Reviews (1)

A Miracle of Human Connection: Turning Horror to Grace
This is the most honest, open and at the same time powerfully revolutionary book I have ever read. Not only because of the masterful truth-telling that leaps from its pages, but also because of the unique weave of Ensler's deeply personal story with her experiences from around the world. It is a moving convergence of emotional nakedness, fierce and factual reportage and the pure wonder of witnessing the miracles created by those who have learned, as Eve says, "to find freedom, aliveness, and power not from what contains, locates, or protects us but from what dissolves, reveals, and expands us." This book is one of those miracles. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 21st century    2. Case studies    3. Feminism    4. Feminism & Feminist Theory    5. Gender Studies    6. History    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology Of Women    10. U.S. - Contemporary Politics    11. Women    12. Women's Studies - General    13. Self-Help / General   

Editorial Review

Ariel Levy’s debut book is a bold, piercing examination of how twenty-first century American society perceives sex and women. Writing vividly, she brings her readers to places she visited to make her assessment; the elevator of Playboy Enterprises with women auditioning to be Playmates in the fiftieth anniversary edition, a Florida beach where sunbathers urge a woman to take off her bathing suit for the camera crew of Girls Gone Wild, a San Francisco Italian restaurant where a lesbian worries she’s not dressed up enough for her date, a CAKE party in New York, with women grinding each other’s pelvises in time to pulsating dance rhythms, and outside a juice bar in Oakland where a beautiful high school student shares disappointment at her experiences with sex. Read more

Reviews (58)

Another Guys Perspective
I just finished reading FCP, and have to say it was one of the most engaging books I've read in quite a while. It was a quick read (one day) while still being extremely thought provoking and engaging. I won't waste my time summerizing the book (plenty of others do that below)...but I truly enjoyed the way she challenged (gently to my mind) the widely prevailing point of view of women's sexuality and power. She did a terrific job of setting up the context, looking at the different historic and social forces that have shaped the current state of affairs, and made, overall, quite a compelling case.
Must Read
Amazing book that gets you thinking. So important for the (especially young) women of America (and the world) to read. I've recommended this book to every female friend and they've gone on to share the book with their sisters and friends. If the book can generate word of mouth like that you know it's worth reading.

How did we come to this?
Are women helping the chauvinist pigs stay in power? That's the argument Ariel Levy makes in her book. After reading the first chapter which is a behind the scenes look at the video phenomena "Girls Gone Wild," it's hard to say that she doesn't have a point. While I thought the book petered out at the end when she started looking at the fringe elements of raunch like strippers and prostitutes (for better insight read Tracy Quan's novel, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl), Female Chauvinist Pigs does do a great job of summarizing the chronology of the feminist movement. Unfortunately, just like Maureen Dowd in Are Men Necessary?, Levy is unable to supply much insight into how we got from there to today where young girls (even the highly-educated ones) have apparently "gone wild." She does offer one incredibly insightful clue, however, when she writes: "FCP's [Female Chauvinist Pigs] have relinquished any sense of themselves as a collective group with a linked fate. Simply by being female and getting ahead, by being that strong woman we hear so much about, you are doing all you need to do, or so the story goes." ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Feminism & Feminist Theory    2. Popular Culture - General    3. Social Science    4. Sociology    5. Women's Studies - General    6. Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory   

Reviews (103)

Don't support this writer by buying this piece of trash
A friend recommended this book which I unfortunately bought.I feel sorry for people who think that this is "writing."The author not only contradicts herself but the writing is shallow and lacks any depth.If you want to feel good, buy yourself a bottle of wine, not this book.

Reflective & Thought-provoking
I found this lying on the table at a bookstore during a one-nighter with my husband, which we both desperately needed as we're always surrounded by the things that needs to be done, two growing boys who demand all of our attention and time ~~ and reading the back of this book, I briefly thought of a friend who is going through her midlife crisis right now. So I picked it up.
You Have to Like the Genre
Before I begin this review, let me state that I have experienced most of the life changes that Joan Anderson describes in her book: from getting older to empty-nesting to (in my case) a divorce to wondering who and what I am. So I am not unsympathetic to any woman's struggle with the above.
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Subjects:  1. Anderson, Joan    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Cape Cod    7. Feminism & Feminist Theory    8. Massachusetts    9. Regional Subjects - New England    10. Women    11. Biography: general    12. Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory    13. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Economic conditions    2. Feminism    3. Feminism & Feminist Theory    4. Social Science    5. Social conditions    6. Sociology    7. Sociology - General    8. United States    9. Women    10. Women's Studies - General    11. Multicultural studies    12. Social Science / Sociology / General    13. USA    14. Women's studies   

Reviews (4)

A New York Snob Speaks
Nora Ephron is quite sure of herself and her friends, and laughs heartily at the yahoos in the Midwest who cook and love their husbands. While her writing is often amusing, her attitude of condescension and wearying self-glorification is grotesque. And to see her way back at the beginning of the Women's Movement equally sure of how circumstances would improve for women is especially painful. She poo-poohs those who wonder if women's life will actually improve, (and her own "Encounter Group" partners certainly cast doubt upon that) and lives in a world where people such as herself need not be troubled by real life. Funny at times but some material very dated
I enjoyed part of this book.I laughed at a few of her stories but some of the chapters were so dated that I didn't know what she was talking about let alone whether it was funny.Maybe I was a bit too young to appreciate it all.

Love this book
I read this book years ago and bought it again for my daughter.The piece on breasts is just as hilarious and relevant today (sad to say) as it was when I first read it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Feminism    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Form - Essays    4. General    5. Humor    6. Social Science    7. Sociology Of Women    8. United States    9. Women    10. Women's Studies - General    11. English    12. Humor / General    13. Humour collections & anthologies   

Reviews (19)

My Opinion on In a Different Voice
I thought that I was going to be overwhelmed with feminist views when I first checked this book out of the library; I was rather turned off. But when I started to read, I was intrigued. It was interesting to see the contrast between the different genders.
A Myth is Born
In Psychology, as in other academic disciplines, the normal process is to conduct research on significant numbers of subjects, have the methodology and results peer reviewed, publish the research, then perhaps cross over to mass media.Gilligan has used Harvard's cache to ignore this responsible and time honored protocol.She used tiny samples, reached unwarranted conclusions, rushed them into print on the mass market, and started making the talk show circuit.Now, over 20 years later and after thirty some reprintings, she still has not published her research! Furthermore, she refuses to allow other researchers to see her data!
Good starting point for learning about women's psychology
Originally published in 1982, this book was in its 33rd printing when it was reissued in 1993.It describes the developmental differences between men and women and what that means.Harvard professor Carol Gilligan explains that male development has typically focused on separation, individuation, logic, and hierarchy.Female development, on the other hand, has emphasized attachment, relationship, connection, and communication.I had several "ahas!" while reading this book for the first time in 2003.While I've always discounted some of Sigmund Freud's work, it had never occurred to me that much of traditional psychological theory, including the work of Jean Piaget, Erik Erickson, and Lawrence Kohlberg, has also been based on observations of men, then applied to women.As a result of comparisons to male norms that don't fit their own experience, women have often felt discounted and inferior, rather than simply different.It made sense to me that these comparisons and significant developmental differences often result in women feeling selfish and guilty when focusing on their own needs, rather than those of others.It also fit my experience that men and women tend to respond differently to attachment and separation issues.According to Gilligan, men see danger more often in intimacy than in achievement, while women sense more danger in impersonal and competitive situations.Gilligan's observations have generated quite a bit of controversy over the years (as indicated by some of the previous reviews on this list!), but ring true for many women (including me), and have been used as a stepping stone for the work of many later authors. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Developmental Psychology    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Longitudinal studies    4. Mental Health    5. Moral development    6. Psychology    7. Psychology Of Sexuality    8. Sociology    9. Women    10. Women's Studies - General    11. Philosophy & theory of psychology    12. Popular psychology    13. Psychology & Psychiatry / General    14. Social, group or collective psychology    15. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Feminism    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Feminist Philosophy    4. Gender Studies    5. Psychology    6. Social Science    7. Social conditions    8. Sociology    9. Women    10. Women's Studies - General    11. Social Science / Women's Studies   

Editorial Review

Surprisingly, this long essay about society and art and sexism is one of Woolf's most accessible works. Woolf, a major modernist writer and critic, takes us on an erudite yet conversational--and completely entertaining--walk around the history of women in writing, smoothly comparing the architecture of sentences by the likes of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, all the while lampooning the chauvinistic state of university education in the England of her day. When she concluded that to achieve their full greatness as writers women will need a solid income and a privacy, Woolf pretty much invented modern feminist criticism. ... Read more

Reviews (35)

A woman's liberation classic
This is a beautifully written and highly enjoyable exploration of the history of women in writing. It is also a plea for the liberation of women, and their full entrance into the world of Literature. Woolf argues that a woman needs financial independence, a room , that is a space of her own, if she is to be able to truly create. She also needs the kind of access to everyday life that women confined to hearth and home were as she sees it, traditionally denied.
a room for what?
This essay reunites several works from Virginia Woolf about the right of women to possess a place - a room- to read, write and work, intended that not as domestic work as was usual for women during many times.
To get a room of one's own
Woolf's argument that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction," holds true not just for fiction but for any activity a woman wants to pursue. The early 20th century essay is still widely relevant, and not just in developing countries.
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Subjects:  1. 1882-1941    2. Economic conditions    3. Essays    4. Feminism & Feminist Theory    5. Great Britain    6. History and criticism    7. Literary Criticism    8. Literature    9. Literature - Classics / Criticism    10. Theory, etc    11. Women Authors    12. Women and literature    13. Women's Studies - General    14. Woolf, Virginia,    15. Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory    16. Views on authorship    17. Woolf, Virginia   

Editorial Review

The author of the provocative bestseller Read more

Reviews (119)

WTF?
The previous reviewer is a nice example of how a whiny feminist will behave when her lies are exposed, and the truth emerges as the opposite of what she says and believes.
lets move on
this book just reifies the old boy/girl dichotomy.we have to move on from finger pointing to some real issues.are we really to believe that boys are being harmed by feminism? poor things...is there really anything inherent in being a boy or girl.We know that there is not, so how can people still be making these passe and inflamatory arguments.Give me a break.

Important book
This is an important book whether or not you actually have boys yourself.
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Subjects:  1. Adolescence - General    2. Boys    3. Feminism    4. Feminism & Feminist Theory    5. Gender Studies    6. Life Stages - Adolescence    7. Men's Studies - General    8. Psychology    9. Sex Roles (Sociological Aspects)    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. Sociology Of Youth    13. Teenage boys    14. United States    15. Social Science / Gender Studies   

Reviews (53)

Long awaited callenge to the ubiquitous stay-at-home philosophy
For a woman who was raised by a working mom (who still works long into retirement) it's amazing how persuasive the stay-at-home philosophy has been in convincing me that by being a good mom was strongly tied to my willingness to quit work at stay at home.
Something that needed to be said
I picked this book up in a bookstore and couldn't put it down.I had to buy it and take it home so that I could finish reading it.What a book!Thank goodness for people like Linda Hirshman, who are willing to stick their necks out and say what needs to be said, even if it doesn't agree with the latest political fashion.Her premise that women must be present in the decision-making arena if decisions are going to be made that benefit women is just common sense!I have no idea why it's controversial, although I suspect many women who are unhappy with their "choices" are now trying a bit too vigourously to defend them, now that it's too late.I bought a second copy of this book for my mother, the woman who taught me that no capable, adult person should ever be dependent on another person for her support and well-being.I bought a third copy for my sister to share with her 12-year-old daughter, because girls today need to know that the road to happiness, fulfillment and success leads straight through being able to take care of yourself.

Get away from this book
I consider myself to be fairly well-read and definitely interested in women's history and gender issues and I am personally appalled at this book. This is possibly the worst researched and most misinformed book that I have read in a long tim. First, Linda Hirshman seems to care more about Betty Friedan than she does the actual history of the women's movement or the many women (including women of color and women outside the United States) who made an impact on women's lives. Just as a point of reference, Betty Friedan was actually a liberal (not radical) feminist in the second wave of the feminist movement (not the first as Ms. Hirshman claims). Also, while it is important to talk about the experiences of "elite" women, Hirshman ignores the experiences of the majority of women, who may not be white, well-educated, or wealthy. I could go on and on but I would suggest that before Hirshman announces a new type of feminism, she actually studies the feminist movement that already exists. This book is poorly written and does a disservice to women who are actually struggling with raising a family, finding meaningful work, and living in a patriarchical society. I say save your money and by a book by a real feminist...bell hooks, Gloria Steinem, Andrea Dworkin, just to name a few. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 21st century    2. Career Development    3. Careers - General    4. Feminism    5. Feminism & Feminist Theory    6. Personal Growth - Self-Esteem    7. Personal Growth - Success    8. Social Science    9. Social conditions    10. Sociology    11. Sociology Of Women    12. Women    13. Women's Studies - General    14. Women's rights    15. Self-Help / Success   

Reviews (11)

Well-written, well-organized, and... ready to go to work
Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, by Virginia Valian, is a book with a mission.It is not Professor Valian's objective in writing this book to discuss the issues of women in leadership positions with the limited number of other academics studying the issue.It is her objective to shake the people responsible for "the accumulation of disadvantage" of women, and to make them, or their supervisors, accountable for the recruitment and retention of women.
A true eye-opener!
Valian is a cognitive psychologist.I saw her speak at a local university and was impressed by the breadth of evidence she presented re: how ingrained gender discrimination is in the thinking of both men and women, but also with her logical suggestions for addressing this problem.(She, as a matter of fact, was invited by women students and faculty to help them strategize how to get more women into higher positions.)In her convincing talk, I was struck by the evidence that discrimination is not something "done" by men to keep women down, but is, in fact, "done" equally to women by both men and women. So I got her book and was more impressed when I read it. I can't stop recommending this book to every woman I know.
I waited too long to read Prof. Valian's book. Had I been armed with the knowledge offered in it earlier, I might have been spared some of the most unpleasant experiences and obstacles in my professional life. The breadth of the research covered, on everything from how young girls are channeled into certain careers or non-careers to the publishing patterns of men and women in academics, is its most impressive quality. I find myself referring to it often in everyday conversation, and recommending it to female friends and family members of all ages and levels of employment. If I have more confidence and a more positive outlook on my life's work now, it is in large part due to Prof. Valian's superb mega-study and her suggestions for moving forward. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Feminism & Feminist Theory    2. Gender Studies    3. Social Science    4. Sociology    5. Women's Studies - General    6. Women's Studies - History    7. Equal opportunities    8. Labour economics    9. Psychology    10. Women's studies   

Editorial Review

"Literacy has promoted the subjugation of women by men throughout all but the very recent history of the West," writes Leonard Shlain. "Misogyny and patriarchy rise and fall with the fortunes of the alphabetic written word."Read more

Reviews (144)

An interesting and frustrating book
I am all over the map in rating this book.In the end, I am unconvinced, and I think it has a lot of errors and inconsistencies, but it asks interesting questions that are worth examining whether or not the author's thesis is correct.There are parts that deserve five stars and parts that deserve one.
Mind-blowing, a new tint for your filter
Science always begins with a hypothesis.What Leonard Shlain has done here is present a mind-blowing hypothesis, melding the best of recent anthropological discoveries with the best in cognitive research.While in places he stretches to argue his point, for the most part his hypothesis is brilliant and incredibly well-supported.I feel he is unfairly criticized by people who are expecting "fact" to be derived from this, when in fact much of the time period explored is unrecorded history--a time during which we will never know "exactly" what happened. (Never mind the manipulations of recorded history that have followed!)Their very criticisms point to their overdependence on their left brain to evaluate this information in a manner that is literal and unimaginative.
Eye Opener
I read Shlain's book in 1998, a few years before 9/11.If you've read Steven Covey's Seven Habits - you will appreciate this book.If you recall the habit- seek to understand then to be understood.This books gives you a framework to help you understand people and their politics.
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Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Feminism & Feminist Theory    4. Literacy    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Women's Studies - General    8. Social Science / Women's Studies    9. Reading Group Guide   

Subjects:  1. Feminism    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Feminist theory    4. Gender Studies    5. Sex Roles (Sociological Aspects)    6. Sex role    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Philosophy / General   

Editorial Review

In a new introduction to the 10th-anniversary edition of Read more

Reviews (20)

Quick and Clean
The seller shipped this book to me immediately and with the exception of a few notes in the margin (which they warned about) it is in remarkably good condition.Would reccomend.

Imagine Honduran Women makes Clothes in a Sweatshop...
ing clothes....think of the Butlerian strategy of it all!
Consider women working for slave wages in Honduras
making clothes....think of the Butlerian strategy of it all!
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Subjects:  1. Femininity    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Feminist theory    4. Gender Studies    5. Human Sexuality    6. Identity (Psychology)    7. Sex differences (Psychology)    8. Sex role    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. Sociology Of Women    12. Philosophy / General   

Reviews (50)

Friedan and Freud
All right.
You'll never quit your job after reading this book
I read this book in high school, and was very happy to read it again in my 40s. In each instance, the urgency, and the modern-day applications of this work hit me in the face: the American woman exists in a world with extraordinary pressures.The pressure to get married; the pressure to let a man support you; the pressure to fully believe that unless you live your life through your family and solely through your family that you are somehow a failure.
Gives insight into feminism's history
First of all, I recommend everyone to read the book in order to have an idea where a lot of modern day values come from.
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Subjects:  1. Feminism    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Psychology    4. Social Science    5. Social conditions    6. Sociology    7. United States    8. Women    9. Women's Studies - General    10. Popular psychology    11. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Feminism & Feminist Theory    7. Feminists    8. Incest victims    9. Political    10. Political activists    11. Specific Groups - Lesbians    12. United States    13. Women    14. Biography: general    15. Social Science / Gender Studies    16. USA   

Reviews (5)

Great food for thought.
Gotta hand it to Bitch:
No Home Should be Without This Book!
"No home should be without this book.It can save relationships, provide direction for those who want it and offer humor for those who need it."

Good, at times
This collection of articles from Bitch magazine is a necessity to women.I enjoyed quoting it on my blogs and reading sections to my friends while we sat on my patio.
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Subjects:  1. Feminism    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Media Studies - Print Media    4. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    5. Popular Culture    6. Popular Culture - General    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology Of Women    10. United States    11. Women's Studies - General    12. Social Science / Popular Culture   

Reviews (85)

A mirror to my soul
I cherish this book and I read it over and over again .The work of a brilliant woman who becomes ones voice for one so silent . You find yourself agreeing with the author and learning to love the instinctual gifts we as women possess. It is a book for every woman who feels the injustice of a world which undervalues us .
Read IT, LOVED IT 12 years ago and still do
When I see young women who don't trust their gut feelings, who don't envision their full potential, who allow abuse, who lack self-confidence, I WISH THEY WOULD READ "Women Who Run With Wolves."This is not an "easy read," but DO READ IT and become a powerful woman on the inside -- a woman whose soul is steady and strong -- a "Wild Woman."The author of this book taught me the wisdom and lessons of ancient "fairy tales."This author taught me to strengthen my core, my soul, trust my own wisdom, listen to myself and stand tall and firm and strong.
enlightning
This is a serious book on psychology,
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Subjects:  1. Archetype (Psychology)    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Folklore&