Reviews - The Tragedy of Heterosexuality

398 reviews for:

The Tragedy of Heterosexuality

Jane Ward

4.16 AVERAGE

shxqira's review against another edition

4.5

a very interesting read, especially the part about dating coaches

stefhyena's review against another edition

3.75

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

There were bits of this that were incisive and/or saying out loud what a lot of us are thinking but have been too polite to say. She backs up this honesty with some references and some analysis.

Some parts also came across as sloppy- contradictory, repetitive, boring, less relevant. I find the same in Halberstam sometimes. The main point is so interesting and important but I suppose because it is so far out of the centre that fewer people can validly review you there is also a lot of sloppiness in the details.

The longwinded effort to redeem heterosexuality was an example of the least useful thing here...although interestingly she couldn't resist undermining it with questions and some history- I think it could have been more honestly structured and abandoned in favour of better conclusions. I felt that the pickup artists chapter also had a few either missed points or maybe very convoluted and tedious ways of getting there. I did not want to spend so long partially entertaining these misogynist knobheads.

In the best sections the lesbianism is very bold and unapologetic, in the worst sections she's still trying too hard not to offend the straights (too late BTW). I also felt her depiction of queer culture as valuing all body types was sweet and idealised but not my experience of many queer women still objectifying women and demanding and unrealistic standard fo beauty from themselves and others. Which is partly why I am single. The discussion of stone butches (toward the end) was good albeit brief.

Overall this book was useful and I have recommended it to a straight friend (who can read critically).