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Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence by Kristen R. Ghodsee
6 reviews
sycamore's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Abortion, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Self harm, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
rorikae's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
'Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism And Other Arguments For Economic Independence' by Kristen R Ghodsee is an interesting look at how capitalism effects women and makes them beholden to broken systems. Ghodsee looks into moments in history and how socialism in different countries has had a positive impact on women's lives. Though Ghodsee does comment on how the intersection of gender with race and sexuality exacerbates issues, this book definitely focuses the most distinctly on the effect of capitalism and socialism on white straight women's lives in comparison to white straight men's lives. I found that really this book focused most on discussing how capitalism harms women and ensures that they have to perform lots of unpaid labor. It presented insightful commentary that is important to consider as people living in a a capitalist society. Ultimately, I think it is a good jumping off point to introduce these concepts and should be paired with other texts that discuss intersectionality, patriarchy, capitalism, and more in more depth.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
zombiezami's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Informative and illuminating. I didn't feel that the conclusion matched the rest of the content, since it was mostly a call for everyone to vote.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Minor: Trafficking, Homophobia, Cancer, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Suicide
toffishay's review
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I really enjoyed this book overall. I found it informative and I think it's accessible for anyone, but particularly interesting if you have studied sociology or history of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc before. Some parts fall a little flat and the calls to action are nothing new. I still found the approach of this book to be really unique and I a great intro to thinking about this topics.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny
Minor: Emotional abuse, War, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
bluejayreads's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
4.75
This was a really fascinating book. Kristen Ghodsee has done a ton of research and interviews and even spent time living in Eastern Europe when the dominant form of government was socialism, specifically government-managed socialism she dubs State Socialism. This book mainly focuses on the effects of socialism on women, and also extensively compares how women’s situation changed after formerly socialist countries became capitalist, especially in East and West Germany after the Berlin Wall came down.
I knew very little about socialism in Eastern Europe, so this was enlightening. I learned a lot about how the socialist governments worked really hard to give women more opportunities and socialize unpaid “women’s work” like cooking, laundry, and childcare to equalize their economic opportunities. It’s taken for granted that equal economic opportunities makes things better for women, but if you’re capable of extrapolating concepts from examples you won’t really need a detailed explanation of this idea.
The part that I thought was most interesting was the discussion of how capitalism commodifies sex and how when formerly socialist governments transitioned to capitalism, they saved government money by turning things like laundry, childcare, and cooking into work that was done unpaid by women, forcing women do spend more of their time working in unpaid positions and in many cases requiring them to “sell” their sexuality and sexual access to their bodies to men for economic support. Surveys of women from formerly-socialist areas showed that the majority thought their lives were better under socialism.
Kristen doesn’t claim that socialism was 100% perfect and the ideal economic system or anything like that. The point she’s making is that the current incarnation of capitalism puts women at a disadvantage and we could learn a lot from State Socialism’s attempts at gender equality. This was a fascinating book, full of history and research without being dense, and has some really interesting ideas that I think are worth reading about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
misssleepless's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Aside from its stance on sex work this book was brilliant
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
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