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A review by lauradoesnothing
Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies): Amazing Women on What the F-Word Means to Them by Scarlett Curtis
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
I re-read this after Roxane Gay's 'Bad Feminist' because... I'm actually not sure why. I've been meaning to re-read (and review) all the books in my collection and having sworn off feminist essay collections after Gay's book, I guess I figured I should get on with this one so it wasn't hanging over me, and I had fond memories of reading it a few years ago when I got it, so maybe I thought this might be a palate cleanse?
Regardless, I re-read it and... meh. Scarlett Curtis set out to commission a diverse bunch of women to write a short piece each on their personal perspectives on feminism, so the critique this book gets for not being "educational" enough isn't completely fair in my opinion. That said, there were only a few essays that I remembered when going back for this read, and those I remembered more because I was already familiar with the writer than because of their literary skill. Actors are massively over-represented in this book; if we pretend that this is a completely accurate cross-section of womanhood (which is ridiculous, but let's pretend anyway) we can infer from this that 31% of all women are actors.
This book was also written in that period in the mid-2010s where - despite #MeToo, #TimesUp, etc. giving feminists plenty of reasons to be angry, it seemed more important to put feminism in an appealing package (are we seeing the irony?). You can wear dresses and makeup! You can like boys and the colour pink! You can even laugh at jokes, that's allowed! It's overwhelmed by heartfelt blog posts and Buzzfeed-style listicles, and while this is inevitably going to be a by-product of a group of (mostly) non-writers writing in a style they're familiar with, it has the (presumably) unintended side effect of coming across like they're just trying to convince people that feminism isn't scary. But anyone who needs convincing won't be picking this up, so it's just a bit of a rudderless affirmation for people who already identify as feminists.
ON THE PODIUM...
BRONZE MEDAL: 'Woke Woman' by Gemma Arterton
I wasn't expecting a James Bond parody in this book, but there it was and I'm thankful for it.
SILVER MEDAL: 'The Weaker Sex' by Keira Knightley
A raw and bloody tale of childbirth, the only essay from this collection that I've typed up so I can read it back after I leave this book on the swaps shelf at work. It's my favourite of them all, but I have to admit it's not as polished as...
GOLD MEDAL 'The Question' by Lolly Adefope
Lolly must answer a simple question: what word best describes her, "black" or "woman"? Perfect blend of comedy and rage, flawless satire, 5/5 no notes.
Regardless, I re-read it and... meh. Scarlett Curtis set out to commission a diverse bunch of women to write a short piece each on their personal perspectives on feminism, so the critique this book gets for not being "educational" enough isn't completely fair in my opinion. That said, there were only a few essays that I remembered when going back for this read, and those I remembered more because I was already familiar with the writer than because of their literary skill. Actors are massively over-represented in this book; if we pretend that this is a completely accurate cross-section of womanhood (which is ridiculous, but let's pretend anyway) we can infer from this that 31% of all women are actors.
This book was also written in that period in the mid-2010s where - despite #MeToo, #TimesUp, etc. giving feminists plenty of reasons to be angry, it seemed more important to put feminism in an appealing package (are we seeing the irony?). You can wear dresses and makeup! You can like boys and the colour pink! You can even laugh at jokes, that's allowed! It's overwhelmed by heartfelt blog posts and Buzzfeed-style listicles, and while this is inevitably going to be a by-product of a group of (mostly) non-writers writing in a style they're familiar with, it has the (presumably) unintended side effect of coming across like they're just trying to convince people that feminism isn't scary. But anyone who needs convincing won't be picking this up, so it's just a bit of a rudderless affirmation for people who already identify as feminists.
ON THE PODIUM...
BRONZE MEDAL: 'Woke Woman' by Gemma Arterton
I wasn't expecting a James Bond parody in this book, but there it was and I'm thankful for it.
SILVER MEDAL: 'The Weaker Sex' by Keira Knightley
A raw and bloody tale of childbirth, the only essay from this collection that I've typed up so I can read it back after I leave this book on the swaps shelf at work. It's my favourite of them all, but I have to admit it's not as polished as...
GOLD MEDAL 'The Question' by Lolly Adefope
Lolly must answer a simple question: what word best describes her, "black" or "woman"? Perfect blend of comedy and rage, flawless satire, 5/5 no notes.