Female Erasure: Book Review
What you need to know about gender politics’ war on women, the female sex and human rights.
It’s taken me a while to get back to reading for pleasure. After nearly a decade of studying I got used to reading snippets of books, looking for whatever information I needed for a particular essay.
Coupled with my increased use of social media, my ability to sit and read a book for extended periods of time took a nosedive. Nowadays, I have 2-3 books on the go at once because if I feel ‘fatigued’ with one I can switch to others.
A few weeks’ ago I began reading the book Female Erasure: What you need to know about gender politics’ war on women, the female sex and human rights. The book was edited by Ruth Barrett and the foreword was written by Germaine Greer.
I’m a little late to the game, as this book was published back in 2016. However, it’s just as relevant today, even as we see this ideology struggling to keep its head above the water.
This book is a real tome (589 pages) and would probably do you some damage if you dropped it on your foot. Usually, I find thick books daunting and especially if a book is difficult for me to read I struggle to finish it. I like books that are written in plain English and don’t try to impress the reader with flowery language and jargon.
No fear with this book, as it’s kept me wanting to read more from start to finish.
Female Erasure contains writings from well-known women in the gender ideology and feminist space, including Julia Long, Lierre Keith, Sheila Jeffreys, Mary Lou Singleton; women from the feminist spirituality movement such as Ruth Barrett, Ava Park and Falcon River whose spiritual teachings and rituals centre XX women (for which they have received abuse from trans-rights activists); medical professionals previously involved in transgender ‘healthcare’; academics describing how the ideology has permeated their institutions and feeling afraid to push against it; women whose husbands have ‘come out’ as female resulting in the destruction of their marriage, including the husband’s abusive and coercive behaviours; and accounts from the vital (and often denigrated) voices of detransitioners.
With so many varied voices in one book, there were bound to be points made that I didn’t agree with entirely; mostly it was about the language used. However, the sentiment of the essays was along the same lines: gender ideology is dangerous and destructive; the medical professionals who profit from this ideology seem to have conveniently ‘forgotten’ about the reality of biological sex and the well-documented child development literature that states that most, if not all, children will go through an identity crisis during adolescence; the main victims are women and children (girls being more likely to struggle with their female identity); we need to break down the gender stereotypes and societal ‘norms’ that perpetuate the ideology and contribute to the struggles of young women and girls growing up in a male-dominated culture.
I may have missed some points but hopefully you get the drift.
I’d like to say that I found this book a pleasure to read but that would sound strange. However, the varied voices and writing styles not only kept the book engaging but also fueled my ever-increasing rage about the insidious nature of this ideology and the damage it’s doing to women and girls.
And for the rage I am thankful - it has galvanized me to get more involved at helping at ground level, rather than shouting at my Twitter feed.