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A review by devannm
History Vs Women: The Defiant Lives That They Don't Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian, Ebony Adams
5.0
Probably one of the best of these 'forgotten ladies of history' books that I've read, and I've read a lot of them! That being said, maybe only about 30-40% of the women featured here were completely new to me, but a lot of them still had new information and the portraits were absolutely gorgeous as well.
What I liked in particular about this book was that the author was not afraid to say that women can do things wrong. Most of these books try to twist the women's every action into being something feminist just because she chose to do it, even if it hurt other women in the process. For example, I'm always a bit wary when Margaret Thatcher is included in a book like this, but here there was actual in-depth discussion about how she might have paved the way for women to be heads of state, but she had horrible policies that hurt a lot of women, lgbt+ people, and non-white people.
I think this is one of my favorite quotes from the book that deals with this topic:
Sadly, some of the most unyielding opposition women face comes from outdated notions that claim to uplift us. This often takes the form of stereotypical ideas about femininity: Women are nurturers. Women are inherently compassionate. Women are somehow more pure and virtuous. On the face of it, these seem like positive traits. But when we take the time to really think them through, we realize that putting women on a pedestal is really just another way to keep them in a box. By only allowing women to express vague and restrictive qualities like "purity" or "morality," we deny them the full range of human feeling and behavior.
It is definitely a very well researched book that includes a lot of women from different time periods and backgrounds and I hope they do another one in the future.
What I liked in particular about this book was that the author was not afraid to say that women can do things wrong. Most of these books try to twist the women's every action into being something feminist just because she chose to do it, even if it hurt other women in the process. For example, I'm always a bit wary when Margaret Thatcher is included in a book like this, but here there was actual in-depth discussion about how she might have paved the way for women to be heads of state, but she had horrible policies that hurt a lot of women, lgbt+ people, and non-white people.
I think this is one of my favorite quotes from the book that deals with this topic:
Sadly, some of the most unyielding opposition women face comes from outdated notions that claim to uplift us. This often takes the form of stereotypical ideas about femininity: Women are nurturers. Women are inherently compassionate. Women are somehow more pure and virtuous. On the face of it, these seem like positive traits. But when we take the time to really think them through, we realize that putting women on a pedestal is really just another way to keep them in a box. By only allowing women to express vague and restrictive qualities like "purity" or "morality," we deny them the full range of human feeling and behavior.
It is definitely a very well researched book that includes a lot of women from different time periods and backgrounds and I hope they do another one in the future.