emily2348's reviews
243 reviews

as someone who was always punished for being angry when i was younger this was a very interesting read, the chapter on sexual violence was very hard hitting and i liked how she did call out the misogynistic nature of pornography (although she did then use the phrase “ethical” pornography in a later chapter) however i really didn’t like the fact she kind of kept saying women have a right to be angry without going to the roots of that. The fact she only included two women who had killed abusive men in a book on women’s anger is insane at least put like Aileen Wuornos in. i also just have an utter hatred for feminist book that have to mention men’s problem every few pages especially in chapters talking about female oppression i do not care about the fact men can’t cry. definitely a book i would recommend to my middle aged aunts who wanted a book on feminism. (if you wanted something similar but better the furies by Elizabeth Flock goes into actual acts of violence against male supremacy)

i liked the character of sara and rose, especially the suffragette undertones of roses character and her representation of the female experience, but like most of woolf’s book her constant need to be racist in descriptions in the last 1/3 of her books is just quite grim.

Eat and rice and have faith in women! I did like reading the actual theory of the book but the literary critique dragged on quite a bit and i did skip quite a few pages of it... The first part and epilogue are 100% worth the read though, i can’t fully agree with the idea that animals and women are on the same level when it comes to patriarchal oppression but this was still very intriguing to read.

“Meanwhile, every time i walk past a war memorial i wonder why the women’s names are not on it”

One of the most hard hitting books i have ever read, rape as a war crime is something very rarely discussed, it is not something included textbooks. And especially now, when veterans are treated like gods whereas the women they violated are left with the consequences, a deeply necessary read. The stories of these women will stick with me forever.

so much better than what i thought it was going to be! truly very heartbreaking insights into the witch trials in norway and how the leadership of males leads to the downfall of women. i wish the start focused a bit more on how the women restructured their society after the men all died it kind of just skipped a year but i think seeing how women flourish without the rule of men would be very interesting.

Everything i have ever read from Audre Lorde is automatically a 10/10, this was no different deeply emotional and heartbreaking poetry.

“You create me against your thighs hilly with images moving through our word countries my body writes into your flesh the poem you make of me.“

The way Edith Wharton writes about longing is so deeply beautiful (also like she took a peak into my brain), she is so severely under appreciated. The way she manages to pack comments on the status of women, class and the fakeness of upper-class society into a book based around two people yearing i am in awe!

“The longing was with him day and night, an incessant undefinable craving, like the sudden whim of a sick man for food or drink once tasted and long since forgotten. He could not see beyond the craving, or picture what it might lead to, for he was not conscious of any wish to speak to Madame Olenska or to hear her voice. He simply felt that if he could carry away the vision of the spot of earth she walked on, and the way the sky and sea enclosed it, the rest of the wond might seem less empty.”

I liked a lot, there is so few books on lesbian radical feminism and i really appreciate hearing other women’s perspectives in this, as well it talks a lot about the normalisation of kink in lesbian communities (which is something that disturbs me greatly) and how this is tied to women-hating culture. While i don’t exactly agree with every single opinion; I feel like that doesn’t take away from how good the theory in this is, definitely very thought provoking!

i have basically no interest in fashion itself but seeing the last signed copy of this in my local waterstones felt like fate, this book talked about so many lesbians throughout history i am obsessed. while i don’t totally agree with some of the things in this book from my feminist standpoint, i will take any sort of lesbian history i can get my hands on!

feels very much like a first draft of mercy, which i do prefer over this one. i wish dworkin wrote more fiction as her prose is so beautiful. need people to appreciate her fiction more!