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Feminista: Gender, Race, and Class in the Philippines
This collection of writings by feminist philosophers, media practitioners, cultural critics, lawyers, theologians, entrepreneurs, and political lobbyist from DLSU is evidence of the continuing relevance of gender-related debates in the Philippines. Here, the reader will find a range of philosophical and critical essays reflecting on feminist issues, particularly in the Filipino context.
216 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2011
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May 25, 2020
Summary: Educational and worth reading, but not enjoyable for me.
Last week was the first week in some time that I've not posted to my blog, but it was even more unusual that I didn't read a single book. That had something to do with how busy I was at work and with my desire to catch up on reading The Atlantic, but I think part of it is also that I was recovering from this book! I was briefly in the Philippines in grad school and was excited to find this collection of essays on feminism in the Philippines. What I didn't realize was that this is an extremely academic collection. It's only 200 pages, but it took me a full week to read. It was such slow going!
Although I'm not rating this highly, because I mostly rate based on how much I enjoyed a book, it was definitely a worthwhile read. Like eating vegetables - not always fun, but good for me. In addition to being academic, there were a few major flaws that kept me from enjoying this more. Some of the essays were not only academic, but abstract and theoretical. I'm never certain with essays like this if I simply don't know enough to understand them or if the authors really aren't saying something meaningful. Some of the essays felt off-topic, including one that focused more on religion than feminism. One essay actually felt more sexist than feminist, with the male author arguing that feminists should blame the system and not be so made at men - they can't control their beliefs, after all. That one was infuriating and strange to find in a collection on feminism.
I did learn a lot reading this. One of the first essays was a fascinating survey of the different beliefs held by feminist activists in the Philippines. This one was both enjoyable and educational. Of the others, even those that weren't fun still taught me a lot. I learned more about the state of feminism in the Philippines and what life is like for women there. I've also done very little prior reading on different feminist frameworks, so some of the more basic theoretical information was new to me and easy enough to follow that I could learn from it. Overall, I'm definitely glad I read this, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed reading it.This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
Last week was the first week in some time that I've not posted to my blog, but it was even more unusual that I didn't read a single book. That had something to do with how busy I was at work and with my desire to catch up on reading The Atlantic, but I think part of it is also that I was recovering from this book! I was briefly in the Philippines in grad school and was excited to find this collection of essays on feminism in the Philippines. What I didn't realize was that this is an extremely academic collection. It's only 200 pages, but it took me a full week to read. It was such slow going!
Although I'm not rating this highly, because I mostly rate based on how much I enjoyed a book, it was definitely a worthwhile read. Like eating vegetables - not always fun, but good for me. In addition to being academic, there were a few major flaws that kept me from enjoying this more. Some of the essays were not only academic, but abstract and theoretical. I'm never certain with essays like this if I simply don't know enough to understand them or if the authors really aren't saying something meaningful. Some of the essays felt off-topic, including one that focused more on religion than feminism. One essay actually felt more sexist than feminist, with the male author arguing that feminists should blame the system and not be so made at men - they can't control their beliefs, after all. That one was infuriating and strange to find in a collection on feminism.
I did learn a lot reading this. One of the first essays was a fascinating survey of the different beliefs held by feminist activists in the Philippines. This one was both enjoyable and educational. Of the others, even those that weren't fun still taught me a lot. I learned more about the state of feminism in the Philippines and what life is like for women there. I've also done very little prior reading on different feminist frameworks, so some of the more basic theoretical information was new to me and easy enough to follow that I could learn from it. Overall, I'm definitely glad I read this, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed reading it.This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
Displaying 1 of 1 review