<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: severely lacking.
Review: "feminism" and "sexuality" seem to be two words that conflict when placed next to each other. so i thought, finally! an anthology that addresses this incongruency!somehow i got myself about halfway through the book. at that point i had had more than enough. first of all, the majority of the essays are written by Ph.d-holding college professors. what about the working-class single mothers? women who grew up without access to good and/or higher education, among other women (and men!) from different socio-economic and racial backgrounds? it's hard to give this book credit considering it covers the opinions of one specific group of women. not exactly a well-rounded anthology. secondly, i found most of the essays (of the 8 i could actually digest) not to be empowering, but more like therapy for the writer. McLaughlin deals with memories of her childhood that operate in her mind similarly to the effects of her anxiety disorder. Lutzenberger hashes out a rationale for her self-mutilation. Payette works step-by-step through her own issues dealing with marriage and being a "feminist wife." great, thank you for your stories, but i was hoping to get more out of your writing than an in-depth look at your neuroses. maybe a greater understanding of the "feminism/sexuality" conflict? considering the book boasts of exposing "the struggles women have when the messiness of sexuality is put under a feminist lens"...
Rating: 
Summary: Tries, but fails
Review: (...)
I found myself constantly wondering just how brave is it to tell men everything they want to hear, how rebellious to promote the by-men for-men commercialized sex industry, how courageous to reaffirm that there's no need to change or examine our sexuality so long as we unthinkingly act out our culturally-produced desires (especially the capitalist ones where shopping=liberated female sexuality.)
Fluffy, shallow, and not very much in-depth feminist critique.
Rating: 
Summary: Empowering
Review: A must read for any woman today. It explores the topics of girlhood, sex, sex work and single women. Any one who reads these essays relates in one way or another even men. Women from across the nation contribute to this awe inspiring book with one thing in common..... they all love sex. They make you rethink your ideas and explore new ways to look at sex and yourself. If your curious at all pick this up it will change your life.
Rating: 
Summary: sex-positive feminism
Review: Feminism has a variety of meanings; it is in no way a coherent and self-contained doctrine nor is it one reducible to a concrete set of principles. Those who practice or subscribe to it have wildly different commitments and convictions as to what it should represent.
This should come as no surprise, considering the "ism" emerged from a broad social context where the source of women's subjugation was difficult to surmise. Let us begin, for example, with the first of the decidedly three waves of feminism. As the incendiary issues of sex, reproduction and contraception became ones of public discussion during the late nineteenth century, there rose two schools who did not recoil: the first, the Social Purists. This group viewed women as passive and inherently inclined to motherhood. The introduction of contraception and the consideration of it as a viable alternative, so they viewed, interrupted woman's natural destiny to be a mother, making her freely available as would be a prostitute. On the other hand, were the New Moralists who conversely argued sex was healthy for women. The second wave of feminism is identified as one which concentrated on the exploitation of women, viewing sex as the violent, patriarchal weaponry used against women which fostered their subjugation in society whether it be through prostitution, pornography and even personal relationships. Of course, all of this is not to suggest that feminism rigidly pursued these views exclusively. For within these waves existed many other factions with fiercely different leanings: to name a few, there were (and are) Anarcho-Feminists (associated with Emma Goldman), Marxist-Feminists, Eco-Feminists, etc. So then we can agree there are no "givens" in feminism. So being the case, permitted is a lax climate to create a new feminist discourse in what is to be identified as the third wave. In Jane Sexes It Up, editor Merri Lisa Johnson and other contributors share their frank stories of sex and desire. Albeit feats like this have been done before in the public sphere, they have not often been pursued by feminists and for a significant reason: though aforesaid there is an pluralism to feminism, the paradigms widely established during the second wave of feminism have done its' contemporaries a disservice by leaving an impossible expectation for them - the sex as exploitation belief of that generation hinders their pursuit of pleasure. As one of feminism's laureates, Jane Gallop, explains in the book's foreword,
"[There are] people who want to get rid of sexuality for the sake of their feminist politics and people who want to get rid of feminism so they can feel good about sex..." (page XII).
So then this collection attempts to reconcile their feminism with their true sexual desires, purporting that the affinity is not incompatible like the second wave made it seem. No longer should feminists, as Johnson quipped, have to sit in bed and rationalize their dildos (see page 6).
There is another problem that this collection seeks to overcome by frankly writing about sex. The sex as exploitation belief of the second wave spawned the popular, mainstream (although largely farcical) notion of what has been referred to as the feminazi. This presumes the feminist as anti-sex, misandrist, and cantankerous. Johnson identifies this "pop-feminism" as a media construct, perhaps one that emerged from an elementary understanding of the second wave's opposition to sex.
Whether confessing a love for pornography or spanking, these feminists seek to reconcile second-wave expectations and their sexual desires, by breaking the suffocating barriers of politically-correct feminist propriety. Ironically though, a second wave residual rests in Johnson's introduction. Whilst explaining the goals of Jane Sexes It Up, she alleges there exists a rape culture, one defined as
...a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm (refer to endnotes, pg. 359).
Though the utterance resembles the sentiment of the second wave feminism that viewed sex as violent exploitation, let us then assume the collection is not seeking secession from the former school, but acknowledging their past struggles - recognizing the sexually violent and exploitative culture in which they live - which embracing their sexual desire.
Rating: 
Summary: The sexual politics of feminism 101
Review: For any feminist who has a secret stripper fantasy, this book is for you! Jane Sexes It Up is a collection of short essays about sex, politics, and holy feminism. If you have ever had an unusual sexual fantasy that you think might be taboo, these stories will blow that out of the water. Feminist women unite!...acting on their desires, even if feminine politics and society do not agree. A good read if you like short essays, dark humor, and sexual politics.
Rating:
Summary: The sexual politics of feminism 101
Review: For any feminist who has a secret stripper fantasy, this book is for you! Jane Sexes It Up is a collection of short essays about sex, politics, and holy feminism. If you have ever had an unusual sexual fantasy that you think might be taboo, these stories will blow that out of the water. Feminist women unite!...acting on their desires, even if feminine politics and society do not agree. A good read if you like short essays, dark humor, and sexual politics.
Rating:
Summary: Hit and Miss
Review: It's comforting to know that I am not the only feminist who feels slightly guilty for liking men and sex. Some of these essays are brilliant and thought-provoking. Some are deeply personal and moving, some are self-serving and trite, and some show an amazingly poor level of scholarship. Interestingly enough, the worst essay in a section is often positioned next to the best, offering an interesting juxtaposition that allows you to think about the issues even more. Is this something that can be studied academically, or needs to be? Academic studies showing that women like sex (and even with men!) seem silly, but the essays that speak from experience and don't try to make broad generalizations or deep insights on society as a whole make this book worth the read.
<< 1 >>
|
