Sex and Power

Rating:
Summary: Poor-mediocre moderate feminist pabulum
Review: About half this book is a rambling rant about the lack of women on corporate boards, at the upper echelons of politics, and/or as CEO's of Fortune 500 companies. Another quarter is about how younger women don't seem to be interested in carrying on the cause of feminism; and the other quarter is basically political name-dropping, gossip, and reminiscing. But it's all mixed in in a somewhat chaotic manner which jumps back and forth among the various topics.

As far as the first topic goes: Estrich, like many (if not all) feminists, tends to think that men at the top of institutions rule like tyrants -- the way women in fact tend rule over their children. By focusing all her attention on success-object men, she's really no different in her basic outlook from a Monica Lewinsky -- she just has different objectives and uses for men. Men without formal power are invisible to her. And the vast amount of informal female power extant is barely at the edge of her radar screen. In other words, this book is not about the real topic of sex and power, namely female sexual power. Looking at all the men in business (and politics) and saying men have all the power is about as simple-minded as looking at all the slaves in the pre-Civil War South and saying blacks have all the cotton.

Estrich confuses the earning of money with its real power, which is in its spending -- which is female-dominated, and thus invisible to her. It never occurs to her that the American woman, as powerful consumer-in-chief, is actually the boss of the male corporate CEO. All those factories, strip-malls and shopping centers weren't built (often at the expense of male lives) so *men* could go shopping for fashion accessories and home furnishings. "Follow the money", as they say...

As far as her second topic is concerned, there's a fairly substantial body of decent work already out there on the feminist's recruiting problem. Not only doesn't Estrich mention it, but she appears to be unaware of its existence. In other words, she hasn't done even a minimal amount of research and therefore doesn't have anything to say of interest on the topic. This is fairly characteristic of the book's first topic also.

The war stories from her glory days may be of minor interest to hardcore CNN and C-SPAN types...

I give it one star above the minimum for its brief exposition on sexual harassment law and the reasonable person/woman concept, which isn't all that bad. The author is a lawyer, after all. But I don't think she fully grasps that this yet another arena in which women can't lose; only men can (and they can lose big), which is hardly equality. I still think Warren Farrell's phrase "if it works it's courtship, if it doesn't it's harassment" sums the basic situation up best.

Estrich's opinions seem about fifteen years out of date, so this book is basically a waste of good trees. She should have tried reading others' books before writing one of her own. This ... book's existence (and the hype it got) alone testifies to the power women have in this country.

Rating:
Summary: Sex, power & "personal publicity" all play a role...
Review: Estrich makes some very good points in this book, but leaves one critical factor out. Women who do make it to the top not only don't mentor other women - they forget to put a little "personal publicity" into their career plans! It's always the "first woman" here, and the "first woman" there. Being first only lasts as long as making the "first mistake" which also hits the business page headlines. Achieving corporate and community visibility needs a consistent and planned effort. To really take charge of your career, whether you are still climbing the so-called ladder, or have reached the top rungs - there is no substitute for creating a strategic 'personal' publicity plan. Your boss won't do it, and neither will your mentor (if you have one!). It is up to YOU. People have to know who you are, what you stand for, and why they should hire you, promote you, or do business with you. That's really taking charge of your career.

Rating:
Summary: an interesting look at an interesting life.
Review: i thought this was a great book. but potential
customers should realize two possibly surprising details:

1. although the categoriztion on the back lists it as
"politics/women studies," it's a very autobiographical book.
this is not at all a bad thing. estrich has lead a very
interesting, very noteworthy life. but don't expect a
scholarly study on women and power in business.

2. estrich takes digs on "fat" people (which she defines
as size 14, hence the quotation marks). although in some
ways a brilliant and important feminist, she can
be just as catty and shallow in some respects as
old white men. be forewarned. it comes late in the book, after
she's endeared herself to you, and it is deeply disappointing.