A review by carrietmills
Dying of Politeness by Geena Davis

4.0

The title is so wildly accurate for the point of this book. Davis walks the reader through stories from her life that both chart the growth of her career as well as her personal growth and advocacy for equitable gender representation in media. Davis' experiences of sexual harassment and misogyny in the entertainment industry are simultaneously heart-breaking yet unsurprising. But seeing her evolution from a "polite" young woman to a game-changing voice as she breaks free from her gendered socialization to speak up and speak out for herself and others is affirming and inspiring. Davis' blunt discussion of gendered age discrimination after turning 40 and her positioning of Susan Sarandon as her self-advocacy role model were two highlights that I thoroughly enjoyed. This memoir expertly walks the line between instituting and upholding strong boundaries around the author's personal life while boldly calling out garbage men whose abhorrent past actions deserve public scrutiny.