Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

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

166 reviews

unluckycat13's review against another edition

The author is a TERF, this is a TERF book. Not to undermine the honestly good work and important information in this book, but you can't remove it from the author's views. While it starts out seeming reasonable enough-- I think it's understandable even if not great to not separate sex and gender-- the author eventually begins to build her argument into women being an immutable biologically separate organism with most things in life attributed purely to biology. Of course there's no proof of this because of the data gap. The studies will surely show she's right though, as they always say. 

The book does start out acknowledging queer and disabled people, and it does talk about other countries with a non dismissive and non bigoted attitude, however the author is very quick to paint groups of people (such as western women, or British women) with a singular brush. Despite admitting that the so called standard male doesn't represent men in general, she's very argumentative in favor of a standard female model. It's hard to untangle her personal views on sex and gender from the rest of the book and the more you begin to think about it, the worse it gets. 

I would generally not recommend this book, and while it is a nice organization of some studies I have heard most of them before elsewhere. 

Being a book about sexism, you can expect a TW warning for basically literally every topic, albeit only passingly. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

haleybre's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War

epellicci's review against another edition

informative sad fast-paced

3.0

A touch disappointing for me. I felt like a lot of the data that Perez covers is research I had heard presented by other authors in more depth before. And because her aim was simply to uncover the information, it lacked to context and nuance that other books I have read, that focused on perhaps one of these issues at a time, did have. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this fact, it just wasn't what I was hoping for when I picked up the book. 

Also disappointing, and somewhat ironic, was the fact that Perez doesn't disaggregate for factors like race and sexuality. She excuses this in her introduction, essentially stating that the data isn't available and so can't be discussed... but wasn't the point of the book to examine that fact and highlight the hidden costs of missing data on those ignored groups? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual violence

billie_churchill's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Medical trauma, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kkspades's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism and Sexual assault

floorse's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

5.0

Great book but good god, I'm so angry. I was aware of about 40% of what's in this book and the other 60% just made me see red. Perez is right, we have to do better for the next generation. 

I want to bite someone after reading this. 10/10.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

stindex's review against another edition

challenging dark informative

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Medical content

oliviamich's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

lucyrudd's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sarahweyand's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This is not a fun book. But it is an important one. In fact, it's the most important book I've read all year, maybe in multiple years. It's infuriating and informative and a scathing assault of facts and statistics and studies. Everyone should read it.

This book is divided into sections about home, the workplace, healthcare, and public life, and systematically proves how every single aspect of women's lives in each of these areas is based around being the "abnormal other" - that is to say, not men. Now, as a women, I'm pretty aware of most of these experiences; I've lived them. What I hadn't fully considered were the far-reaching impacts of some of these systems: how they go on to perpetuate the cycle of poverty, lead to greater gender gaps in data, and the further endangerment of women (no, that isn't an exaggeration).

I wish I had had the time to have consumed this book in smaller doses for two reasons. First, this book really does come at you with the facts and stats, and it can feel like drinking out of a firehose at times. I wish I had more time to have read this book at say, the pace of a chapter a week, so I could absorb information better and ruminate on what I had read. Second, this book can get really frustrating and depressing. I was mad the entire time. I like having the fire of justice and equality inside me to push me to do more and be strong, but at some point it start to have a negative effect on your psyche. I think taking this book in smaller doses would have helped to mitigate that.

I really enjoyed the moments in certain chapters that talked about improvements being made to certain systems and the positive outcomes change can have. It does help provide hope that these things can be overcome and that we can move in the right direction if we prioritize it.

The last thing I want to say is that I implore men to read this book. While I was reading Invisible Women, I talked to a number of male friends and coworkers, most of whom said something like "Oh! My [mom, sister, wife, friend] read that book and really liked it." But none of them said they had read the book themselves, despite it getting a positive review from a trusted source. This book is an expose on patriarchy, but it is not an expose on you. It may have you take a hard look at yourself and your preconceived ideas and help you to change your mindset, but it is not an attack on you personally. Feminists are not one gender, and men are essential allies in creating change that benefits everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment