Come Again?

In the preface to 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', Oscar Wilde suggests that "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.  Books are well written, or badly written.  That is all."  If ever a book made me think of this quote, it was Ariel Levy's 'Female Chauvinist Pigs'.

'Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture' is polemical work which looks at how women have fallen into the trap of mimicking and idolising either an extreme form of female sexuality (such as the pole dancer, stripper or porn star) or a hard-nosed, aggressive male stereotype (the sort who would oggle pole dancers etc).  Chapters look at the issue from different angles, including the effect on young men and women, it's manifestation in 'boi' culture among New York lesbians and how the author believes the whole issue relates back to consumerism, power and the codification of sexuality.

'Female Chauvinist Pigs'
by Ariel Levy
(Pocket Books, 2006)

There was a lot of really interesting information and ideas in this book, but it is really badly written.  Even looking beyond the fact that no concession seems to have been made for the British market (Levy is an American writer and the book is clearly aimed at someone with a basic understanding of relevant law and events in that country), there's no clear, logical structure or flow to take the reader on a journey through the writer's ideas.  The introduction alone felt rather like an angry, foot-stamping, ranting, tantrum, which was exhausting to read, and, afterall, has anyone ever really had their mind changed by someone shouting at them?

The terrible structure was made all the worse by the fact that there is a lot of really interesting information in this book.  I found the chapters looking at US Feminism and how it led to the 'Rise of Raunch Culture' ('The Future that Never Happened') and the effect of this trend on young people ('Pigs in Training') extremely interesting, but still hard work.  Although the interviews quoted were a great for grounding the subject, ultimately they weren't enough.  More actual statistics would have helped as it was difficult to tell whether the issues discussed were as severe as suggested because so much of the argument felt like it was based on here-say and a very narrow sample of interviews.

This is a book I would love to see rewritten with some more thorough research and better structuring so that it becomes a logical, comprehensible discussion and a cogent argument for reflection and change.  The focus on different groups/topics in different chapters is fine, but how information is conveyed within those chapters really needs looking at.  Unfortunately, until this happens, I'm afraid that wouldn't recommend it to anyone, which is a real shame as I do believe there is a very important issue being discussed here, possibly even the biggest issue in modern feminism.  The trouble is that unless feminists come up with calm, cogent arguments, they can easily be dismissed as hysterical and we'll all be back to square one.