First of all, Debate Etc is updated with a really interesting analysis of Jared Diamond, sexism in comics, the end of Malthus, and others. I still think that dipping into this every week or two is a good idea. I’m pretty careful about what I post (although, a disclaimer: I don’t necessarily agree with all of it).
Secondly, of course, if you haven’t bought The House on Summer Street, have you at least listened to the free audio sample?
And finally, this week’s recommendations.
Members of the VCA might remember my brief encounter a while ago with Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. I read this for a variety of reasons, chief among them being a search for a good book to recommend to students just generally interested in the subject of feminism. I figured it was recent, and certainly written for the general public, so it might be an easy one to wrap the adolescent mind around. Sandberg’s underlying thesis (although I don’t recall how specifically she pinned it as such) is the willingness of people to accept societal roles, even as victims, and how by doing so they perpetuate those roles. That is (and I learned this elsewhere), one of the problems feminism faces is women who willingly (?!) subscribe to the ills of an anti-feminist culture. Sandberg offers advice to break out of that role. The problem is that she is as much a role model for young feminist women as Mozart is a role model for young pianists: that is, she’s too special to really represent (and perhaps even understand) the norm. To call Sandberg unique puts it mildly. She’s too talented and smart by half, which means that ultimately there’s a remoteness to her advice, unless you too are at the top of your class at the top university, and the best at your work at the toughest jobs in the country, you’re probably not there with her. I’ve seen some reviewers knock her because she had enough money for good childcare, hence she was able to succeed. It’s not about that. She’s the smartest person in the room in every room she’s even been in. Because of that, it’s hard to relate to her experiences and advice. And, well, she’s no theorist or philosopher. So while I would absolutely recommend the book to any young woman setting out into the career world, I would only recommend it as a career-guiding book because its practical advice is well worth heeding, and not a book to help one understand feminism.
When I was opining about this originally, CLG recommended that I look at the new translation of The Second Sex, which I did. And I was blown away. This is the book people interested in feminism need to read and understand. It explains the philosophy and sociology of women and culture in terms that make sense to our analytical minds, and on top of that, even though it’s canonical and originally written in 1949, it is almost completely applicable and understandable today. The world has changed a lot, but let’s face it, a lot of that change has been cosmetic, and if the change had been truly deep, there would have been no need for a book like Sandberg’s over 60 years later. De Beauvoir covers soooo much material, starting with the unique otherness of woman in the philosophical sense (compared, if you will, to the other perceived Others) and going on from there. And it's easily readable; I gather the previous translation was a slog. I would suggest that some of the literary analyses can be skimmed (unless they’re actually of intrinsic interest to you), but the rest of it is core material. Instrumental though it may have been in launching the modern feminist movement, it is not only of dry historical interest. Anyone truly interested in women’s rights needs to start here.
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