Feminisms: Arpita Mukhopadhyay

Non-Fiction

Verdict: Read if you dare

I believe this was another newspaper recco from the same article. I don't run into too many feminist texts that are academically oriented. Most of the feminist books, rants, and manifestos that I come across are largely anecdotal and emotion based. 

Arpita Mukhopadhyay takes apart feminism like a dissection. It's a methodical, clinical, exacting approach. I did get through it, but true to most scientific works, I ended the book wondering what the point of the dissection was aside from defining. 

I'm a feminist in my own way. And I support anyone who cares to be a feminist in his or her own way, aside from fake feminism to confuse people - that sucks. After I read this, I felt that the soul of what feminism is was missing from this book. It's a journey that has been long, bloody, and diverse. Reducing it down to the clinical discussion of definitions, history, and dry examples robs it if the emotions it triggers for what it represents to so many. You can't separate feminism from emotion just like you can't separate sex from an interaction with another human being. Well, hopefully it's a human!

Arpita Mukhopadhyay's book is excellent from a clinical and academic standpoint. She's clearly very smart and very methodical. But I wondered what feminism meant to her. What are we to draw as conclusions from all this data? Perhaps that's the point. Science doesn't always tell us what to think, it tells us facts and sometimes certain conclusions are inevitable. I suggest you read this simply from an academic standpoint if you support feminism. You'll have to reach your own conclusions, which hopefully you've started developing anyhow.

Read it!

~Becky~

The HandMaid's Tail - Margret Atwood

Fiction

Verdict: Not Worth It (2/5)

Overview:

This is one of those novels that you can't even avoid hearing about. I'm not usually a fan of popular English Fiction, but I thought to give it a try. Just FYI - I didn't see the TV series.

The novel is a dystopian version of society where class and gender determine social standing and who breeds.

What I Enjoyed:

The story was easy to read and only took me a few hours. 

What I Disliked:

I understand the attempt at social commentary and feminism, but I was severely disappointed in this novel. The misogynistic cliches weren't anything new and I was again disappointed in a female author using them, even to make a point. There are plenty of opportunities to point out similar injustices in the real world, there really is no point in catering to sadistic wet dreams about subjugating women. 

Summary:

I know it's popular, and people are enjoying talking about it, but that doesn't make it a good novel. This pseudo-feminism and women buying into the weird romance of this type of crap helps no one evolve. Not worth it in my opinion.

 

~Becky~

Woman at Point Zero : Nawal El Saadawi

Non-Fiction

Verdict: Read it

This book came to my attention through either a book list or the suggested reads in the newspaper - I can't quite remember now. Either which way, it was an interesting read. The author takes us through the story of a woman, Firdaus, in prison who has been there for a long time and is on her way to execution. A Psychiatrist goes to the prison to meet her and is met with silence. The woman refuses to speak. After a short while, she begins to share her story and the audience comes to understand that her story isn't a simple one. Sometimes women resort to the only recourse they can when they are abused, and are held accountable for it though the ethics of it are grey. 

The story is a bit slow sometimes, but I got the feeling that was intentional. It's almost like the woman is taking back the small amount of control that she can by controlling the story. You can see dignity there and power. She understands she is going to die and has accepted the verdict.  

The Middle East has a long and complicated history with women's equality. Iran has recently again become regressive, and the Taliban, inspite of numerous promises in Afghanistan has again steadily marched back towards the dark ages for women. This isn't a new story nor is it one that is rare. But the poignancy with which the story is displayed - with a woman in jail awaiting death - relays the helpless and futile situtaions women find themselves in clearly. Sometimes the only choice is to die, either by your oppressor's hand or by the governments if you defend yourself. It's a terrible place to be in. 

Read it.

~Becky~

The Female Gaze - Dr. Shoma A Chatterji

Nonfiction

Read it

As I've mentioned with previous reviews, India has it's own brand of feminism. It ranges from apologist to ineffective firebrand to practical suggestions. Unfotunately, India is still a land where feminism is pared down to a need for security and personal agency. Equality is still a far flung dream for many Indian women. 

This collection of essays has highlighted areas in both home and the outside world where women struggle on many fronts. The essays aren't really a call to action, but they do point out the unvarnished truth of how many women live. It's a tragically frustrating subject to read about, and then undertand how many lives are affected negatively because of tradition and a stranglehold patriarchal society.

To be blunt, essays aren't going to change India. It's a behemouth of a country with issues as long as the day. Undoing the structures that resulted in the current day situation is a concept that I struggle to understand the feasibility of.  But I do believe that continuing to talk about it and make women aware that they are being repressed and that they deserve safety and personal agency is absolutely the only way to keep moving forward. Unfortunately, feminism beyond information is still too scattered in India to be effective.

There's nothing earth shattering in these essays. If you read on this topic and India then nothing said here will surprise you. It will depress you but read it anyways. Look at the ways in your own life (if you are a woman) that you have accepted some of the behaviors that repress you. If you are a man, question some of the assumptions that you've been raised with about your gender role and the role of women in society.

Read it.

~Becky~

Quit Like a Woman - Holly Whitaker

Non-Fiction

Read it!

I had read recommendations about this book from a few places (hello pinterest!) but picked this one up as the subject matter is very personal for me. 

This is an autobiographical type book from Holly Whitaker. She takes us slowly (and sometimes multiple times) through her journey and struggle with Alcohol dependence.  She takes on the patriarchal use of alcohol, how media affects our judgment on seeing alcohol as normal, and the good and bad bits about AA. I found many of the authoress's ideas to be phenominally simple, yet very important. Kind of like obvious things that you should ideally be able to see easily, but don't until someone points them out.

I never thought of Alcohol as a tool of the patriarchy - or a tool of the capitalist market too. Holly makes a point that after a certain point, it made sense to market heavily to women because that's where the market growth was possible. I couldn't agree more. As women, we've also been sold the fallacy that in order to suceed, we need to play like the boys. Cuss, drink whiskey, and not have feelings. Now....there's nothing wrong with any of those things (except maybe the feelings thing - psychopath!) but not only do they not need to be attributed to men, women don't need them to be sucessful, nor do they need to be men in order to get places. 

Holly Whitaker also takes people through the fallacy that AA is the only way to stop drinking. I didn't have much exposure to AA before now - although I was taught this is the holy grail of detox as well - and it's refreshing to hear that there are other options. As an atheist, bringing god into the mix as necessary to get rid of a drinking problem horrified me. She also went into depth about the feelings that people have when they're not sure they drink too much and how they use different metrics to either decide they are fine or lable themselves as alcoholics.

The uses of such lables also was an interesting thought exercise for me. I'm not a big fan of lables, especially those that are closely tied with people's identity.

As I mentioned early, Holly tends to repeat points. It's a common thing as I understand when an author is discussing something close to their heart. It does get a bit tedious though.  With all the hullabaloo about AA not being the answer and Holly hinting that quitting was simple....she provided very little insight into this.  To be honest this was expected from my end, but you can't take away the main point of hope for people then not offer an alternative.

I've had a long and complicated history with alcohol as well. Perhaps not so rough as Holly's, but long and complicated none the less. I still have to make a decision every once in a while not to drink. Of all the complicated relationships I've ever been in, this one is by far the most difficult to deal with and I appreciated the thought and encouragment that the author put into this book. I hope many more people read it, especially the ones who need to read it most.  I'd encourage you to read it, even if you don't have (or suspect you have) a drinking problem. It will help you re-evaluate your relationship with alcohol and the motivations and factors that can go into drinking.

~Becky~

Against Our Will - Men, Women, and Rape - Susan Brownmiller

As I've mentioned in my other blogs, I live in India. India has a rape problem - a big, ugly one. Understandably, assaulted females have been on my mind as of late, which is why I picked up this book.

I found it to be a very interesting read. Susan Brownmiller brought up many historical contexts and proposed rationale for rape (both in U.S. culture and other countries) and how man's historical, archaic superiority complex and property ownership has led to a current culture of rape. I cautiously agree with some of her precepts and found myself often stopping to consider things I hadn't thought of before. This is the mark of a good book for me, whether I find myself agreeing in the end or not. I found the identified motivation for rape to be refreshingly accurate in a world where the motivation is still thought to be sexual.

Susan Brownmiller is the archetypal old school feminist in my mind. This should not surprise anyone, and if you are of the younger generation and not well versed in the previous generations feminists, you need to read up on that. The old schools are the reason women live a reasonable free and equal existence in the western world. Of course it's not perfect, but it's not terrible compared to some places in the world, like India where I live.

With this outlook in mind, I find myself wondering as to Brownmiller's assumptions and assertions that men are responsible for all of women's misery, which definitely makes an appearance in historical examples. The man who commits a rape is definitely to blame for that rape, but men in general are not necessarily to blame for societal constructs, especially when it sounds like women are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

I also found Susan Brownmiller's belittling of men's fear of being falsely accused of rape a bit much. I would never advocate ignoring/guilting a woman who says she has been raped, but Pottiphar's wife cannot possibly be the first/only/last woman who has ever claimed something falsely. Police, courts, and justice are not infallible and for a man who was truly innocent, the prospect of being thrown in jail for something he didn't do, have his reputation trashed, and have restrictions placed on him even after prison would be enough to make him fight back.

Brownmiller comes from a generation when anger and blame was effective for feminism. New age feminists no longer look at men with anger and blame, even if current ideas (both recognized and subliminal) are not acceptable. This makes it hard for me to swallow the feminist agenda that shines through loud and strong in this 400 page treatise on bodily invasion.

I was also puzzled by Brownmiller's angry ending tirade against pornography. Any pornography at all is seen as a "chic" diversionary enjoyment that people are now tolerant of but is actually a huge debasement to women both acting in porn or who are watching it. Sorry, no. Being aroused by seeing sexuality and sexual acts is as old as time and has never been confined to men. Nor is the act of sex ever degrading to women in a consensual relationship. This is where I start to have huge problems with old school feminism. By blaming men, some women actually participate in placing additional/unnecessary limits on women. It was an ineffective and puzzling end to an otherwise insightful book on the motivations and act of rape.

New school feminism focuses (or should, in my humble opinion) on a woman doing what she wants to, regardless of what men or other women think of her. This is where real freedom and equality lies.

Verdict: Every woman should read books of this sort. Even though I couldn't put it down in a morbidly curious way (which I'm actually ashamed of for some reason), feminism and the subject of rape are something every woman, no matter how young or old, should spend time contemplating. After all, it's when you don't have your own opinions that others step in for you and give you opinions to have, which is unhealthy. I think it would be beneficial in general for men to read. If the problem of entitlement comes out into the open, perhaps we can reduce it, if not end it. Read it.