Review: Feminasty by Erin Gibson

Feminasty

by Erin Gibson

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Pages: 288

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Since women earned the right to vote a little under one hundred years ago, our progress hasn't been the Olympic sprint toward gender equality first wave feminists hoped for, but more of a slow, elderly mall walk (with frequent stops to Cinnabon) over the four hundred million hurdles we still face. Some of these obstacles are obvious-unequal pay, under-representation in government, reproductive restrictions, lack of floor-length mirrors in hotel rooms. But a lot of them are harder to identify. They're the white noise of oppression that we've accepted as lady business as usual, and the patriarchy wants to keep it that way.

Erin Gibson has a singular goal-to create a utopian future where women are recognized as humans. In FEMINASTY-titled after her nickname on the hit podcast "Throwing Shade"-she has written a collection of make-you-laugh-until-you-cry essays that expose the hidden rules that make life as a woman unnecessarily hard and deconstructs them in a way that's bold, provocative and hilarious. 

Whether it's shaming women for having their periods, allowing them into STEM fields but never treating them like they truly belong, or dictating strict rules for how they should dress in every situation, Erin breaks down the organized chaos of old fashioned sexism, intentional and otherwise, that systemically keeps women down.

Kritters Thoughts:  I don't read a lot of non fiction and every year I hope to rectify that and read just a little more than I did the year before.  When I was approved to read this book on Netgalley, I was excited to read something a little out of my comfort zone.  

With this review, I am going to try to not get too political, but at least say that socially I lean left and in my viewpoint Erin Gibson doesn't lean left she sit squarely on the left side of the world.  I think because of this her book would be polarizing and if I didn't at least lean that way, I would have had a harder time reading this - still had a little bit of a hard time.  

I say all of the above, but will give her a lot of credit because in almost all of the essays I learned something new.  There were many points that I maybe didn't completely agree with, but I at least learned something and when I read non fiction that is my goal - to learn something.  My absolute favorite essay was the one on periods.  I love the extreme honesty and candor on this subject that both women and men shy away from talking about.  She said things that I would love to say to the men in my life!

I read the essay about the need for women to support each other and I completely agree, so I hate to say what I need to say next, but I felt as though in most of her essays she was a little shouty.  This goes with the above thoughts and her extreme feelings, so I understand that she is extra passionate, but there were some moments where I had to put it down and come back later.  

I am glad I read this one, but will need a break from this genre for a bit before I can come back and read another.


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 71 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.