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112 reviews for:
Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape
Jessica Valenti, Jaclyn Friedman
4.16 AVERAGE
112 reviews for:
Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape
Jessica Valenti, Jaclyn Friedman
4.16 AVERAGE
For me, the best essays were:
'Queering Black Female Heterosexuality', 'What It Feels Like When It Finally Comes: Surviving Incest in Real Life', 'Reclaiming Touch: Rape Culture, Explicit Verbal Consent and Body Sovereignty', 'An Immodest Proposal' and 'A Love Letter from an Anti-Rape Activist to her Feminist Sex-Toy Store'.
Aside from that, a couple were pretty basic, some were too grim to read, and one ('Why Nice Guys Finish Last') I found hard to agree with. But a definite valuable addition to any feminist library.
'Queering Black Female Heterosexuality', 'What It Feels Like When It Finally Comes: Surviving Incest in Real Life', 'Reclaiming Touch: Rape Culture, Explicit Verbal Consent and Body Sovereignty', 'An Immodest Proposal' and 'A Love Letter from an Anti-Rape Activist to her Feminist Sex-Toy Store'.
Aside from that, a couple were pretty basic, some were too grim to read, and one ('Why Nice Guys Finish Last') I found hard to agree with. But a definite valuable addition to any feminist library.
This was one my introductions into feminist literature and it is still at the top of my list. Each essay is a unique perspective filled with wonderful ideas on promoting enthusiastic consent and ending rape and rape culture.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in dismantling gender roles, sex, and rape culture. A number of these essays are amazing and helped me change my thinking and take on even more feminist, inclusive, and egalitarian views.
I gave it four stars simply because I skipped a number of the essays and actively disagree with one, but I still think it’s an amazing collection and am a better person having read it. I have a full review up on my blog, hyypeonline.com (https://hyypeonline.com/2019/05/23/yes-means-yes-teaches-me-to-fight/) if you're curious to read more about it before you borrow or buy it!
I gave it four stars simply because I skipped a number of the essays and actively disagree with one, but I still think it’s an amazing collection and am a better person having read it. I have a full review up on my blog, hyypeonline.com (https://hyypeonline.com/2019/05/23/yes-means-yes-teaches-me-to-fight/) if you're curious to read more about it before you borrow or buy it!
I admit I was pretty disappointed with this book. There are a lot of essays in this book which seems like an asset but actually becomes a big problem. So many essays, but most are really short and more descriptive than analytical and are superficial and lack depth. Few of the essays delve deep into the cultural or societal issues of rape and overall the collection is choppy and repetitive.
Ughhhh -- there were a few good articles, but most were pretty atrocious.
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I liked the idea of sex as musical duet, Jaclyn Friedman's essay about being unapologetically wild, and Julia Serano's essay about the prey/predator model that the bad boy trope reinforces (which made me wince but was also thought provoking).
I was annoyed by the fact that I've heard most things before (it's been 14 years, makes sense) so it doesn't feel like news, I felt like sometimes the strong sex-positive tone's insistence that sex is great and natural unintentionally created a pressure to be a Cool Feminist Girl Who Is So Positive About Sex! (Else you're repressed or a bad feminist), and also that though the book is about visions of Yes Meaning Yes, many essays are about difficult experiences rather than utopic visions
I was annoyed by the fact that I've heard most things before (it's been 14 years, makes sense) so it doesn't feel like news, I felt like sometimes the strong sex-positive tone's insistence that sex is great and natural unintentionally created a pressure to be a Cool Feminist Girl Who Is So Positive About Sex! (Else you're repressed or a bad feminist), and also that though the book is about visions of Yes Meaning Yes, many essays are about difficult experiences rather than utopic visions
This anthology is powerful! It really shook up my thinking on sex, rape, and consent, in absolutely the best ways. I appreciated the number of positive, inspiring pieces alongside the more heartbreaking ones. Maybe at some point I'll come back and detail what I learned from specific essays, but I've already lent it out to the first in a long line of friends eager to read it. I really cannot recommend it highly enough.
some of these essays were good, most just felt like they reiterated things most women already know. absolutely none of them addressed capitalism's role in the patriarchy, though sometimes they invented new phrases to try to almost come close to the root of the issues of gendered oppression.
this book is fascinating, thought-provoking, and will piss you off. mandatory for all feminists.