A review by whatcourtneyreads
#MeToo: Stories from the Australian movement by Miriam Sved
4.0
I’ll admit it, I bought this book because it was on the bargain table and I’m a sucker for the 1970s vibe of the cover. But I’m also a feminist and therefore was interested in the content. This ended up being such a fantastic anthology, with a great mix of stories, comics, essays, and poetry written by Australian writers from various walks of life, about their experiences of sexual harassment and violence.
I was pleased to see some diversity here as well, as I’m very much aware that while the hashtag # MeToo was started by African American woman Tarana Burke, it has primarily been co-opted by cis, white, wealthy, non-disabled women in Hollywood. The stories here include those written by LGBTQ+, POC, and disabled people, who provide such crucial input to the discussion when we’re talking about this topic, due to the much higher rates of violence perpetrated against marginalised groups.
This was a great book to read a bit at a time as the content can be quite heavy, but often I found myself just burning through chapter after chapter, so absorbed was I in the power of peoples’ writing, stories and perspectives. One of the last chapters in particular, ‘The Lucky Ones’ by Jenna Guillaume, gave me actual goosebumps.
Although this book was published a couple of years ago, I really can’t believe I haven’t seen it around more and that it only has 90 ratings on Goodreads. If you see it around and feel like you’re in a place to read this, I highly recommend you pick up a copy.
I was pleased to see some diversity here as well, as I’m very much aware that while the hashtag # MeToo was started by African American woman Tarana Burke, it has primarily been co-opted by cis, white, wealthy, non-disabled women in Hollywood. The stories here include those written by LGBTQ+, POC, and disabled people, who provide such crucial input to the discussion when we’re talking about this topic, due to the much higher rates of violence perpetrated against marginalised groups.
This was a great book to read a bit at a time as the content can be quite heavy, but often I found myself just burning through chapter after chapter, so absorbed was I in the power of peoples’ writing, stories and perspectives. One of the last chapters in particular, ‘The Lucky Ones’ by Jenna Guillaume, gave me actual goosebumps.
Although this book was published a couple of years ago, I really can’t believe I haven’t seen it around more and that it only has 90 ratings on Goodreads. If you see it around and feel like you’re in a place to read this, I highly recommend you pick up a copy.