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squiggly_cj's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I found this a very informative and well-structured book, with a clear message: that socialism is not possible without women's liberation. Some thoughts:
While the book did spend some time on looking at feminism vs socialism and why both are needed, it still felt like the book criticized more the impacts of patriarchy than the institution itself. I was thoroughly amused by the term brocialists. The author did well to note that under state socialism women's rights weren't promoted for their inherent value, but rather to enable women's participation in the nation.
The book introduced sexual economics theory, which I'm very grossed out by, as it's the idea that (heterosexual) sexual relationships are fundamentally about men exchanging goods (i.e. financial security) for women's sexual "services" - even outside the context of formal sex work! The author's perspective was this only applies under capitalism, as she explored accounts from women living during Soviet state socialism, where there wasn't such a link between property and sexuality. Generally that was the author's argument - that socialism liberates personal relationships from economic calculations.
I was really glad that some of the book's arguments didn't resonate because they were for an American audience, and we thankfully don't have all the same issues in Aotearoa - the sections on defending women's suffrage and public healthcare particularly!
I found striking the book's encouragement of historic consciousness of capitalism's finite history.
Capitalism's concentration of real political power with the super rich is as much a concern as Eastern European state socialist countries concentrating real political power with dictators and elites. The solution is citizen control of the government.
This was only in the acknowledgements, but I liked the model she referenced of Exit, Voice and Loyalty to an oppressive regime. Only strong forward momentum (more than just maintaining the status quo) counteracts attempts to bring back harmful policies.
While the book did spend some time on looking at feminism vs socialism and why both are needed, it still felt like the book criticized more the impacts of patriarchy than the institution itself. I was thoroughly amused by the term brocialists. The author did well to note that under state socialism women's rights weren't promoted for their inherent value, but rather to enable women's participation in the nation.
The book introduced sexual economics theory, which I'm very grossed out by, as it's the idea that (heterosexual) sexual relationships are fundamentally about men exchanging goods (i.e. financial security) for women's sexual "services" - even outside the context of formal sex work! The author's perspective was this only applies under capitalism, as she explored accounts from women living during Soviet state socialism, where there wasn't such a link between property and sexuality. Generally that was the author's argument - that socialism liberates personal relationships from economic calculations.
I was really glad that some of the book's arguments didn't resonate because they were for an American audience, and we thankfully don't have all the same issues in Aotearoa - the sections on defending women's suffrage and public healthcare particularly!
I found striking the book's encouragement of historic consciousness of capitalism's finite history.
Capitalism's concentration of real political power with the super rich is as much a concern as Eastern European state socialist countries concentrating real political power with dictators and elites. The solution is citizen control of the government.
This was only in the acknowledgements, but I liked the model she referenced of Exit, Voice and Loyalty to an oppressive regime. Only strong forward momentum (more than just maintaining the status quo) counteracts attempts to bring back harmful policies.
mayllomi's review
informative
reflective
3.75
some of the wording is outdated and I don't agree with all of the arguments by the author but all in all it was an informative book with some very interesting statistics and a well-rounded understanding of the topic!
anna_helena's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
nachasotov's review against another edition
4.0
- "No somos mercancía. La depresión y ansiedad no son solo desequilibrios químicos del cerebro, también son respuestas razonables a un sistema que medra con su deshumanización".
Realmente me gustó más de lo que esperaba (mucho mucho más porque solo lo leí porque me parecía muy lol el título), buena entrada para leer sobre feminismo socialista, la lectura es veloz y sencilla, nada academicista como suelen ser los libros de teoría más dura. Sencillo en su comprensión ya que nos mueve hacia lo cotidiano, hace nexos entre lo que el capitalismo nos ha dado, o más bien, las falencias de lo que da (la nada misma, solo agotamiento y desgracias) y como repercute aquello en el bienestar integro de las personas y las mujeres y con esto la vivencia del goce y la sexualidad.
Me gustó la manera en que invitaba a replantear los términos de como vivimos en la actualidad y la forma en que hace la reflexión o llamado a crear comunidad, que de cierta forma es posible vencer al opresor y vivir de forma más digna, feliz y placentera.
Realmente me gustó más de lo que esperaba (mucho mucho más porque solo lo leí porque me parecía muy lol el título), buena entrada para leer sobre feminismo socialista, la lectura es veloz y sencilla, nada academicista como suelen ser los libros de teoría más dura. Sencillo en su comprensión ya que nos mueve hacia lo cotidiano, hace nexos entre lo que el capitalismo nos ha dado, o más bien, las falencias de lo que da (la nada misma, solo agotamiento y desgracias) y como repercute aquello en el bienestar integro de las personas y las mujeres y con esto la vivencia del goce y la sexualidad.
Me gustó la manera en que invitaba a replantear los términos de como vivimos en la actualidad y la forma en que hace la reflexión o llamado a crear comunidad, que de cierta forma es posible vencer al opresor y vivir de forma más digna, feliz y placentera.
kcarri's review against another edition
3.75
TL;DR: Great primer for those new to socialist and feminist theory though a little outdated now (and trust me, a lot has happened since 2018 that it matters.)