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devind9bde 's review for:
The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution
by Shulamith Firestone
This is a strange feminist document from 1970. It is very much a part of its time and place, predicting completely artificial reproduction and economic “cybernetic communism” where machines do all of the necessary physical work in society and we are all left to pursue our interests as dilettantes.
She states: “What would people do in this utopia? I don’t think that will present a problem. If we truly had abolished all unpleasant work, people would have the time and the energy to develop healthy interests of their own. What is now found only among the elite, the pursuit of specialized interest for their own sake, would probably become the norm.”
Clearly she never asked the elite how they feel about their “specialized interests”. When an interest is unnecessary, it is unsatisfying. For more on this topic I recommend Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America.
However, as these ideas remain in fashion with the technology crowd, this work remains relevant.
Also, I got a disturbing impression of madness from the book. IMHO, she is more insane than insightful. That the author later suffered from serious mental breakdown is worth considering. I don’t recommend this book for anyone, except maybe the most dedicated scholar, because it is more of a crazed raving than anything else.
She states: “What would people do in this utopia? I don’t think that will present a problem. If we truly had abolished all unpleasant work, people would have the time and the energy to develop healthy interests of their own. What is now found only among the elite, the pursuit of specialized interest for their own sake, would probably become the norm.”
Clearly she never asked the elite how they feel about their “specialized interests”. When an interest is unnecessary, it is unsatisfying. For more on this topic I recommend Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America.
However, as these ideas remain in fashion with the technology crowd, this work remains relevant.
Also, I got a disturbing impression of madness from the book. IMHO, she is more insane than insightful. That the author later suffered from serious mental breakdown is worth considering. I don’t recommend this book for anyone, except maybe the most dedicated scholar, because it is more of a crazed raving than anything else.