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elundh's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
krichardson's review
5.0
It's sad how much of this is word-for-word applicable to today. In some ways it seems like we're even in a worse place now than thirty years ago, but hopefully that means we'll get the upswing soon right? Yeah I don't think so either.
ignatzv's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
5.0
Backlash is probably one of my favorite books! Faludi takes a heavily journalistic approach to unpacking the history of anti-feminist rhetoric manifested and/or repurposed throughout the 1980s after the successes of the '60s and '70s feminist movement. This book is really useful in analyzing United States feminist history as it elaborates upon political, social, and media influences that are still prominent today. The material discussed is also helpful in analyzing how activist movements overall are treated in the U.S., so this book is also relevant to current manifestations of anti-feminist as well as anti-Black, racist, and queerphobic rhetoric. I would greatly recommend reading this book!
dayoldtea's review against another edition
5.0
This could have dealt more with the concerns of women who aren't white, heterosexual, or cisgender, but otherwise was prescient and comprehensive.
sculpthead's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
fishwithcorners's review
informative
sad
5.0
Damn. A little outdated because it was written in the 90s, so the white feminism / gender binary come in and out every once in while. But over all, a devastating but extremely well-written essay. I’m enraged; but like this is extremely well written
maximum_moxie's review
4.0
Would rate four and a half stars. There's a reason this book coined a new phrase: well-written, hard-hitting and deeply researched, I couldn't put it down.
It may be a bit dated now (all the data comes from the time period, largely the 80's), but the book fully addresses the myths of femininity which any woman would recognize; that fulfillment is found in relationships and child-rearing; that the "biological clock" can't be denied; that working women are always miserable and we "can't have it all". Faludi reveals these myths as what they are: projections of a fearful male culture onto women it can't control just as they are beginning to assert themselves.
As with any book with an ideological axe to grind, I did doubt the full validity of some points. Certainly men aren't entirely to blame for low female self-esteem or the lack of fully rounded female characters in movies. Yet even so, Faludi does an excellent job of balancing male responsibility with the ways men (and backlash-supporting women) suffer from backlash thinking and sometimes subvert it.
A ripping good read for anyone who wants to understand modern gender relations--though I would like to find another companion book which addresses the same issues in a more modern context.
It may be a bit dated now (all the data comes from the time period, largely the 80's), but the book fully addresses the myths of femininity which any woman would recognize; that fulfillment is found in relationships and child-rearing; that the "biological clock" can't be denied; that working women are always miserable and we "can't have it all". Faludi reveals these myths as what they are: projections of a fearful male culture onto women it can't control just as they are beginning to assert themselves.
As with any book with an ideological axe to grind, I did doubt the full validity of some points. Certainly men aren't entirely to blame for low female self-esteem or the lack of fully rounded female characters in movies. Yet even so, Faludi does an excellent job of balancing male responsibility with the ways men (and backlash-supporting women) suffer from backlash thinking and sometimes subvert it.
A ripping good read for anyone who wants to understand modern gender relations--though I would like to find another companion book which addresses the same issues in a more modern context.