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applesodaperson's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.75
So this book is clearly an epic feat of literature, especially for the time period. And it really did have some good commentary. I liked the sections towards to beginning about how the basic biology of men and women isn't all that different. But unfortunately, the majority of this book was outdated and actually just reinforced archaic gender roles instead of breaking them down. And disclaimer, yes I know this book was written a very long time ago, but that doesn't mean I can't criticize it. There is only so much grace I can give it under the excuse of it being old. Now onto those criticisms. My first and biggest is that this book was entirely comprised of broad generalizations. It was just so many examples and stories of one specific woman's experience with things like marriage and motherhood, and then it being talked about like it is something every woman agrees on. And this doesn't even get the excuse of it being an old book, because never in history has every women had the same life and feelings. In addition to this, this book has countless outdated ideas about men, marriage, LGBTQ+ women, and motherhood, which as someone who knows a lot about these topics, I did not appreciate. I hated the chapter where she compared men to god and jesus, and said that all women perceive them in that way. I did not like how she said there are no women geniuses, which definitely wasn't true even in 1949. I don't like how she said that no women create great works of art. I didn't like her commentary on child-rape, because she said that most children consent out of ignorance, which is not true because children literally cannot consent at all. I didn't like how many obscure literature references there were, although that is more of a me problem, but it still led to me being confused and missing a lot of the points. I also didn't like the lack of intersectional feminism. But this can also kind of be excused, because this book was made when feminism only really applied to upper class white women.
Overall, very disappointment by this book.
Listened to on Libby.
Overall, very disappointment by this book.
Listened to on Libby.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy and Misogyny
astrono9's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
jinxedthings's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Pedophilia, Violence, Transphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Misogyny
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