The Female Woman

by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington

Genres: Feminism, Womens, Gender, Nonfiction

175 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

When she got married the author Arianna Stassinopoulos briefly used the name Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington before switching to Arianna Huffington which she continues to use. Please see the Arianna Huffington author profile for a full list of her books.

Reviews

[RachelHeath123aol.Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a logical, fair, and utterly devastating critique of the excesses of feminist extremism. Huffington recognized the need to expand opportunities for women as well as the justice of our genuine grievances. But she also knew that the "battle of the sexes" is a foolish premise and that men and women are not bitter enemies in some age-old "plot" by one half of the species against the other. She also recognized that while women enter into a variety of professions and occupations previously closed to them, they will not turn their backs on such basic, necessary relationships as marriage and family. The title, "The Female Woman," is a pointed rejoinder to Germaine Greer's "The Female Eunuch," and Huffington shows the extreme bias and foolishness rampant in that book as well as the other big "Libber" volume, Kate Millett's misguided "Sexual Politics."
A must-read for anyone interested in gender issues.

[Taylor Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed the way I think about feminism or the liberation feminists. My younger self would be angry at me for reading this but young Ariana is wise beyond her years she foresaw the contradictions and excesses of the liberation movement. She spoke for the middle and she did it in such an intelligent way. I am shocked and inspired that she wrote this book in her earlier twenties.

[Ellie Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a logical critique of the liberation-feminist movement. The author takes vital segments of the movement and puts them under a microscope (metaphorically speaking), to tease apart the underlying messages being promoted to young women.

Although this book was written decades ago, the author was ahead of her time and predicted many of the issues we are seeing today within the modern liberation-feminist movement, and in society in general in regard to gender.

I wasn't sure how I would feel upon first starting this book. However, by the end of it, I came away with a new appreciation for how such movements can have a powerful impact on how we view the world and our place in it, and how such movements can also act to constrain our thoughts and actions toward our own (and the opposite) sex.

[Shawna]

8/25/09: This book is waiting for me to pick it up from the library today. I can't wait to read it!