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Are Men Necessary?: When Sexes Collide |
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| Author: Maureen Dowd Published: 2005-11-08 |
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List price: $25.95 Our price: $4.07 |
As of: January 07th, 2009 04:13:50 PM |
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Customer comments on this selection. Don't be duped by the cover-this is not an interesting book.She uses a lot of well-articulated stereotypes. Even a 50's housewife would gag. She assumes that all men are superficial and are attracted to bimbos and that all women fill that role. She hates men but then desperately wants their approval. She wrote a chapter about how female heads of state are superior than male heads of state, then doesn't list a single female head of state. (FYI-Benazir Bhutto,Margaret Thatcher, Angel Merkel, etc). She asks one or two of her friends their opinions on social patterns of men and women and then she tries to use it as a reliable statistic that explains everything. High school students can produce better data than that, as well as more coherent thesis'. The only redeemable aspect of this abomination was her writing style. Insipid, hackneyed, prejudiced, but oddly witty. This book is like a more expensive and irritating version of Cosmo. This is an embarassment to true feministsOkay...I had the wool pulled over my eyes. Was it foolish to think that this book might have had something to do with its title? I'm not sure what I expected to encounter in this tome of gender lambasting, but it wasn't this. I suppose a more anthropological, societal approach to that question would have been better. The content, as it stands, falls more under the title's subheading: When the sexes collide. This book was a lot about that and not much about the other. The book itself would've been good had it been honest with its title. I didn't feel that the recounting of how men and women interact mostly in the political world necessitated asking the question "Are men necessary?" Nor do I believe the political arena accurately reflects the `real' world of feminism, and by the end I was convinced that this was written merely as a plug for Hillary for president as that is how it ends. Maureen Dowd is an excellent journalist, but her writing style doesn't translate well to book length treatises. I can see the necessity in one sentence paragraphs for a newspaper article when you're writing by the inch, but in books it's just bad formatting. One sentence does not make a paragraph. There were a couple of areas where I didn't believe that she fully researched what she was writing about, the subject of anime being one. Also, the fact that she didn't list sources at the end of the book bothered me some. There were plenty of quotes, but no citations. To me this takes away any credibility. I wouldn't rush to recommend this to anyone, especially now that the campaign is over for Hillary; at least momentarily. I'm no liberal basher, but Dowd is the lefty Ann CoulterI'm not sure why Ms. Dowd is so popular. I suppose it is because there are so many people in this country who want their worldview confirmed and not challenged. And the "problems" discussed in this book apply to only .5% of the world's women. Day after day in the NY Times, Ms. Dowd never says anything enlightening. She takes shots at people with comical turns of phrase, but just like the content of this book she doesn't really propose any new ideas or astute analysis in my opinion at least. But good for her she's made a career out of this stuff.  Sassy lassie has her say with wordsDespite the provocative title, this not feminist analysis but a collection of short essays about modern life and the gender wars written by a smart, successful woman. The problem is although the essays are short, the chapters are rather long and become meandering. The best way to read it is to dip into it at intervals. There's some very funny stuff here about female news anchors, shoes and why men should not have plastic surgery. There was also a section that I found bewildering, about highly educated women who work for a few months only then marry and quit to stay home with the children. I honestly don't know any women of working age who don't have to work. Nor is there any real tension between the "feminist" notion that women should be paid equally for their work and the "post-feminist" idea that they spend some of the money on makeup, sexy shoes or if they can afford it and are in show business, "breast augmentation" -- can I say that? Shesh. The author is downright evil on the subject of Botox and frozen faces. Read with care as this section will cause unsightly laugh lines.  Don't read if you can't handle ideas on TRUE equalityI find it interesting that some women are uncomfortable with the notion that they really are as smart as men AND also better caretakers of home and children. This book really explores all the facets of feminism and why admiting and declaring that you are as smart and capable sometimes means a life very different than what you planned on as a little girl. Woman are terrified of losing their place in this world as the damsel in distress and I can sympathize. We've come to a point now in this country where so many woman have chosen or been forced to toughen up and realize all our strengths whether you work inside the home or out. Men have an amazing lack of responsibilty these days in so many areas and women have had to pick up the slack over and over. This is not man bashing, recognizing the life that most American women lead is simply living in reality. And, as a result, to try and keep with the traditional idea of finding a man who is somewhat stronger and tougher than you has bcome damn near impossible (unless you go the convicted felon/prisoner route which many women are choosing) because we have has to get so tough. It's not a good or a bad thing, it just is. Ms. Dowd aptly explains these ideas with cultural and scientific sources and examples. Wonderful book,however, most women just aren't ready for these ideas yet. |
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