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ec_newman's review
5.0
I nearly underlined everything in this little book. For being about 80 years old, the essays still speak to today.
I understand why some people don’t like the word ‘feminism’. It singles out the female and therefore people believe it only supports the female. By definition this is not true, but humans have a way of twisting words and ideas into the exact thing it’s not.
Sayers doesn’t call herself a feminist. In 1938, she is even concerned about the aggressive feminists and the possible damage they could cause. But by the very definition of feminism: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes (Merriam-Webster), she is one.
She mostly focused on the fact that women are individuals, just like men, and that perhaps, a woman does want to be an engineer, shouldn’t she be given that opportunity? Not all women want to be engineers (I’d be horrible at it), but neither do all men. Some men want to be teachers. Some men want to be nurses. Some men want to be politicians. And guess what, some women want those professions too.
It seems so incredibly simple, but Sayers, like her contemporary C.S.Lewis, is gifted at making often complicated issues (complicated by humans, not necessarily complicated in themselves) seem quite clear and logical. And then I assume I’ll be able to explain it next time I’m in a discussion, but I always seem to fall short.
I’d really like to have my students read this. We occasionally get into discussions about this very topic (in covering Antigone, I ask if they think Sophocles was a feminist, which I define via actual definitions and not cultural examples) and I am known (a bit) as a feminist teacher. I think these essays accurately portray what I mean when I talk about feminism and I would hope my students would read it with open minds and make their own conclusions.
But I hesitate, because the mere act of asking them to read this, reinforces the negative connotation of being a feminist teacher.
Would changing the word help? If it was called something with the root of ‘equal?’ Is that what it would take for people to see the true cause under the twisted view society has of this idea?
I’m not as smart as Sayers, but I believe I will follow in her footsteps of not using words when they’ve been misused and perverted until I state what I believe about this life. And then maybe what I hope to teach will take root.
I understand why some people don’t like the word ‘feminism’. It singles out the female and therefore people believe it only supports the female. By definition this is not true, but humans have a way of twisting words and ideas into the exact thing it’s not.
Sayers doesn’t call herself a feminist. In 1938, she is even concerned about the aggressive feminists and the possible damage they could cause. But by the very definition of feminism: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes (Merriam-Webster), she is one.
She mostly focused on the fact that women are individuals, just like men, and that perhaps, a woman does want to be an engineer, shouldn’t she be given that opportunity? Not all women want to be engineers (I’d be horrible at it), but neither do all men. Some men want to be teachers. Some men want to be nurses. Some men want to be politicians. And guess what, some women want those professions too.
It seems so incredibly simple, but Sayers, like her contemporary C.S.Lewis, is gifted at making often complicated issues (complicated by humans, not necessarily complicated in themselves) seem quite clear and logical. And then I assume I’ll be able to explain it next time I’m in a discussion, but I always seem to fall short.
I’d really like to have my students read this. We occasionally get into discussions about this very topic (in covering Antigone, I ask if they think Sophocles was a feminist, which I define via actual definitions and not cultural examples) and I am known (a bit) as a feminist teacher. I think these essays accurately portray what I mean when I talk about feminism and I would hope my students would read it with open minds and make their own conclusions.
But I hesitate, because the mere act of asking them to read this, reinforces the negative connotation of being a feminist teacher.
Would changing the word help? If it was called something with the root of ‘equal?’ Is that what it would take for people to see the true cause under the twisted view society has of this idea?
I’m not as smart as Sayers, but I believe I will follow in her footsteps of not using words when they’ve been misused and perverted until I state what I believe about this life. And then maybe what I hope to teach will take root.
carol16's review
funny
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.5
brief and hilarious essays on why women are human - some of her points still hold true to this day
hnm2015's review
5.0
Absolutely amazing. It is so nice to find someone who believes what I believe. She says what needs to be said without saying one is better than another.
pattydsf's review
4.0
"The first thing that strikes the careless observer is that women are unlike men. They are 'the opposite sex' - (though why 'opposite' I do not know; what is the 'neighboring sex'?). But the fundamental thing is that women are more like men than anything else in the world. They are human beings. Vir is male and Femina is female: but Homo is male and female." p. 53
I very much enjoyed the Peter Wimsey mysteries, especially after Harriet Vane appeared on the scene. I listened to them long before social media started helping me track my reading. I had read that Sayers had written some essays about women and religion, but it took a course in Women and Christianity to get me to read these feminist essays.
I will read these again and probably again. Sayers reminds me of how far women have come and how far we have to go. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. These essays were originally published in 1947. World War II had ended and apparently men were worrying about women in trousers. Trousers! At least we don't have that debate anymore.
However, women are still considered the opposite sex. We are still making less money for the same work. When a profession becomes "pink-collared" the salary goes down for everyone, but especially women. Much of what Sayers is concerned about in these few pages is still a problem. When will all human accept that all humans should be treated humanely and with love and compassion? Some days it seems hopeless.
With any luck my mom will borrow my copy and we will have the opportunity to talk about Sayers' thoughts about women and men. We will enjoy our discussion because Sayers writes clearly and with humor - attributes that all essays need.
If you have not ever read anything by Sayers, start with the mysteries, they are so much fun. However, if you have any interest in the human condition, pick up these essays and see if you can answer Sayers' question: Are Women Human?
I very much enjoyed the Peter Wimsey mysteries, especially after Harriet Vane appeared on the scene. I listened to them long before social media started helping me track my reading. I had read that Sayers had written some essays about women and religion, but it took a course in Women and Christianity to get me to read these feminist essays.
I will read these again and probably again. Sayers reminds me of how far women have come and how far we have to go. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. These essays were originally published in 1947. World War II had ended and apparently men were worrying about women in trousers. Trousers! At least we don't have that debate anymore.
However, women are still considered the opposite sex. We are still making less money for the same work. When a profession becomes "pink-collared" the salary goes down for everyone, but especially women. Much of what Sayers is concerned about in these few pages is still a problem. When will all human accept that all humans should be treated humanely and with love and compassion? Some days it seems hopeless.
With any luck my mom will borrow my copy and we will have the opportunity to talk about Sayers' thoughts about women and men. We will enjoy our discussion because Sayers writes clearly and with humor - attributes that all essays need.
If you have not ever read anything by Sayers, start with the mysteries, they are so much fun. However, if you have any interest in the human condition, pick up these essays and see if you can answer Sayers' question: Are Women Human?
ninjakiwi12's review
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Fun(ny) fact(s): We had to read the first essay for my class on Women in the History of Christianity, so I got the book from the library to read the other one!
Favorite quote/image: "Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man– there never has been another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flatted or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as 'the women, God help us!' or 'the ladies, God bless them!'; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything ‘funny’ about women’s nature.” (pg. 68-69)
Honorable mention: "A woman is just as much an ordinary human being as a man, with the same individual preferences, and with just as much right to the tastes and preferences of an individual. What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person...that has been the very common error into which men have frequently fallen about women–and it is the error into which feminist women are, perhaps, a little inclined to fall about themselves." (pg. 24-25)
Why: Although I do not agree with everything Sayers says (but also, when do we ever agree with something with a nuanced argument wholeheartedly?), I did find her to be quite witty and convincing in these two essays about women's role in society and how women are fundamentally human before anything else.
Favorite quote/image: "Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man– there never has been another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flatted or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as 'the women, God help us!' or 'the ladies, God bless them!'; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything ‘funny’ about women’s nature.” (pg. 68-69)
Honorable mention: "A woman is just as much an ordinary human being as a man, with the same individual preferences, and with just as much right to the tastes and preferences of an individual. What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person...that has been the very common error into which men have frequently fallen about women–and it is the error into which feminist women are, perhaps, a little inclined to fall about themselves." (pg. 24-25)
Why: Although I do not agree with everything Sayers says (but also, when do we ever agree with something with a nuanced argument wholeheartedly?), I did find her to be quite witty and convincing in these two essays about women's role in society and how women are fundamentally human before anything else.