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The First Sex
The book that proves that woman's contribution to civilization has been greater than man's.
382 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 30, 1972
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520 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 2, 2020
The first pages took me from "Ah, interesting, I had no idea!" to "Wait, who, what is this?? I have to read some other voices about this book".
My first impression was that the collection of so many sources has been wasted by a lack of scientific method. But at the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that there may be many kernels of truths hiding here and there. The problem is that I don't want to go to every source and try to find out where they are.
It is refreshing, though, to read something so completely opposite the blatant misogyni that still rules what's being taught as religion and history.
After the first part of the book, it gets more and more interesting. I do recommend this book. A very powerful antidote to what we've been taught- I think it's necessary to go all the way in the opposite direction to eventually get to the balance point. It may not be 100% truths, but neither is everything (still) considered truths. This book has made me more interested in learning more about history. If anybody has recommendations on what else to read, please comment!
My first impression was that the collection of so many sources has been wasted by a lack of scientific method. But at the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that there may be many kernels of truths hiding here and there. The problem is that I don't want to go to every source and try to find out where they are.
It is refreshing, though, to read something so completely opposite the blatant misogyni that still rules what's being taught as religion and history.
After the first part of the book, it gets more and more interesting. I do recommend this book. A very powerful antidote to what we've been taught- I think it's necessary to go all the way in the opposite direction to eventually get to the balance point. It may not be 100% truths, but neither is everything (still) considered truths. This book has made me more interested in learning more about history. If anybody has recommendations on what else to read, please comment!
October 5, 2017
NO APTO PARA NO-FEMINISTAS O FEMINISTAS LIBERALES
Uno de los clásicos del feminismo radical, The First Sex analiza la transición de las sociedades matriarcales al patriarcado, polémicamente conocido por su teoría inicial sobre el origen de los varones (el cromosoma Y) en una suerte de mutación. Sin embargo, el libro destaca por su estudio de los matriarcados originales, sus símbolos, sus rituales y la perversión de los mismos a la llegada de las hordas patriarcales. Pese a ser conocido por ello, el libro en realidad estudia la historia de las mujeres hasta el siglo XIX, el punto débil del libro (y la razón de sus cuatro estrellas) es que muchas de sus indagaciones han sido críticas hoy en día por las propias historiadoras feministas, (particularmente sus estudios de la Edad Media y el Renacimiento). Otro punto débil del libro es la ausencia de un análisis lesbiano inicial, según Gould-Davis antes del origen de los varones sólo existían mujeres que se reproducían partenogenéticamente, sin embargo ella no considera que estas sociedades originales fuesen lesbianas (para un análisis lesbiano de este tipo recomiendo el libro de Susan Cavin, Lesbian Origins).
una lectura recomendada para cualquier feminista radical o lesbiana, o bien, personas interesadas en el estudio de los matriarcados originales o la partenogénesis
Uno de los clásicos del feminismo radical, The First Sex analiza la transición de las sociedades matriarcales al patriarcado, polémicamente conocido por su teoría inicial sobre el origen de los varones (el cromosoma Y) en una suerte de mutación. Sin embargo, el libro destaca por su estudio de los matriarcados originales, sus símbolos, sus rituales y la perversión de los mismos a la llegada de las hordas patriarcales. Pese a ser conocido por ello, el libro en realidad estudia la historia de las mujeres hasta el siglo XIX, el punto débil del libro (y la razón de sus cuatro estrellas) es que muchas de sus indagaciones han sido críticas hoy en día por las propias historiadoras feministas, (particularmente sus estudios de la Edad Media y el Renacimiento). Otro punto débil del libro es la ausencia de un análisis lesbiano inicial, según Gould-Davis antes del origen de los varones sólo existían mujeres que se reproducían partenogenéticamente, sin embargo ella no considera que estas sociedades originales fuesen lesbianas (para un análisis lesbiano de este tipo recomiendo el libro de Susan Cavin, Lesbian Origins).
una lectura recomendada para cualquier feminista radical o lesbiana, o bien, personas interesadas en el estudio de los matriarcados originales o la partenogénesis
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2007
This was good in some aspects but viewed through today's eye the things that stuck out the most were the rampant racist remarks. It seemed to insinuate that the whiter or more aryan the civilization the more CIVILIZED the people were. Not true in general and in my experience.
November 4, 2022
Αγαπητοί άνδρες,
Αυτό δεν είναι ένα βιβλίο που στόχο έχει να αντιστρέψει την κατάσταση. Αυτό δεν είναι ένα βιβλίο που λέει οτι είμαστε καλύτερες. Αυτό είναι ένα βιβλίο που λέει πως απλά είμαστε διαφορετικές από εσάς. Αυτό είναι ένα βιβλίο που λέει πως έχουμε συμμετάσχει και εμείς στην πορεία αυτής της ιστορίας. Μπορούμε να τα αφήσουμε όλα πίσω και να χτίσουμε μια κοινωνία βασισμένη σε λιγότερο βίαιες, και περισσότερο θηλυκές αξίες;
Αυτό δεν είναι ένα βιβλίο που στόχο έχει να αντιστρέψει την κατάσταση. Αυτό δεν είναι ένα βιβλίο που λέει οτι είμαστε καλύτερες. Αυτό είναι ένα βιβλίο που λέει πως απλά είμαστε διαφορετικές από εσάς. Αυτό είναι ένα βιβλίο που λέει πως έχουμε συμμετάσχει και εμείς στην πορεία αυτής της ιστορίας. Μπορούμε να τα αφήσουμε όλα πίσω και να χτίσουμε μια κοινωνία βασισμένη σε λιγότερο βίαιες, και περισσότερο θηλυκές αξίες;
April 25, 2022
This is where feminism started for me. Found a battered copy in my early teens and it changed everything.
That's right the women are smarter!
That's right the women are smarter!
August 13, 2007
Elizabeth Gould Davis' book THE FIRST SEX is the author's assertion that prehistory was matriarchal and that women are physical, mentally, and morally superior to men. Her aim is already questionable, for who would want to say one half of the human race is superior to the other, and her manner of carrying out the argument is ineffective.
The problems with the book are manifold, and the difficulty in describing them all lies in where to even start. For one, Davis does not appear to have been qualified to write a book based on archeological and historical data, for being a common librarian she had no specialized training in the subjects. With no proficiency with, for example, Latin she has to interpret ancient sources by translations, and in one bizarre passage suggests that only women translators are capable of producing reliable results. While later saying that Christianity was made up entirely, she takes everything written in other ancient sources as dry fact insisting, for example, that the Amazons existed while most experts would now hold that they were a mere fanciful myth.
Within the field of biology, her limited knowledge of the field and the outdatedness of her sources results in tired assertions such as that all children regardless of gender begin at conception as female, which modern science has shown to be a misconception based on visual appearance when there is always a clear genetic distinction.
Davis makes a number of curious sidetracks into areas for which she simply has a personal distaste, even if they have no relation to her thesis. Christianity and Judaism particularly suffer. Her feelings for Judaism appalingly approach anti-semitism, with Jews being portrayed as distasteful and shifty barbarians whose ideas, introduced to the civilized (i.e. matriachal) world resulted in its downfall. Then with Christianity she does what she can to belittle it, calling it "the barbarous religion" and reducing all the sundry denominations of the faith into one single doctrine of evil. At times, this results in obvious contradictions, as when she writes that Christians made up stories of persecution and were really treated well in Rome, and then a mere couple of pages later notes that several Roman emperors persecuted Christians to a great degree.
Finally, Davis drops a long expected bombshell in her afterword by proclaiming that we are now "on the threshold of the new Age of Aquarius", reducing what wasn't even a passable academic work to mere new-age claptrap.
THE FIRST SEX, in the three decades since its appearance, has been extensively debunked, and thankfully contemporary readers are more likely to approach it through first hearing that it is nonsense. Cynthia Eller's THE MYTH OF MATRIARCHAL PREHISTORY is the most detailed of these critical examinations and essential reading if you intend on perusing Davis' book. Eller's book is admirable in that it shows how these crank ideas, by basing hopes upon an imaginary past, are actually harming the possibility of creating a just and equal society in the future.
Davis' is a book of already objectionable premise made terrible by its spiteful tone and disregard for academic standards, and the ease by which it has been debunked. I really cannot recommend THE FIRST SEX; even for those looking for opposing voices in anthropological study there are better, more trustworthy works.
The problems with the book are manifold, and the difficulty in describing them all lies in where to even start. For one, Davis does not appear to have been qualified to write a book based on archeological and historical data, for being a common librarian she had no specialized training in the subjects. With no proficiency with, for example, Latin she has to interpret ancient sources by translations, and in one bizarre passage suggests that only women translators are capable of producing reliable results. While later saying that Christianity was made up entirely, she takes everything written in other ancient sources as dry fact insisting, for example, that the Amazons existed while most experts would now hold that they were a mere fanciful myth.
Within the field of biology, her limited knowledge of the field and the outdatedness of her sources results in tired assertions such as that all children regardless of gender begin at conception as female, which modern science has shown to be a misconception based on visual appearance when there is always a clear genetic distinction.
Davis makes a number of curious sidetracks into areas for which she simply has a personal distaste, even if they have no relation to her thesis. Christianity and Judaism particularly suffer. Her feelings for Judaism appalingly approach anti-semitism, with Jews being portrayed as distasteful and shifty barbarians whose ideas, introduced to the civilized (i.e. matriachal) world resulted in its downfall. Then with Christianity she does what she can to belittle it, calling it "the barbarous religion" and reducing all the sundry denominations of the faith into one single doctrine of evil. At times, this results in obvious contradictions, as when she writes that Christians made up stories of persecution and were really treated well in Rome, and then a mere couple of pages later notes that several Roman emperors persecuted Christians to a great degree.
Finally, Davis drops a long expected bombshell in her afterword by proclaiming that we are now "on the threshold of the new Age of Aquarius", reducing what wasn't even a passable academic work to mere new-age claptrap.
THE FIRST SEX, in the three decades since its appearance, has been extensively debunked, and thankfully contemporary readers are more likely to approach it through first hearing that it is nonsense. Cynthia Eller's THE MYTH OF MATRIARCHAL PREHISTORY is the most detailed of these critical examinations and essential reading if you intend on perusing Davis' book. Eller's book is admirable in that it shows how these crank ideas, by basing hopes upon an imaginary past, are actually harming the possibility of creating a just and equal society in the future.
Davis' is a book of already objectionable premise made terrible by its spiteful tone and disregard for academic standards, and the ease by which it has been debunked. I really cannot recommend THE FIRST SEX; even for those looking for opposing voices in anthropological study there are better, more trustworthy works.
August 11, 2023
I re-read Elizabeth Gould Davis's "The First Sex," after a long time and still felt the same fascination when I read it for the first time a long time ago. A must-read for any feminist or anti-feminist alike during the heydays of the second wave of feminism, Gould Davis masterfully presents her compelling thesis, contending that the early human societies were matriarchal "queendoms," venerating the awe-inspiring "Great Goddess."
These societies, as she argues very convincingly, acting upon the principles of pacifism and democratic principles, were rooted in the harmonious pursuit of collective progress. These matriarchal civilizations attained astonishing heights of cultural and social advancement. However, over time, these were replaced by the "patriarchal revolution," replaced with a stern and vengeful male deity.
This realignment resulted in the replacement of human rights with property rights. The very essence of society underwent a profound metamorphosis, navigating uncharted waters as it embarked upon an epoch defined by shifting power dynamics and evolving belief systems.
Although the book was a bestseller when it was first published and helped to spark a renewed interest in the study of women's history, it was also criticized for its lack of rigour and its reliance on outdated sources.
In recent years, some of Davis's claims have been challenged by new research. For example, it is now believed that early societies were more egalitarian than Davis suggested, with men and women sharing power more equally. However, The First Sex remains an important work of feminist scholarship, and it continues to be influential in shaping our understanding of the past.
These societies, as she argues very convincingly, acting upon the principles of pacifism and democratic principles, were rooted in the harmonious pursuit of collective progress. These matriarchal civilizations attained astonishing heights of cultural and social advancement. However, over time, these were replaced by the "patriarchal revolution," replaced with a stern and vengeful male deity.
This realignment resulted in the replacement of human rights with property rights. The very essence of society underwent a profound metamorphosis, navigating uncharted waters as it embarked upon an epoch defined by shifting power dynamics and evolving belief systems.
Although the book was a bestseller when it was first published and helped to spark a renewed interest in the study of women's history, it was also criticized for its lack of rigour and its reliance on outdated sources.
In recent years, some of Davis's claims have been challenged by new research. For example, it is now believed that early societies were more egalitarian than Davis suggested, with men and women sharing power more equally. However, The First Sex remains an important work of feminist scholarship, and it continues to be influential in shaping our understanding of the past.
Want to read
December 6, 2018Read of in "Of Woman Born" chapter 3 part3 (pg 72). Though Rich isn't much appreciative of the book and calls it unscholarly (chapter 4, part 3). But appreciated "Davis as a catalyst of memory and imagination" (pg 92).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2024
THE ORIGINAL BOOK THAT ARGUED THE HISTORICAL CASE FOR FEMALE SUPERIORITY
Elizabeth Gould Davis (1910-1974) was an American librarian in Sarasota, Florida, who wrote this pathbreaking book (which was very influential on the growing women's movement) in 1973. She said in the Introduction, "This work is the result of the convergence of two streams of thought: the first, that the earliest civilization we know was but a renewal of a then dimly remembered and now utterly forgotten older one; and the second, that the impelling and revivifying agent in what we know as civilization was woman... So long has the myth of feminine inferiority prevailed that women themselves find it hard to believe that their own sex was once and for a very long time the superior and dominant sex... We must repudiate two thousand years of propaganda concerning the inferiority of woman... the time has come to put woman back into the history books, and... to readmit her to the human race. Her contribution to civilization has been greater than man's, and man has overlooked her long enough." (Pg. 15, 18)
She uses mythology heavily, observing, "myth and tradition credit women with ALL the inventions and discoveries these words connote. And mythology, we repeat, is the memory of real events experienced by the human race." (Pg. 42) She asserts, "When man substituted God for the Great Goddess he at the same time substituted authoritarian for humanistic values." (Pg. 115) She suggests, "Patriarchal peoples place more emphasis in property rights than in human rights and more emphasis on rigid moral conformity than on concepts of justice and mercy... In the matriarchal view, the very right of society to establish arbitrary mores is questioned..." (Pg. 116)
She says, "In the Old Testament Book of Judges, Deborah is a judge in Israel, and herself proclaims her status as head of the tribe: 'I, Deborah, arose a mother in Israel.' 'The children of Israel came to her for judgment,' says the book of Judges 4:4... Christian Bible commentators, horrified at the idea of a reigning queen in historical Israel, have transferred the judgeship to [her general] Barak and have made Deborah a mere 'prophetess,' subservient to Barak. But that is not the way the Bible tells it. And in this case, at least, the Bible can be trusted to be accurate." (Pg. 129)
She suggests, "If a mere two hundred odd years of slavery had so deleterious an effect on the character [of African-Americans]... why haven't fifteen hundred years of slavery had the same effect on women? Perhaps woman has avoided complete inner degradation because she has an instinctive knowledge, an intuitive memory, of her original and still basic superiority..." (Pg. 314) She adds, "Man, not woman, clings to the outmoded patriarchal concept of woman as merely a helpmate to man. Woman looks further back... and she sees herself as nature intended her to be---the primary force in human advancement." (Pg. 334)
While some of Davis's rhetoric (from the heady early days of the women's movement) may seem a bit excessive to modern ears, this is a challenging, thought-provoking book that few readers will remain "neutral" about. I regard it as "essential reading" for anyone studying the historical and sociological status of woman, as well as the women's movement in this country and elsewhere.
Elizabeth Gould Davis (1910-1974) was an American librarian in Sarasota, Florida, who wrote this pathbreaking book (which was very influential on the growing women's movement) in 1973. She said in the Introduction, "This work is the result of the convergence of two streams of thought: the first, that the earliest civilization we know was but a renewal of a then dimly remembered and now utterly forgotten older one; and the second, that the impelling and revivifying agent in what we know as civilization was woman... So long has the myth of feminine inferiority prevailed that women themselves find it hard to believe that their own sex was once and for a very long time the superior and dominant sex... We must repudiate two thousand years of propaganda concerning the inferiority of woman... the time has come to put woman back into the history books, and... to readmit her to the human race. Her contribution to civilization has been greater than man's, and man has overlooked her long enough." (Pg. 15, 18)
She uses mythology heavily, observing, "myth and tradition credit women with ALL the inventions and discoveries these words connote. And mythology, we repeat, is the memory of real events experienced by the human race." (Pg. 42) She asserts, "When man substituted God for the Great Goddess he at the same time substituted authoritarian for humanistic values." (Pg. 115) She suggests, "Patriarchal peoples place more emphasis in property rights than in human rights and more emphasis on rigid moral conformity than on concepts of justice and mercy... In the matriarchal view, the very right of society to establish arbitrary mores is questioned..." (Pg. 116)
She says, "In the Old Testament Book of Judges, Deborah is a judge in Israel, and herself proclaims her status as head of the tribe: 'I, Deborah, arose a mother in Israel.' 'The children of Israel came to her for judgment,' says the book of Judges 4:4... Christian Bible commentators, horrified at the idea of a reigning queen in historical Israel, have transferred the judgeship to [her general] Barak and have made Deborah a mere 'prophetess,' subservient to Barak. But that is not the way the Bible tells it. And in this case, at least, the Bible can be trusted to be accurate." (Pg. 129)
She suggests, "If a mere two hundred odd years of slavery had so deleterious an effect on the character [of African-Americans]... why haven't fifteen hundred years of slavery had the same effect on women? Perhaps woman has avoided complete inner degradation because she has an instinctive knowledge, an intuitive memory, of her original and still basic superiority..." (Pg. 314) She adds, "Man, not woman, clings to the outmoded patriarchal concept of woman as merely a helpmate to man. Woman looks further back... and she sees herself as nature intended her to be---the primary force in human advancement." (Pg. 334)
While some of Davis's rhetoric (from the heady early days of the women's movement) may seem a bit excessive to modern ears, this is a challenging, thought-provoking book that few readers will remain "neutral" about. I regard it as "essential reading" for anyone studying the historical and sociological status of woman, as well as the women's movement in this country and elsewhere.
July 2, 2015
This book is of a dangerous sort because it has the potential to create two kinds of people, those who radically despise Feminism because it comes off as an agenda built upon the hatred or inferiority of man, and those who believe that is what the Feminist ideal should be. As a Feminist, and as a man, I am able to occupy both spheres, and while I may not be able to fully understand the full breadth of the privileges I have that my female compatriots do not have and are striving for, I recognize that Feminism is about the equality of the sexes, not man is better than woman or woman is better than man, and in this third wave, we have begun to recognize the subtle nuances that expand to gender and sexualities, that defy the dichotomy that drove the first and second waves. This is part of why I rated the First Sex so low, but this is not the primary reason, for there are plenty of other "dangerous books" that I would rate high based upon some kind of ideological merit, even if it is not one an ideology I distinctly resonate with or find interesting solely on the grounds to understand how other people have come to their perspectives. The First Sex reads like Chariots of the Gods? written with conviction, and that is the problem. The majority of the science, the evidence, the reasoning, it's colored by conformation bias and riddled with thought terminating cliches that it can actually harm the reader's understanding of history. I love the idea of the Forgotten Matriarchy, just like I love the idea of Ancient Aliens, but the problem is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and Davis fails to deliver, choosing instead to amass a large number of examples, many of which are incredibly generic, unproven, sometimes even uncited, or they come from a source that is either not scholarly or highly contested. One criticism I read of Davis is that she chooses to sources that says she is right, and based upon her inclusion of such sources as Herodotus, who she claims is incredibly reliable despite the fact that there is a surpassing amount of scholarship that he was not reliable at all, I cannot help but agree with her detractors. The effect of The First Sex is not one of enlightenment, but of religiosity, wherein the Cult of God is replaced not with the Cult of the Alien as in Von Danniken's Work, but the Cult of Woman, an agency that presumes itself to be superior to the Patriarchy and is equally capable of being just as chauvinistic. This is not the Feminism we need, the Feminism of bell hooks, Michelle Tea, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the like, where man, woman, and all other iterations of humanity live together in equality.
November 19, 2023
Teorías muy locas y se nota que está escrito hace más de 50 años.
Misándrico y racista… (pero supongo que así era en esos tiempos).
Me han dejado muerta algunas teorías/afirmaciones sobre la inferioridad del hombre (cromosoma Y es una mutación que debilita desde el cromosoma X)
A todo esto mézclale Atlantis y teorías sobre el origen humano extraterrestre.
Cosas muy exageradas, teorías muy atrevidas y que además ya se han comprobado a día de hoy que no son nada válidas (por cierto, griegos y romanos y más culturas revisadas eran súper machistas, para nada feministas).
El matriarcado como tal tampoco se sostiene ya..
Aún así es interesante de leer y seguir sus argumentaciones.
Misándrico y racista… (pero supongo que así era en esos tiempos).
Me han dejado muerta algunas teorías/afirmaciones sobre la inferioridad del hombre (cromosoma Y es una mutación que debilita desde el cromosoma X)
A todo esto mézclale Atlantis y teorías sobre el origen humano extraterrestre.
Cosas muy exageradas, teorías muy atrevidas y que además ya se han comprobado a día de hoy que no son nada válidas (por cierto, griegos y romanos y más culturas revisadas eran súper machistas, para nada feministas).
El matriarcado como tal tampoco se sostiene ya..
Aún así es interesante de leer y seguir sus argumentaciones.
August 9, 2020
This book is so polemical and so very extremely biased against the male sex! It polarizes readers regarding the (so-called) debate 'women vs. men' by forcing an unfounded advantage to women, and by 'building' a case with such ludicrous claims; it egregiously mixes mythology, history, psychology and even distorts biological facts!
It's been a risible to ridiculous read!
It's been a risible to ridiculous read!
Want to read
April 11, 2021Read online here.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews