Helen Lewis (2) (1983–)

This is one of those rare treasures - a book written by a Gen-Xer that is extremely readable and funny, while treating a serious subject in a serious manner. The author uses Gen-X snark well, without overdoing it, or doing it in a way that would leave other generations cringing or unimpressed. The book deals with a number of difficult women, some of whom were not familiar even to someone who reads a lot of feminist literature. She openly discusses the flaws and blemishes, treating her subjects as human, not cleaning them up into demigods. The only reason this book lost a star was her discussion of the problems males had and her insistence that feminism needed to deal with those. Feminism is not about males, and does not need to deal with any male problems it did not create. Yes, those may be important problems, though her own explication of why the males have problems shows plainly that they are inherent in the culture that surrounds males, and in the attitudes of the males, not in the matrix of feminism. For that reason, we have no obligation to deal with them; they are welcome to form their own movements. Or the MRAs could actually do something for them. Other than that downside, it's an enjoyable and enlightening, well written book.… (mehr)

The other title for this book was "A History of Feminism in 11 Fights". The fights were..... divorce, the vote, sex, play, work, safety, love, education, time and abortion. Helen did a very good job introducing the historical characters and circumstances behind these fights with a sprinkle of personal stories added too. I had watched the controversial interview that she had with Jordan Peterson where the two locked horns and was intrigued to then read her book. i think they both got off to a bad start and it's a shame as they really had a lot of concerns they could have explored together. Lewis is a good writer and has written for The Atlantic, Guardian and much more. I was sympathetic to her point of view. Maybe she is a bit of a "difficult woman" too!

My criticism might be that H.Lewis should have included a #12 fight that would have been with transgender activists who are adversely impacting women's rights (prisons, lesbians, rape and domestic violence shelters, crime statistics, sporting competitions, sex related spaces (washrooms, change rooms etc.)… (mehr)