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pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
"The first thing that strikes the careless observer is that women are unlike men. They are 'the opposite sex' - (though why 'opposite' I do not know; what is the 'neighboring sex'?). But the fundamental thing is that women are more like men than anything else in the world. They are human beings. Vir is male and Femina is female: but Homo is male and female." p. 53
I very much enjoyed the Peter Wimsey mysteries, especially after Harriet Vane appeared on the scene. I listened to them long before social media started helping me track my reading. I had read that Sayers had written some essays about women and religion, but it took a course in Women and Christianity to get me to read these feminist essays.
I will read these again and probably again. Sayers reminds me of how far women have come and how far we have to go. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. These essays were originally published in 1947. World War II had ended and apparently men were worrying about women in trousers. Trousers! At least we don't have that debate anymore.
However, women are still considered the opposite sex. We are still making less money for the same work. When a profession becomes "pink-collared" the salary goes down for everyone, but especially women. Much of what Sayers is concerned about in these few pages is still a problem. When will all human accept that all humans should be treated humanely and with love and compassion? Some days it seems hopeless.
With any luck my mom will borrow my copy and we will have the opportunity to talk about Sayers' thoughts about women and men. We will enjoy our discussion because Sayers writes clearly and with humor - attributes that all essays need.
If you have not ever read anything by Sayers, start with the mysteries, they are so much fun. However, if you have any interest in the human condition, pick up these essays and see if you can answer Sayers' question: Are Women Human?
I very much enjoyed the Peter Wimsey mysteries, especially after Harriet Vane appeared on the scene. I listened to them long before social media started helping me track my reading. I had read that Sayers had written some essays about women and religion, but it took a course in Women and Christianity to get me to read these feminist essays.
I will read these again and probably again. Sayers reminds me of how far women have come and how far we have to go. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. These essays were originally published in 1947. World War II had ended and apparently men were worrying about women in trousers. Trousers! At least we don't have that debate anymore.
However, women are still considered the opposite sex. We are still making less money for the same work. When a profession becomes "pink-collared" the salary goes down for everyone, but especially women. Much of what Sayers is concerned about in these few pages is still a problem. When will all human accept that all humans should be treated humanely and with love and compassion? Some days it seems hopeless.
With any luck my mom will borrow my copy and we will have the opportunity to talk about Sayers' thoughts about women and men. We will enjoy our discussion because Sayers writes clearly and with humor - attributes that all essays need.
If you have not ever read anything by Sayers, start with the mysteries, they are so much fun. However, if you have any interest in the human condition, pick up these essays and see if you can answer Sayers' question: Are Women Human?
ninjakiwi12's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Fun(ny) fact(s): We had to read the first essay for my class on Women in the History of Christianity, so I got the book from the library to read the other one!
Favorite quote/image: "Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man– there never has been another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flatted or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as 'the women, God help us!' or 'the ladies, God bless them!'; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything ‘funny’ about women’s nature.” (pg. 68-69)
Honorable mention: "A woman is just as much an ordinary human being as a man, with the same individual preferences, and with just as much right to the tastes and preferences of an individual. What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person...that has been the very common error into which men have frequently fallen about women–and it is the error into which feminist women are, perhaps, a little inclined to fall about themselves." (pg. 24-25)
Why: Although I do not agree with everything Sayers says (but also, when do we ever agree with something with a nuanced argument wholeheartedly?), I did find her to be quite witty and convincing in these two essays about women's role in society and how women are fundamentally human before anything else.
Favorite quote/image: "Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man– there never has been another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flatted or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as 'the women, God help us!' or 'the ladies, God bless them!'; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything ‘funny’ about women’s nature.” (pg. 68-69)
Honorable mention: "A woman is just as much an ordinary human being as a man, with the same individual preferences, and with just as much right to the tastes and preferences of an individual. What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person...that has been the very common error into which men have frequently fallen about women–and it is the error into which feminist women are, perhaps, a little inclined to fall about themselves." (pg. 24-25)
Why: Although I do not agree with everything Sayers says (but also, when do we ever agree with something with a nuanced argument wholeheartedly?), I did find her to be quite witty and convincing in these two essays about women's role in society and how women are fundamentally human before anything else.
karajrapp's review against another edition
4.0
Classic Sayers essays with clever and timely wisdom on the topic of gender.
dorothy_gale's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't find these witty, and it was the least of all feminist material I've read so far.
cacia's review against another edition
5.0
At first I thought I might put a quotation in my review, but then I flipped through the book again and realized I wanted to quote the entire thing. You should read it yourself — it's only forty pages.
4.5 stars rounded up
4.5 stars rounded up
leelulah's review against another edition
4.0
35. A book in a format than you normally read in
Dorothy Sayers was one of these interesting women that, unfortunately remain too little talked about. She was a writer of detective novels in her own right, and a friend of C.S. Lewis, a classmate of Tolkien... and wrote really funny and poignant essays on the social status of women without considering herself a feminist.
This, as I was made aware by the title almost amounts to her whole texts on the question, the other being the prologue to her translation of Dante's Purgatory. I find her with a tendency towards acknowledging the individuality-singularity of women that could not be to everyone's tastes these days, as it would get mistaken by individualism, but I think it operates on the sex-gender distinction, that women are not meant to conform in every detail to what was, in Victorian times, socially expected of them. Also, if she saw how the denial of biological nature turns more and more dangerous by the day, I think she'd emphasize more of the collective aspect (which still is not denied in these essays).
I wanted to read this after I found her praising of Jesus by not being condescending or otherwise having ridiculous demands of women, or not even making them the 'evil' characters in His Parables... but what I got was much more, even though the book itself is short.
She also acknowledges something the feminist movement is currently struggling with: difference of opinion. Yes, this is a problem in every political movement but it's currently leading to the posible demise of feminism as such with, for example, the TERF wars rooted in cancel culture and denial of truth.
Dorothy Sayers was one of these interesting women that, unfortunately remain too little talked about. She was a writer of detective novels in her own right, and a friend of C.S. Lewis, a classmate of Tolkien... and wrote really funny and poignant essays on the social status of women without considering herself a feminist.
This, as I was made aware by the title almost amounts to her whole texts on the question, the other being the prologue to her translation of Dante's Purgatory. I find her with a tendency towards acknowledging the individuality-singularity of women that could not be to everyone's tastes these days, as it would get mistaken by individualism, but I think it operates on the sex-gender distinction, that women are not meant to conform in every detail to what was, in Victorian times, socially expected of them. Also, if she saw how the denial of biological nature turns more and more dangerous by the day, I think she'd emphasize more of the collective aspect (which still is not denied in these essays).
I wanted to read this after I found her praising of Jesus by not being condescending or otherwise having ridiculous demands of women, or not even making them the 'evil' characters in His Parables... but what I got was much more, even though the book itself is short.
She also acknowledges something the feminist movement is currently struggling with: difference of opinion. Yes, this is a problem in every political movement but it's currently leading to the posible demise of feminism as such with, for example, the TERF wars rooted in cancel culture and denial of truth.
bcbartuska's review against another edition
4.0
“Is it only under stress of war that we are ready to admit that the person who does the job best is the person best fitted to do it?”
This is a very brief (69 pages total) discussion on the basic humanity of women and their value to society. Worth the read.
This is a very brief (69 pages total) discussion on the basic humanity of women and their value to society. Worth the read.
tiffanyslack's review against another edition
4.0
Short little volume with an introduction and two essays by Sayers. Very interesting (and witty!) food for thought. Some wise things to say about the nature of work as a human and the changing landscape of "women's work vs. man's work" over the course of history, with some important thoughts about how current views in society and the church are still heavily influenced by Victorian thinking and customs.