Shell-Shocked: Feminist Criticism after Trump

by Bonnie Honig

A biting, funny, up-to-the-minute collection of essays by a major political thinker that gets to the heart of what feminist criticism can do in the face of everyday politics.



Stormy Daniels offered a #metoo moment, and Anderson Cooper missed it. Conservatives don't believe that gender is fluid, except when they're feminizing James Comey. "Gaslighting" is our word for male domination but a gaslight also lights the way for a woman's survival.

Across two dozen trenchant, witty reflections, Bonnie Honig offers a biting feminist account of politics since Trump. In today's shock politics, Honig traces the continuing work of patriarchy, as powerful, mediocre men gaslight their way across the landscape of democratic institutions.

But amid the plundering and patriarchy, feminist criticism finds ways to demand justice. Shell-Shocked shows how women have talked back, acted out, and built anew, exposing the practices and policies of feminization that have historically been aimed not just at women but also at racial and ethnic minorities. The task of feminist criticism--and this is what makes it particularly well-suited to this moment--is to respond to shock politics by resensitizing us to its injustices and honing the empathy needed for living with others in the world as equals.

Feminist criticism's penchant for the particular and the idiosyncratic is part of its power. It is drawn to the loose threads of psychological and collective life, not to the well-worn fabrics with which communities and nations hide their shortcomings and deflect critical scrutiny of their injustices. Taking literary models such as Homer's Penelope and Toni Morrison's Cee, Honig draws out the loose threads from the fabric of shock politics' domination and begins unraveling them.

Honig's damning, funny, and razor sharp essays take on popular culture, national politics, and political theory alike as texts for resensitizing through a feminist lens. Here are insightful readings of film and television, from Gaslight to Bombshell, Unbelievable to Stranger Things, Rambo to the Kavanaugh hearings. In seeking out the details that might break the spell of shock, this groundbreaking book illustrates alternative ways of living and writing in a time of public violence, plunder, and--hopefully--democratic renewal.

Genres: Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2021

About the author

Bonnie Honig is a political and legal theorist specialized in democratic and feminist theory. She is Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and Senior Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation. She received her PhD from Johns Hopkins University.

Prior to moving to Northwestern University, Prof. Honig taught at Harvard University for several years. The 1997 decision by then-President of Harvard Neil Rudenstine not to offer Honig tenure was highly controversial, and attracted harsh criticism from a number of prominent Harvard professors as a violation of Rudenstine's stated commitment to increasing the number of tenured female professors.

Reviews

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shell-Shocked: Feminist Criticism After Trump by Bonnie Honig is a collection of essays that combine cultural critique and feminist criticism to examine the ways in which Trump's shock politics have attempted to desensitize us to its inherent cruelty and violence. Those whose lives have not been negatively impacted and also lack empathy and understanding for others will find this too inconvenient for them, not of the right time. Maybe for them the right time is after all the damage is done and those impacted have been eliminated, then they will feel comfortable reading this during this part of their lives. Probably not though, it just isn't in them to care enough.

Like any collection of essays there were some that spoke to me more than others. What I liked about this collection is that the ones that I found most engaging were the ones that showed me new avenues into understanding our time rather than the ones that widened an avenue I have traveled. In recovering from the trauma of the past 4 years, okay all of modern history but we have to start some where, we need as many ways to come to terms with what happened and what is happening still and, no doubt, what will continue to happen. This book offers interesting perspectives presented in a light jargon free manner that should sit well with anyone not swearing allegiance to the cult of Trump.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Francisco Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of essays felt like a delightful and smart exploration of feminist criticism, not to be confused with feminist theory. I really did appreciate that early distinction as it set the stage for the kind of analysis that she set out to do, looking largely to the mix of politics, culture, and media of the last four years. I have to admit that I’m pretty exhausted by the last four years and the daily onslaught of death that has been sharpened by the pandemic, but the book was somehow not “just more” of that content. Perhaps it was the combination of short, easily readable chapters, the interesting selection of topics and texts, and the infusion of air, warmth, and humor alongside the sharp critique that made it feel different and pleasant. That being said, I was disappointed at some missed opportunities at a more full analysis, at various points for various reasons. The chapter on the Naked Athena, in particular, was disappointing for having all the pieces there and just missing some connections. All in all, however, it was an enjoyable read that got me thinking and inspired me to stay hopeful and keep working at our democratic projects.

[WallofText · Rating 4 out of 5]

{Digital copy provided by NetGalley}

This dense, academic, and complex collection of essays takes an analytical look at contemporary politics using feminist criticism and a varied and relevant collection of media such as movies, tv shows, newspapers, and books. Like most essay collections, I didn’t love or agree with every thing in this book. From only refering to women in describing those affected by gaslighting, “His or her” usage, both of which excludes anyone who isn’t a woman or uses different pronouns, to some overwrought analyses and conclusions, I definitely had a few issues with it. Nonetheless, this is a thoughtful book that seeks to make the reader think and by using media as cleverly as it does, it helps to make the subject matter more approachable to the general public.

[Rt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essays of feminist criticism in the age of Trump. She argues that shock politics and disaster capitalism are intimately intertwined with misogyny, and starts by performing a close reading of Trump’s family romance with gilding, TV, and monarchical aspirations, down to naming his son Barron, which is also the name he used when he was pretending to be a spokesman for himself. There are some gems in her analysis of pop culture phenomena, such as when she discusses the show Unbelievable by evoking W.E.B. Du Bois’s question “How does it feel to be a problem?” and arguing that the analogous question for misogyny is “How does it feel to be unbelievable?” because un/believability is structural. But I didn’t learn an awful lot.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

It might be interesting to others, but not for me. Of course Trump's name is mentioned, I'm just not interested in this season of my life.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing particularly earth-shattering if you're familiar with feminist critique and lived through the last presidency, but this book does a good job of packaging all the events into a coherent presentation. I felt like the narrative was a little light on the academic criticism, and veered into nothing more than a personal condemnation of the events, at times, but overall, it was a worthwhile read.