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Threatening Women: A Cultural History of Why Ireland Shamed and Contained Women
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 20, 2025
So this is a five star read in terms of what I know it to be, which is a side project that the author felt pulled towards while working on a much larger project. It's a super quick read, full of useful information, and seemed to lay bare so many truths that I knew in my bones but didn't quite have the language to describe.
That said, I want so much more. I want the 500-page version of this book. I want more analysis, more detail. This book felt like wetting my appetite for more serious academic literature on the same topic.
Also, the author's continued use of the name "Southern Ireland" was... questionable. Given the time period she was dealing with, the Free State would have worked fine.
That said, I want so much more. I want the 500-page version of this book. I want more analysis, more detail. This book felt like wetting my appetite for more serious academic literature on the same topic.
Also, the author's continued use of the name "Southern Ireland" was... questionable. Given the time period she was dealing with, the Free State would have worked fine.
April 2, 2025
Women in Ireland were shamed and contained, by the English, by the Catholic Church, by the Magdalene asylums, by folktales and fairy lore, by the capitalist agenda, through education, in the name of a free Ireland, and in the name of a “civilized”stronger nation.
Belinda unpacks all of this in a concise and succinct way that leaves you with a complete history behind the act of how women were put in their place for centuries.
Belinda unpacks all of this in a concise and succinct way that leaves you with a complete history behind the act of how women were put in their place for centuries.
January 16, 2025
Full of insight.
If you are a woman in Ireland or know one, you will benefit from reading this book.
If you are a woman in Ireland or know one, you will benefit from reading this book.
July 14, 2026
I found some of it repetitive and wished it were longer and more detailed. It read like she was doing a precis of some of her work. Some anecdotal evidence would have enhanced the work.
I was raised in forties, fifties, and emigrated in 1967. I related to all she wrote but felt it was more like an appetizer and would have liked a whole meal. The effects on women like myself raised in a household where the boys got advanced education and the girls kitted out for limited careers until they got married and bred.
I was fortunate in my emigration and for the first time in my life felt free of the constraints of living in such a misogynistic society. Though, admittedly, it took me a while to see the light. Thank you Ms Magazine.
More needs to be done on the psychological effects on the women in Ireland. Repression is torture.
I was raised in forties, fifties, and emigrated in 1967. I related to all she wrote but felt it was more like an appetizer and would have liked a whole meal. The effects on women like myself raised in a household where the boys got advanced education and the girls kitted out for limited careers until they got married and bred.
I was fortunate in my emigration and for the first time in my life felt free of the constraints of living in such a misogynistic society. Though, admittedly, it took me a while to see the light. Thank you Ms Magazine.
More needs to be done on the psychological effects on the women in Ireland. Repression is torture.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews