked to see just how much people hated this book, I assumed it was just because of it being about feminism. I'm glad that the copy I received was the 50th anniversary edition, as Hadley Freeman's introduction mentions that not only is this book anti-trans but also has many homophobic and racist elements. I decided to give it a go anyway as I had asked for it in the first place. Every time I found myself agreeing with a point, it would suddenly turn into some rant about why being gay is unnatural or even something about why women are awful, not exactly the empowering if dated book I was expecting. Some parts of the book were reassuring as we are in a different place than Greer was writing this in the late 60s, even if in many ways we haven't come far enough. Though I regret that someone paid for this and I would feel better if I had borrowed it instead, I don't regret reading this book as there is nothing better to strengthen your opinions on a topic than when you disagree with someone.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
challenging
reflective
medium-paced