Honestly? I came into this book with great hesitation because of the title. I thought it was provocative click bait into reading some 'hot take' aboutHonestly? I came into this book with great hesitation because of the title. I thought it was provocative click bait into reading some 'hot take' about feminism, but it was far from it.
I read this as an angry manifesto, a deep set frustration against what mainstream feminism has become. Crispin and her voice are bitingly and blatantly honest, but gets straight to the heart of her main thesis: choice and corporate feminism has distracted us from what true equality and equity is. Simply assimilating and clawing our way into power isn't feminism because we are still operating within the bounds of patriarchal capitalism. These ideas of what feminism means in pop-culture and mainstream media have strayed us away from the collective action that is needed to change the conditions and reality for all women and men.
I found Crispin's text especially pertinent as Elizabeth Warren had climbed through the ranks in the presidential race, and many folks citing feminism as a reason for why she should become our president. Simply changing the face of who is in charge of the imperialist, capitalistic project isn't feminism!
My qualms resided in the fact that Crispin sometimes put the shame and responsibility on women for not knowing better, when the blame should rightfully go to the systems that make us all this way (albiet with some nuance).
I would include this book within the canon of leftist feminists who don't shy away from critiquing the mainstream feminist movement. ...more
conversations around masculinity are pivotal in our efforts to imagine a radical & transformative world. and with this book, liz plank gives us a fascconversations around masculinity are pivotal in our efforts to imagine a radical & transformative world. and with this book, liz plank gives us a fascinating, data-driven, anecdotal, and expansive account for why that is.
mainly written for men, i thought this book did a strong deep dive into the harmful ways that masculinity is misdirected towards violence and death (patriarchy is literally killing men and women!)
while so many conversations that i've had about feminism and gender center around the experiences of women, liz plank aims to give the same attention and care into explaining why men need to be part of the conversations too. liz mentioned bell hooks a couple times in her book, and for me, i thought 'the will to change' was a more foundational, and theoretical basis to understand the harmful manifestations of masculinity and men--while this book was introductory and anecdotal.
there were some stories in the book where i thought this book was written for men who had more privilege (powerful men who could advocate for paternity leave) and focused more on the incidental occurrences like men feeling awkward peeing next to each other-- but overall this book really tackled the so often obfuscated topic of masculinity in many aspects which i appreciated.
we need to understand how patriarchy is harmful for men, and rooting this idea into the very concrete stories that liz shares is helpful in our overall shifting of consciousness of dismantling patriarchy (once and for all!)
for me, i crave more radical explanations and frameworks because then i can apply that to a larger understanding of systemic issues-- so this book fell short in that regard (but totally a personal preference). but this is a good intro book for all those who are curious about masculinity and its affects (aka talking to all the men out there)....more
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