A review by magnetgrrl
Cunt: A Declaration of Independence, by Betty Dodson, Inga Muscio
5.0
Cunt is pretty radical without being too pushy, and the author maintains an accessible and anecdotal style throughout that keeps things from getting neither too serious and accusatory nor too academic and boring. This was a bit of a crash course introduction to feminism for me, as I hadn't done much feminist reading at the time. But I think it was a good book for that, because of its use of modern, non-academic language and because though coming from an extreme angle most of the time Muscio covers a pretty broad range of topics in feminism and the issues facing women today. Though I disagreed with her views on several things, I was amazed at how many issues Cunt brought up that I had never even considered. Like some kind of aversion therapy, being thrown into the deep and radical end of feminism made me quickly and acutely aware of how many things I had to think about on the subject that I had yet to even begin to explore.
I remember when I read this I immediately wanted to give a copy to my mother, my grandmother, all my aunts... every woman I know and especially those from older generations. But I knew they would be turned off by the title and maybe scared off by how radical Muscio can be. I still think this is a book every woman should read, but it's definitely a book you must approach with an open mind and a lot of leeway to explore views that may be very different from your experience.
I remember when I read this I immediately wanted to give a copy to my mother, my grandmother, all my aunts... every woman I know and especially those from older generations. But I knew they would be turned off by the title and maybe scared off by how radical Muscio can be. I still think this is a book every woman should read, but it's definitely a book you must approach with an open mind and a lot of leeway to explore views that may be very different from your experience.