Reviews

Gender(s) by Kathryn Bond Stockton

kaetheghost's review

challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

damndanny's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Dense and informative. The kind of book that you should read, but you’ll probably want to read twice or thrice just to make sure you actually understood it

ifonlyihadcake's review

2.0

The information is good. The author writes in an artsy way that makes understanding hard. Her writing style often feels like she’d rather be writing poetry, but she accidentally got stuck writing this instead. At certain points in the book, the reader is expected to have very little knowledge of the subject; at other points, the reader is expected to have more than a basic understanding of gender. I thought this book was supposed to be education-focused? There at certain points at which the conclusions of arguments are assumed instead of achieved. I wish this book was better than it was, and I wish it was actually focused on being educational.

eveninglily's review

2.0

I think that this book touches on a lot of interesting points, from hypocritical and strange gender norms, to the sheer intersectionality of gender and race, class, etc.. The author clearly knows a lot, and has many references and citations.

I also found this book very difficult to read. It felt self-congratulatory, vague, and unclear. I believe a quote from this book will prove more explanatory than I can.

An index of this queerness is something called "chick lit." It has been humming for over two decades. You don't have to read it (I never have) to find it illuminates change for the word and people called "women." Again, the typicality of what's on display signals its whiteness - so the view is partial. Still, it's alerting and almost entertaining . To state it succinctly:

Shoe meets girl meets boy meets shoe. Shoes trump men. Men are shows. Shoes are porn, of a charming sort. Sex is in the city. Austen's in the house. Love of Jane Austen is de rigueur. There's the "gorge factor" (the author must be gorgeous) with "toe cleavage" (did I mention shoes?) - and, defying feminism, the personal is no longer political.: "It's just personal."

afortsch's review

1.0

I think that this book offers a lot of really interesting thoughts surrounding gender and the intersectionality of gender and other identities such as race, class, age, and sexuality. However, Bond Stockton writes it in such a windy, confusing way that often times you cannot even parse out what she is trying to say. Ultimately, there are so many better books and essays that are saying the same things. You could literally just read any of the works that she references and takes insanely large pull quotes from.

discordantpages's review

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

vaguelyfrude's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

bugail's review

4.0

Investigated the relationship of gender to the outside world more than defining gender itself, but perhaps that’s the more perceptive way to view gender anyway.

marilou's review

challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

An ambitious take which suggests that everyone’s queer and which questions pretty much everything we know about sex, gender and sexuality. A remarkable intersectionality.  Would not necessarily start with this book if you are new to queer/gender studies, but it does bring new insights to the previously mentioned questions. Would recommend!