Female Chauvinist Pigs

reverse reviewed Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy

Review of 'Female Chauvinist Pigs' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I liked this book. It was interesting, and I mostly agree with its view on modern images of sexuality, and of how women have internalized sexism.

The book's weakness, though, is that it's written like a strange hybrid of an historical account and an opinion piece. Even though it seems to make very good observations about contemporary culture around sexuality, it then tries to back its views with anecdata (the word I like to overuse the most lately), personal stories of random people, and catchy phrases. All characteristics of engaging articles, but not really substantial.

All in all, though, the historical parts were interesting, the opinion part I mostly agree with and I think it's important for people to read about. Plus, it's short and one can easily fly through it.

maco reviewed Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy

Review of 'Female Chauvinist Pigs' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Nice analysis of what has confused me for a long time: the idea that succumbing to objectification is somehow "empowering" for the modern woman.

The chapter on gender variance, bois, and transmen is a bit disappointing, though. She seems to discount the idea that there could be transmen who really are trans, not just women who hate that they're female and want to switch to the dominant team for the perks.

Talon2Claw reviewed Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy

Review of 'Female Chauvinist Pigs' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The book title does not deceive. There are certainly a lot of raunchy examples in this book. This is not a book to be read by the easily offended. The conclusion wraps up the opinion of the author without all the graphic details, so head for those few pages if you want to skip the details and get right to core of the book. My main complaint about the book is that the author clearly points out that 'Raunch Culture' is not empowering women, yet she seems unwilling to commit fully to that belief. The bulk of the book details women who appear very sexy but they don't find pleasure in sex. The pleasure these women experience come from money, a sense of power, manipulation, or sometimes not at all. Yet the author does not present any alternatives. In fact, if you take out the examples of raunch you are …

The book title does not deceive. There are certainly a lot of raunchy examples in this book. This is not a book to be read by the easily offended. The conclusion wraps up the opinion of the author without all the graphic details, so head for those few pages if you want to skip the details and get right to core of the book. My main complaint about the book is that the author clearly points out that 'Raunch Culture' is not empowering women, yet she seems unwilling to commit fully to that belief. The bulk of the book details women who appear very sexy but they don't find pleasure in sex. The pleasure these women experience come from money, a sense of power, manipulation, or sometimes not at all. Yet the author does not present any alternatives. In fact, if you take out the examples of raunch you are left with scant little reading. Still, the author makes very good points and this book should not be dismissed.

maja

rated it

Dec. 20, 2009

Female Chauvinist Pigs

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