Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez

138 reviews

ashwaar's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.25

I'm continuing my trend of reading feminist non-fiction, and I recently read Invisible Women and found it incredibly engaging and interesting. I highly recommend this book to everyone, as the data it highlights impacts all of us.

Pérez begins this book by discussing the historical acceptance of the male form as default, which I found fascinating. She discusses Ancient Greek philosophers describing the female body as a perversion of the male and goes on to discuss women's exclusion in everything from medical trials to public transport to crash test dummies.

This book is also incredibly frustrating because there's no one to blame for these failures. The basis of these gender biases are so deeply entrenched in our everyday thinking we don't even stop to question them. We don't stop to think why the women's bathroom always has a line or why medical textbooks predominantly contain diagrams of the male body.

Some of these biases or gender data gaps seem like nothing more than inconveniences, something women just have to deal with in a world built for men. However, these inconveniences can build up and, in some cases, are outright killing women. For example, using car crash dummies based on the average male body exclude women from these safety tests. Or not factoring women in medical research trials because their fluctuating hormones make them too much of an anomaly.

This book is justifiably angry at the gender data gap, and as a reader, you will be as well. I learnt so much from this book, and I feel like I need everyone else to read it as well. It is very data-heavy throughout, and if you have a physical copy, I recommend highlighting some statistics. If you're debating with someone who doesn't think the gender data gap exists, point them to this book, as it's essential reading.

Read more on Wordpress at Bookmarked by Ash: https://book990337086.wordpress.com/

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vrhayes08's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring fast-paced

4.5

So much of the research in this book is alarming, moving, infuriating, and activating. I am thinking about the world differently now as a result of this book - paying more attention to the small aspects of design that affect our lives, to the ways that designing a world with in mind women would make the world better for everyone, to the absolutely maddening ways that women’s roles in society are undervalued and ignored.

This book shines a light on the experience of women from cultures around the world, not just developed nations. Still, there is more focus on developed nations (in part because we have more data on developed nations!). I did also feel that for a book talking about gender data gaps, this book ironically massively ignores the existence of non-binary and gender non-conforming people. Definitely a worthwhile read, but maybe needs a sequel about the invisibility of nb/gnc and intersex people in data (an even worse problem that also offers so much for society to learn from).

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onceinabluemoon88's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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franzi_'s review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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jeninchi's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced

3.25

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alyssa_s10's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

Really good at opening one's eyes to systematic sexism. A must read for any researchers.

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ampam's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Eye-opening, and disheartening.

While I have known the world was designed for men (the phone I'm typing on right now is too big for my small, but not unusually sized hands, to be used one-handed easily), seeing the extent of it in everything from air bags to policy was very revealing. The book illustrated in many facets the repercussions of not taking women into account, and none are positive. It is quite daunting how much needs to be changed, and the book unfortunately does not offer any solutions for the world to be made more equitable from the flaws it pointed out in its writing. Additionally, the book does not delve into detail other intersectional identities like race, or at all for more prejudiced-against groups like LGBTQIA* folks. Regardless, it is a recommended read to understand how pervasive the idea of only designing for men and refusing to consider women is.

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thebearnest's review against another edition

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informative sad medium-paced

2.75

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lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring slow-paced

3.5

Super informative and important. It likely didn't help my rating that I read much of this in one sitting as I often struggle with non-fiction and felt that powering through was my best option. Very heavy on the stats and figures but it highlights so many interesting and important facts.

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norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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