Greer has style, May 12, 2002
Reviewer: Jennifer "jennifer10402" (New York, New York United States)
I read Greer's The Whole Woman, her most recent endeavor, before reading The Female Eunuch--suddenly I understood why the reviews of the Whole Woman were so tepid-to-awful. I liked it, but reading Eunuch I realized that this woman had incredible style and swagger, but that she had written a much more delicious and fearless book back in 1970.
In the intervening years, so much has changed for women (because of feminism) that Greer's antics and ability to go head to head with macho rakes/serious artists (like she did with Norman Mailer in an infamous Town Hall meeting) is less notable. Still, Eunuch bristles with energy and youth and it makes me think, even though I was certainly not raised in the repressive forties and fifties.
I think that this book is definitely worth reading, especially to see how far we've come.
Reviewer: Jennifer "jennifer10402" (New York, New York United States)
I read Greer's The Whole Woman, her most recent endeavor, before reading The Female Eunuch--suddenly I understood why the reviews of the Whole Woman were so tepid-to-awful. I liked it, but reading Eunuch I realized that this woman had incredible style and swagger, but that she had written a much more delicious and fearless book back in 1970.
In the intervening years, so much has changed for women (because of feminism) that Greer's antics and ability to go head to head with macho rakes/serious artists (like she did with Norman Mailer in an infamous Town Hall meeting) is less notable. Still, Eunuch bristles with energy and youth and it makes me think, even though I was certainly not raised in the repressive forties and fifties.
I think that this book is definitely worth reading, especially to see how far we've come.
"In this classic text, Germaine Greer establishes herself as the bastard brainchild of Simone deBeauvoir and Valerie Solanis; a free-loving feminist freak and angry intellectual blazing the trail for modern day thinkers like Camille Paglia and Elizabeth Wurtzel; a pro-sex feminist before the term was invented. At times funny, at times ferocious, and at times frustrating, "The Female Eunuch" remains an important historical document, one which makes palpable both the passion and the venom that brought Feminism's second wave to life." - Debbie Stoller, co-founder of "Bust" magazine and co-editor of "The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order"
Out of all the feminist classics, this one is by far my favorite. Germaine Greer casts light on how traditional institutions such as marriage in there modern form at our more modern than we think, and are actually highly unnatural to the human condition. Moreover, she effectively uses the archetype of the unit to describe how restrictions society imposes upon women. Their sexuality in particular, effectively castrates them, to the detriment of heterosexual love and interpersonal relations at the micro and macro social levels. Highly recommended.
"Pretty dumb book" says my psychologist friend.
