Unspeakable Things: Sex Lies and Revolution

Published Sept. 16, 2014 by Bloomsbury.

ISBN:
978-1-62040-689-2
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
870097979

View on OpenLibrary

(7 reviews)

5 editions

Review of 'Unspeakable Things: Sex Lies and Revolution' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I found this book captivating but also disappointing. I don't know how to rate it, so I won't.

Laurie Penny admits upfront that her book is a polemic, and it's an accurate description: this book is angry shouting. It's angry shouting about important topics, and I often (though not always) agree with her; sometimes I felt like she had taken some of my own thoughts and was angrily shouting them on my behalf.

Angry shouting has value. In a world of negative and oppressive cultural messages, hearing other people like you shouting angrily can help the countless dissatisfied, restless people identify the source of their discontent, start to love themselves, and focus their rage on the systems that oppress them.

But angry shouting isn't informative. It isn't an argument. My preference in nonfiction is for an actual argument, for an "information dump": I want studies, statistics, and historical documents (which, …

avatar for andrlik

rated it

avatar for broonie

rated it

avatar for BookLovingRealisticPessimist

rated it

avatar for MirahImage

rated it

avatar for uhhuhthem@wyrmsign.org

rated it

avatar for nekokat

rated it