Scan barcode
mackinseyjoy's review
challenging
funny
informative
medium-paced
3.75
This book is 3.75 out of 5 stars, but I cannot overstate how groundbreaking and foundational this book was to so many feminists who have come after her.
kevin_shepherd's review against another edition
3.0
Joan Morgan is a vibrant, intellectual powerhouse of a writer, but her thought train here is more than a little schizophrenic.
Not to be a picker of nits, but one cannot spend 260+ pages saying how black men need to be more responsible and accountable, and then be flippant and dismissive about the crimes of Mike Tyson and O.J. Simpson. And we’re not talking about traffic violations or jaywalking here, we’re talking about violent and brutal crimes against women. If you’re going to call out high school boyfriend A for infidelity or college boyfriend B for insensitivity, then you better, by god, give reckoning to celebrities C and D for f-ing RAPE and MURDER.
Secondly, and less importantly, don’t say that your white boyfriend treated you decidedly better than your black boyfriends, and then qualify that remark with something like, “of course white guys are more respectful, they have less to deal with.” If you’re asking EBM’s (“endangered black men”) to step up their game, don’t disrespect them by giving them an easy out. Yes, absolutely, black men in this country have a LOT more shit to deal with than white men like me, but if you’re going to use that to excuse their misogyny then why write this book?
Chickenheads is a black feminist manifesto that is more than deserving of the recognition and praise it has received. I’m just a little mystified as to why the author, who is a fighter at heart, would occasionally and arbitrarily pull her punches. When you’ve got sexism on the ropes, knock that sonofabitch out!
Not to be a picker of nits, but one cannot spend 260+ pages saying how black men need to be more responsible and accountable, and then be flippant and dismissive about the crimes of Mike Tyson and O.J. Simpson. And we’re not talking about traffic violations or jaywalking here, we’re talking about violent and brutal crimes against women. If you’re going to call out high school boyfriend A for infidelity or college boyfriend B for insensitivity, then you better, by god, give reckoning to celebrities C and D for f-ing RAPE and MURDER.
Secondly, and less importantly, don’t say that your white boyfriend treated you decidedly better than your black boyfriends, and then qualify that remark with something like, “of course white guys are more respectful, they have less to deal with.” If you’re asking EBM’s (“endangered black men”) to step up their game, don’t disrespect them by giving them an easy out. Yes, absolutely, black men in this country have a LOT more shit to deal with than white men like me, but if you’re going to use that to excuse their misogyny then why write this book?
Chickenheads is a black feminist manifesto that is more than deserving of the recognition and praise it has received. I’m just a little mystified as to why the author, who is a fighter at heart, would occasionally and arbitrarily pull her punches. When you’ve got sexism on the ropes, knock that sonofabitch out!
alaiyo0685's review
3.0
I can see how it was groundbreaking at its time but it feels reductive reading it for the first time in 2020.
danitajreese's review
5.0
If ever you needed an example of "Knowledge is power" this is it. Each chapter served as veritable checkpoints for what I once believed, currently believe and should aspire to believe (or all of the above) about thriving as a black woman living as a by-product of the hip-hop, post-civil rights, post-practically everything eras. Morgan's lyrical, conversational tone reads like an all-night girl chat fest talkin' 'bout loving maturely, the perks and dips of female ambition and independence and understanding and embracing (in that order) feminism.
The book is written just as much for the girls coming of age as it is for those of us who are grown and still growing. Despite the 1999 copyright date, Morgan's tone and pop culture references are still sharp and viable--a solid testament to the quality of her writing ability and proof that chickenheads or not, we've still got work to do with regards to acknowledging, claiming and maintaining our collective power.
The book is written just as much for the girls coming of age as it is for those of us who are grown and still growing. Despite the 1999 copyright date, Morgan's tone and pop culture references are still sharp and viable--a solid testament to the quality of her writing ability and proof that chickenheads or not, we've still got work to do with regards to acknowledging, claiming and maintaining our collective power.
kmatthe2's review
3.0
An engaging albeit sometimes uneven book. But an important articulation of hip-hop feminism and this branch in the black feminism tree.
erinmp's review
3.0
Morgan is a member of her self-described "post-Civil Rights, post-feminist, post-soul generation." Trying to carve out her own identity, she takes an in-depth look at feminism, black women, black men, sexism, racism, and hip-hop; and how they all co-exist--but especially how they should co-exist. Using a little bit of theory, a smattering of statistics, and a lot of real life, Morgan explains the differences between her generation and her mother's; the hypocrisy she sees every day; and how she can reconcile her feminism with her love of her brothers.
This is the first book I've read by a black feminist of my generation explaining her feminism and how it affects her life as a black woman, and I really enjoyed it. Granted, I'm as white as they come, and I had to keep an open screen of Urban Dictionary up for a lot of the the book, but I feel that she tackled the issues clearly and concisely. I thought she did a particularly good job with discussing the issue of paternal choice--an issue that is skirted in any feminist community. She didn't come to any conclusions, bur did bring up the issue, which is something that affects any race, and one that I've thought about before with flinching hypocrisy. Very good book.
This is the first book I've read by a black feminist of my generation explaining her feminism and how it affects her life as a black woman, and I really enjoyed it. Granted, I'm as white as they come, and I had to keep an open screen of Urban Dictionary up for a lot of the the book, but I feel that she tackled the issues clearly and concisely. I thought she did a particularly good job with discussing the issue of paternal choice--an issue that is skirted in any feminist community. She didn't come to any conclusions, bur did bring up the issue, which is something that affects any race, and one that I've thought about before with flinching hypocrisy. Very good book.