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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
i really wanted to love this book..
i went into it thinking it was going to be more academic than it was, largely because the blurb made it sound that way. i was expecting a deep dive into the origins of “cunt” as a word, and how it evolved to carry the meaning it does today. in reality, it’s more of a manifesto and a pretty flawed one at that. i agree with a lot of muscio’s main ideas, and i liked her points about community among women and “intellectual apartheid” (a term she borrowed from someone else- a lot of her best points come from other authors or thinkers…) but the first couple of chapters where she talks about making her period cramps go away by actually avoiding pain killers and how she manifested her third abortion really turned me off. i almost dnf’ed at that point, and i’m not sure how glad i am that i kept reading.
the book is dated, that’s for sure. one of my biggest concerns was that the whole premise of “cunt” is pretty gender essentialist, something that she addresses (but also doesn’t really?) in the 70 page afterward. i get that the book was published over 20 years ago, but i find it hard to believe neither muscio nor anybody who read “cunt” before it was published didn’t think about how the ideas in the book related to trans and gender diverse people. i also don’t think it’s that radical to realize that the patriarchy oppresses everyone, not just cisgender women. and then she repeatedly uses slurs against the people she failed to consider in the first place!
generally, a lot of muscio’s arguments are not nuanced, well explained, or very logical, and are at times contradictory. she often makes claims without elaborating on what she means, or name drops people without telling the reader why they’re relevant. she seems to assume that everyone reading the book has the same context she does, which is not a good assumption for a manifesto-esque book like this to make. much of what she says comes across like “i’m saying this so the reader has to believe it’s true,” which was incredibly frustrating. she also frequently proposes new definitions for words, such as whore or predator, but switches back and forth between using the word as it is colloquially used and using her new definition.
ultimately, a bit of a baffling (and sometimes infuriating) read, and i’m still searching for a book that matches the blurb on the back of “cunt”…
i went into it thinking it was going to be more academic than it was, largely because the blurb made it sound that way. i was expecting a deep dive into the origins of “cunt” as a word, and how it evolved to carry the meaning it does today. in reality, it’s more of a manifesto and a pretty flawed one at that. i agree with a lot of muscio’s main ideas, and i liked her points about community among women and “intellectual apartheid” (a term she borrowed from someone else- a lot of her best points come from other authors or thinkers…) but the first couple of chapters where she talks about making her period cramps go away by actually avoiding pain killers and how she manifested her third abortion really turned me off. i almost dnf’ed at that point, and i’m not sure how glad i am that i kept reading.
the book is dated, that’s for sure. one of my biggest concerns was that the whole premise of “cunt” is pretty gender essentialist, something that she addresses (but also doesn’t really?) in the 70 page afterward. i get that the book was published over 20 years ago, but i find it hard to believe neither muscio nor anybody who read “cunt” before it was published didn’t think about how the ideas in the book related to trans and gender diverse people. i also don’t think it’s that radical to realize that the patriarchy oppresses everyone, not just cisgender women. and then she repeatedly uses slurs against the people she failed to consider in the first place!
generally, a lot of muscio’s arguments are not nuanced, well explained, or very logical, and are at times contradictory. she often makes claims without elaborating on what she means, or name drops people without telling the reader why they’re relevant. she seems to assume that everyone reading the book has the same context she does, which is not a good assumption for a manifesto-esque book like this to make. much of what she says comes across like “i’m saying this so the reader has to believe it’s true,” which was incredibly frustrating. she also frequently proposes new definitions for words, such as whore or predator, but switches back and forth between using the word as it is colloquially used and using her new definition.
ultimately, a bit of a baffling (and sometimes infuriating) read, and i’m still searching for a book that matches the blurb on the back of “cunt”…
informative
slow-paced
challenging
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
slow-paced
Beyond brilliant, this book displays a wide open view of the differences between what it should mean to be female and what it does mean. It's sometimes political, sometimes spiritual, sometimes crass, sometimes tear making, often causes me to spurt a giggle of random laughter.
From it's evocative title to it's well founded research I would recommend this book to anyone who is a woman, knows women, or is touched by their lives, births, hearts, etc. I won't be forgetting the wisdom and ideas found in these pages for a love time.
From it's evocative title to it's well founded research I would recommend this book to anyone who is a woman, knows women, or is touched by their lives, births, hearts, etc. I won't be forgetting the wisdom and ideas found in these pages for a love time.
First of all I would like to say I am a feminist, I read a lot of feminist literature. I was so excited for this book I thought this was going to be a feminist reclaiming of the word cunt but I was wrong. The first 10 pages or so was a brief glossing over the reclaiming of the word and was definitely what I was expecting based on the synopsis of it. Then it fell apart and devolved into ramblings of a slightly unhinged cuntlover, like it was relevant to tell the story of how she got mad at another woman because she was sitting in her car putting lipstick on because its not safe to do that. Could there be some really good points in here? Yes! I think period products need a whole reform and I too hate that they're called feminine hygiene products but you lose sight of all those good points when you start going all alternative medicine on me. I agree that we fully don't know the side effects of certain birth controls and that they mess with your body but we have a problem when you start telling people that keeping cuts clean and drinking water will help infections. You know what helps infections? Antibiotics. I'm sorry but I'm way more willing to take advice and instruction from the guy who spent half his life studying this kind of stuff. To each their own but don't be telling people that this is the way to live. On a totally different topic, I had an issue with the end of the book where Inga talks about the relationship between reader and writer and it just kind of felt off and weird to me. But the second major issue I had was the voice of this book, it is constantly changing in the same sentence Inga can go from "hoodrat" to eloquent and then back to "hoodrat". It sounded like she was trying to be hoodrat/ghetto or what she thinks is hoodrat/ghetto and I can tell you right now it sounds like her idea of what the ghetto is is based off of Bring It On. Seriously who talks like that, it makes it all the more confusing why she wrote in such a way, I dont know if its to seem more relatable to the reader or what but its jarring and uncomfortable to read such a way of writing. There are many many issues with this book that I haven't even spoken about but I have better books to read than to keep ranting about this one. I'll leave with one last thing, I'm not mad just disappointed (actually a little mad that I spent $13 on this).
3.5 stars.
a few points in this book had me thinking, "what on EARTH is she on?" but, for the most part, i found myself agreeing.
my daughter will most definitely be getting a copy when she hits her teens.
a few points in this book had me thinking, "what on EARTH is she on?" but, for the most part, i found myself agreeing.
my daughter will most definitely be getting a copy when she hits her teens.
"There are so many much bigger realities that bring pain and anger that I've learned to seek out small joys every day. It is one of the greatest forms of self-defense that I know."
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced