Victoria Smith

This author always has something to say, and says it well. In this work, she takes on the 'just be kind' meme, and demonstrates with humor and clarity the ways in which it is actually unkind to women, and how it tends to reinforce the stereotypes and expectations of gender. Having read a previous book, I expected to enjoy this, but wow.

The author takes on a topic that often gets ignored: middle aged women. She looks at the ways in which they are ignored, exploited, and above all, demonized. As a relatively newly-made middle aged woman, she looks back into her own past as a young woman and recounts ways in which she contributed to this phenomenon, and demonstrates that it is in no way a new, twenty-first century thing. She writes well, and includes a lot of sarcasm, which is not a complaint. Some subjects need sarcasm. She show more lays out a way past middle-aged women being demons, but is realistic enough not to expect there will be a mass movement toward adopting her suggestions. She also discusses the statistics on violence against older women, numbers most of us are probably unfamiliar with, since it rarely gets talked about. I would recommend this book for every young person, especially those who say "whatever Boomer" and think it's a valid argument, but there is no point, really. The author details the reasons why the argument would not be heard by younger people. So the book will mostly be an outing for those of us who already know a lot of this (some of us knew it before she did, back when she was rolling her eyes at anything older people said). Still, it's a fun read. She has a great sense of humor, and is very good with an analogy. I especially liked her Three Billy Goats Gruff analogy. show less

Whereas I am approaching my 'hag' years, sadly for my reading experience, I can claim none of the three Ms (forget the three Fs) required to identify with this academic rant: marriage, middle class and motherhood (or 'mummyhood', as the author would likely say *retch*). I'm not even sure what point she is making - that older women have lived through twice the shit and so should be venerated as Wise Old Women?

In between quoting every feminist source in existence ('In An Overlong Tome That show more Nobody Has Read, Winifred Wibble Wobble tells us ...'), and throwing herself under the bus by repeatedly defending J K Rowling (people don't hate her because she's a 'hag', it's more that she's an interfering bigot), Smith bangs the same drum in every chapter. Personally, I think the solution is obvious - stop giving a shit what men think BEFORE they cease to find women 'feminine, fertile and fuckable.' If the consequence is not being 'chosen' and ruining your body with crotch goblins, then so be it.

Maybe I'm not the intended demographic after all, but I just found this 'alternative to boiling the bunny' ranty and repetitive. show less