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A review by jazminrose
Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein
3.0
The interviews with young women are what really shine in this book. These voices are relatable, observant, cutting, smart, and so much more. I loved reading their experiences and their ideas. They truly felt like girls and women that I knew personally.
I wish that I could say the same about the author. A lot of what Orenstein has to say is fine, and sometimes even interesting. But a large part of the book felt like her grappling with an evolving world while not evolving her own way of thinking and interacting with that world. Too many of the themes she presented were behind the times and the result was a little bit, “third-wave feminism failing to write about fourth-wave feminism”.
Speaking of behind the times UGH how did some of the language she uses get past an editor? Flip-flopping between pronouns for a trans woman and placing scare quotes around the term little person jumped out at me before I’d even finished the first chapter.
Similarly, the chapter about queer issues rubbed me the wrong way – love that she included this chapter, really DON’T love that she *only* included this chapter. Why wasn’t this woven throughout the entire book, rather than confined to one small section? A section that also focused almost exclusively on online interactions. One of the women being interviewed had spent time questioning her gender, but no trans women were interviewed. Finally, for a book that includes ‘sex’ in the title and candidly discusses that very topic, sex was suspiciously absent from this chapter. It felt very much as though, “love is love but gay SEX is gross and won’t be spoken of”. What a huge missed opportunity this chapter was.
Overall, this book kind of fell flat for me. I’d be interested to see what another writer would have done with the same data and interview subjects. Two of the three stars I’ve given this book belong solely to the young women being interviewed, rather than to the author, as it was their insight and reflections that really stood out.
I’d recommend this book to people interested in the subject matter already and willing to engage critically with the author’s takes. I would NOT recommend it to anyone looking for an intro or primer to this topic, as it feels quite biased at times.
I wish that I could say the same about the author. A lot of what Orenstein has to say is fine, and sometimes even interesting. But a large part of the book felt like her grappling with an evolving world while not evolving her own way of thinking and interacting with that world. Too many of the themes she presented were behind the times and the result was a little bit, “third-wave feminism failing to write about fourth-wave feminism”.
Speaking of behind the times UGH how did some of the language she uses get past an editor? Flip-flopping between pronouns for a trans woman and placing scare quotes around the term little person jumped out at me before I’d even finished the first chapter.
Similarly, the chapter about queer issues rubbed me the wrong way – love that she included this chapter, really DON’T love that she *only* included this chapter. Why wasn’t this woven throughout the entire book, rather than confined to one small section? A section that also focused almost exclusively on online interactions. One of the women being interviewed had spent time questioning her gender, but no trans women were interviewed. Finally, for a book that includes ‘sex’ in the title and candidly discusses that very topic, sex was suspiciously absent from this chapter. It felt very much as though, “love is love but gay SEX is gross and won’t be spoken of”. What a huge missed opportunity this chapter was.
Overall, this book kind of fell flat for me. I’d be interested to see what another writer would have done with the same data and interview subjects. Two of the three stars I’ve given this book belong solely to the young women being interviewed, rather than to the author, as it was their insight and reflections that really stood out.
I’d recommend this book to people interested in the subject matter already and willing to engage critically with the author’s takes. I would NOT recommend it to anyone looking for an intro or primer to this topic, as it feels quite biased at times.