AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Killer Woman Blues : Why Americans Can't Think Straight About Gender and Power by Benjamin Demott ISBN: 0-395-84366-9 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 12 December, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3.2 (5 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Very Thought Provoking
Comment: Don't be put off by the reviews of some of the female readers on her. This book has an important, long over do message about both men and women. It is definitely worth the read.

Anyone whose worked in corporate America knows of the kind of woman that Demott is describing. But one need not be in the office to see her. Today the "Killer Woman" is found with celebratory fame on numerous shows and in the media. From termagents for wives to Lorenna Bobbit, the so-called no-nonsense woman that is not concerned for liberty and completely lacking in moral fortitude, is virtually championed. Today many buisnesses have taken note of this species of woman, who is referred to as a "bully broad." They are most commonly found in human resources, but where ever they are they share that same immaturity of mind, the kind reminescent of the proud little girl in the school yard whose expection that the entire world must yield to her demanded she retaliate on the world when it didn't.

Demott brilliantly shows the hypocricy of many women who claim they are for feminism, liberalism, and equality yet demonstrate by their actions they are far from having any such concern. Ask any man under 40 and he will laugh at the old hackneyed statement that women are more nurturing and are better at communicative skills (just look at the tripe that, say, writers like Natalie Angier or Helen Fisher are preposterously peddling these days).

A few years back the essayist Barbara Ehrenreich wrote in Time magazine that Lorenna was a victim and had a right to do what she did. Ehrenreich continued on to offer her suggestion of how she would have sexually mutilated a man. It is this culture that Demott is addressing. Later it was found that Lorena Bobbit had a long history of physically abusing people, including her mother who she beat with a baseball bat. Moreover, it is a culture that is tolerated where women are allowed to do damaging things in the name of equality, even on youth. Two years ago, as an example, Oprah sponsored and televised a show about the Brotherhood/Sisterhood Club of Los Angeles, a summer camp for teenage kids. In what Oprah termed a "life changing experiment," the boys were subjected to nearly three hours of sexual humiliation and emotional abuse by the girls for, as one girls innanely rationalized, "to teach boys a lesson" about what "girls go through everyday." Several lawsuits were filed and several of the female psychologists who orchestrated the "program" came under investigation. But more darker still is the impact on male youth who witnessed this, a subject that Demott also addresses. Several of the female "participants" were later the targets of sexual retribution by other males, and no doubt these young males reasons with a like-minded rational: to return the favor of the "lesson" they had learned. Not surpisingly the "program" had the opposite effect: it made otherwise kind men into angry offenders.

I find this aspect the most interesting for Demott is taking on how damaging today's culture is to society. Seeing the moral collapsing in women gives men a cause to not follow the rules, and this correlates well with the undeniably decline in chivalry over the decades. Many men are tired of listening to the real double standards of so many women wanting to have policies in their favor and at the same time not take responsibility for actions that if a man had done would be dealt with severely.

Demott's book is right on target.

Rating: 1
Summary: not a cogent read
Comment: There are problems with this book on several levels. First, it's not very well-organized or well-written. Second, he makes a point which he does not support with any information or statistics (economic, murder rate, divorce rate - he offers nothing) other than with anecdotal evidence, what he sees on the media and on television (shut the TV off, sir and talk to people - anyone out in the field - besides your own family - do research), or with very extreme cases of celebrity behavior (i.e. he's truly offended that Esther Dyson, the internet guru, has no husband, lover or kids and doesn't want any - she likes her work, so what? - says that Marcia Clark 'lost' the OJ Simpson trial because of her unresolved feelings about her femininity - puhlease!)...He makes HUGE STRETCHES - in Chapter 10, he implies that the reduction in federal funding for inner school programs is a result of our 'kickbutt culture' which is the fault of the 'killer woman' culture which was spawned by feminism - i.e. the feminist movement is destroying federal funding????...he thinks that women are "becoming men", the worst aspect of which is taking on masculine violent and brutish ways - but he really misses the important point entirely - it's not that women are becoming men - it's that they want to share the power and position that has long been denied to them in our society. Now how that is achieved varies by individual. Admittedly, in any social change there are always extremists (this is the group/trend he's worried about)- but the pendulum does swing both ways - moreover our culture has always exhibited a 'strong traditional center' (perhaps the 'religious right' does have have a purpose - just kidding!). With that said, the author does have a valid point to make - that we should look for the good qualities embodied in both genders, as traditionally defined - and that we should try to work harder as a society to accept and meld these qualities - but his is not a cogent read - not at all - in sum, it's not that "America can't think straight anymore" rather it's that the author himself.

Rating: 2
Summary: DeMott can't think straight
Comment: I bought this book with the hope that Benjamin DeMott would provide an insightful, thought-provoking look at gender politics - and instead found myself disappointed before I had finished the introduction. DeMott seems to have created a theory which he wants desperately to prove: that women have shed their femininity to become men largely because the media - arts, journalism, commercials, etc. - has innundated our culture with images of the "killer woman", an aggressive, asexual figure. DeMott's supporting facts are weak and often a real stretch, so that when he occasionally gets things right, it seems an exception rather than the rule. His generalizations go too far, and his understanding of contemporary women not far enough. It struck me that the author was trying to fit the facts to a theory and not the other way around. Much of this seems (whether fairly or not) to reflect the author's sense of being threatened by strong women. Who else would find a female journalist's tough questions as a shedding of her womanhood? Does he truly expect Diane Sawyer to ask Al Gore about the draperies hanging in his house instead of calling him to task for his exaggerations? The only interesting aspect of this book is the variety of sources upon which he draws, from television shows to Joyce Carol Oates to Susan Faludi.

I really hate to pan a book, but this one truly disappointed me. I found it a waste of my time and intellect.