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Title: Heterophobia: Sexual Harassment and the Future of Feminism (American Intellectual Culture) by Daphne Patai ISBN: 0-8476-8987-5 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing (via NBN) Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.86 (21 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Very Persuasive Argument
Comment: The past decade has seen a proliferation of books debunking feminist ideology. Most of these smart denunciations have been written by articulate and intelligent ladies like Christina Hoff Sommers, Katie Roiphe, Danielle Crittenden, and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, but Daphne Patai seems to have zeroed in on a more specialized topic. Her contribution is devoted to exposing fanatical feminism's unhealthy war on heterosexual behavior. Some would dismiss the philippics of a few feminist extremists, but Ms. Patai is wisely consistent advising, "cultivating hatred for another human group ought to be no more acceptable when it issues from the mouths of women than when it comes from men, no more tolerable from feminists than from the Ku Klux Klan."
Heterosexuality generally comes under fire as a result of unchained misandry and a ridiculous sense that all "offensive" behaviors are equal. This equivocation leads to disturbed precepts. Many of the heterophobes she quotes regularly put the use of a sexist word like "manhole" on a par with rape. The juxtaposition of these vastly disparate transgressions has lead to many bizarre sexual harassment laws. Despite the good intentions behind these rubrics, the book presents many cases where they have done far more harm than good. Ms. Patai presents what she terms the Sexual Harassment Industry (SHI) as a big business that has gained tremendous power over a short period of time. From the universities who indoctrinate students to scholars who establish restrictive speech allowances, and the lawyers who prosecute the most nonsensical case, the SHI is shown to be a growth industry on the fast track.
Professor Patai includes some anecdotes which would sound like jocose fantasies were they not such absurdly sad realities. She tells of one college lecturer who repeatedly discussed her "partner"-never letting on that it is her husband and the father of her children. She also describes a self-loathing man who believing heterosexuality was invidiously patriarchal, converted to homosexuality, but still felt guilty and became celibate. Among the most wearying of feminist rants is the often expressed claim that all women see heterosexuality as their oppressor or else they are just fooling themselves. From evidence Ms. Patai puts forth, "fooling oneself" seems to be a cornerstone of much of modern feminist reasoning.
Although she is generous in quoting avatars of heterophobia like Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon, readers possessing at least a passing familiarity with these radicals will most likely derive enhanced value from this thoughtful book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Superb
Comment: This book is like a breath of fresh air. With devastating precision, Patai sweeps away all the platitudes surrounding discussion of sexual harassment. She shows that due process is often deemed irrelevant after someone is accused of sexual harassment, that definitions of what constitutes "unwelcome behavior" are generally kept deliberately vague, that attempts to curb behavior are often fuelled by resentment and vindictiveness, and that the desire to control other people (put in motion by claims about power imbalances) is, at bottom, impossible to appease, let alone to achieve. The cure is far worse than the disease, as she usefully reminds us.
Unfortunately, the very people who need to read this book will probably take one look at the title and run a mile. This is a real shame, because Patai's book is extremely thoughtful and deserves very careful consideration by men and women alike, whether pro- or antifeminist.
Rating: 5
Summary: Spot the difference..
Comment: Note how the reviews fall into two camps - the positive who have clearly read the book and the negative reviews by those who probably haven't.
I have read this book and have only one criticism - the fly cover is really loose and I gave up with it in the end. I still looks nifty with it's gold on black lettering.
The rest of the book is superb, a detailed, knowledgable expose of a quality comparable to Farrell, Sommers or Braver.
Buy it, learn and ignore the screeching.
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Title: The WAR AGAINST BOYS: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men by Christina Hoff Sommers ISBN: 0684849577 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 12 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women by Christina Hoff-Sommers ISBN: 0684801566 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Decline of Males: The First Look at an Unexpected New World for Men and Women by Lionel Tiger ISBN: 0312263112 Publisher: Golden Books Adult Publishing Pub. Date: 02 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Myth of Male Power by Warren Farrell ISBN: 0425181448 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 09 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Hazards of Being Male: Surviving the Myth of Masculine Privilege by Herb Goldberg ISBN: 1587410133 Publisher: Wellness Institute Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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