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laura_ge's reviews
193 reviews
Against White Feminism: Notes on Disruption by Rafia Zakaria
challenging
informative
reflective
5.0
This should be required reading for any white people who consider themselves feminists. Zakaria so eloquently articulated so many thoughts and grievances I held towards the mainstream feminist brand. I learned so much.
Some quotes:
"Delusional aspiration to the lives of upper-middle-class white women from one of the most financially unequal cities in the world, whose great achievement is acting out the myth that sexual freedom is the sum total of empowerment and liberation-a hollow feminism based on consumerism with a bit of sexual liberation thrown in as distraction--that's an American product that can be exported internationally." -page 120
"The non-white mother (then and now) is "subalternized," or rendered voiceless, sandwiched between the patriarchal pressures of her own culture and the nobility of the white mother. White women's behavior exists in perfect moderation in contrast to non-white mothers, all either too repressed or too incontinent to be appropriate role models to their own children, who are then available for rescue by acquisitive white women." -page 129 (on whites adopting non-white children to be taken away from their motherland)
"In the later nineteenth century, Black feminist activists Ida B. Wells and Fannie Barrier Williams founded and participated in anti-rape campaigns. Much later, in the final quarter of the twentieth century, Black women were finally joined by white women, who were just waking up to the necessity of campaigning on the issue and had until then not made alliances with Black women. Despite the fact that Black women had been working on the issue for a century, it was white women whose interest is recorded as seminal in most feminist textbooks and discussions.
In a more recent example, articles and discussions surrounding the #MeToo movement often leave out the fact that it was founded by a Black woman named Tarana Burke in 2006." -page 131
"Concepts like sexusociety and compulsory sexuality are useful here not simply to point out the tyranny of that pressure for asexual women, implicitly closed out of feminist acceptance. They also show how late capitalism continues its work in the name of "sexual liberation" to commodify new sexual orientations. Once sexual orientation is essentialized and defined, it is then reborn as a market category of people to whom particular things can be sold." - page 134
Some quotes:
"Delusional aspiration to the lives of upper-middle-class white women from one of the most financially unequal cities in the world, whose great achievement is acting out the myth that sexual freedom is the sum total of empowerment and liberation-a hollow feminism based on consumerism with a bit of sexual liberation thrown in as distraction--that's an American product that can be exported internationally." -page 120
"The non-white mother (then and now) is "subalternized," or rendered voiceless, sandwiched between the patriarchal pressures of her own culture and the nobility of the white mother. White women's behavior exists in perfect moderation in contrast to non-white mothers, all either too repressed or too incontinent to be appropriate role models to their own children, who are then available for rescue by acquisitive white women." -page 129 (on whites adopting non-white children to be taken away from their motherland)
"In the later nineteenth century, Black feminist activists Ida B. Wells and Fannie Barrier Williams founded and participated in anti-rape campaigns. Much later, in the final quarter of the twentieth century, Black women were finally joined by white women, who were just waking up to the necessity of campaigning on the issue and had until then not made alliances with Black women. Despite the fact that Black women had been working on the issue for a century, it was white women whose interest is recorded as seminal in most feminist textbooks and discussions.
In a more recent example, articles and discussions surrounding the #MeToo movement often leave out the fact that it was founded by a Black woman named Tarana Burke in 2006." -page 131
"Concepts like sexusociety and compulsory sexuality are useful here not simply to point out the tyranny of that pressure for asexual women, implicitly closed out of feminist acceptance. They also show how late capitalism continues its work in the name of "sexual liberation" to commodify new sexual orientations. Once sexual orientation is essentialized and defined, it is then reborn as a market category of people to whom particular things can be sold." - page 134
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
The characters felt like cardboard cutouts of exaggerated tropes and the mystery was predictable.
Bad Vibes Only: and Other Things I Bring to the Table by Nora McInerny
2.5
Unfortunately I don’t think I was this book’s target demographic, so the experiences that I think were supposed to be relatable didn’t land for me. I think I was too young to resonate with this.
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
emotional
reflective
sad
4.0
This was a tough one to get through as there was a lot of discussion of eating disorders. I generally have low expectations for celebrity memoirs, but this one was quite well written; I can see why McCurdy wanted to be a writer when she was younger. I'm glad I read this in audio format because it made it feel even more raw and personal. I'll definitely be checking out any future projects she writes!
The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal by Mary L. Trump
challenging
informative
reflective
3.0
This was a LOT more critical race theory than I expected; I didn’t think it was terribly done theory but it wasn’t what I wanted or expected out of this book. I thought this be a more in-depth look into the Trump era, but the majority of it was the history race relations in the US.
Some quotes I liked/things I learned:
“White people typically avoid black people space, but black people are required to navigate white people space as a condition of their existence.”
“South Dakota is spending almost a million dollars to teach schoolchildren why the US is the most special nation in the history of the world.”
Some quotes I liked/things I learned:
“White people typically avoid black people space, but black people are required to navigate white people space as a condition of their existence.”
“South Dakota is spending almost a million dollars to teach schoolchildren why the US is the most special nation in the history of the world.”
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
2.5
I'm starting to think I've outgrown YA fantasy a bit, which would be sad.
Girls Can Kiss Now: Essays by Jill Gutowitz
emotional
funny
reflective
4.0
This collection of essays details the author's experience growing up in the early 2000s as a closeted lesbian through the lens of pop culture. While I didn't always understand the references, I generally enjoyed the essays dissecting queerness in pop culture more than those about the author's personal life, especially as she got older.
Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates
5.0
It took me almost a month to get through this because of how cynical it made me feel at times, but this was such a necessary read. Bates dissects a different group of misogynistic extremists in each chapter, going undercover online to infiltrate the forums of incels, pick-up artists, male supremacists/separatists, and others. The amount of research done for this book was incredible, and I appreciate how she included the perspectives and experiences of a relatively diverse group of people. Bates' argument that extreme misogyny should be categorized as a form of extremism was something I had never heard of before; I feel like I learned so much from her book. This will definitely be a book I won't be able to stop thinking about.
Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey
2.0
I really dislike the trope of “ruthless careerwoman meets the perfect man and gives up her career aspirations to move out to the suburbs with him.”