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A review by hannahtosh
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
4.0
“Its (Goodnight Story for Rebel Girls) entry for the fashion designer Coco Chanel mentions that she wanted to start a business, and a ‘wealthy friend of hers lent her enough money to make her dream come true.’ It does not mention that Chanel was the lover of a Nazi officer and very probably a spy for Hitler’s Germany. In the 1930s, she tried to remove that ‘wealthy friend’ from the company under racist laws which forbade Jews to own businesses. In the name of inspiring little girls living in a male-dominated world, the book doesn’t so much airbrush Coco Chanel’s story as sandblast it with a high-pressure hose. Do you find Chanel’s wartime collaboration with the Nazis ‘empowering’? I don’t – although admittedly she does sound like a woman who ‘didn’t need rescuing’. The real Coco Chanel was clever, prejudiced, talented, cynical – and interesting. The pale version of her boiled down to a feminist saint is not.”
Helen Lewis’ writes about feminism with charm, wit and intelligence - I chuckled out loud more than a few times - her (sometimes dark) humour made difficult subjects approachable. There’s not many topics she doesn’t cover and I really appreciated how she links a number of historical figures and the battles they’ve fought with the impact they have had on the present day.
“An unfinished revolution is messier than starting a fresh war.”
There were definitely a few bits I didn’t fully agree with her on, like the quote used from Keir Hardie at the beginning of The Vote chapter: “I am not going to discuss the wisdom or the unwisdom of the tactics of what are known as the militant suffragists, but I will make this general remark in passing, that in spite of the sneers of Hon. Members behind me, if the same degree of courage, if the same devotion to a great cause, was being shown on the field of battle, or under other circumstances, those exhibiting it would be held up as heroes for national admiration.” Not for throwing bombs in post boxes though, right? But that was the joy of this book it didn’t feel like you HAD to agree with what she was writing, and was very much open to interpretation.
“Sex is great. But so is rock-climbing. Neither defines your worth as a person.”
Helen Lewis’ writes about feminism with charm, wit and intelligence - I chuckled out loud more than a few times - her (sometimes dark) humour made difficult subjects approachable. There’s not many topics she doesn’t cover and I really appreciated how she links a number of historical figures and the battles they’ve fought with the impact they have had on the present day.
“An unfinished revolution is messier than starting a fresh war.”
There were definitely a few bits I didn’t fully agree with her on, like the quote used from Keir Hardie at the beginning of The Vote chapter: “I am not going to discuss the wisdom or the unwisdom of the tactics of what are known as the militant suffragists, but I will make this general remark in passing, that in spite of the sneers of Hon. Members behind me, if the same degree of courage, if the same devotion to a great cause, was being shown on the field of battle, or under other circumstances, those exhibiting it would be held up as heroes for national admiration.” Not for throwing bombs in post boxes though, right? But that was the joy of this book it didn’t feel like you HAD to agree with what she was writing, and was very much open to interpretation.
“Sex is great. But so is rock-climbing. Neither defines your worth as a person.”