georginainvisablestring22's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, and Homophobia
mahamsiddiqui's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
veelaughtland's review against another edition
3.0
Germaine Greer is probably the first name that springs to mind when anyone brings up the subject of feminism, whether you know much about the movement or not. I'll admit that this was the case for me anyway, but I have to say that I did not know too much about her. In fact, I believed her to be one of the 'feminazis', man-hating and bra-burning amongst other things. I decided to pick up her seminal text The Female Eunuch because it came on my radar in the last month or so through YouTube, and I figured I'd see what she had to say. So I was surprised when I discovered that my initial impressions through hearsay Greer were not really accurate at all.
Germaine Greer does not hate men, and she does not advocate bra-burning in the slightest, in fact finding it detrimental to the cause. Surprisingly, what I took from this book was a certain level of irritation and disgust aimed more so at the female population. There were a great many sections in this book where I found Greer's words to be angry and dripping with disdain when she talked about things like excessive mothering of children, and the ever-present fairytale notion of love.
Greer splits her book into four sections: Body, Soul, Love, and Hate, along with a chapter entitled Revolution at the very end. Within these sections, she tackles a myriad of subjects, including marriage, work, body hair, jealousy, even resentment. I found certain sections to be more readable than others (the Hate section was particularly difficult and depressing), and I fluctuated between moments being intensely bored, moments being very intrigued, and moments where I found her words incredibly funny. It certainly evoked a range of emotions in me.
Due to the fact that The Female Eunuch was published in 1970, there are certain aspects of the book that I feel are not quite as relevant anymore, and I think that male/female equality has come a long way since then (despite not being perfect). However, there were a lot of points that Greer made within her book that really stuck out to me, particularly notions of love and the rearing of children. It makes me wonder, is the biological clock a real thing or is it just conditioning in our society for most women to feel the need to prolong the human race?
But I digress. If you are at all interested in the feminist movement, I would strongly suggest that you pick up this novel. Although I didn't necessarily enjoy all of the book, due to the writing being a little wordy at points, I am very glad that I finally got around to reading this book. I think that it is an important book, no matter what detractors of Greer say, and even if I don't agree with absolutely everything she says, it's definitely a great talking-point.
Germaine Greer does not hate men, and she does not advocate bra-burning in the slightest, in fact finding it detrimental to the cause. Surprisingly, what I took from this book was a certain level of irritation and disgust aimed more so at the female population. There were a great many sections in this book where I found Greer's words to be angry and dripping with disdain when she talked about things like excessive mothering of children, and the ever-present fairytale notion of love.
Greer splits her book into four sections: Body, Soul, Love, and Hate, along with a chapter entitled Revolution at the very end. Within these sections, she tackles a myriad of subjects, including marriage, work, body hair, jealousy, even resentment. I found certain sections to be more readable than others (the Hate section was particularly difficult and depressing), and I fluctuated between moments being intensely bored, moments being very intrigued, and moments where I found her words incredibly funny. It certainly evoked a range of emotions in me.
Due to the fact that The Female Eunuch was published in 1970, there are certain aspects of the book that I feel are not quite as relevant anymore, and I think that male/female equality has come a long way since then (despite not being perfect). However, there were a lot of points that Greer made within her book that really stuck out to me, particularly notions of love and the rearing of children. It makes me wonder, is the biological clock a real thing or is it just conditioning in our society for most women to feel the need to prolong the human race?
But I digress. If you are at all interested in the feminist movement, I would strongly suggest that you pick up this novel. Although I didn't necessarily enjoy all of the book, due to the writing being a little wordy at points, I am very glad that I finally got around to reading this book. I think that it is an important book, no matter what detractors of Greer say, and even if I don't agree with absolutely everything she says, it's definitely a great talking-point.
hollystribe's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
sarahreadsaverylot's review against another edition
3.0
This was a hugely challenging, provoking and problematic read.
Rarely do I pick up a book so prepared to embrace a philosophy, yet I found myself continually pulling back--I actually succumbed to the urge to scribble notes in the margins, many of which expressed doubt, concern and rejection.
I think this is largely due to the fact that it is dated. It represents a key position (roughly between Simone de Beauvoir and Naomi Wolf) in the development of feminist theory but it seems--to me--that it is in no way the definitive statement that it (at times) claims to be.
Perhaps Greer says it best in her introduction, pointing out that, "this book represents only another contribution to a continuing dialogue between the wondering woman and the world." As dialogue, it is indeed a priceless contribution, and one filled with frankness, energy, and sass that is to be admired.
Nevertheless, looking back from the writings of the Third Wave, it is all too easy to identify undercurrents of homophobia, racism, sex-negativity, hetero-normative claims and unacknowledged class privilege. ("The Female Eunuch does not deal with poor women--for when I wrote it I did not know them--but with the women of the rich world, whose oppression is seen by poor women as freedom," is aptly pointed out in the introduction to this newer edition, but she could also include women of colour, transgendered people and sex workers in those who are excluded from her arguments.)
Another problematic area is the author/reader relationship, which is at times tinged with a sinister condescension that borders on disgust. Claims that women should not be expected to argue using male logic and scholarship because they are not educated to use those tools are counterbalanced by shockingly underhanded academic tricks, particularly in the fields of relying on pseudo-science and pop-psychology and of quoting out of context. In her own defense, she says, "of course I am taking advantage of the masters of psychology, bending and selecting their words like this...we cannot allow them to define what must be or change would be impossible." Allowing this, she still refuses to credit the majority of her perceived audience with the ability to understand her rhetoric. Furthermore, she goes on to criticize another female writer saying that, "she is so patently arguing from her convictions to her evidence, none of which has any source that she quotes, that the most sympathetic reader is alienated, unless, presumably, he has no way of knowing better." Hmmm.
Condescension, arrogance, and blatant privileged white-hetero blindness aside, I will still give this work three stars. Dialogue is ongoing, fluid and necessary to achieving the aims that are indeed brought to light with candor and flare. I say, read it, but don't accept it without a fight--something that Ms Greer would no doubt approve.
Rarely do I pick up a book so prepared to embrace a philosophy, yet I found myself continually pulling back--I actually succumbed to the urge to scribble notes in the margins, many of which expressed doubt, concern and rejection.
I think this is largely due to the fact that it is dated. It represents a key position (roughly between Simone de Beauvoir and Naomi Wolf) in the development of feminist theory but it seems--to me--that it is in no way the definitive statement that it (at times) claims to be.
Perhaps Greer says it best in her introduction, pointing out that, "this book represents only another contribution to a continuing dialogue between the wondering woman and the world." As dialogue, it is indeed a priceless contribution, and one filled with frankness, energy, and sass that is to be admired.
Nevertheless, looking back from the writings of the Third Wave, it is all too easy to identify undercurrents of homophobia, racism, sex-negativity, hetero-normative claims and unacknowledged class privilege. ("The Female Eunuch does not deal with poor women--for when I wrote it I did not know them--but with the women of the rich world, whose oppression is seen by poor women as freedom," is aptly pointed out in the introduction to this newer edition, but she could also include women of colour, transgendered people and sex workers in those who are excluded from her arguments.)
Another problematic area is the author/reader relationship, which is at times tinged with a sinister condescension that borders on disgust. Claims that women should not be expected to argue using male logic and scholarship because they are not educated to use those tools are counterbalanced by shockingly underhanded academic tricks, particularly in the fields of relying on pseudo-science and pop-psychology and of quoting out of context. In her own defense, she says, "of course I am taking advantage of the masters of psychology, bending and selecting their words like this...we cannot allow them to define what must be or change would be impossible." Allowing this, she still refuses to credit the majority of her perceived audience with the ability to understand her rhetoric. Furthermore, she goes on to criticize another female writer saying that, "she is so patently arguing from her convictions to her evidence, none of which has any source that she quotes, that the most sympathetic reader is alienated, unless, presumably, he has no way of knowing better." Hmmm.
Condescension, arrogance, and blatant privileged white-hetero blindness aside, I will still give this work three stars. Dialogue is ongoing, fluid and necessary to achieving the aims that are indeed brought to light with candor and flare. I say, read it, but don't accept it without a fight--something that Ms Greer would no doubt approve.
barrypierce's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: Ignore this review. Greer hates trans people.
The Female Eunuch is one of the touchstone texts of second-wave feminism. I'll admit, I'm terrified of Germaine Greer. She's on telly quite often and my god she scares the shit out of me. However, through reading her most famous book I now see that she and I are quite similar. We're both very angry and hate a lot of things. I adore her humour and incredibly condescending prose, it's quite a refreshing read for a text that was written 45 years ago.
This book basically Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Feminism (But Were Afraid to Ask). While it is dry at parts, overall the book is enjoyable and informative. I would recommend this for anyone who wants to know more about second-wave feminism and feminism as a whole really.
The Female Eunuch is one of the touchstone texts of second-wave feminism. I'll admit, I'm terrified of Germaine Greer. She's on telly quite often and my god she scares the shit out of me. However, through reading her most famous book I now see that she and I are quite similar. We're both very angry and hate a lot of things. I adore her humour and incredibly condescending prose, it's quite a refreshing read for a text that was written 45 years ago.
This book basically Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Feminism (But Were Afraid to Ask). While it is dry at parts, overall the book is enjoyable and informative. I would recommend this for anyone who wants to know more about second-wave feminism and feminism as a whole really.