A review by rara2018
The Mental Load: A Feminist Comic by Emma

5.0

I’m two for two on five star books in 2024, so hopefully that continues. I read this in like an hour after seeing one of my Goodreads friends had marked it as read. I was worried this was going to be a tremendously surface-level, white-feminism filled set of essays that don’t actually address any real issues, but I was very pleasantly surprised by its contents. The collection starts off with the a more palatable illustrated essay, “You Should’ve Asked,” that discusses the mental load of women in the home and office, and it is immediately followed by a shorter essay, “Violence of the Oppressed,” discussing the moralization of violence and revolution amongst oppressed groups (which I thought was done rather well). “The Story of My Friend C.” is another shorter one that tackles the dehumanization of women during childbirth with statistics I’d never heard before, but now will share repeatedly. “The Male Gaze” was probably my least favorite, though it still made some interesting points about the objectification of women. The next story/essay was the one that I found the most creatively framed with a political role reversal. Emma is French, a country that has widely instated Islamophobic anti-hijab laws and in “Show Me That Bosom,” the lack of autonomy granted to women is shown through a fictional country where bras and shirts are not allowed. “The Wonderful Tale of Mohamed” is the only story illustrated with only black and white stick figures and is one I find to be the very impactful with its commentary on a true story of police violence and racism and subjugation of the working class. The next essay, “The Wait,” was one that was more in line with the feminist them of the collection, with Emma calling for a reversal of societal expectations for men in the workplace in order to re-prioritize family. “Work!” was a direct follow up to the former with a strong emphasis on de-prioritizing “bullshit jobs” and dismantling capitalism as a whole. “Check Your Pussy” was the funniest essay here with sentient anatomy, though it was also driven by facts. “Just Another Guy From the Hood” was another I found to be a vital inclusion with its discussion on police brutality. As an American, it felt important to read about this issue from the French perspective, and it also made me extra-devastated at the state of our country. The next essay, “Chill Out,” emphasized the importance of anger and of discomfort when people (often women) are subjected to rude and violating situations. Emma’s final essay titled “The Holidays” relates back to the initial essay here with the uneven distribution of labor within the home, and makes some really fascinating claims about postpartum depression and the lack of support for mothers. I wasn’t expecting to like this whole collection as much as I did, since I picked it up on a total whim. This was a super quick and quite interesting read that I would recommend to people honestly in all different places of a journey toward liberation.