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A review by aftaerglows
Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard
3.0
we have no template for what a powerful woman looks like, except that she looks rather like a man.
mary beard is a professor of classics at the university of cambridge, which is why she has experience with women being silenced: if you're familiar with the very first classics (both greek and latin), you'll know our society isn't much different at its very core than the greek society. homer is the father of greek literature - and of all literature - and in the iliad we get to know telemachus as he establishes his power silencing a woman, his mother. it's clear that the roots of sexism run very deep in our culture; this is perhaps the only interesting thing beard has to say in the first speech.
the book is, in fact, divided into two, and i found the second essay much more compelling; i thought the first one wasn't as polished as it maybe should have been. the second essay, on the other hand, discusses women in power and the things they have to do to get there - so basically, walk, talk, dress and act like a man. what it doesn't do is provide you with answers; but it is well-structured and interesting.
overall, though, it's not saying anything i hadn't heard before.
mary beard is a professor of classics at the university of cambridge, which is why she has experience with women being silenced: if you're familiar with the very first classics (both greek and latin), you'll know our society isn't much different at its very core than the greek society. homer is the father of greek literature - and of all literature - and in the iliad we get to know telemachus as he establishes his power silencing a woman, his mother. it's clear that the roots of sexism run very deep in our culture; this is perhaps the only interesting thing beard has to say in the first speech.
the book is, in fact, divided into two, and i found the second essay much more compelling; i thought the first one wasn't as polished as it maybe should have been. the second essay, on the other hand, discusses women in power and the things they have to do to get there - so basically, walk, talk, dress and act like a man. what it doesn't do is provide you with answers; but it is well-structured and interesting.
overall, though, it's not saying anything i hadn't heard before.