book reviews
Must-read books for and about women, including thought-provoking novels, business books, memoirs and feminist histories.
All Heterosexual Sex Is Rape
At first, I misunderstood the premise of Andrea Dworkin’s book, Intercourse, to mean heterosexual sex is rape. I fell into the trap of believing her critics without reading the book myself, but when I finally did read it, I was angry how reviewers misled the public into thinking she insisted all intercourse between a man and a woman is rape.
Nancy FingerhoodPublished 6 years ago in VivaExplaining Away Mansplaining
When writing a personal piece, an author tries to make connections to their audience through their own experiences. This can be done in order to teach a moral lesson, or to give a perspective on an aspect of life that can referred to as taboo. The most prominent would be the oppression of power of women. “Men Explain Things to Me,” an essay by Rebecca Solnit, reflects on Solnit’s experiences of being constrained by a man at a party. Solnit’s essay will be examined alongside Roland Barthes’ “Death of the Author,” which examines the relationships between the author and the reader. This essay will explore Solnit’s style of writing, and how well her written experiences can connect with her audience.
Stephanie MosconePublished 6 years ago in VivaThe Lost Art of Being a Gentlewoman
There is a book that I have taken with me though every move in the past 20 years. It’s dog-eared and a bit battered, but it’s the one thing I always have with me. Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach is one of those ”thought for every day of the year” books. The purpose is stated as giving the reader a blueprint to live a simple yet fruitful life. However, I believe another intent is to show women how to live as a gentlewoman.
Beth GrossPublished 6 years ago in VivaHave You Read This Yet? 'Milk and Honey' by Rupi Kaur (Pt. 2)
In the first article of this series, I introduced the book Milk and Honey, a book mixed of poetry and an autobiography. The stark truths were hard to swallow as they came relentlessly and without embellishment. Plain, concise, and simple the truths were hard hits that compelled me to continue reading. Now, for the readers, the next section will be reviewed and hopefully give even more reasons to go and pick up that book from the shelves. We continue, with the loving.
Delise FantomePublished 6 years ago in Viva'The Goddess Revolution:' Book Review
Reading has always been a huge love of mine. To find escape within the pages of a book is one of my favorite ways to spend time, so I've decided to start writing reviews and sharing my good reads with you guys.
Nicole SittarichPublished 6 years ago in VivaHave You Read This Yet? 'Milk and Honey' by Rupi Kaur - Part 1
(WARNING: This book does touch on subjects such as rape, abuse, and other sensitive subjects. Read this, and the book, with caution and care to your mental well being)
Delise FantomePublished 6 years ago in VivaPride and Prejudice
Marriage has yet to be perfected as it is constantly evolving. This very progression has brought about the digression of how we compare to the 18th century world of Pride and Prejudice inhabits. As this infamous novel makes its way back into societies hearts, it stirs discussion of ideology and cultural differences as they contrast with today. A satirical work, Jane Austen managed to craft a story that evidently stands the test of time. Reaching the masses through movies and shows and plays, Pride and Prejudice has become, yet again, an advocate to the young of today as inspiration to shape your own lifestyle, redefine relationships, and stand for, or against, social issues.
Kayla StarrPublished 6 years ago in VivaSurviving Sexual Violence. Feminist Perspectives
Author of the book: Liz Kelly Year of publication: 1988 Book title: Surviving Sexual Violence Publisher: Polity Press Liz Kelly was born in 1951 and she has been a feminist researcher and activist ever since she got involved in Women’s Liberation Movement in 1973. She also worked in her local refuge, Rape Crisis group, and Women’s Centre (Kelly, 1988). From 1987 she has been working in the Child and Women Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU), University of North London and her involvement also include managing a Council of Europe group of specialists for developing a plan of action on violence against women (Radford, Friedberg & Harne, 2000). Kelly has written several books, journal articles and papers on violence against women and children and her book, Surviving Sexual Violence, discussed below, was published more than a decade after the first refuge for abused women opened in England, followed by several support groups and projects world-wide for battered women (Kelly, 1988). For her, feminism is a belief that women are oppressed which leads to a responsibility for eliminating that oppression by being a part of the fight against it (Kelly, 1990). Among the projects she was involved in is a funded research for a local authority that was aiming to investigate services in Hammersmith and Fulham for women facing sexual abuse from their male partners (McGibbon, Cooper & Kelly, 1989 apud Kelly, 1990).
Monica PanaitPublished 6 years ago in VivaMust Read Feminist Books
The mind of a feminist is more powerful and open-minded than most others. Why? Their main focus in life is to gain equalization for both genders — to demolish gender roles, stereotypes, and everything else that's preventing women from being themselves. As sad as it is, we do need feminism in this world, because certain parts of society have a backwards mentality that can't fathom certain things when it comes to gender roles — in which case they need to understand the guide to feminism. And this strived numerous feminist writers to write down their thoughts in the form of stories to pass on significant messages.
Rachel BlanchardPublished 6 years ago in VivaCompanions, Concubines, and Chastities — Is this the Female Future?
Louise O'Neill's award winning novel Only Ever Yours is catagorised as dystopian, but reading it I didn't feel like I was entering a disastrous future world, full of prophesies yet to pass — it felt like I was looking in to the minds of men like Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, and Ted Turner, suddenly privy to their not-so-secret fantasies of how women could best be trained to serve them.
The Rhetorical Analysis of Peggy Orenstein's 'Just Between You, Me, and My 622 Bffs'
When I first got into Facebook and Twitter, I got bullied because of my weight and looks. I would have people comment on my pictures "You're fat," "You are a cunt," "You need to lose weight," "It looks like your face got ran over a bus six times," and the worst one, "You're too ugly to be alive." This, of course, killed me inside. I stayed home for days at a time thinking to myself, "Am I really that ugly?" When I would go to school, I'd ignore everybody because I was afraid that they would start telling me all of those things to my face. But then I met my friend Adrianna in seventh grade. Adrianna always stuck up for me when people would start to call me names. Adrianna and my cousin Brittany were the two that made me feel good about myself. They made it so I wouldn't care what people would think, but then the bullying started to get worse. I went to my principal and tried talking to him about what was going on.
Kristina BratschPublished 6 years ago in VivaIn Defense Of Minor Characters
We have seen what’s on the road. We’ve seen the drug hazed, beautiful rot that followed a generation of lost boys, straight out of Peter Pan, as they searched a postwar concealer-soaked country for an example–or even just an explanation–of masculinity and what it means to be a man. We’ve seen this trauma, but it would be foolish and a tad bit pig-headed to think that the trauma of the lost boys was the only one out there. Minor Characters is not only important, but it’s essential, because it shows us the generation of lost girls. The girls under glass and in the bell jar.
Destiny SmithPublished 7 years ago in Viva