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Feminist Ütopya Projesi
Değişime olan inançsızlık dünyanın sonunun eli kulağında olduğuna inanılmasına, türlü türlü distopyaların kurgulanmasına zemin hazırlıyor. Kadınların çeşitli biçimlerde anbean maruz kaldığı şiddet birçoklarınca kanıksanıp olağanlaştırılırken, kadın özgürleşmesinin siyasi ifadesi olan ucu açık bir tasarı olarak feminizmin sesleri de çeşitli mecralarda tektipleştirilerek itibarsızlaştırılıyor. Fakat kadınlar direnip mücadele etmeye, başka bir dünyanın hayalini kurmaya devam ediyorlar. Alexandra Brodsky ve Rachel Kauder Nalebuff’ın bu doğrultuda editörlüğünü yaptığı Feminist Ütopya Projesi: Daha İyi Bir Gelecek İçin Elli Yedi Tahayyül’de işte bu türden hayaller boy veriyor ve yenilikçi görüşler, kesif karamsarlığa inat, bambaşka bir dünyaya giden yolun taşlarını sebatla ve neşeyle döşemeye girişiyor. Makalelerden denemelere, şiirlerden öykülere, çizimlerden söyleşilere uzanan biçimsel çeşitliliğiyle, istediğiniz kısımdan okumanıza olanak tanıyan yapısıyla, toplu halde âdeta bir takımyıldızı izlenimi veren fikirlerinin zenginliğiyle bu derleme kitap, okurlarını kendi feminist tahayyüllerini oluşturmaya da kışkırtıyor.
Adına yaraşır biçimde feminist olan bir toplumda sanat, cinsellik, çalışma hayatı, eğitim, moda, dil, mutfak, spor, tıp, hukuk, sinema ve ilişkiler neye benzerdi? Feminist Ütopya Projesi statükoya kafa tutuyor, olumlayıcı vizyonları ortaya koyuyor ve bizi yepyeni bir geleceği hep birlikte, şimdi ve burada kurmaya davet ediyor.
NE İSTİYORUZ? DAHA FAZLASINI.
“Bu kitap, feminist muhayyile sayesinde nasıl daha feminist bir gerçekliğin sağlanabileceğine kafa yoranlar arasında elden ele gezecek.”
–LIBRARY JOURNAL-
“Feminist Ütopya Projesi kendi ütopyasını hayata geçiriyor: En güncel feminist bakışlarda, insan deneyimi ile kurumsal siyaset ve kamusal hayat iç içe geçiyor. Bu çalışma hayal kurmanın ve eylemenin yeni yollarını gözler önüne seriyor.”
–CHRIS KRAUS, I Love Dick’in yazarı-
“Bu kitabı elinize aldığınızda özgürleşmeyi tadabilir, ona dokunabilir, onunla konuşabilir, onu duyabilir, görebilir ve hissedebilirsiniz. Adalet istikametindeki yolculuğumuz ömür boyu sürecek. Bu kitaptaki tutkulu metinler işte bu yolu aydınlatıyor.”
–JOANNE N. SMITH, Girls for Gender Equity yöneticisi-
(Tanıtım Bülteninden)
Adına yaraşır biçimde feminist olan bir toplumda sanat, cinsellik, çalışma hayatı, eğitim, moda, dil, mutfak, spor, tıp, hukuk, sinema ve ilişkiler neye benzerdi? Feminist Ütopya Projesi statükoya kafa tutuyor, olumlayıcı vizyonları ortaya koyuyor ve bizi yepyeni bir geleceği hep birlikte, şimdi ve burada kurmaya davet ediyor.
NE İSTİYORUZ? DAHA FAZLASINI.
“Bu kitap, feminist muhayyile sayesinde nasıl daha feminist bir gerçekliğin sağlanabileceğine kafa yoranlar arasında elden ele gezecek.”
–LIBRARY JOURNAL-
“Feminist Ütopya Projesi kendi ütopyasını hayata geçiriyor: En güncel feminist bakışlarda, insan deneyimi ile kurumsal siyaset ve kamusal hayat iç içe geçiyor. Bu çalışma hayal kurmanın ve eylemenin yeni yollarını gözler önüne seriyor.”
–CHRIS KRAUS, I Love Dick’in yazarı-
“Bu kitabı elinize aldığınızda özgürleşmeyi tadabilir, ona dokunabilir, onunla konuşabilir, onu duyabilir, görebilir ve hissedebilirsiniz. Adalet istikametindeki yolculuğumuz ömür boyu sürecek. Bu kitaptaki tutkulu metinler işte bu yolu aydınlatıyor.”
–JOANNE N. SMITH, Girls for Gender Equity yöneticisi-
(Tanıtım Bülteninden)
360 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 2015
99 people are currently reading
3471 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Brodsky
2 books37 followersAlexandra Brodsky is a civil rights attorney. She is the author of "Sexual Justice" (Metropolitan Books, August 2021) and the co-editor of “The Feminist Utopia Project” (The Feminist Press, October 2015), along with Rachel Kauder Nalebuff. Alexandra cut her teeth in the anti-violence movement as a founding co-director of Know Your IX, a youth-led campaign to end sexual harassment in schools.
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August 24, 2016I was excited by the premise of this book, and I applaud all of the contributors for exercising their imaginations, but what I mostly felt while reading this anthology was... sad.
Why I was excited: We're in the midst, I think, of a profound crisis of imagination. We don't even know, I suspect, how to think the thoughts we would need to think in order to imagine a way out of the worldwide crises of climate change and escalating hate-based violence. And so we need to provoke ourselves to envision a world of truly different relationships, both among people and between people and the rest of the planet.
Why I felt sad: When asked to imagine a feminist utopia, the contributors to this volume mostly summoned up... the Democratic Party platform. Universal health care. Paid family leave. Reproductive freedom. All fine and important, but hardly the stimulating imaginary I was hoping for.
And then came the disappointments: Trans liberation mostly envisioned as rights/acceptance within the same old gender binary, as if it were impossible to imagine 5 genders or no genders or something else altogether to replace that particularly constrictive social construct. No attention whatsoever to how humans exploit the earth and other animals, as if utopia would be a world where we continue to trample all over everybody else but are nicer to each other.
I'm hesitating to publish this, because I don't want anybody involved with the project to feel sad as a result. But I really do think that our crisis of imagination is a real crisis and that, unfortunately, this book shows how constricted our dreams have become. It IS wonderful to imagine a world where people have to work hard to figure out what the word "rape" might have meant (that was actually one of the handful of truly creative contributions that I did enjoy). We just have to learn to imagine much more expansively.
Why I was excited: We're in the midst, I think, of a profound crisis of imagination. We don't even know, I suspect, how to think the thoughts we would need to think in order to imagine a way out of the worldwide crises of climate change and escalating hate-based violence. And so we need to provoke ourselves to envision a world of truly different relationships, both among people and between people and the rest of the planet.
Why I felt sad: When asked to imagine a feminist utopia, the contributors to this volume mostly summoned up... the Democratic Party platform. Universal health care. Paid family leave. Reproductive freedom. All fine and important, but hardly the stimulating imaginary I was hoping for.
And then came the disappointments: Trans liberation mostly envisioned as rights/acceptance within the same old gender binary, as if it were impossible to imagine 5 genders or no genders or something else altogether to replace that particularly constrictive social construct. No attention whatsoever to how humans exploit the earth and other animals, as if utopia would be a world where we continue to trample all over everybody else but are nicer to each other.
I'm hesitating to publish this, because I don't want anybody involved with the project to feel sad as a result. But I really do think that our crisis of imagination is a real crisis and that, unfortunately, this book shows how constricted our dreams have become. It IS wonderful to imagine a world where people have to work hard to figure out what the word "rape" might have meant (that was actually one of the handful of truly creative contributions that I did enjoy). We just have to learn to imagine much more expansively.
December 20, 2020
Good god I’m depressed
November 21, 2017
There is something in this book for everyone, I think. One of the pieces spoke to me quite directly, while another I completely disagreed with, although I could see where the author was coming from. Then there are interviews and art pieces that break up the utopia set pieces, and allow us to awaken in other ways. This book, even the pieces that you might disagree with, is a nice collection of awakenings; it offers a little something in each piece that makes us think more critically about the world as it is, and what it might be, without constraining ourselves to trying to modify the things that are already deeply embedded.
We can start with the idealized thing we are working towards, then work back to where we are now as well. When studying gender and history, one can sometimes get overwhelmed by all of the things that intermesh and present as historically weighted oppression. Such that it becomes difficult to see where we would be without these interlocking unwanted systems. Some of these little stories and opinion pieces can give us ideas about that path, while others can make us think in ways we have never considered before.
We can start with the idealized thing we are working towards, then work back to where we are now as well. When studying gender and history, one can sometimes get overwhelmed by all of the things that intermesh and present as historically weighted oppression. Such that it becomes difficult to see where we would be without these interlocking unwanted systems. Some of these little stories and opinion pieces can give us ideas about that path, while others can make us think in ways we have never considered before.
March 13, 2021
3.5 stars rounded up, though I reserve the right to waffle on this up/down rounding.
Contributor Sam Huber quotes James Baldwin in their essay “I Don’t:” “The vision people hold of the world to come is but a reflection, with predictable wishful distortions, of the world in which they live.”
This is, I think, my biggest gripe with many of the pieces in this anthology: they are simply too mired in the reality of our current world. I feel like a bit of a brat complaining about the lack of imagination in some of these pieces while knowing full well that I wouldn’t be able to dream up anything more radical, but then I also didn’t write a piece reflecting on feminist utopia.
The pieces I loved most challenged me. Maya Dusdbery’s “Dispatch From A Post-Rape Future” fucked me up, pointing out how what we think of as meaningfully progressive ways of having sex are still a direct reflection of rape culture. Tessa Smith and Suey Park dared me to stop pathologizing my own emotional experiences and mental states. There were other superb contributions. Sadly, though, many utopian visions included nothing beyond “no one uses “slut” as a pejorative” or “there’s a childcare facility at work/school” as their big reveal. It’s not that these things aren’t important of course, but too few authors expanded on the “why” behind the necessity of adding or removing things from our worlds. I don’t need to hear that street harassment is bad. Tell me how, in a feminist utopia, the safety granted to people free of the preoccupation street harassment (etc) are building radically new systems that allow us not just to live but to thrive.
Some of these pieces made me sad to reflect on how crummy our realities can be; others made me sad that we can’t even imagine demanding - deserving - more. But the special few forced me to do just that.
Edit: here's a great review that focuses on another critique I noticed but didn't mention: this book is very much written by people in the first decade of their adult lives, and it shows! That doesn't make it bad per se, but it is something to think about for sure. https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-...
Contributor Sam Huber quotes James Baldwin in their essay “I Don’t:” “The vision people hold of the world to come is but a reflection, with predictable wishful distortions, of the world in which they live.”
This is, I think, my biggest gripe with many of the pieces in this anthology: they are simply too mired in the reality of our current world. I feel like a bit of a brat complaining about the lack of imagination in some of these pieces while knowing full well that I wouldn’t be able to dream up anything more radical, but then I also didn’t write a piece reflecting on feminist utopia.
The pieces I loved most challenged me. Maya Dusdbery’s “Dispatch From A Post-Rape Future” fucked me up, pointing out how what we think of as meaningfully progressive ways of having sex are still a direct reflection of rape culture. Tessa Smith and Suey Park dared me to stop pathologizing my own emotional experiences and mental states. There were other superb contributions. Sadly, though, many utopian visions included nothing beyond “no one uses “slut” as a pejorative” or “there’s a childcare facility at work/school” as their big reveal. It’s not that these things aren’t important of course, but too few authors expanded on the “why” behind the necessity of adding or removing things from our worlds. I don’t need to hear that street harassment is bad. Tell me how, in a feminist utopia, the safety granted to people free of the preoccupation street harassment (etc) are building radically new systems that allow us not just to live but to thrive.
Some of these pieces made me sad to reflect on how crummy our realities can be; others made me sad that we can’t even imagine demanding - deserving - more. But the special few forced me to do just that.
Edit: here's a great review that focuses on another critique I noticed but didn't mention: this book is very much written by people in the first decade of their adult lives, and it shows! That doesn't make it bad per se, but it is something to think about for sure. https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-...
July 21, 2016
I love, love, love the premise of this book. Too often, in our fight to win ridiculously tiny (but hard-won!) victories, such as equal pay for equal work, we can lose sight of what the end goal really is - not just equal pay, but equal access to EVERYTHING. As the introduction says, patriarchy can sometimes even limit our imagination of what is possible and where we're headed. Because of this, I loved the idea of a project where activists and thought leaders could be unfettered by what is possible, and just imagine where they'd like to be.
Some authors took full advantage of this opportunity and imagined extraordinary utopias. Highlights for me included a world where medical practitioners are required to take gender studies classes, a world where every teenager woman is assigned a Reproductive Support Counselor who will help them make fully informed choices, and a world where free daycare is a universal right for all teenagers, and allows them to complete their education. I also loved what Melissa Harris Perry said about the importance of struggle, even in utopia, to make connections with other humans. There were times I got a little teary at the possibilities of a world without rape, street harassment, etc.
However, too many of these essays stopped at critiquing the obvious problems we have now, such as street harassment and sexual assault, and didn't go further into imagining what the world would look like without these societal plagues. Others offered solutions, such as talking circles instead of jails, that I would like to believe in, but am unsure of. I walked away feeling like I had read a ton of Feministing articles in a row, but not necessarily anything new or revolutionary.
This book was still very cathartic, and had some really great moments. If patriarchy has you down, I would still recommend this book.
Some authors took full advantage of this opportunity and imagined extraordinary utopias. Highlights for me included a world where medical practitioners are required to take gender studies classes, a world where every teenager woman is assigned a Reproductive Support Counselor who will help them make fully informed choices, and a world where free daycare is a universal right for all teenagers, and allows them to complete their education. I also loved what Melissa Harris Perry said about the importance of struggle, even in utopia, to make connections with other humans. There were times I got a little teary at the possibilities of a world without rape, street harassment, etc.
However, too many of these essays stopped at critiquing the obvious problems we have now, such as street harassment and sexual assault, and didn't go further into imagining what the world would look like without these societal plagues. Others offered solutions, such as talking circles instead of jails, that I would like to believe in, but am unsure of. I walked away feeling like I had read a ton of Feministing articles in a row, but not necessarily anything new or revolutionary.
This book was still very cathartic, and had some really great moments. If patriarchy has you down, I would still recommend this book.
March 5, 2017
Different stories, essays, and interviews worked differently on me, but most importantly, reading this collection gave me the courage and the fodder to dream specifically, materially, of what it is I'm struggling for, and always have been. One interview highlights the changes in feminism between generations, and the importance of collective action; one story envisions circle-based restorative justice as society's approach to crime; another memoir imagines a world a woman could travel alone and undefiant. I borrowed a copy from the library, then ordered my own copy; I want to dogear pages and scribble notes and lend it out heavily and then make it come true.
March 23, 2016
I really wanted to love this book, and there were definitely some gems, but many of the pieces felt like they could have been a little better thought out, and I wish they tied together a bit more. Ultimately, I wasn't quite able to finish it.
August 28, 2019
Büyük hayaller kuralım, günlük özgürlük hayalleri kuralım, hayallerimizi paylaşalım, güçlenelim. Her kadın arkadaşımın bu kitabı okumasını ve içlerinde umut, ferahlık, güzellik hissetmelerini isterim.
August 27, 2022
This book is incredible. Some of the writings are just lighthearted and fun but others are more serious and literally changed my entire outlook on life. None really discuss the logistics of ‘how’ these utopias could be achieved, but that also doesn’t feel like the point of the book. It’s inspiring, optimistic, and I had so much fun reading through it. My personal favourites were: Dispatch From the Post-Rape Future, Justice, I Don’t 115, Interview with Rudy Rebick, and No Escape Hatch, but there’s so many others that I’ll also be coming back to. I can’t overstate how phenomenal this was, I highly recommended it.
January 19, 2018
Wow, this book gives me so much excitement/empowerment....so pumped to read all these (mostly) women envisioning a good future. 😍 read it real quick
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June 1, 2019Some visions are stronger than others ("Seven Rituals From the Feminist Utopia: Prebirth to Postdeath" by Yumi Sakaguwa and "Justice" by Mariame Kaba and Bianca Diaz were my particular favorites), but I would definitely recommend checking it out to reorient yourself to not only addressing what's wrong in the world but to building a world that is good.
March 23, 2016
Cleverly conceived idea to collect visions of the future from a diverse crew of folks, this book is comprised of fiction, interviews, art, poetry, essays, and down-to-earth hopes for the future. Many of the pieces utilize the fiction of future people looking back at the previous eras--though one smartly uses time travel. These and the other fiction pieces are mostly awesome; stories are powerful ways to transform thinking. Like most anthologies, there's hits and misses, but my biggest surprise was actually the lack of imagination.
It isn't surprising that people would envision a utopia based around the issues they face, live through, experience, or work on in daily life. What is surprising is how few contributors--there are some good ones, don't get me wrong--actually envision an actual utopia; a liberated place. Most of the visions are progressive--offering us a similar system but where things are better. For instance, one woman imagines a future where sex workers have health care, good wages, etc. and I'm thinking, couldn't we imagine an egalitarian utopia where women didn't have to sell access to their body?
Anyway, I don't mean to take away from the general awesomeness of this project, as nearly all of the ideas, experiences, and visions are worthwhile.
It isn't surprising that people would envision a utopia based around the issues they face, live through, experience, or work on in daily life. What is surprising is how few contributors--there are some good ones, don't get me wrong--actually envision an actual utopia; a liberated place. Most of the visions are progressive--offering us a similar system but where things are better. For instance, one woman imagines a future where sex workers have health care, good wages, etc. and I'm thinking, couldn't we imagine an egalitarian utopia where women didn't have to sell access to their body?
Anyway, I don't mean to take away from the general awesomeness of this project, as nearly all of the ideas, experiences, and visions are worthwhile.
April 12, 2017
YES! YES!! YES!!! This book was SO good and SO necessary and I loved it and I want everyone to read it. It's a collection of short pieces portraying each contributor's hopes and dreams for a feminist utopia, including pieces that focus on education, sexuality, work/employment, body image, race, the justice system, and more. Some of the writings are fictionalized narratives, placing characters of the writer's creation in a futuristic setting to illustrate what the world would be like in that writer's utopia. Others take more of a non-fictional approach, describing the differences between the present and the imagined future. Still others are presented as interviews, including one phenomenal one with a rock/punk band of 12y/o girls. A magnificent compilation.
August 28, 2017
like most writing, these short essays are at their best, most affecting, and most engaging when they are at their most specific. unfortunately, there are too many essays in this collection that do not offer distinctive visions of feminist utopia that carve out a specific dream separate from that which is already established in poppy articles for bitch/feministing/jezebel/etc etc. a quarter of the way through, i was engaged and daring myself to ask questions i had not in a long time. three-quarters of the way through, it was hard for it to feel fresh.
February 26, 2017
This is such an important book! I loved every page of it. The mix and match of the types of writing, the different subjects and the beautiful imagery was awesome. I need more of this type of work! Great job!
November 13, 2017
I enjoyed this book and it felt like fresh air and escapism. I am happy to be introduced to many new feminist writers and have my perspectives widened from the viewpoints of a diverse crowd of women. I hope to see some level of this utopia of equality achieved in my lifetime.
April 14, 2016
This should've been good. Such a great premise with such trite essays.
December 14, 2017
Delightful and inspiring!
February 4, 2019
This hopeful, wholesome book is a lovely tome. Like many compilations, there are highs and lows, but overall it is compelling and often tender. I very much enjoyed this book.
May 11, 2017
Te Feminist Utopia Project Review:
Key Areas
**Rape culture - how normalized it is; 1 in 5 American women get raped - they call it an “epidemic” and that’s somewhat true
**intelligence is sexy - and it’s compatible intelligence that’s - the kind of smart that works with your kind of smart
**kids - body image issues - black hair - tied to respectability, cleanliness, neatness; dark skin - media portrayal - she didn’t think she could be loved or desired or respected; shaving/waxing - completely socialized
**body is. A miracle that breaths; you love it without question;
**violence and its affect on kids: lead poisoning, Birmingham church bombing girls
**public space: women being afraid to go into public space; time, resources, moneys - time and energy it takes up to just think about safety at all times of day - disproportionately for women; “cars that became dungeons”
*Private sphere; marriage treated as private - domestic violence a “personal problem” and not considered as the state’s problem; concept of family pulled out of “private sphere”
**an alternative to heterosexuality, but also an alternative to marriage as an ideal; civil partnerships getting more rights; any other sort of platonic partnerships also getting rights; dismantling the idea that marriage is the bedrock of society; any and all sort of civil partnership or none or friendship as the primary social structure will be socially acceptabel, ie no one will scramble together to get a date to go to your granny’s birthday party because of acceptability and repectability.
**Education: “classrooms are not neutral”; through what teachers chose to emphasize and what they leave out of curriculums, and through historiography, and because we already live in a society which has preconceived notions —> classrooms are already charged environments; a teacher should interrogate the nature of education and what voice the curriculum is taking (ie if the curriculum itself is preaching white supremacy through what it does)
*Science is not neutral or objective either; science can be used to serve political or philosophical interests; e.g. women and men’s physical dissimilarities have LONG been used to argue that women should stay at home; BUT apart from breastfeeding a man can do everything that a woman can for their kid
*same with racism; eugenics was a respectable biological discipline; that thing where they measured bones.
*biology literally teaches EVERYTHING as man and woman separately; hormones, sexual system; we call testosterone “virile”; the act of sexual reproduction is though of as a fast, sperm on its way to conquer the docile egg and many sperms and which one wins
**labor: smaller work week - more time to grow, explore interests etc; more free time
**porn - porn artists also enjoy their work; “i am actually just really good at sex and can make money off of it” ; taking control of their own labor - more porn film directors are women; profiting form one’s own emotional and sexual labor; emotional work is also a kind of porn - air stewardess, hairdressers; The Managed Heart; porn is about intimacy
**tone policing - a form of patriarchy; gatekeeping keep people comfortable rather than truly expressing ourselves Accessibility should be the norm; hearing, physical and mental ability
**mental illnesses - “hysteria” (gender charged language) forcing people to get well in inpatient psychiatric units; neurotypical prized above everything else
*men treated as creative eccentric whereas women expected ro conform to normalization (counter argument: manic pixie girl?
*states of mind that aren't normative nurtured instead of medicated/
*free and open accommodation for everyone; woven into every fabric of society - vision, hearing, space accessibility
**neoliberalism’s impact; interesting idea that when in 1930’s capitalism first started burgeoning, social programs were created that kinda kept it in check; but now we want to cut social programs
**art: art vs crafts; embroidery, quilting etc
**Justice - restorative justice as opposed to “bad people”, “criminals” - the idea that justice cannot be served if there is advantage to be gained by the judges at the expense of those judged; e.g. that if all the judges are foxes, a goose will not really get justice
*prison system, public safety - are we really locking up the “bad guys” or ones who pose most risk to public safety?
*Who is included and who gets left out of an idea of public safety? - e.g. in the Muslim ban - the rhetoric is that of public safety but x% of muslims also make ups he public
BIG THEMES
**sexuality - source of worry and fear, stigmatized, oppressed - whether in private or public space; domestic violence, rape.
**Ableism
**difference should be neutral
!!Brilliant, innovative ideas/painful realizations I hadn’t thought before!!
**Protecting childhood
**being able to walk in public space without fearing violence
**Abortion just as a part of reproductive planning and reproductive planning as par tof growing up
**we don’t need to justify all use of time; don’t need to always do something or be productive; we can just enjoy being alive
**eating every bite with mindfulness and jus enjoying the food, regardless of calories, nutrients; the food is all “good food” and doesn't have hormones etc saturated fats, chemicals etc
**“am i in love or am i seduced by the patriarchy into feeling comfortable and happy”; “am i heartbroken because it was real or because I feel pressure to have a male partner” and 101 other hetreorseuxal feminist romance-related problems
**Listening as activism
**the personal is political
**“sexism surcharge” as tip LOL
**a premedical classroom where people think about how medicine has been used to carry out racist and sexist policies (sterilizations; inequality; colonial medicine; medicine a site of violence
*we call testosterone “virile”; the act of sexual reproduction is though of as a fast, sperm on its way to conquer the docile egg and many sperm and which one wins
Critique
*intersectionality/identity politics etc more needed
*Privilege - white feminism - the privilege to have citizenship
*decolonization not enough content
Key Areas
**Rape culture - how normalized it is; 1 in 5 American women get raped - they call it an “epidemic” and that’s somewhat true
**intelligence is sexy - and it’s compatible intelligence that’s - the kind of smart that works with your kind of smart
**kids - body image issues - black hair - tied to respectability, cleanliness, neatness; dark skin - media portrayal - she didn’t think she could be loved or desired or respected; shaving/waxing - completely socialized
**body is. A miracle that breaths; you love it without question;
**violence and its affect on kids: lead poisoning, Birmingham church bombing girls
**public space: women being afraid to go into public space; time, resources, moneys - time and energy it takes up to just think about safety at all times of day - disproportionately for women; “cars that became dungeons”
*Private sphere; marriage treated as private - domestic violence a “personal problem” and not considered as the state’s problem; concept of family pulled out of “private sphere”
**an alternative to heterosexuality, but also an alternative to marriage as an ideal; civil partnerships getting more rights; any other sort of platonic partnerships also getting rights; dismantling the idea that marriage is the bedrock of society; any and all sort of civil partnership or none or friendship as the primary social structure will be socially acceptabel, ie no one will scramble together to get a date to go to your granny’s birthday party because of acceptability and repectability.
**Education: “classrooms are not neutral”; through what teachers chose to emphasize and what they leave out of curriculums, and through historiography, and because we already live in a society which has preconceived notions —> classrooms are already charged environments; a teacher should interrogate the nature of education and what voice the curriculum is taking (ie if the curriculum itself is preaching white supremacy through what it does)
*Science is not neutral or objective either; science can be used to serve political or philosophical interests; e.g. women and men’s physical dissimilarities have LONG been used to argue that women should stay at home; BUT apart from breastfeeding a man can do everything that a woman can for their kid
*same with racism; eugenics was a respectable biological discipline; that thing where they measured bones.
*biology literally teaches EVERYTHING as man and woman separately; hormones, sexual system; we call testosterone “virile”; the act of sexual reproduction is though of as a fast, sperm on its way to conquer the docile egg and many sperms and which one wins
**labor: smaller work week - more time to grow, explore interests etc; more free time
**porn - porn artists also enjoy their work; “i am actually just really good at sex and can make money off of it” ; taking control of their own labor - more porn film directors are women; profiting form one’s own emotional and sexual labor; emotional work is also a kind of porn - air stewardess, hairdressers; The Managed Heart; porn is about intimacy
**tone policing - a form of patriarchy; gatekeeping keep people comfortable rather than truly expressing ourselves Accessibility should be the norm; hearing, physical and mental ability
**mental illnesses - “hysteria” (gender charged language) forcing people to get well in inpatient psychiatric units; neurotypical prized above everything else
*men treated as creative eccentric whereas women expected ro conform to normalization (counter argument: manic pixie girl?
*states of mind that aren't normative nurtured instead of medicated/
*free and open accommodation for everyone; woven into every fabric of society - vision, hearing, space accessibility
**neoliberalism’s impact; interesting idea that when in 1930’s capitalism first started burgeoning, social programs were created that kinda kept it in check; but now we want to cut social programs
**art: art vs crafts; embroidery, quilting etc
**Justice - restorative justice as opposed to “bad people”, “criminals” - the idea that justice cannot be served if there is advantage to be gained by the judges at the expense of those judged; e.g. that if all the judges are foxes, a goose will not really get justice
*prison system, public safety - are we really locking up the “bad guys” or ones who pose most risk to public safety?
*Who is included and who gets left out of an idea of public safety? - e.g. in the Muslim ban - the rhetoric is that of public safety but x% of muslims also make ups he public
BIG THEMES
**sexuality - source of worry and fear, stigmatized, oppressed - whether in private or public space; domestic violence, rape.
**Ableism
**difference should be neutral
!!Brilliant, innovative ideas/painful realizations I hadn’t thought before!!
**Protecting childhood
**being able to walk in public space without fearing violence
**Abortion just as a part of reproductive planning and reproductive planning as par tof growing up
**we don’t need to justify all use of time; don’t need to always do something or be productive; we can just enjoy being alive
**eating every bite with mindfulness and jus enjoying the food, regardless of calories, nutrients; the food is all “good food” and doesn't have hormones etc saturated fats, chemicals etc
**“am i in love or am i seduced by the patriarchy into feeling comfortable and happy”; “am i heartbroken because it was real or because I feel pressure to have a male partner” and 101 other hetreorseuxal feminist romance-related problems
**Listening as activism
**the personal is political
**“sexism surcharge” as tip LOL
**a premedical classroom where people think about how medicine has been used to carry out racist and sexist policies (sterilizations; inequality; colonial medicine; medicine a site of violence
*we call testosterone “virile”; the act of sexual reproduction is though of as a fast, sperm on its way to conquer the docile egg and many sperm and which one wins
Critique
*intersectionality/identity politics etc more needed
*Privilege - white feminism - the privilege to have citizenship
*decolonization not enough content
November 16, 2022
I enjoyed this, but it had the potential to be adored. 57 essays in just under 350 pages was an ambitious project, and I'm not sure it delivered. The topics were so interesting, but all underdeveloped. To add up, I thought that the choice of editing was a bit weird. Putting all the essays that have a similar idea back to back was indeed the logical thing to do, but it got boring and repetitive pretty fast. I also think that some authors didn't get the assignment. Their essays were about actual problems, without proposing any solutions to live in an utopia. So I do understand all the reviews that claim the depressive and demoralizing aspect of this book.
HOWEVER, I'm still glad I read it and I think that it's an important book to have on my shelves as a feminist activist. I also really really liked that they invited women of color, immigrants, trans and more diversity to the conversation! And a few ideas here and there really peeked my interest and I'll keep them in mind for the future.
7.5/10
HOWEVER, I'm still glad I read it and I think that it's an important book to have on my shelves as a feminist activist. I also really really liked that they invited women of color, immigrants, trans and more diversity to the conversation! And a few ideas here and there really peeked my interest and I'll keep them in mind for the future.
7.5/10
August 7, 2021
I keep coming back to this book. Not only is it a fun read, but the use of temporality by some of the contributors is ground breaking. Entries sometimes contradict each other, and while speculative of a feminst utopia, this book does an incredible job of being critical of the present while showing a possible blueprint of a way out.
December 28, 2022
READ FOR MY 2022 READING CHALLENGE, ITEM 7 : A book with at least two authors .
I loved the pitch for this book. But for some reason I just couldn't read it to the end. I think the idea was great and probably some of the writing was really good but it didn't click with me.
I loved the pitch for this book. But for some reason I just couldn't read it to the end. I think the idea was great and probably some of the writing was really good but it didn't click with me.
August 11, 2016
We have to do things that are hard to feel fully human, to feel we have accomplished and that we have achieved. But in my utopia, the struggles we would experience would be more fundamental to or humanity and less tied to the accidental identities we are assigned at birth
This is a collection of essays, stories, poems, interviews and artwork, examining the concept of a 'feminist utopia' across law, healthcare, education, sex and much more. The power of this collection lies in its demonstration of the breadth of inequality across every stage of a woman's life. Whether it's the enforcement of gender onto newborn babies through the rigidly narrow colour palette or single mothers fighting to look after their children with no support from the community or the state. The lack of safety she will feel in public spaces at any age. The double, triple, quadruple discrimination experienced by women whose identities intersect with other social groups - non-white, non-heterosexual, trans, gender-fluid, disabled, working class. We can measure the level of inequality in our society by the common things that are missing from 57 different ideas of utopia.
Remember those dudes catcalling on the street? They have literally become cats (there is always room for more cats). Or, better yet, they will have stopped calling and started respecting
In my feminist utopia, the story can end here. I am able to interact with other members of my community and appreciate the splendor of a kaleidoscopic city without fear of violence. I can smile at a man and know that he feels the joy radiating from my body without the need to touch it. We can share the world's oldest hello without ever exchanging words
This is the transaction we make as women, a bargaining with fate to allow us an inch of restricted freedom, at the cost of an assumed risk. As women travelers, and women off of the grid, we are vigilant in our assessment of our environments, constantly identifying our escape hatch: if they try to ___, I will ___, with ___. The armor of observation and readiness carries us into the wild. When we go unscathed, the world around us is perceived as just. When we do not, we didn't listen and it is our fault and our fate.
A common theme throughout the collection, is the desire to feel free and safe. A basic basic need that is so often unmet. Despite never having felt truly safe when out in the world alone, it still surprises me how common this is among many women. The idea that if we accidentally make eye contact with a man, or smile at him out of friendliness, this could somehow be misinterpreted into an encounter which has said man following us home, as if a smile is an open door to anything he may wish to do to us. The idea that if we dare to travel without a male friend, society will not be held responsible for the consequences of our naivete.
If we were able to travel not as consuming tourists but as compassionate learners, we would not become war-mongering, we would not become power-hungry, and we would not become so hateful to and dominating of one another
Another thing I liked about this collection was the broader ideas on humanity. When asked to write about 'utopia' (whether feminist or not), the authors cannot help but imagine a better world on every level, not just that of solving gender inequality.
Measure the sickness of a society by how frequently its children see their own reflections - in surfaces, photographs, PhotoBooth, iPad screens, and, subtly, but relentlessly, in software designed to learn, replicate and reinforce their behavior. A vicious cycle of self-surveillance narrows experience until there is no self left to reflect. In its place, merely the frantic scramble for confirmation of existence: I am that I look in the mirror
The only negatives I had about this book was that it was occasionally repetitive (but hardly surprising given the common inequality that many women experience); but also sometimes too unrealistic for me. Clearly a 'utopia' is often something that is wildly different what we have today - otherwise it wouldn't be utopian! However, there were pieces that talked about a world which seemed tangible; a consequence of people waking up and taking notice and making small, basic changes, that would change the lives of many. Those were the pieces I preferred, as opposed to those where the new world just seemed so impossible, it was almost depressing.
A book I'd recommend to anyone with a remotely feminist inclination - if only to get our heads out of what is and thinking about what could be.
October 17, 2016
Review originally posted on Tsundokuholic.
The Feminist Utopia Project Overview
The Feminist Utopia Project, edited by Alexandra Brodsky and Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, begins with a short but powerful declaration: “We want more.” In the fifty-seven pieces that follow, feminists present their views on the components of a feminist utopia. These views are expressed through art, poetry, photos, interviews, short fictional stories, and personal narratives spanning a variety of feminist-interest topics. One writer imagines a future where girls are coached in family planning from puberty and abortion restrictions are archaic. Another piece imagines how humans of the future will look back on the early 21st-century issues of “rape” and “consent” with incredulity because the concept of people having sex with each other without them both wanting to have sex is unfathomable. While some writers imagined a feminist utopia, others analyzed the issues humanity must overcome in order to reach a feminist utopia. Others imagine specific facets of a feminist utopia, such as justice systems, education reform, workplace reform, and medical practice. The feminism presented in this anthology is inclusive, with many pieces focusing on how sexism affects women of color, transgender women, and men. Each piece explores something “we want more” of, whether it’s more paid parental leave or more freedom to move freely through the world without the constant nagging feeling that we will be victims of gender-based violence.
My Thoughts
This book, being an anthology, contains a little something for everyone, as long as you’re not a bitter, ill-informed meninist, I guess. There are fifty-seven unique works by fifty-seven different people. I enjoyed some of the pieces more than others, depending on each author’s voice. I really enjoyed the fictional imaginings of utopian futures where feminism isn’t a dirty word, it’s common sense. The pieces that centered on economics were a bit dry in my opinion, and I’m sure others would find it fascinating to consider a more feminist take on medical care but it just wasn’t stimulating enough for me. That’s not to say I disagreed with the authors’ messages, I just can’t get deeply invested in those topics past a page or two. The fact that a few of the chapters weren’t up my alley shows the diversity of the subject matter. At the end of the book is a categorized index for those who want to read about specific topics like food, sex, art, disability rights, queer rights, or trans justice. What strings together this cornucopia of opinions about all of the issues underneath the feminist umbrella is the theme of wanting more, and the question of why we’re struggling to reach a feminist utopia. I frequently see women being subtly demeaned by friends and family. Sexist ideas about what it means to male and female are so ingrained into our culture that they appear to be fact. It’s easy to demean emotions and other stereotypically feminine traits at the expense of both men and women. The visions of feminist utopias presented in this book depend on the willingness of people to challenge our own beliefs and imagine a better, safer, inclusive future.
Rating: 4 out of 5 feminist utopias
The Feminist Utopia Project Overview
The Feminist Utopia Project, edited by Alexandra Brodsky and Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, begins with a short but powerful declaration: “We want more.” In the fifty-seven pieces that follow, feminists present their views on the components of a feminist utopia. These views are expressed through art, poetry, photos, interviews, short fictional stories, and personal narratives spanning a variety of feminist-interest topics. One writer imagines a future where girls are coached in family planning from puberty and abortion restrictions are archaic. Another piece imagines how humans of the future will look back on the early 21st-century issues of “rape” and “consent” with incredulity because the concept of people having sex with each other without them both wanting to have sex is unfathomable. While some writers imagined a feminist utopia, others analyzed the issues humanity must overcome in order to reach a feminist utopia. Others imagine specific facets of a feminist utopia, such as justice systems, education reform, workplace reform, and medical practice. The feminism presented in this anthology is inclusive, with many pieces focusing on how sexism affects women of color, transgender women, and men. Each piece explores something “we want more” of, whether it’s more paid parental leave or more freedom to move freely through the world without the constant nagging feeling that we will be victims of gender-based violence.
My Thoughts
This book, being an anthology, contains a little something for everyone, as long as you’re not a bitter, ill-informed meninist, I guess. There are fifty-seven unique works by fifty-seven different people. I enjoyed some of the pieces more than others, depending on each author’s voice. I really enjoyed the fictional imaginings of utopian futures where feminism isn’t a dirty word, it’s common sense. The pieces that centered on economics were a bit dry in my opinion, and I’m sure others would find it fascinating to consider a more feminist take on medical care but it just wasn’t stimulating enough for me. That’s not to say I disagreed with the authors’ messages, I just can’t get deeply invested in those topics past a page or two. The fact that a few of the chapters weren’t up my alley shows the diversity of the subject matter. At the end of the book is a categorized index for those who want to read about specific topics like food, sex, art, disability rights, queer rights, or trans justice. What strings together this cornucopia of opinions about all of the issues underneath the feminist umbrella is the theme of wanting more, and the question of why we’re struggling to reach a feminist utopia. I frequently see women being subtly demeaned by friends and family. Sexist ideas about what it means to male and female are so ingrained into our culture that they appear to be fact. It’s easy to demean emotions and other stereotypically feminine traits at the expense of both men and women. The visions of feminist utopias presented in this book depend on the willingness of people to challenge our own beliefs and imagine a better, safer, inclusive future.
Rating: 4 out of 5 feminist utopias
December 9, 2018
2.5 stars, rounded down. A nice exploration, potentially inspiring in it's idea but not so much in it's execution. I wouldn't buy it. It wouldd have instead been great as an event or conference with speakers instead of texts.
What is your vision of a perfect world?
I appreciate the creative opportunity is this collection. I also can’t help but continuing the line of question....How are you contributing to this vision? WTF are you waiting for?
Also, there was space for contributors to express their individual vision.MY feminist Utopia. The obvious ME ME ME-ness annoyed me at times. We need to consider others, too.
This is not ordinarily the kind of book I’d pick up. I did so because a friend invited me to join a women’s book club. I was pleased with the diversity of the group, and indeed, the diversity of what qualifies as “feminist”. It turns out that they didn’t prefer me tastes, because I am interested in reading iconic feminist books and more assertive contemporary books. I think people liked this book because it is softer. I want to read more about real women’s experiences, and find a book like this a bit too passive and self-indulgent.
All these visions are subjective and personal, so of course I didn’t like all of them… and I actually liked that diversity and having space to politely disagree. I especially enjoyed the essays and interviews.
This book is a collection of works from the perspective and experience of female identity. There are interviews, articles, short stories, even artworks. I appreciated the idea of this book and it was a ice read. I like that it was available as an e-book from my University library. The separate chapters made it very readable over a long period of time. Not a page-turner. Not thrilling. Not fiercely empowering or supportive.
This book also helped me explore more of the broadening definition of “feminism”. A common desired result is better than any “definition”. Recognizing intersectionality means not being able to separate and classify easily, means the failure of words, which is why the simple term “feminists” isn’t enough anymore.It’s also why I find the word “patriarchy” to be a lazy boogeyman term for people who don’t feel like explaining and teaching people (who don’t want to liste.). So does Feminism = fighting against intersectional oppression for all? To me, yes, ideally. To me, this also implicates a lot of anti-capitalism. This is where some people start to find it radical and threatening – they don’t understand the language or the goal, because indeed, we don’t have a model for this kind of society yet.
What is your vision of a perfect world?
I appreciate the creative opportunity is this collection. I also can’t help but continuing the line of question....How are you contributing to this vision? WTF are you waiting for?
Also, there was space for contributors to express their individual vision.MY feminist Utopia. The obvious ME ME ME-ness annoyed me at times. We need to consider others, too.
This is not ordinarily the kind of book I’d pick up. I did so because a friend invited me to join a women’s book club. I was pleased with the diversity of the group, and indeed, the diversity of what qualifies as “feminist”. It turns out that they didn’t prefer me tastes, because I am interested in reading iconic feminist books and more assertive contemporary books. I think people liked this book because it is softer. I want to read more about real women’s experiences, and find a book like this a bit too passive and self-indulgent.
All these visions are subjective and personal, so of course I didn’t like all of them… and I actually liked that diversity and having space to politely disagree. I especially enjoyed the essays and interviews.
This book is a collection of works from the perspective and experience of female identity. There are interviews, articles, short stories, even artworks. I appreciated the idea of this book and it was a ice read. I like that it was available as an e-book from my University library. The separate chapters made it very readable over a long period of time. Not a page-turner. Not thrilling. Not fiercely empowering or supportive.
This book also helped me explore more of the broadening definition of “feminism”. A common desired result is better than any “definition”. Recognizing intersectionality means not being able to separate and classify easily, means the failure of words, which is why the simple term “feminists” isn’t enough anymore.It’s also why I find the word “patriarchy” to be a lazy boogeyman term for people who don’t feel like explaining and teaching people (who don’t want to liste.). So does Feminism = fighting against intersectional oppression for all? To me, yes, ideally. To me, this also implicates a lot of anti-capitalism. This is where some people start to find it radical and threatening – they don’t understand the language or the goal, because indeed, we don’t have a model for this kind of society yet.
September 25, 2016
This was a nice, comfy, collective daydream of a book. Each of the essays ("pieces," really) was a bit too short to go into a lot of detail about how exactly a feminist utopia would function, but I don't think that was the point. I think the point was to get a bunch of prominent feminist thinkers together to ponder the vision of a feminist future, and to encourage others to ponder it along with them. And in that they succeeded.
This is not the book I would hand to someone as their Feminism 101 lesson. It's definitely not that, but nor is it an in-depth examination of modern feminism or an entry to the ongoing discussion of how we can do feminism better. In fact, it serves best as a bibliography of feminist writers and creators. I found myself reading essays and interviews and jotting down the names of the authors as people whose work I want to seek out and read more of at a later date. It's a preview into the world views of many varied feminists and their individual priorities.
And in that way the index is probably the most useful part of the book. Want to read more about feminist parenting? Gender equal education? Family friendly work environments? The disabled, the transgender, the homosexual? Bring this index to the library and start pulling books and articles. It's all there.
I admire this project--and the work of The Feminist Press in general--for its lofty and comforting goal. It's nothing really controversial or """"strident"""". But it did challenge me a bit, even as a dyed in the wool feminist. During discussions of feminist workplaces, for example, I found myself thinking "Yeah but how would that work?" And I had to check myself. Because in a true feminist utopia, things like parental leave and on-site childcare and communal nursing rooms and shorter work days and work weeks would be perfectly natural. I'm approaching the idea from my perception of my insanely busy white collar job and childfree existence. But if feminism were the norm, if culturally we all prioritized both sustainable parenting and creative leisure time, then it would, indeed, work.
I digress. If you're feeling down about the state of feminism in society, and you want to read a book about feminism that is, in fact, uplifting, optimistic, and encouraging, read The Feminist Utopia Project.
Also, I borrowed this copy from my girl Bree, who writes on things like feminism and education over at thinkbannedthoughts.com.
This is not the book I would hand to someone as their Feminism 101 lesson. It's definitely not that, but nor is it an in-depth examination of modern feminism or an entry to the ongoing discussion of how we can do feminism better. In fact, it serves best as a bibliography of feminist writers and creators. I found myself reading essays and interviews and jotting down the names of the authors as people whose work I want to seek out and read more of at a later date. It's a preview into the world views of many varied feminists and their individual priorities.
And in that way the index is probably the most useful part of the book. Want to read more about feminist parenting? Gender equal education? Family friendly work environments? The disabled, the transgender, the homosexual? Bring this index to the library and start pulling books and articles. It's all there.
I admire this project--and the work of The Feminist Press in general--for its lofty and comforting goal. It's nothing really controversial or """"strident"""". But it did challenge me a bit, even as a dyed in the wool feminist. During discussions of feminist workplaces, for example, I found myself thinking "Yeah but how would that work?" And I had to check myself. Because in a true feminist utopia, things like parental leave and on-site childcare and communal nursing rooms and shorter work days and work weeks would be perfectly natural. I'm approaching the idea from my perception of my insanely busy white collar job and childfree existence. But if feminism were the norm, if culturally we all prioritized both sustainable parenting and creative leisure time, then it would, indeed, work.
I digress. If you're feeling down about the state of feminism in society, and you want to read a book about feminism that is, in fact, uplifting, optimistic, and encouraging, read The Feminist Utopia Project.
Also, I borrowed this copy from my girl Bree, who writes on things like feminism and education over at thinkbannedthoughts.com.
July 23, 2016
I really love the idea of this book. It's a refreshing read that's overwhelmingly positive and uplifting. Unfortunately, some of the pieces just missed the mark. Some were a bit bland and seemed to have a very limited view of feminism, and others (especially some of the fictionalized visions of the future) were written in a gimmicky or tropey way, and I wished their authors, who are clearly intelligent, forward thinkers, activists, academics, and experts in their fields, had stuck to nonfiction. To me, the most effective pieces were the interviews- I like reading what people have to say in their own words.
Still, I think there is value in this book and the concept of visualizing what a truly feminist future would be. My favorite pieces saw the feminist utopia as a place where humans continue to question their truths and improve themselves (and where this is the norm), rather than as a place where all negativity and equality has been totally eradicated. This, I think, is uplifting and also shows how feminist thinking can be (and is!) applied today.
I also liked that the book applied feminism to a wide range of issues- not just those that we're used to seeing in the pages of magazines (body image, relationships, the workplace), but others as well: education, medicine, human rights, law.
Overall, if I were recommending this book to a friend, I'd flag the pieces that I found most thought provoking, and would advise them to skim or skip the rest.
Still, I think there is value in this book and the concept of visualizing what a truly feminist future would be. My favorite pieces saw the feminist utopia as a place where humans continue to question their truths and improve themselves (and where this is the norm), rather than as a place where all negativity and equality has been totally eradicated. This, I think, is uplifting and also shows how feminist thinking can be (and is!) applied today.
I also liked that the book applied feminism to a wide range of issues- not just those that we're used to seeing in the pages of magazines (body image, relationships, the workplace), but others as well: education, medicine, human rights, law.
Overall, if I were recommending this book to a friend, I'd flag the pieces that I found most thought provoking, and would advise them to skim or skip the rest.
July 6, 2016
I gave this book 5 stars not because I agreed with or enjoyed every part, or even though all of it was particularly well-written. I gave it 5 stars because it is so important, and so enlightening, and so diverse. The authors brought up so many facets of our society that need work, it really opened my eyes. Of course, it also made me sad at the current state of things.
I'm not familiar with the feminist movement or how 'feminist' has been defined recently, but according to the ideals put forth in this book, feminism is a misnomer. This book describes a utopia not just with equity for women, but for people of all genders, all races, all abilities, all lifestyles, all family types, all careers, all incomes, and basically just ALL. If achieving these forms of fairness is a cause of feminism, meaning primarily espoused by women, that makes me sad. I like to think that everyone with a heart and a brain would strive for a similar utopia. I guess I'd rename this the Humanist Utopia Project.
So much more to say, on the use of the word Utopia, on specific passages that struck me and made me want to add "YES" and exclamation marks to my library book (which I didn't), and other parts that seemed completely wrong-headed in my view. But I can't abide long-winded book reviews. Just read it and think and think and think.
I'm not familiar with the feminist movement or how 'feminist' has been defined recently, but according to the ideals put forth in this book, feminism is a misnomer. This book describes a utopia not just with equity for women, but for people of all genders, all races, all abilities, all lifestyles, all family types, all careers, all incomes, and basically just ALL. If achieving these forms of fairness is a cause of feminism, meaning primarily espoused by women, that makes me sad. I like to think that everyone with a heart and a brain would strive for a similar utopia. I guess I'd rename this the Humanist Utopia Project.
So much more to say, on the use of the word Utopia, on specific passages that struck me and made me want to add "YES" and exclamation marks to my library book (which I didn't), and other parts that seemed completely wrong-headed in my view. But I can't abide long-winded book reviews. Just read it and think and think and think.
July 3, 2016
What I liked most about this collection was that everyone's perspective was unique and solely their own. Nobody tried to speak on behalf of anyone else. It was acknowledged early that there would be disagreements and conflicting priorities. There was passion and a sense of urgency, but nobody tried to silence anyone else. It's 57 instances of "yes and."
As anyone who reads this collection will (and should), I didn't agree with every piece in this collection. Some I disagreed with wholeheartedly, but others I wanted to put in the hands of everyone I know. Regardless, almost every single one raised a perspective I hadn't considered on an array of topics including the structure of family, education, relationships, immigration, self-worth, and economics.
I think the collection could have benefited from a bit more variety. Though not every piece was an essay or interview, it did feel as if they dominated. I also would have preferred either more or less structure. As the book is currently organized, some topics are grouped together and others are widely split. I would have preferred if the editors had followed either of these rather than both. I recognize, though, that these are personal preferences of style rather than substance.
As anyone who reads this collection will (and should), I didn't agree with every piece in this collection. Some I disagreed with wholeheartedly, but others I wanted to put in the hands of everyone I know. Regardless, almost every single one raised a perspective I hadn't considered on an array of topics including the structure of family, education, relationships, immigration, self-worth, and economics.
I think the collection could have benefited from a bit more variety. Though not every piece was an essay or interview, it did feel as if they dominated. I also would have preferred either more or less structure. As the book is currently organized, some topics are grouped together and others are widely split. I would have preferred if the editors had followed either of these rather than both. I recognize, though, that these are personal preferences of style rather than substance.
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