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A review by barker563
Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture--And What We Can Do about It by Kate Harding
4.0
I'll admit that this is a topic that I've tried to avoid examining too closely. Everything about this issue makes me uncomfortable, especially since my lack of examination only exposed me to the most strident opinions on all sides, which made me feel like all sides on this issue were completely wrong.
That being said, I'm really glad that I read this book. It was well written and addresses extremism on all sides. While there were parts of it that I didn't agree with, they were well reasoned and forced me to think about the issues involved and form my own issues. Other books/articles/pundits make it easy to avoid forming a solid opinion. They are loud and spout extremist views and make it easy to just say "that's crazy" without forming your own opinion. Harding was well reasoned, so in order to justify disagreeing with her on anything I had to sit down and think about the issues.
While I don't agree with all of her viewpoints I do think that the main points about education are spot on. If our education improves then we wouldn't have the huge issues that we had today. I honestly feel like this book or one like it should be required reading as part of sex-ed classes. It forces you to take a long hard look at what exactly consent is and examine what aspects of the media have influenced your views on what is acceptable behavior surrounding success.
In short: this book is the best kind of book, even if you don't agree with it you are forced to think and you will come away a better person for reading it.
That being said, I'm really glad that I read this book. It was well written and addresses extremism on all sides. While there were parts of it that I didn't agree with, they were well reasoned and forced me to think about the issues involved and form my own issues. Other books/articles/pundits make it easy to avoid forming a solid opinion. They are loud and spout extremist views and make it easy to just say "that's crazy" without forming your own opinion. Harding was well reasoned, so in order to justify disagreeing with her on anything I had to sit down and think about the issues.
While I don't agree with all of her viewpoints I do think that the main points about education are spot on. If our education improves then we wouldn't have the huge issues that we had today. I honestly feel like this book or one like it should be required reading as part of sex-ed classes. It forces you to take a long hard look at what exactly consent is and examine what aspects of the media have influenced your views on what is acceptable behavior surrounding success.
In short: this book is the best kind of book, even if you don't agree with it you are forced to think and you will come away a better person for reading it.