A review by waterbear0821
Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto by Nancy Fraser, Tithi Bhattacharya, Cinzia Arruzza

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

2.0

The title makes this book sound much more accessible than it is. Even though I agree with most of the perspectives of the authors, and I found some new and interesting ideas, I found the book extremely off-putting. I don’t know if it’s because the authors were so inspired by Marx, but the writing itself is incredibly academic and stilted. Who starts sentences with “Contra” in real life? So, let’s rename it “feminism for folks who are already super into Marx and social philosophy.” My second gripe is with the obsession with social reproduction. The authors make interesting points about how the at-home, behind-the-scenes care of home and family are rarely, if ever, factored into the math of economics and production, but something about how they presented this argument was off. What about people who’ve opted out of social reproduction? What about babies, kids, young people (all of us, really), who never asked to be born and still don’t want to be calculated as future producers? My last complaint is that, if there is anything that can be gleaned from this manifesto as a call to action, it’s to seek solidarity. But that’s absolutely antithetical to the actual book. It’s written not just “us versus them” but “us versus them and the other them.” I can’t imagine 99% can see themselves in the “us” described in this book. I can’t see myself in this “us” and I actually voluntarily read this book. On the plus side, though, it did make me realize that if I personally want to build relationships and alliances and solidarity, I cannot come off like this book does: full of name calling and belittling and judgment. I hope the authors find their people and get the revolution going, but it’s not for me.