Scan barcode
A review by moonyreadsbystarlight
The Tragedy of Heterosexuality by Jane Ward
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This was a very interesting read. Throughout her introduction, she discusses her perspective, but she also brings in points from many others – especially women of color, which is particularly important since she is writing from a white perspective. Her discussion of the heterosexual “self-help” industry, in particular was interesting and very important in understanding parts of heterosexual culture. I think that this discussion of the impact of misogyny on heterosexual relationships is very important. While I did not agree with all aspects of the solutions that she gave, I do agree that there needs to be a reframing of what it means to like/desire women for heterosexual men to see woman as human and whole, rather than sex objects, in order to fix the animosity that is essential to parts of heterosexual culture.
However, parts of the book – particularly towards the latter half – could have been better. She could have used the quotes from her queer respondents in a way that made that section stronger. I understand the need to have all of the quotes in the work, but I think that using fewer within her text while she discussed the point (while, perhaps, utilizing an index to house the rest of the quotes) would have been more effective. There were also parts where she used personal antidotes too heavily for my taste; they would have been more successful if she had tied them more in with a reference to a previous study or other point that she had made. I do think that in most of these instances, she had pulled a similar point from her findings, but she did not allude to those points when she brought it up later in the book. There were other points that I would have liked to see explored as well (for instance, queer women's experiences with compulsory heterosexuality could bring an important layer to this conversation, especially since this is from a queer perspective).
I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
However, parts of the book – particularly towards the latter half – could have been better. She could have used the quotes from her queer respondents in a way that made that section stronger. I understand the need to have all of the quotes in the work, but I think that using fewer within her text while she discussed the point (while, perhaps, utilizing an index to house the rest of the quotes) would have been more effective. There were also parts where she used personal antidotes too heavily for my taste; they would have been more successful if she had tied them more in with a reference to a previous study or other point that she had made. I do think that in most of these instances, she had pulled a similar point from her findings, but she did not allude to those points when she brought it up later in the book. There were other points that I would have liked to see explored as well (for instance, queer women's experiences with compulsory heterosexuality could bring an important layer to this conversation, especially since this is from a queer perspective).
I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.