The publication of Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch in 1970 was a landmark event, raising eyebrows and ire while creating a shock wave of recognition in women around the world with its steadfast assertion that sexual liberation is the key to women's liberation. Today, Greer's searing examination of the oppression of women in contemporary society is both an important historical record of where we've been and a shockingly relevant treatise on what still remains to be achieved.
OK, so I'm 30+ years late... June 26, 2007 4 out of 4 found this review helpful
As a second-wave feminist (that's what they tell me, anyway) who was about 10 when FE was published, I've always been curious about it, particularly the title. I finally found a copy and eagerly dove in. Big disappointment, for two reasons.
First, I couldn't wrap my head around that title. It drove me crazy: It should have been called Woman as Eunuch.
Second, as a cultural icon and journalist, I expected much more from Greer's writing. It would never fly today: heavily anecdotal, sweeping generalizations with no backup data, no citations to anyone or anything. To illustrate that girls are overprotected, she cites the "case" of a girl using her last dime to call her mom for a ride home, and then being left with no bus money. Huh? This is supposed to prove that girls are overprotected?
I gave it 150 pages, then quit. Not only did she not have anything new to say, what she said was said poorly. Sorry, Greer. I'll just have to be a feminist without you.
reviews around Sep 6 2006 September 9, 2006 5 out of 15 found this review helpful
Reviews around this date should be ignored. Germaine said some stupid things about the death of Steve Irwin -Crocodile Hunter- and that has obiviously upset some people. I don't agree with Germaines comments - or much that she was written or said lately- but that doesn't stop this book from being an outstanding book of the 20th Century.
Germaine Greer...Not to be taken seriously. September 8, 2006 5 out of 11 found this review helpful
I have given this book five stars to try to raise the rating a bit. I read this book way back in the seventies, (before a lot of you were born). We knew then that Germaine Greer was a very clever satirist and managed to say and get things in print most of us would never even think about least of all discuss. We read this book and Helen Gurley Brown's "Sex and the Single Girl" with popping eyes. Not that I am comparing the two books except that they both dealt with women and sex, one book tells you how to go out and get your man and the other tells you to beware of being used by men. Both written by educated intelligent women and both very useful in that day and age. I have not reread The Female Eunuch, (although it is in my library somewhere) but I can imagine that the message is lost on this present much more enlightened and sexually active generation. Someone wrote that Germaine Greer is a lesbian, I don't know about that, it is something we never thought about. If it is true, lesbians have a right to their opinions too so that was a useless and bitter comment.
Germaine Greer is not to be taken seriously, she deliberately provokes thought, and the people who DO take her seriously become very agitated and upset. Believe me, it's not worth it, she would just laugh up her sleeve.
September 19th 2006 RE: SPOTLIGHT REVIEW. (My orginal review was written September 8th.)
I felt I had to come back to tell you that the Spotlight Review "Embittered Lesbian" is both discriminatory, (implying that it is only natural for a lesbian to be embittered) and incorrect. I have done some research out of curiosity, and to set the record straight, I found that Germaine Greer although being a lifelong feminist and might well be embittered, is NOT a lesbian. Feminist, contrary to the belief of "embittered" heterosexuals, is not necessarily synonymous with lesbian.
Crude September 7, 2006 8 out of 28 found this review helpful
Equality is good, but she DOES write like a high school bully; very crude, rude, and self-centered; threw it in the garbage, 10-minutes into the second night I picked it up. Low-class trash, don't waste your time! In light of her latest comments to the media, I thought it was a good time to write a review about her so-called "writing"... garbage.
A limited analysis September 7, 2006 5 out of 18 found this review helpful
After reading great books on privelge and gender (see, Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan G. Johnson), seeing a book like this is a great dissapointment. The author is still stuck in the narrative she alleges to be challenging. But, in her defense, it is not her fault; she is simply the product of our male dominated culture. She attacks others because she is trying to emulate the male power model and rise above the positions of servitude the vast majority of women in our world are still relegated into. Another sad comment.
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