The Guilty Feminist
BY Harsimran Kaur ON SEP 19 , 2021 IN BOOK REVIEWS, THE GUILTY FEMINIST/DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE/NON-FICTION
Rating: 4/5
I am a feminist but I tortuously adorn the unappetising attires that fail my belief of dressing up for the soul, though palatable to the melodramatic society.
So, are you a feminist? If yes, and the distension following the word “but” is a pretentious display flattering the intransigent human decoration, then it’s the time to acknowledge that male condescension is a morally inept reprise basking in the priveledge of the atavistic.
Feminism can be taxing and fun! It’schallenging to enterprise the inner inhibitions lying in fear on a tarmac of prejudices and dominion. We need to let our hair down like the princess in the fairy tale “Rapunzel” who proffers a cascade of hair to slip down so that her lover can climb the tower to meet her. The author Deborah Frances-White through her book “The Guilty Feminist” encourages all women to introspect what makes us proud and how we can make it a watershed to make our lives our own. I am a feminist but………….well! This can go on and on… but a relatively a shorter trip through the book adumbrates the idea of feminism and what predisposes a woman to deleterious male hegemony.
I have always been a fan of Deborah Frances-White and her indigenous humour flavour of bringing touch and tones of feminism in her podcast “The Guilty Feminist.” It is a sort of a large canvas brushing the toxity of colours that emasculates a woman to a web of junk and jolts. The book does not aim to strangle men with a noose around the neck for being the men with power, dominance and condescension. It’s actually a book which emboldens women to identify their sole purpose and channelize it without patriarchal gullibility.
Feminism has always been labelled as spitting abhorrence towards men. It’s not warfare where arrows of change have to pin a hole through a man’s body to validate its niche. The change has to be an introspection of what we as woman believe is righteous and self-justified. The author extrapolates the consensus among the male fraternity in adopting a stentorian and privileged waff of negligence and scrutiny towards women. She earnestly presses every woman to break the shackles of exclusion, walk of the cage with self-confidence and signal a “No” as deemed to be a predisposition to the antithetical. The book includes the interviews with women of intellect and change like Susan Wokoma, Bisha K.Ali, Reubs Walsh, Leyla Hussein and many more who believe that world can be a better place for women.
TAKE AWAY
I am a feminist but……. If we go through this expression every day, it will help to bring out the timidity, constraints and reservations entrenched in the heart, finding a way to turn into strength, freedom and confidence. Feminism is what makes us happy. It is prudent to influence what we believe in and what prohibits from doing the unattended.
A woman need not act dumb to gain man’s attention. She has the fuel to walk long roads, unblocking any impediments that deny her inclusion to mainstream society. She needs to bury her debilitating silhouette in the depredating hegemony of the patriarchy and come out as a self-bearer of her desires and ambitions.
nice review, keep sharing