Best for: Those looking for some (usually UK-based) facts and figures about sexism women face, in short essay form. In a nutshell: Creator of Everyday Sexism Project Bates shares her thoughts on a few different ways women deal with misogyny in their daily lives. Worth quoting: “The repeated use of the word ‘distracting’ centres the needs of men and boys above those of the girls, and suggests that girls’ bodies are powerful and dangerous, impacting on boys and teachers, whose behaviour is implicitly excused as […]
Mostly Good, Partly Really Not
Best for: Men (because you need to be told); mothers working outside the home who are looking for some support. In a nutshell: Tech journalist Sarah Lacy makes the case that motherhood is an asset to the workforce, not a detriment. Line that sticks with me: “It was the men — not the kids — that had proven to be a net negative on many of these women’s careers.” (p 206) Why I chose it: This is another book by someone in the tech world […]
“Every time we get a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line.”
I’m not a huge movie person honestly, but I am a huge Taraji P. Henson person so of course I went and saw Hidden Figures in theatres and freaking loved it. This is not a movie review site, so I won’t go into too much detail except to say that it was magical finding out about the histories of these smart-as-fuck women and it was a very entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. I really recommend seeing the movie and then reading the […]
Cerebral and unapologetically feminist.
Taking myself as a reader out of the “ratings game” for a moment, The Blazing World deserves five stars for its ambition, passion, ferocity, and intelligence. It’s a complex book about a complex woman who is consistently undermined and undervalued (probably because she is a woman, and certainly because she’s an older one), and who vows to expose to the world the bias and hypocrisy of those who do so. It’s told after her death through a series of her journal entries, along with written […]
In which I spurn the vox populi, and try to find a light in the darkness
It’s weird, writing this review. Not because I’m struggling to put into words the thoughts and feelings I have about this book, but because I never thought I’d be here. I’d never thought I’d have to be here, reviewing Twilight. I never thought I’d be in a place where I’ve read Twilight. But I am, and it’s all Rainbow Rowell’s fault. To recap: I first read Landline and, like all rational humans, absolutely loved it. Before I even digested the majesty of Rowell’s word soup, […]
Intro to Feminist Theory
You can’t win these days as a feminist. There’s the bristling a-holes who sniff “What are you, some kind of feminazi?” whenever you try to distinguish yourself from a doormat. Speaking up about certain topics, like misogyny in video games (I’m sorry, about ethics in gaming journalism) can get you death threats. Existing next to these human septic tanks are the women who try to make themselves more palatable to the guys by saying things like, “I’m not a feminist, I shave my legs and […]