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Title: The Whole Woman by Germaine Greer ISBN: 0-385-72003-3 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 08 August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.76 (67 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: unfortunately bad
Comment: Greer starts off by saying this is the book she would never write because she believed that each generation had to come up with its own list of priorities and statements. She apparently changed her mind for no other reason than she didn't like the list of priorities and statements this generation came up with.
The book is marred by inaccuracies. I haven't taken the time to verify all of her claims -- her strange use of references makes verifying her claims far more difficult than it needs to be -- but just a cursory reading shows a large number of claims that are just plain wrong. For instance, she claims that menstruation is uniquely human when in fact other primates do it as well. Speaking of breast implants she says that 'the suspicion is that silicone migrating from implants stimulates the immune system, causing human adjuvant disease'. Yet in Science on Trial, Marcia Angell (executive editor at the New England Journal of Medicine) shows that there is no link between breast implants and disease and only quacks advocate the position Greer implies is common belief. She claims that most women dye, bleach, or perm their hair -- a claim hard to swallow on the surface of it -- and provides not a single reference for it. She claims that modern war kills more women than men -- another claim hard to take a face value, yet she provides no references for it. She claims that computer use is another example of male hegemony by saying that 80% of Internet users are male. Her book is dated and women have already become more prevalent on the Internet than men. In short, even a cursory examination of the book leaves the reader with the inescapable conclusion that Greer has absolutely zero credibility when it comes to the real world.
To be sure Greer raises some interesting points and questions (although her writing is so muddled the reader is often left wondering what was the point of a given chapter, you can't help but wish a Professor of English could construct a more coherent argument) but why read a book where you can't believe a word the author has written because she has proven her ineptitude over and over again? I have no doubt that there is plenty of well written and factually accurate feminist literature out there. This book simply isn't among their numbers.
Rating: 5
Summary: Just what I was looking for
Comment: I had seriously been seriously frustrated with feminism, especially in the academic setting, as everything seemed to be about inane differences between what is the 'body' and what is the 'flesh', and generally focused on a very small group of privileged women-- a long standing criticism of the feminist movement.
Unexpectantly, I came upon Germaine Greer's latest book. I had read The Female Eunuch the summer before, and it had marked my behaviour, despite its being written 10 years before I was born. The Whole Woman topped it. It provided evidence about the continuing sexism in society, including in policies viewed as feminist, such as the right to abortion, routine pelvic exams, issues on maternal care, female circumcision, and many other controversial and non-controversial topics.
She seemed to have read my mind about all the problems I was seeing and provided strong, though-provoking statements about all of them. About make-up and beauty standards, problems for low-income women, the third-world, and women in positions of power. She goes beyond the tipical routine of familiar feminism: abortion isn't pro-choice, pro-choice would be information about egalitarian birth control, information about the numerous options in abortions, a revision in treatment for women who decide to abort, and most importantly, the option for women to viably raise their child if they so wish, with monetary assistance. She also writes about women in the military, police force and motherhood.
One review on the back said that this book would make me angry, and they were not kidding. Her writings are telling us not to be too comfortable-- feminism has a long way to go, baby.
Rating: 1
Summary: This is not feminism
Comment: In fact, this book is as anti-feminist as they come. Motherhood as a career? Puhhhhleese. Ms. Greer clearly writes for shock value and what was shocking in the 70s is commonplace now, so instead she decides to go the anti-feminist route and pretend it's some kind of "new" feminism.
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Title: The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, Jennifer Baumgardner ISBN: 0374527628 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 05 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir ISBN: 0679724516 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 17 December, 1989 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title:Sex and the City - The Complete Fifth Season ASIN: B00008PW2D Publisher: HBO Home Video Pub. Date: 30 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $49.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $32.49 |
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Title: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken ISBN: 0525947647 Publisher: E P Dutton Pub. Date: 29 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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