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The Public Woman
Women have never had more freedom yet questions of inequality persist from the bedroom to the workplace. A quarter of a century after the publication of her seminal text Misogynies, Joan Smith looks at what women have achieved – and the price they’ve paid for it.
From Amy Winehouse to Pussy Riot, from the veil to domestic violence, a war is being fought over women’s bodies and minds. Smith shows how misogyny has assumed new and dangerous forms as we confront an economic, social and religious backlash.
But that’s only part of the story. The female eunuch has become the public woman, and she isn’t going to go quietly. Written with wit and passion, this forensic analysis sets out what we’re up against – and how to fight back
Joan Smith is a novelist, columnist and human rights activist. She has been involved in campaigns for free expression, authors’ rights, and literacy in Sierra Leone. She currently speaks for Hacked Off, the organisation which represents victims of phone hacking. She is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society and supports Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state.
From Amy Winehouse to Pussy Riot, from the veil to domestic violence, a war is being fought over women’s bodies and minds. Smith shows how misogyny has assumed new and dangerous forms as we confront an economic, social and religious backlash.
But that’s only part of the story. The female eunuch has become the public woman, and she isn’t going to go quietly. Written with wit and passion, this forensic analysis sets out what we’re up against – and how to fight back
Joan Smith is a novelist, columnist and human rights activist. She has been involved in campaigns for free expression, authors’ rights, and literacy in Sierra Leone. She currently speaks for Hacked Off, the organisation which represents victims of phone hacking. She is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society and supports Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state.
286 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2013
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Joan Smith
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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 10, 2019
1.5 stars
When I first read this last year I was primed to agree with every word, but even then, before I had learned to distrust feminisms that demanded 'equality' and gave instructions on how to be a woman, I was pretty strongly repelled by Smith's style of personal attacks and ahistorical psychoanalytical explanation.* I lost my last vestiges of working-class enthusiasm for the royals at some point while Kate was in labour, but my eyebrows were sky-high reading Smith criticise her for being 'unambitious', 'workshy', wearing 'dull' clothes(!!!) and 'playing the most traditional feminine role of all: waiting for a husband, getting married and... becoming pregnant'. Obviously, only a complete failure would do something so pathetic(!!!!)
This is *cough* not my feminism.
Diana gets dragged in to the same chapter. Elsewhere, Amy Winehouse gets kicked around, with Whitney Houston dragged casually and it seems to me, wildly inappropriately, into the mud with her. Smith's comment on Houston's appearance at her funeral 'more suitable for a party' is just bang out of order. What the hell? Ex-glamour model Katie Price gets a going-over too. Smith is derisive about Price's 'choices' but elsewhere asserts that woman should be able to choose to appear sexy. I can't work out how to reconcile this; Smith makes herself the arbiter of acceptable female gender performance. No implants.
(yes it is assumed throughout that all women have breasts and vaginas)
In my opinion there is no serious structural analysis here. It's all statistics and psychological speculation. In the case of men who murder their families, her views strike a chord with me and I think they suggest a direction that community-based support and activism could usefully explore. There are some handy stats on the disproportionate effects of public sector cuts on women. But when Smith powersplains the meaning of the niqab I'm out. Ditto the purpose of female genital cutting. I'm pretty sure gender inequality isn't stubbornly persisting due to vagina-phobia.
*I DESPISE psychoanalysis & the horse it rode in on
When I first read this last year I was primed to agree with every word, but even then, before I had learned to distrust feminisms that demanded 'equality' and gave instructions on how to be a woman, I was pretty strongly repelled by Smith's style of personal attacks and ahistorical psychoanalytical explanation.* I lost my last vestiges of working-class enthusiasm for the royals at some point while Kate was in labour, but my eyebrows were sky-high reading Smith criticise her for being 'unambitious', 'workshy', wearing 'dull' clothes(!!!) and 'playing the most traditional feminine role of all: waiting for a husband, getting married and... becoming pregnant'. Obviously, only a complete failure would do something so pathetic(!!!!)
This is *cough* not my feminism.
Diana gets dragged in to the same chapter. Elsewhere, Amy Winehouse gets kicked around, with Whitney Houston dragged casually and it seems to me, wildly inappropriately, into the mud with her. Smith's comment on Houston's appearance at her funeral 'more suitable for a party' is just bang out of order. What the hell? Ex-glamour model Katie Price gets a going-over too. Smith is derisive about Price's 'choices' but elsewhere asserts that woman should be able to choose to appear sexy. I can't work out how to reconcile this; Smith makes herself the arbiter of acceptable female gender performance. No implants.
(yes it is assumed throughout that all women have breasts and vaginas)
In my opinion there is no serious structural analysis here. It's all statistics and psychological speculation. In the case of men who murder their families, her views strike a chord with me and I think they suggest a direction that community-based support and activism could usefully explore. There are some handy stats on the disproportionate effects of public sector cuts on women. But when Smith powersplains the meaning of the niqab I'm out. Ditto the purpose of female genital cutting. I'm pretty sure gender inequality isn't stubbornly persisting due to vagina-phobia.
*I DESPISE psychoanalysis & the horse it rode in on
January 6, 2014
This is really, really good. It's a sort of State of Women in the twenty-first century, done through a series of case studies. There are pieces on certain 'public' women who have received a lot of attention in the last decade, like Amy Winehouse, Rebekah Brooks, Amanda Knox and Kate Middleton, and pieces more broadly on 'women's issues' that have dominated the news - domestic violence, veiling, honour killings, Pussy Riot, women in parliament, etc.
So it's broad in scope but it's really well researched and evidenced throughout, and Joan Smith writes in such a straightforward, engaging, lucid way that it's also kind of a page-turner,.
Sometimes I suffer from preaching to the choir fatigue when I read feminist cultural critiques like this, and it brings out my inner contrarian - also you wonder how much more there can be to say about some of these topics. But this surprised me - there's some really, I thought, insightful stuff in here, especially concerning race/gender/class intersections. For instance, I was really convinced by Smith's argument for understanding honour killings within a larger, cross-cultural context of domestic violence. Likewise, her point that race played 'a sensational but confusing part' in the headline-grabbing cases involving British Asian men and the 'grooming' and sexual abuse of young girls. Smith suggests that that these cases might have as much to do with men who work in night-time economies (like takeaways and taxi firms), and who therefore have a certain kind of access to vulnerable children from chaotic backgrounds, as they have to do with race.
I'm sure there were a few things I disagreed with (I forget what), but I love the way that Smith just reframes some of these very familiar conversations in thoughtful and subtly surprising ways.
It's a very topical, of-its-moment book, which makes it a fantastically compelling read in 2014, but I do wonder if it will seem a bit dated in a few years. I think it's brilliant, though, regardless.
So it's broad in scope but it's really well researched and evidenced throughout, and Joan Smith writes in such a straightforward, engaging, lucid way that it's also kind of a page-turner,.
Sometimes I suffer from preaching to the choir fatigue when I read feminist cultural critiques like this, and it brings out my inner contrarian - also you wonder how much more there can be to say about some of these topics. But this surprised me - there's some really, I thought, insightful stuff in here, especially concerning race/gender/class intersections. For instance, I was really convinced by Smith's argument for understanding honour killings within a larger, cross-cultural context of domestic violence. Likewise, her point that race played 'a sensational but confusing part' in the headline-grabbing cases involving British Asian men and the 'grooming' and sexual abuse of young girls. Smith suggests that that these cases might have as much to do with men who work in night-time economies (like takeaways and taxi firms), and who therefore have a certain kind of access to vulnerable children from chaotic backgrounds, as they have to do with race.
I'm sure there were a few things I disagreed with (I forget what), but I love the way that Smith just reframes some of these very familiar conversations in thoughtful and subtly surprising ways.
It's a very topical, of-its-moment book, which makes it a fantastically compelling read in 2014, but I do wonder if it will seem a bit dated in a few years. I think it's brilliant, though, regardless.
May 19, 2013
I was not without reservations when I picked this one up and began to read. I had no doubts it would be well-researched, would cover ground that needed covering, say things that needed to be said and I knew that all in all I was going to be in sympathy with its general message, but I wondered if it might be hard-going. Would I feel preached at?
Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. It was riveting. It was fact-heavy and fascinating. I was captured from the opening paragraph of the introduction. Sure the subject matter is pretty heavy, but the treatment was deft and enthralling. I had to make myself put it down at the end of the Intro to get on with my day job, but I’d finished it by the end of the following day.
The opening chapter on modern narcissism gives a fascinating insight into the lives of some celebrity women (without patronising them – there’s a refreshing change). The chapter on FGM is grim – it couldn't be otherwise – but it’s a stark and badly needed reminder that this is a global problem, not someone else’s. It was interesting to see certain press cultures laid bare from within, elements from the Leveson enquiry that didn't make it to public consciousness. And in amongst the many cases quoted, I was pleased to see a detailed exploration of the appalling case of Amanda Knox, crucified not only in an Italian court, but also in the press in the UK and USA; all this not only in the absence of evidence against her, but in the face of evidence that backed her innocence of the crime for which she was convicted. Shades of the conviction of Edith Thompson. Thompson’s conviction for murder was essentially censure for her extra marital affair. Knox’s was disturbingly similar, but this is the 21st century, for heaven’s sake, not the 1920s.
We've come a long way, but Smith provides a timely (and extremely well written) reminder that we've a long way yet to go.
Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. It was riveting. It was fact-heavy and fascinating. I was captured from the opening paragraph of the introduction. Sure the subject matter is pretty heavy, but the treatment was deft and enthralling. I had to make myself put it down at the end of the Intro to get on with my day job, but I’d finished it by the end of the following day.
The opening chapter on modern narcissism gives a fascinating insight into the lives of some celebrity women (without patronising them – there’s a refreshing change). The chapter on FGM is grim – it couldn't be otherwise – but it’s a stark and badly needed reminder that this is a global problem, not someone else’s. It was interesting to see certain press cultures laid bare from within, elements from the Leveson enquiry that didn't make it to public consciousness. And in amongst the many cases quoted, I was pleased to see a detailed exploration of the appalling case of Amanda Knox, crucified not only in an Italian court, but also in the press in the UK and USA; all this not only in the absence of evidence against her, but in the face of evidence that backed her innocence of the crime for which she was convicted. Shades of the conviction of Edith Thompson. Thompson’s conviction for murder was essentially censure for her extra marital affair. Knox’s was disturbingly similar, but this is the 21st century, for heaven’s sake, not the 1920s.
We've come a long way, but Smith provides a timely (and extremely well written) reminder that we've a long way yet to go.
September 4, 2019
Terribly judgemental and very surface grazing. She doesn’t really give us anything apart from her own opinion on the subject and basically spends her time ripping other women to pieces without actually diving deeper into the complexities of the situation and culture that they (and we) reside in. There is absolutely no nuance whatsoever. The text itself has aged terribly. I was going to give this to the charity shop but I think I’ll just bin it so at least one less person will have to go through the same frustrations I felt when reading the book.
It’s a shame because she could have definitely done a better job with the subjects she picked - I personally love dissecting pop culture but only when it’s done in a much more three dimensional way where the reader doesn’t feel so attacked by the writers opinions. I’ve read feminist books from the late 90s which have aged better than this piece of crap.
If you’re looking for something more substantial and well rounded with plenty of further reading, I highly recommend ‘Fantasies of Femininity’ by Jade Ussher instead.
It’s a shame because she could have definitely done a better job with the subjects she picked - I personally love dissecting pop culture but only when it’s done in a much more three dimensional way where the reader doesn’t feel so attacked by the writers opinions. I’ve read feminist books from the late 90s which have aged better than this piece of crap.
If you’re looking for something more substantial and well rounded with plenty of further reading, I highly recommend ‘Fantasies of Femininity’ by Jade Ussher instead.
March 17, 2018
Very well writte, informative yet hard hitting. Entertaining at times.
August 4, 2013
Read this book as the twitter abuse debate raged on. Smith is both eloquent and powerful and her examination of attitudes towards domestic violence, rape are as effective as her coverage of individual women's lives such as Amanda Knox or Amy Winehouse.
I think the chapter of familicide will haunt me for a long time.
I think the chapter of familicide will haunt me for a long time.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews