Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
While Levy’s writing style is fluid and readable, many of her points are highly contradictory or subjective to the point of irrelevance. For instance, she demonizes her liberal arts literature education because she was taught to view literature as political; she goes on to implement a metaphor involving Uncle Tom’s cabin and its parallels in contemporary feminism. Wait, I thought we were supposed to appreciate literature for its objective aesthetic value, not its politics!
Further, Levy spends a lot of time lamenting her own dissociation from these FCPs, which comes across as more classist than revelatory. The sociological element falls short, as she does not discuss the obvious influence of social & economic class, even while she nostalgizes about the feminist movements of the 70s (largely led by rich, cis, white women).
At its core, raunch culture is largely consumerist and demands discussion. But Levy misses the mark by idealizing a certain (neo-liberal) branch of feminism while shunning any non-conforming views and approaches. There is more to feminism than heterosex education and preferring books to dance parties.
Jesse Rice-Evans 