Feminist text published in 2010.
This book can change your life.
'Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message That Feminism's Work Is Done' is a non-fiction textbook so powerful, containing analyses so universal and all-encompassing, that it would take an eternity to list every important issue and factor the author touches upon in our media-obsessed culture. It is still relevant, and its subjects ought to bare discussion today.
Susan J. Douglas single-handedly hits home and dislodges the myth that sexism no longer exists, so that pesky old-wave/fad called feminism is outdated, no longer needed, belongs in history books (yet ironically is almost never taught in schools, because a curriculum allowing people to think critically about and discuss gender issues and equality? Oooh! Unthinkable! Too scary).
Just look at all the butt-kicking, smart, independent "strong female characters" (urgh) popularising TV and movies from the 80s to the 21st century - on the surface, fiction loves women, therefore there's absolutely nothing more to be done when it comes to reality.
Look at all the attention women are getting in magazines! Those never-satisfied feminists should be grateful: Their demands are met, so they ought to bugger off now and leave us alone, to die like the dodo.
At least, that's what the white-supremacist, fragile, threatened, pretend-it-doesn't-exist system called the patriarchy wants us to think. In fact, this system may be responsible for making sexism more pervasive, more hostile and hateful to women than ever before. But by using the subtle language of "enlightened sexism" - the illusion that women "have it all" and are "equal" compared to when they obviously weren't in the past, so feminism can take a hike, right? - it makes sexism and misogyny exceedingly difficult to talk about, much less object to. Disrespect towards women - expecting them to choose marriage and children over careers and true independence - is obvious everywhere, if we choose to really pay attention. Bullying, harassing, and even threatening the very existence of the female population (half the human race, remember); moulding us all into an ideal picture of the perfect, young, pure, thin, mostly white (everyone else is either made invisible or stereotyped negatively by the media), sexualized, fetishized, submissive, and caring, magical baby maker...
Woman= object of the male gaze (made straight by default): This is normalised still.
Thanks to the power of the popular, influential, fear-mongering media in our lives, we are being conditioned to think feminism's job is done, to even see it as a taboo swear word worse than the other F-word. To hate it - in the most extreme cases blindly compare it to terrorism. After all, it's all about hairy, bra-burning, man-hating, baby-eating, and totally unfeminine lesbians, right? How could such widespread ignorance have happened, when we look at everything feminism’s accomplished, and how much it has helped us as a growing, progressive society?
Patriarchy is slowly but surely undoing feminism's hard work of the past. It undermines women's fight for gender equality (women who are assertive and on top? gasp! Burn her! Mock her! Because... men are better at everything, for the penis is gospel, as we all know! Not because sexism benefits straight white men in any way! No unresolved issues with women here!). It ignores them, and favours and protects the welfare of men; bringing greater attention to their accomplishments while simultaneously overlooking or downplaying their faults (men are only human, after all, while women... are less human, somehow?). It strips women of their right to hold any sort of power for themselves, and to be taken seriously. It does so by highlighting their perceived flaws ad-nauseam.
Patriarchy reduces women to bodies - commodities to be used and abused - and has their appearances and relationships with men under scrutiny 24/7, Big Brother-style. Anything real, living, breathing women do and say and achieve? Rendered unimportant; nothing is brought up to make them look good, or productive, at least without the benefit/favour of the other, more dominant gender. It is the exact opposite of what generally happens to successful (or even unsuccessful) men.
In truth, behind the scenes, we haven't achieved equality; not in the long run. Overall, it is still viewed that a woman's job is to make men happy.
Read 'Enlightened Sexism' and uncover the patriarchy’s retrograde reassurances to keep white men in power - no matter the cost - and discover the power of words.
In the last chapter, the incredibly observant and intelligent Susan J. Douglas gives us a detailed description of a brighter future; one which benefits everyone. A fair, hopeful vision must come to life in this century, and stay that way.
Final Score: 5/5
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