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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Decently funny with some good tips on moving through business as a woman. This generally focuses on being a female writer and what that industry entails but there are practical actions that can be broadly applied.
When a dear friend of mine bought this book as a gift, I was excited. We saw it at the bookstore and by browsing the pages yeah, sure, the theme was rather gliter-y and kinda silly, but who's not allowed to be silly? Some books, when treating of serious subjects, can use this approach to engage multiple stakeholders into action, and then weave a more serious approach half-way when one's already trapped. I thought it was such a book.
I got disappointed half throughout the book. I liked the fast-paced style, and the fact the author could make light of terrible situations. I don't agree with some comments I've seen here that say the workplace is not like she described. It is not. In a lot of places is far worse.
That said, Bennett uses what someone described as a 'Buzzfeed' style and, being a former author for Tumblr, I can definitely see that trend in her. Nonetheless, for a book designed for adult, mature women in the office, this book seemed almost childish. If this was a book targeted for young women in schools, where girls are suffering from the first major misogynistic attacks, it could perform a much better work at engaging to its desired audience. For older working women, it kind of lost sense.
I only refrain myself of giving it 2.5 stars because the subject of the book is quite important and I think the author indeed performed a good job in explaining several of the tricky sublet ways machismo operates nowadays. But I would also look forward to see a book from her that treats interseccional feminism more seriously, and becomes more assertive that you don't have to have a vagina to be a woman.
I got disappointed half throughout the book. I liked the fast-paced style, and the fact the author could make light of terrible situations. I don't agree with some comments I've seen here that say the workplace is not like she described. It is not. In a lot of places is far worse.
That said, Bennett uses what someone described as a 'Buzzfeed' style and, being a former author for Tumblr, I can definitely see that trend in her. Nonetheless, for a book designed for adult, mature women in the office, this book seemed almost childish. If this was a book targeted for young women in schools, where girls are suffering from the first major misogynistic attacks, it could perform a much better work at engaging to its desired audience. For older working women, it kind of lost sense.
I only refrain myself of giving it 2.5 stars because the subject of the book is quite important and I think the author indeed performed a good job in explaining several of the tricky sublet ways machismo operates nowadays. But I would also look forward to see a book from her that treats interseccional feminism more seriously, and becomes more assertive that you don't have to have a vagina to be a woman.
The book is unapologetically real and on the face. I started relating quite a lot of instances which I either was a spectator or was at the receiving end. Particularly would like to point out what happens during meetings, that was just so accurate. At some instances it sounded like a drag and I didn't feel like reading further and also that those glittery stickers / illustrations just to make it look "girly" would initially seem funny but it seemed like it was a bit over the top. I started reading the book when I was actually at an obviously sexist workplace and when you read such a piece you just feel like knocking everyone down who treats you a certain way. This book has been greatly instrumental in aiding me survive such a place to finally moving out to a better workplace and feeling good about myself.
Good read for women (and men!) in the workforce. Felt like some of the message got lost in between sarcastic remarks and chapter titles that were trying to hard, but the fundamentals were there. Wished the remedies were a little more serious.
This is an okay book, even useful book, if you look over the cringe terms used and awkward uses (and denouncing) of AAVE, the overwhelmingly neoliberal, pinky pussy hat, Hillary Clinton voting, white cis heteronormative ‘empowerment’ feminism (points for including examples about what women of colour and queer people experience and their work like footnotes, I guess), the references to ‘spirit animals’ (how many times must Native Americans tell you not to do this! But no, it’s okay since you literally listed off their feminist work too).
And since we’re talking about tears and women having more propensity to cry, tears not being manipulative etc. Can we talk about the phenomenon that is White Women’s Tears™️ too? How about we interrogate the fact that many people of colour have to navigate white women in the work place as well? Diana Abbot, a whole MP, was just reported to be crying in the bathroom because of such racist antics by white women in the Labour Party for crying out loud. Did the fight club also talk about how white women oppress black and people of colour in the office, hm? I tire of this feminism that absolves everyone else but white cishet men of enforcing racist patriarchal norms.
Several times I thought it was ridiculous that women have to tiptoe around men this way instead of demanding for change on a structural level. How about we lecture the men instead not to be such dicks for once hm? How about we decentre feminism and activism from (mostly white in this case) men, and instead view it as a framework, not a mere identity? I also find this distracting and disheartening because it seems to indicate a feminism that has given up, one that is resigned to navigating the patriarchy any way it can because the men won’t change at this point.
Let us also move on from pussy and ‘bra-burning’ feminism. I don’t see how it serves us in any way to draw vagina grafitti on walls just because some idiots draw dicks on public areas too. It also indicates you’re not listening to trans and non-binary voices. I can’t speak much on that because I’m not in the community, but it was quite glaringly obvious that this was only addressing a certain demographic.
It wasn’t all bad though, I’ve resolved to remove ‘like’, ‘um’, ‘I feel like’, ‘sorry’ and meme language from my vocabulary and use more direct language. I’m also gonna shoot my shot for jobs I may not be totally qualified for, because hey, WWJD?
And since we’re talking about tears and women having more propensity to cry, tears not being manipulative etc. Can we talk about the phenomenon that is White Women’s Tears™️ too? How about we interrogate the fact that many people of colour have to navigate white women in the work place as well? Diana Abbot, a whole MP, was just reported to be crying in the bathroom because of such racist antics by white women in the Labour Party for crying out loud. Did the fight club also talk about how white women oppress black and people of colour in the office, hm? I tire of this feminism that absolves everyone else but white cishet men of enforcing racist patriarchal norms.
Several times I thought it was ridiculous that women have to tiptoe around men this way instead of demanding for change on a structural level. How about we lecture the men instead not to be such dicks for once hm? How about we decentre feminism and activism from (mostly white in this case) men, and instead view it as a framework, not a mere identity? I also find this distracting and disheartening because it seems to indicate a feminism that has given up, one that is resigned to navigating the patriarchy any way it can because the men won’t change at this point.
Let us also move on from pussy and ‘bra-burning’ feminism. I don’t see how it serves us in any way to draw vagina grafitti on walls just because some idiots draw dicks on public areas too. It also indicates you’re not listening to trans and non-binary voices. I can’t speak much on that because I’m not in the community, but it was quite glaringly obvious that this was only addressing a certain demographic.
It wasn’t all bad though, I’ve resolved to remove ‘like’, ‘um’, ‘I feel like’, ‘sorry’ and meme language from my vocabulary and use more direct language. I’m also gonna shoot my shot for jobs I may not be totally qualified for, because hey, WWJD?
I am so split on this book. The advice is solid but I hate the patronising ‘Yaaas Queen/I love Beyoncé/Boss Ass Bitch’ packaging.
Practical advice. I'd suggest this to men & women beginning on their feminist journey. I love the linguistics section-which is why I gave it 3 stars instead of 2.
DNF around 36%
Anybody got any recommendations for books with a similar premise? 'Cause I did see myself in some passages, but the book felt rather superficial and the binarist cissexism was seriously off-putting.
Anybody got any recommendations for books with a similar premise? 'Cause I did see myself in some passages, but the book felt rather superficial and the binarist cissexism was seriously off-putting.
This one was a disappointment for me. There's nothing wrong with it and it is written in an engaging way, but it's effectively a business self-help book, a genre I loathe, and had about as much insight as most of them do. The only thing that saved it for me was the swearing.