Book review - Cunt (Inga Muscio)

[cybermule]

I've read this book before, and probably reviewed it here, but it was in the dark and dirty pre-tag days so god knows if I'd ever be able to find it. Not even going to bother to try. The thing I probably like most, on the surface, about this book is that normally I would avoid sitting next to someone on the bus reading the Daily Mail, but if I had this in my pocket, I would go for it on principle.

I remember getting a lot more out of it the first time round. Practical stuff, like changing my method of sanitary protection to give less to The Man, and ideological stuff like having a personal manifesto, taking care of and supporting other women, protecting myself. I'd just come out of a relationship that had become very bad for me as a female, not because the guy I was with was some sort of chauvinist asshole, but just because it was a long relationship which I'd started when I was young and unformed and had just become riddled with bad habits. Plus the guy was a bit of a twat in that he was extremely resistant to change, and if you resist my change too long, then, well, bad things happen.

I got less out of it this time. Partly because the lessons outlined above are just a normal part of my psyche. Partly because I no longer particularly feel that my being a woman is a significant part of my issues with the world right at this point in time. It's honestly got so bad, that as the strange little girl in Resident Evil gnomically pointed out (as they are wont to do), you're all going to die down here. To paraphrase Crowley in Good Omens, there's nothing going on that we're not doing to ourselves, and that transcends the genital divide. And after that tiny Monday morning pearl of optimism, it's also written in a slightly irritating right-on talking-to-your-grrlfriends way that always grates on my intellectually androgynous tendencies.

Saying that, there are three well thought out sections re the etymological, the gynaecological (*), and the ideological that give plenty of ideas. If I knew any young ladies in a remotely influential way, I'd probably buy them a copy for their 18th birthday :)

* need a new word for this that doesn't remind me of the film Dead Ringers</I

Comments

[inulro.livejournal.com]

it's also written in a slightly irritating right-on talking-to-your-grrlfriends way that always grates on my intellectually androgynous tendencies.

I know what you mean. Ideologically I may be a feminist, but I don't actually relate to most women very well. Which is why I avoid a lot of "women's" stuff.

Interestingly, I have more female friends now than I ever have in my life; it seems as though all of us who aren't very girly gravitate towards each other eventually.

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Yay - critical girly-free mass. Most of the feminist things i've been near seem dominated by hippies. No room for swearing, junk food scoffing cyberpunks. Seem to shoot myself in the foot with my own inconsistency when it cones to groups. Which is good, because I'm not really a joiner, unless it's a really good day

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, the ill-informed hippies. They used to get shitty at me at uni because I made an effort to learn about the history and evolution of issues instead of just screaming "smash the patriarchy" and wearing Birkenstocks.

Then there was the "how can you wear fishnet stockings & high heels on International Women's Day?" incident, which would have got ugly had I not been in the middle of my Old English final paper(thus fishnets being the only clean things in the house) and far too brain-frazelled to pick a fight.

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my basic right as a human being is that I'll wear what I fucking want. But I'm not really with the picking fights. Again with the too introverted to care. And you know what? Come the apocalyptic revolution, they'll be begging me for some of my crisps and a go of my solar powered laptop.

[weemadharold.livejournal.com]

LJArchive is rather nifty for finding old journal entries. It does mean installing another program, but it's fairly lightweight and it's free. Also assuages my "But what if Livejournal disappears? I'll lose all my inane ramblings!" fears by keeping a local copy. (You can also do some analyses on which words you've used most over the years, etc. which can be amusing diversions)

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

That's a good plan I used to back itvup when I was in full time work, and would be gutted if I. Lost it all at this point. Will go seek. Probably won't analyse word count though - it'll just be loads of.fucking swearing ;)