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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
sad
I've been wanting to read this for years, and my TBR Jar finally plucked this from the pile. There's just something about that cheeky title that draws you in, but I never got around to it. Unfortunately, my first impressions of the titular piece were very underwhelming. It's about seven pages long, plus an updated postscript. I wanted a lot more from the ideas the book was titled after. Luckily I at least knew going in that this was an essay collection that would be exploring a variety of topics related to feminism, so I didn't expect the whole thing to be an expansion of that first essay, but I definitely wanted more from it.
Actually, most of the essays in the book are stronger and more well thought out, pack more of an oomph, than "Men Explain Things to Me." She writes eloquently about art, and how sometimes criticism is stifling, and that we should treat discussion of art as an opening and not seek to find the answers and put all art in a box. She writes scathingly about violence against women, in an essay densely packed with true stories and statistics. But, like the essay about the French head of the IMF being brought low on charges of rape, some of them are dated. Even the essay itself needed a postscript where she explained he wasn't as thoroughly taken down as she initially hoped. But she is a good writer, and it still felt worthwhile to read the essay. She uses this conceit where she talks about various non-human organizations and countries and gives them genders, essentially comparing the state of world economics to the crime of rape. It's very effective.
Some of these essays were more relatable than others, and a lot of them were really dated. This is an author that most of her stuff is timely, and should be read close to when it's written. There were a few essays that still feel very relevant, even though they were written years back. I would still be interested to check out her newer stuff, though.
[3.5 stars]
Actually, most of the essays in the book are stronger and more well thought out, pack more of an oomph, than "Men Explain Things to Me." She writes eloquently about art, and how sometimes criticism is stifling, and that we should treat discussion of art as an opening and not seek to find the answers and put all art in a box. She writes scathingly about violence against women, in an essay densely packed with true stories and statistics. But, like the essay about the French head of the IMF being brought low on charges of rape, some of them are dated. Even the essay itself needed a postscript where she explained he wasn't as thoroughly taken down as she initially hoped. But she is a good writer, and it still felt worthwhile to read the essay. She uses this conceit where she talks about various non-human organizations and countries and gives them genders, essentially comparing the state of world economics to the crime of rape. It's very effective.
Some of these essays were more relatable than others, and a lot of them were really dated. This is an author that most of her stuff is timely, and should be read close to when it's written. There were a few essays that still feel very relevant, even though they were written years back. I would still be interested to check out her newer stuff, though.
[3.5 stars]
reflective
challenging
informative
medium-paced
From this collection, I highly recommend the essay Woolf’s Darkness: Embracing the Inexplicable. That essay offered me perspectives on life I hadn’t fully thought of previously. It is also perhaps less overtly feminist than her other essays (the topic not being feminism exclusively) which I find interesting.
I thought her writing on feminism is somewhat par for the course. The feminism content may have been more revelatory when the collection was released. I would have appreciated some talk about intersectionality. However, I will always appreciate people who speak truth about the oppression of women and the need for women’s liberation.
I thought her writing on feminism is somewhat par for the course. The feminism content may have been more revelatory when the collection was released. I would have appreciated some talk about intersectionality. However, I will always appreciate people who speak truth about the oppression of women and the need for women’s liberation.
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I definitely feel like this is much more an introductory essay collection for feminist nonfiction.
The language used is fairly simple and after the title essay it gets straight to the point of the slippery slope we call sexism and misogyny. It doesn't beat around the bush with it's language, calling things what they are. Rape, domestic assault, murder, ect. Which I'm so pleased at. I feel that with the current censoring on many social media sites we've all gotten far too used to the whole "Unaliving" and "🍇" instead of the true, hard, gruesome words.
In terms of intersectionality, an important aspect of feminism because as the book itself says "we are free together is slaves together" it's fairly lackluster. It does bring up WOC in general, but it clumps it together with the misogyny that white women face. Which yes, but also... no. Not to mention the odd martyr-type comment the author made on how the death of a black man impacted the community.
It did bring up and touch upon, briefly and in a single paragraph, how the hate crimes against indigenous women often go unpunished because of the laws surrounding how one gets punished/jailed in indigenous land. Though it only brings up that point to mention that rape and kidnappings and murder are often not just "crimes of passion" like the media likes to so often claim, but acts of intention.
I will say that reading this, when many of the novels essays were written in the early 2010s compared to our own time in 2025 makes me feel... bereft. Disheartened, almost. Maybe it's just the usual case of light shining down and putting a spotlight on all the bad them at the good just gets ignored and pushed to the shadows but many parts in this weighted heavy. All the talks of misogyny being a war and how feminism has won many battles makes me think that we have lost just as many.
But, again, as the book says, we must have hope for the darkness that the future lies in. And so, I will try to have hope. It's not over yet, so have hope.
The language used is fairly simple and after the title essay it gets straight to the point of the slippery slope we call sexism and misogyny. It doesn't beat around the bush with it's language, calling things what they are. Rape, domestic assault, murder, ect. Which I'm so pleased at. I feel that with the current censoring on many social media sites we've all gotten far too used to the whole "Unaliving" and "🍇" instead of the true, hard, gruesome words.
In terms of intersectionality, an important aspect of feminism because as the book itself says "we are free together is slaves together" it's fairly lackluster. It does bring up WOC in general, but it clumps it together with the misogyny that white women face. Which yes, but also... no. Not to mention the odd martyr-type comment the author made on how the death of a black man impacted the community.
It did bring up and touch upon, briefly and in a single paragraph, how the hate crimes against indigenous women often go unpunished because of the laws surrounding how one gets punished/jailed in indigenous land. Though it only brings up that point to mention that rape and kidnappings and murder are often not just "crimes of passion" like the media likes to so often claim, but acts of intention.
I will say that reading this, when many of the novels essays were written in the early 2010s compared to our own time in 2025 makes me feel... bereft. Disheartened, almost. Maybe it's just the usual case of light shining down and putting a spotlight on all the bad them at the good just gets ignored and pushed to the shadows but many parts in this weighted heavy. All the talks of misogyny being a war and how feminism has won many battles makes me think that we have lost just as many.
But, again, as the book says, we must have hope for the darkness that the future lies in. And so, I will try to have hope. It's not over yet, so have hope.
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced