books_n_bananas's review against another edition
3.0
Oof. Where do I begin? First off, I was oh so very intrigued by this book and how Chemaly would approach the concept. Through the beginning of the book, I was impressed by her use of statistics and her arguments on the expression of sadness in women vs. the expression of anger. Additionally, as a doula, I really enjoyed the chapter on systemic male policy in birth even to this day. As a college-graduate and woman in her mid-20's, I was extremely impacted by the chapter on rape and sexual assault.
BUT it just went downhill from there. As the book went on, I felt extremely frustrated by her use of extremely complex issues such as racism, therapy as a unequal cost to women, statements that women drive so many social action movements disproportionately (without the mention of statistics), etc., etc.
There was also a small paragraph elaborating on the prevalence of sexual assault as ONLY a result of men's purposeful negligence of women... which I just disagree with.
And then the end turned in to a "How To" express anger... which in my opinion, just derailed the whole trajectory of the book.
Here's the thing... Chemaly is extremely right about so many things in this book. She lays out statistics on SO MANY THINGS so well. But this book isn't going to convince anyone of anything they don't already think. It is marketed to women who already feel anger towards our system. And honestly, it excludes the people we, as feminists, should be trying to get on board to understand our plight. She dilutes her brilliantly written points with many other thin points that I'm sure she could argue, but that are just too arguable and weakly supported in this instance to help the overall message.
Additionally, while rage and anger are not inaccurate, the length of the book also dilutes the point of her using this verbiage. She is not eliciting for women to stomp down the street screaming and punching out men-- she is stating that women need to display assertiveness and not shy away from expressing their frustration with these norms when they occur.
I'm glad that she is upset about these problems, but ultimately, I don't think this book accomplishes what I assume she set out to do.
To convince and change our culture, we need to make concessions to the perpetrators of these issues enough to understand why things are the way they are and why they need to change. We need to market our arguments to those men and women who see feminists as unreasonable and mean and unfounded and explain where we're coming from and LISTEN and HEAR where they're coming from and address those things in a way to promote change.
Villainizing people who do not understand and have not experienced the same things or who don't see things the same way is not going to make those people want to listen and understand. Hate doesn't build bridges. I'm not saying she's wrong-- we shouldn't silence our anger. We need to continue to express our hurt, and anger with sexism and mistreatment and ignorance and fight for a better culture, but we need to open a culture of discussion-- listening, understanding, critical thinking. And stop perpetrating a culture of attack, aggression, and violence.
BUT it just went downhill from there. As the book went on, I felt extremely frustrated by her use of extremely complex issues such as racism, therapy as a unequal cost to women, statements that women drive so many social action movements disproportionately (without the mention of statistics), etc., etc.
There was also a small paragraph elaborating on the prevalence of sexual assault as ONLY a result of men's purposeful negligence of women... which I just disagree with.
And then the end turned in to a "How To" express anger... which in my opinion, just derailed the whole trajectory of the book.
Here's the thing... Chemaly is extremely right about so many things in this book. She lays out statistics on SO MANY THINGS so well. But this book isn't going to convince anyone of anything they don't already think. It is marketed to women who already feel anger towards our system. And honestly, it excludes the people we, as feminists, should be trying to get on board to understand our plight. She dilutes her brilliantly written points with many other thin points that I'm sure she could argue, but that are just too arguable and weakly supported in this instance to help the overall message.
Additionally, while rage and anger are not inaccurate, the length of the book also dilutes the point of her using this verbiage. She is not eliciting for women to stomp down the street screaming and punching out men-- she is stating that women need to display assertiveness and not shy away from expressing their frustration with these norms when they occur.
I'm glad that she is upset about these problems, but ultimately, I don't think this book accomplishes what I assume she set out to do.
To convince and change our culture, we need to make concessions to the perpetrators of these issues enough to understand why things are the way they are and why they need to change. We need to market our arguments to those men and women who see feminists as unreasonable and mean and unfounded and explain where we're coming from and LISTEN and HEAR where they're coming from and address those things in a way to promote change.
Villainizing people who do not understand and have not experienced the same things or who don't see things the same way is not going to make those people want to listen and understand. Hate doesn't build bridges. I'm not saying she's wrong-- we shouldn't silence our anger. We need to continue to express our hurt, and anger with sexism and mistreatment and ignorance and fight for a better culture, but we need to open a culture of discussion-- listening, understanding, critical thinking. And stop perpetrating a culture of attack, aggression, and violence.
karimorton33's review against another edition
5.0
A powerful look at the societal expectations and realities that make women feel anger. I appreciate how recent this book is, with examples from 2018 and even some from Canada as well. It’s dismaying and enraging to know how little women’s anger is believed or welcomed in discourse, but I can only hope that the tides are changing.
rachtat's review against another edition
2.0
I couldn’t even finish this book. I was very disappointed. It reads more like a thesis rather than a practical empowering guide for women. It just lists all these examples and statistics of injustices toward women. Yes it made me angry but I still don’t know what to do with the anger. Skip to chapter 10 for the practical advice. And it’s not even that good.
myrthekorf's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
fantastic_fia's review against another edition
5.0
I don’t usely read non fiction but I found myself enjoying every word of this book. Her words were not to academic and I was able to understand without confusion. I think everyone should read this book it given the chance! 10/10
feminist slay
feminist slay
openbookheartmind's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
jj_ensen's review against another edition
4.0
The topic of women’s anger (and societal repression thereof) is so important, but this book is a heavy read that I had to put down from time to time. The injustices Chemaly points out will make you angry, and seem overwhelming at times. The author did a great job of acknowledging intersections of misogyny with race, sexual orientation, and class. I also appreciated her effort at the end to include practical ways to show anger as a woman. I wish the writing had been organized a bit better, however, and I wish I could find a bibliography of her sources online since I borrowed the book from the library.
grrltastic's review against another edition
The text is much denser than I expected - it reads like a gender studies textbook. This isn't a bad thing! I just already have a WS degree.