Scan barcode
A review by dobbsthedog
Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler
5.0
This book was a fantastic look at intersectionality and gender. However, I must say, that I didn’t find it overly accessible. I haven’t read anything else from Butler, but I’ve heard that their writing tends to be quite high level. This was by no means an easy read, but it was worth it.
Some of the bits that I found to be most interesting:
• how colonization is at the root of A LOT of anti-gender laws/attitudes
• that the pervasiveness of the English language has negatively impacted on non-western gender identities
• sexual discrimination actually also covers queer folks (if you think about it logically)
• how terrible TERFs are (obvs I already knew this, but Butler really digs into this topic and it’s fascinating)
I listened to this as audio, and Butler narrates it themself, and I’ve got to say, I don’t know if I was entertained or mildly offput by the number of times this mid-60s non-binary person said the word penis. SO MANY TIMES. It was in the section about TERFs and how it basically boils down to the fact that they blame penises for rape, and it was an excellent take down of TERF rhetoric. But, so many penises…
Overall a fascinating read, though quite academic.
If you want a more thorough review, I highly recommend this one, which is the entire reason I picked this book up in the first place.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6101982360
Some of the bits that I found to be most interesting:
• how colonization is at the root of A LOT of anti-gender laws/attitudes
• that the pervasiveness of the English language has negatively impacted on non-western gender identities
• sexual discrimination actually also covers queer folks (if you think about it logically)
• how terrible TERFs are (obvs I already knew this, but Butler really digs into this topic and it’s fascinating)
I listened to this as audio, and Butler narrates it themself, and I’ve got to say, I don’t know if I was entertained or mildly offput by the number of times this mid-60s non-binary person said the word penis. SO MANY TIMES. It was in the section about TERFs and how it basically boils down to the fact that they blame penises for rape, and it was an excellent take down of TERF rhetoric. But, so many penises…
Overall a fascinating read, though quite academic.
If you want a more thorough review, I highly recommend this one, which is the entire reason I picked this book up in the first place.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6101982360