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annainthebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Sexual assault
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Ableism and Racism
xwritingstoriesx's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have a lot of thoughts when it comes to this book. I appreciate the concept especially as it was conceived in a time when women were considered vastly inferior to their male counterparts. To construct a society in which men are secondary and live in a matriarchal system is somewhat genius. I had some gripes about the execution of this book however. Firstly, while I can appreciate a rich backstory of the mother deity these women worship, I dislike how it strictly ties to reproduction and motherhood. Women are already indoctrinated into this mindset of motherhood from a very young age on a worldly scale. It sort of misses the mark of feminism and feminist power, to me at least. To show women in a much more self-involved light would've made for a much more interesting storyline. Women are obviously much more than their wombs, especially as a lot of women struggle with infertility and/or simply do not want to reproduce. I also would've appreciated a queer love story between two women somewhere in the book as it would've made a lot of sense.
Another point I want to make is that this book endorses a coloniser mentality. Throughout this book, the travellers who "discover" the island wish to change the native people to adhere to their strict values and principles. This also has ties to patriarchal hegemony and authority but I found that it moreso aligned with the historical invaders of the past. There was even scenes in which a character discussed reigning over the land, a foreshadowing of the entitlement to come. It was uncomfortable to continuously read conversations and scenes in which there was discussion of white entitlement and power. Again, though it is unfortunately realistic, I was really hoping for a utopian society where these travellers would not even consider such ideas as it directly contradicts the utopian theme.
The final pages of the book contain a scene which infer an attempted sexual assault of a female character. There was a lot of discussion about the men's right to do as he may which was disgusting to read, another example of male entitlement the characters exhibited. Then to criticise their judgement of such an act was also hard to read. I didn't like to read it though to see it from a different perspective, everyone has a different view of utopia. Men in this period were deeply sexist, misogynistic and racist, so it would make sense for the characters to act this way. Considering that I was expecting a utopia in which all the characters were agreeable and compassionate, I personally wouldn't consider this entirely utopian.
Another point I want to make is that this book endorses a coloniser mentality. Throughout this book, the travellers who "discover" the island wish to change the native people to adhere to their strict values and principles. This also has ties to patriarchal hegemony and authority but I found that it moreso aligned with the historical invaders of the past. There was even scenes in which a character discussed reigning over the land, a foreshadowing of the entitlement to come. It was uncomfortable to continuously read conversations and scenes in which there was discussion of white entitlement and power. Again, though it is unfortunately realistic, I was really hoping for a utopian society where these travellers would not even consider such ideas as it directly contradicts the utopian theme.
The final pages of the book contain a scene which infer an attempted sexual assault of a female character. There was a lot of discussion about the men's right to do as he may which was disgusting to read, another example of male entitlement the characters exhibited. Then to criticise their judgement of such an act was also hard to read. I didn't like to read it though to see it from a different perspective, everyone has a different view of utopia. Men in this period were deeply sexist, misogynistic and racist, so it would make sense for the characters to act this way. Considering that I was expecting a utopia in which all the characters were agreeable and compassionate, I personally wouldn't consider this entirely utopian.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
lovelyannalee's review against another edition
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
It wasn’t bad until it got to the racism, eugenics, ableism, and anti-domestication of animals. Strangely, the latter was the most surprising thing out of the whole novel. Honestly, living in a society full of white, able-bodied women who worship pregnancy sounds like the complete opposite of a utopian paradise. I’m also super confused on how this is a feminist novel when they literally get married and Celis gets pregnant. Wasn’t the entire point that women produced asexually and didn’t need men anymore?
Anyway, Herland is nothing more than mediocre and boring propaganda that doesn’t even commit to its own message. If it wasn’t an audiobook, I wouldn’t have even bothered finishing.
Anyway, Herland is nothing more than mediocre and boring propaganda that doesn’t even commit to its own message. If it wasn’t an audiobook, I wouldn’t have even bothered finishing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Racism, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
sealbrecht's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault
sunn_bleach's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
A utopian classic that has aged moderately poorly in modern feminist interpretations, though foundational.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
adalheid's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Racism
Minor: Sexual assault
dancingkouign's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
hated it. read it for uni so copy-pasting the book report i did on it to explain my rating.
The first book I chose to read was Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She first published it in a
journal she wrote as well as edited called The Forerunner in 1915. It is a fiction novel but is a
result of the author's feminist beliefs. It seemed interesting to read what would be a feminist
utopia from a 1915 perspective.
Herland introduces us to Terry O. Nicholson, Jeff Margrave and Vandyck Jennings; their
adventures are told from the latter's perspective. While on "a big scientific expedition", they hear
rumours about the existence of a region entirely populated by women. They decide to go on a
secret quest to discover it in hopes of being known as the first to breach this isolated territory that
even native had never seen. It goes on to their time there, the mutual learning of both cultures
and all the happenings that ensue. There is an extensive emphasis on comparing the three
men's culture (1910s USA) to the women's.
Going into the book, one might expect much feminist rhetoric, considering it is "a feminist utopia."
However, it can strongly be argued that this book is in no way feminist. The fact that the main
characters are all men and are repeatedly comparing women to animals does not even start to
brush why this book is quite sexist. Let's dive in. The women of this world (the three most
important being Celis, Alima and Ellador -who end up being love interests which does not scream
feminism but that is not even why this book is not feminist) are implied continuously to be better
than the men (and the women of "our" world); therefore it is fair to assume that the values
assigned to them are what the author defends. So what are the values of these women? The first
and foremost is Motherhood. Their whole civilisation and survival are based on it.
"These women, whose essential distinction of motherhood was the dominant note of their
whole culture, were strikingly deficient in what we call "femininity.""
"By motherhood they were born and by motherhood they lived—life was, to them, just the
long cycle of motherhood."
Basing women's worth on their ability to produce children (here through parthenogenesis aka
asexual reproduction) is not only reductive to fertile cis women, but it is also ableist and
transphobic. Speaking of ableism, the undertones of eugenics are incredibly disturbing.
"We have, of course, made it our first business to train out, to breed out, when possible,
the lowest types."
Generally, this book and therefore, the author seem to have a very narrow vision of feminism. It
is feminism only made for rich, straight, cis, non-disabled women: it completely ignores
intersectionality. What can almost be amusing is the apparent tinge of feminist separatism which
is often associated with radical feminism and lesbian feminism/separatism (the idea that the way
to fight patriarchy is to separate women from men) is quite contradictory with the complete
absence of sexuality or any individual desire expressed by the women. Those women's life
revolves entirely and uniquely around children, Motherhood and maintaining the catharsis they
created. It sounds ludicrous that a country of millions of women would not have "the faintest idea
of love—sex-love, that is." as if homosexuality was not even a thing. It also sounds quite sexist,
implying that women cannot know/understand desire, pleasure or love without a man there to
show them. To continue with the values defended in this book, the discourse around abortion
was appalling.
"None of us wanted these women to think that OUR women, of whom we boasted so
proudly, were in any way inferior to them. I am ashamed to say that I equivocated. I told
her of certain criminal types of women—perverts, or crazy, who had been known to
commit infanticide."
This disgusting portrayal of women choosing to terminate a pregnancy was one of the most
infuriating things in this book. Since the women of Herland keep being presented as being "right",
their strong opposition to abortion and the awful ways they talk about women who would choose
to is just terrible. The times were different, which has to be acknowledged, but it does not mean
we cannot bring up modern criticism.
Besides, let's bring up the idea of putting down feminity. These women were described as better
than America's women because they were not feminine; they were as strong as men and did not
care about beauty. There was a time where the idea of a strong woman was a female man, but
these days, feminism seems to have moved on to accepting that feminity is not a bad thing, that
not being a man is not a bad thing. The fact that superior women are so because they resemble
men is not great. Sure, gender roles are terrible but being feminine is not inherently wrong, in
women or men.
There are so many more instances of dreadful connotations and disquisitions. The fact that this
is presented as a utopia in any way is ridiculous, and to pretend this book is feminist is not
accurate. It would not even be coherent with the more conservative current feminism
movements.
I have to say I was quite excited about going into this book. I am very interested in the history of
feminism. Nevertheless, this was incredibly disappointing and irritating. The plot was not even
interesting enough to distract me from the underlining message. There were a few moments
where I did get into the story, where I was interested to hear more about Herland's society.
Likewise, I did enjoy the idea of imagining the reaction of outsiders on "our" (America's) ways of
living. Still, truly the themes of the book ruined any possibility of enjoyment for me.
journal she wrote as well as edited called The Forerunner in 1915. It is a fiction novel but is a
result of the author's feminist beliefs. It seemed interesting to read what would be a feminist
utopia from a 1915 perspective.
Herland introduces us to Terry O. Nicholson, Jeff Margrave and Vandyck Jennings; their
adventures are told from the latter's perspective. While on "a big scientific expedition", they hear
rumours about the existence of a region entirely populated by women. They decide to go on a
secret quest to discover it in hopes of being known as the first to breach this isolated territory that
even native had never seen. It goes on to their time there, the mutual learning of both cultures
and all the happenings that ensue. There is an extensive emphasis on comparing the three
men's culture (1910s USA) to the women's.
Going into the book, one might expect much feminist rhetoric, considering it is "a feminist utopia."
However, it can strongly be argued that this book is in no way feminist. The fact that the main
characters are all men and are repeatedly comparing women to animals does not even start to
brush why this book is quite sexist. Let's dive in. The women of this world (the three most
important being Celis, Alima and Ellador -who end up being love interests which does not scream
feminism but that is not even why this book is not feminist) are implied continuously to be better
than the men (and the women of "our" world); therefore it is fair to assume that the values
assigned to them are what the author defends. So what are the values of these women? The first
and foremost is Motherhood. Their whole civilisation and survival are based on it.
"These women, whose essential distinction of motherhood was the dominant note of their
whole culture, were strikingly deficient in what we call "femininity.""
"By motherhood they were born and by motherhood they lived—life was, to them, just the
long cycle of motherhood."
Basing women's worth on their ability to produce children (here through parthenogenesis aka
asexual reproduction) is not only reductive to fertile cis women, but it is also ableist and
transphobic. Speaking of ableism, the undertones of eugenics are incredibly disturbing.
"We have, of course, made it our first business to train out, to breed out, when possible,
the lowest types."
Generally, this book and therefore, the author seem to have a very narrow vision of feminism. It
is feminism only made for rich, straight, cis, non-disabled women: it completely ignores
intersectionality. What can almost be amusing is the apparent tinge of feminist separatism which
is often associated with radical feminism and lesbian feminism/separatism (the idea that the way
to fight patriarchy is to separate women from men) is quite contradictory with the complete
absence of sexuality or any individual desire expressed by the women. Those women's life
revolves entirely and uniquely around children, Motherhood and maintaining the catharsis they
created. It sounds ludicrous that a country of millions of women would not have "the faintest idea
of love—sex-love, that is." as if homosexuality was not even a thing. It also sounds quite sexist,
implying that women cannot know/understand desire, pleasure or love without a man there to
show them. To continue with the values defended in this book, the discourse around abortion
was appalling.
"None of us wanted these women to think that OUR women, of whom we boasted so
proudly, were in any way inferior to them. I am ashamed to say that I equivocated. I told
her of certain criminal types of women—perverts, or crazy, who had been known to
commit infanticide."
This disgusting portrayal of women choosing to terminate a pregnancy was one of the most
infuriating things in this book. Since the women of Herland keep being presented as being "right",
their strong opposition to abortion and the awful ways they talk about women who would choose
to is just terrible. The times were different, which has to be acknowledged, but it does not mean
we cannot bring up modern criticism.
Besides, let's bring up the idea of putting down feminity. These women were described as better
than America's women because they were not feminine; they were as strong as men and did not
care about beauty. There was a time where the idea of a strong woman was a female man, but
these days, feminism seems to have moved on to accepting that feminity is not a bad thing, that
not being a man is not a bad thing. The fact that superior women are so because they resemble
men is not great. Sure, gender roles are terrible but being feminine is not inherently wrong, in
women or men.
There are so many more instances of dreadful connotations and disquisitions. The fact that this
is presented as a utopia in any way is ridiculous, and to pretend this book is feminist is not
accurate. It would not even be coherent with the more conservative current feminism
movements.
I have to say I was quite excited about going into this book. I am very interested in the history of
feminism. Nevertheless, this was incredibly disappointing and irritating. The plot was not even
interesting enough to distract me from the underlining message. There were a few moments
where I did get into the story, where I was interested to hear more about Herland's society.
Likewise, I did enjoy the idea of imagining the reaction of outsiders on "our" (America's) ways of
living. Still, truly the themes of the book ruined any possibility of enjoyment for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, and Abortion
More...