lauraleemcpherson's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.0
This was just okay. I went into this unsure what specifically it was aiming to do and came out of it feeling the exact same way. Whilst there are a few interesting ideas in here, nothing was very new or well developed, with the text mostly just citing what other people had found or discussed. It was also very limited in scope, focusing on just heterosexual and cis contexts (which feels dated for a book so recently published). Whilst Angel acknowledges that she won’t be touching on queer relationships because it’s not her place, she does reference (though tacitly and in absolutely no detail) the difference of experience for people of colour. I don’t understand why the same couldn’t be done for queer experiences and also why either perspective couldn’t be fleshed out more, drawing on the work of queer theorists and theorists who are black / people of colour, with some additional analysis to pull it together. But then again it all felt like a loose collection of bits to do with desire and consent, rather than a piece with any intent / driving force / framing subject of analysis.
Finally, I was certainly expecting something a bit more radical and challenging as a text published by verso. I feel like it is obvious that views of ‘progressive’ white feminists are going to be limited / fraught and should be challenged…? Hence, I just don’t understand the point of this at all. But still, despite all this, there were some interesting ideas and references I will be coming back to.
Finally, I was certainly expecting something a bit more radical and challenging as a text published by verso. I feel like it is obvious that views of ‘progressive’ white feminists are going to be limited / fraught and should be challenged…? Hence, I just don’t understand the point of this at all. But still, despite all this, there were some interesting ideas and references I will be coming back to.
rebleejen's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. Parts of it were insightful, provocative, and challenging. Other parts read like gobbledy-gook, tbh. But I'm glad I read it. I'll be thinking about it for a while.
claudetteshelfs's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.75
I love a book that makes me rethink what I believe to be true, and this is that kind of book, including that I was questioning about the #MeToo movement itself. This book discusses some fascinating subjects in a style reminiscent of an academic conversation, but there isn't nearly enough analysis in the majority of the material. Consent, desire, and arousal are the three topics that the author looks at and this book is definitely worth reading.
emmaliborski's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Katherine Angel did a wonderful job injecting nuance into a weighty topic and anchored her points with fascinating history and research. This is a quick but dense read, one that resulted in more questions than answers for me- in a great way. It's reoriented the way I think about the limitations of consent culture, perceived differences in men and women's sexuality, and confidence culture's fixation on fully knowing oneself and one's desires as a prerequisite for having a good sex life.
"The fantasy of total autonomy and total self-knowledge is not only a fantasy...it's a nightmare...Working out what we want is a life's work, and it has to be done over and over and over. The joy may lie in it never being done."
"The fantasy of total autonomy and total self-knowledge is not only a fantasy...it's a nightmare...Working out what we want is a life's work, and it has to be done over and over and over. The joy may lie in it never being done."
rosewelsh's review against another edition
4.0
I read this as part of a "Social Issues" seminar run by a group of statewide librarians. The prompt was to read any two titles on a social issue and I found this book on the shelf of my local library, thinking it was an interesting premise on something I haven't read much about.
The first thing I would say about this title is, as a librarian, it is a tough book to recommend to any patron even if I did really enjoy it and believe it to be an important topic. The issue is this book covers so much regarding women and sexual experience that it is difficult for me to recommend knowing how many of my patrons have likely suffered some type of sexual abuse in their lives. It was a hard book at times even for me, so I can imagine it would be very difficult for other women who have suffered as well.
That being said I really enjoyed the book overall and liked how the author broke it down into sections on consent, arousal, etc. It made it a bit easier to read as even though this book is short, it is very dense. A great amount of research went into this which I appreciated, but after one section I was feeling so heavy I absolutely needed to take a break, so the chapter breaks were much appreciated. The author emphasizes how in our current society, there is no way for women to win when it comes to sexuality. Either we are whores for enjoying sexuality, we are abused when we do not give up sex freely, and we are told by other women often that we have to be confident and own our sexuality or we're letting misogyny win. There's no middle ground for those who just want to feel things out and take their time, and that only puts more pressure on women. It was a thought-provoking quick read and I found myself interested in other things the author had written by the time I finished!
Blog / Twitter / Instagram
The first thing I would say about this title is, as a librarian, it is a tough book to recommend to any patron even if I did really enjoy it and believe it to be an important topic. The issue is this book covers so much regarding women and sexual experience that it is difficult for me to recommend knowing how many of my patrons have likely suffered some type of sexual abuse in their lives. It was a hard book at times even for me, so I can imagine it would be very difficult for other women who have suffered as well.
That being said I really enjoyed the book overall and liked how the author broke it down into sections on consent, arousal, etc. It made it a bit easier to read as even though this book is short, it is very dense. A great amount of research went into this which I appreciated, but after one section I was feeling so heavy I absolutely needed to take a break, so the chapter breaks were much appreciated. The author emphasizes how in our current society, there is no way for women to win when it comes to sexuality. Either we are whores for enjoying sexuality, we are abused when we do not give up sex freely, and we are told by other women often that we have to be confident and own our sexuality or we're letting misogyny win. There's no middle ground for those who just want to feel things out and take their time, and that only puts more pressure on women. It was a thought-provoking quick read and I found myself interested in other things the author had written by the time I finished!
Blog / Twitter / Instagram
irwine's review against another edition
4.0
Absolutely loved. Makes you think a lot, learn a lot, think again.