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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism Book Club - The Equality Illusion by Kat Banyard - 14 April 2010 9pm

102 replies

Molesworth · 08/04/2010 16:12

Thought I'd set the thread up ready for next week

Link to book on Amazon

Synopsis

Today it is widely believed that feminism has achieved its aims, and that women and men have achieved equality. This, quite simply, is an illusion.

Women working full time in the UK are paid on average seventeen per cent less than men. Domestic violence causes more death and disability among women aged sixteen to forty-four than cancer or traffic accidents. Of parliamentary seats across the globe, only fifteen per cent are held by women and fewer than twenty per cent of UK MPs are women. The number of men paying for sex acts doubled during the 1990s in the UK. From body image to work to education to violence to sex, women in the twenty-first century are still on an unequal footing with men.

In The Equality Illusion, campaigner Kat Banyard has written an alarm call, arguing passionately that feminism is one of the most urgent and relevant social justice campaigns today.

Structuring the book around a normal day, Banyard sets out the major issues for twenty-first-century feminism and explores how they are woven into our everyday lives. She also challenges how we think about choice and empowerment - ideas that have been so successfully co-opted by both the beauty industry and the sex industry - and argues against the notion that biology is at the heart of most gender inequality.

Banyard draws on her own campaigning experience as well as academic research and dozens of her own interviews and case studies. The book also includes information on how to get involved in grassroots action and a list of resources.

(www.faber.co.uk/work/equality-illusion/9780571246267/)

Author Website

OP posts:
blinder · 08/04/2010 17:00

Marking my place

StewieGriffinsMom · 08/04/2010 21:18

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ItNeverRainsBut · 09/04/2010 23:32

Marking my place too.

wukter · 09/04/2010 23:49

marking too.

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 13/04/2010 14:38

Finished it yesterday, looking forward to this tomorrow.

tummytime · 14/04/2010 11:55

Hoping to join in. 9pm is a bit late for me though

SkaterGrrrrl · 14/04/2010 16:35

Bah too late for this but would like to join the next one.

Can we do feminist themed fiction (I'm thinking of A Thousand Splendid Suns) or -given that there is already a fiction MN bookclub - stick to more factual books?

blinder · 14/04/2010 18:56

interview with Kat Banyard that she tweeted yesterday...

dittany · 14/04/2010 19:19

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dittany · 14/04/2010 19:24

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Molesworth · 14/04/2010 20:49

Love that Julie Burchill quote

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ahundredtimes · 14/04/2010 20:52

Haven't read it, but will look forward to reading this thread. I went to a talk she and Natasha Walter gave recently. She was really articulate and passionate and impressive.

blinder · 14/04/2010 20:54

and another link for link-fans - this is feminista, Kat Banyard's feminist collective.

StewieGriffinsMom · 14/04/2010 21:01

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Molesworth · 14/04/2010 21:02

Right, I'm sorted with a cup of tea and raring to go

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blinder · 14/04/2010 21:03

My main problem with this book club is that I so whole-heartedly agreed with the book. I can't really think of anything to say about it.

Except, isn't it saddening to see the truth of the situation in black and white?

Molesworth · 14/04/2010 21:05

That statistic about South Africa is one of the most shocking things I've ever read

Not sure where to start either! Overall impressions? Particular stand-out chapters? Weak points/criticisms?

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StewieGriffinsMom · 14/04/2010 21:06

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blinder · 14/04/2010 21:07

Well as a starting point I'd like to proffer this quote from her interview the other day:

''What it means to be a man today is the central issue for Banyard.

"Feminism is about saying the way we construct masculinity is wrong and has been wrong for a very long time," she says. "Either you say the violence men perpetrate against women is natural or it's because our notion of what it means to be a man is horribly wrong."

She continues: "In a world where there wasn't masculinity and femininity, one on top of the other ... you wouldn't have prostitution because sexually conquering a woman wouldn't make you feel more of a man."

I think this is why I became a feminist. It was so clear to me that we have constructed men all wrong and that we were suffering from it.

Molesworth · 14/04/2010 21:08

I think it's great that a book like this has been published by a mainstream publisher in paperback at a reasonable price, but is it just preaching to the converted or do you think this is the sort of thing that will win doubters over?

Actually I do agree that it would be a good book to give to a teenager to read

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StewieGriffinsMom · 14/04/2010 21:09

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Molesworth · 14/04/2010 21:13

blinder, I thought the section in the final chapter about men's involvement with feminism was excellent: I wasn't aware of the White Ribbon campaign, and just found it immensely heartening to hear about men involved in feminist activism. Just going on the discussions we've had about feminism on MN over the last few weeks it feels like hard work to convince other women that feminism is still needed (which I find immensely depressing tbh). I hadn't really thought of the whole 'get men involved' issue. I suppose I made an (erroneous?) assumption that if it's hard to convince women, then it'll be even harder to convince men

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Molesworth · 14/04/2010 21:16

Oh yeah SGM, I also noticed that same point being made on the burqa thread re: high heels. Massive fuss is made about the niqab, but no-one thinks twice about 5 inch stilettos!

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LeninGrad · 14/04/2010 21:16

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blinder · 14/04/2010 21:16

Molesworth I think it's sad that we need a book to spell it out like this. But we need some shocking classics don't we, for this generation? Where is this generation's 'Women's Room'?

SGM the whole section on beauty was the bit that depressed me most. I feel quite oppressed by it myself. It feels out of integrity for me to wear make-up / wear flattering clothes, but to not do that leaves me feeling ugly. Gah! I'd love to be confident enough in myself NOT to define myself according to what is attractive to men.