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A review by ahc
Campus Sex, Campus Security by Jennifer Doyle
1.0
this book is so bad that i don’t even know where to start. at the beginning of the book, the author calls this work an “essay.” it is certainly not that. the ultimate takeaway from this book is that this author has an astounding ability to say absolutely nothing across 120 pages of overwritten, rambling text.
first, the book is misrepresented in its description on MIT’s website. i bought it bc it seemed to be detailing the process of title ix reports on college campuses. i also bought it because i recently finished carceral capitalism by jackie wang and that was an absolutely fantastic, well-researched book. however, this book is actually NOT about campus sexual violence. it is an incoherent collection of half-formed thoughts. i didn’t even need to look at the bibliography to know that it was not well-researched.
i am not being dramatic when i say that ZERO points were made. no argument whatsoever. i literally just finished this book and i could not tell you the point the author was trying to make.
also features problematic attitudes towards survivors of sexual violence. which really is bamboozling given that the book was written to allegedly show the inadequacies of campus responses to sexual assault.
the author attempts to engage issues of police brutality but falls short yet again. it’s clear that she made no attempt to MEANINGFULLY look into these issues. she literally just glanced over some headlines on police brutality (and campus sexual assault) and cobbled together some random words in what i assume was an attempt to make a point.
my final metric for books on topics like this is “how much would this help someone who is in a situation that the book addresses?” would a survivor be able to pick up this book and feel better informed on the reporting process? would they feel comforted knowing that they’re not alone in feeling like the system failed them? the answers to these questions is no. this book is a CLASSIC example of an academic writing solely to impress other academics, without contributing anything that is actually meaningful. and that, in my opinion, is the absolute worst reason to write a book.
there were other things wrong with this but i’ve already said enough. i don’t need to give any more reasons for you not to read this.
first, the book is misrepresented in its description on MIT’s website. i bought it bc it seemed to be detailing the process of title ix reports on college campuses. i also bought it because i recently finished carceral capitalism by jackie wang and that was an absolutely fantastic, well-researched book. however, this book is actually NOT about campus sexual violence. it is an incoherent collection of half-formed thoughts. i didn’t even need to look at the bibliography to know that it was not well-researched.
i am not being dramatic when i say that ZERO points were made. no argument whatsoever. i literally just finished this book and i could not tell you the point the author was trying to make.
also features problematic attitudes towards survivors of sexual violence. which really is bamboozling given that the book was written to allegedly show the inadequacies of campus responses to sexual assault.
the author attempts to engage issues of police brutality but falls short yet again. it’s clear that she made no attempt to MEANINGFULLY look into these issues. she literally just glanced over some headlines on police brutality (and campus sexual assault) and cobbled together some random words in what i assume was an attempt to make a point.
my final metric for books on topics like this is “how much would this help someone who is in a situation that the book addresses?” would a survivor be able to pick up this book and feel better informed on the reporting process? would they feel comforted knowing that they’re not alone in feeling like the system failed them? the answers to these questions is no. this book is a CLASSIC example of an academic writing solely to impress other academics, without contributing anything that is actually meaningful. and that, in my opinion, is the absolute worst reason to write a book.
there were other things wrong with this but i’ve already said enough. i don’t need to give any more reasons for you not to read this.