Nasty Women

August 15, 2017
Women essayists reflect on Trump, Clinton, and the prospects for feminism. Mukhopadhyay (Outdated: Why Dating is Ruining Your Love Life, 2011), senior editorial director of Culture and Identities at Mic, and Harding (Women's Resource Center/Cornell Univ.; Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture--and What We Can Do About It, 2015, etc.) gather a diverse collection of essayists to respond to the challenges faced by women in Trump's America. The writers include Cheryl Strayed, who felt "numb shock" after Trump's election; Nation columnist Katha Pollitt, who offers suggestions for activism for reproductive rights; and award-winning essayist Rebecca Solnit, who points to the "highly gendered term 'hysteria'" used to attack Clinton. Many writers agree with Carina Chocano, who sees Clinton's defeat as a result of gender bias: "there's no more despised figure on earth than a woman who thinks she should be in charge." The anthology is broadly representative. Sarah Michael Hollenbeck considers women with disabilities; Jill Filipovic points out the plight of women in Africa after Trump's "gag rule" prohibited U.S. funding to any foreign organization that provides abortions or advocates for abortion rights; Melissa Arjona writes about Mexican women living in South Texas; Collier Meyerson and Zerlina Maxwell consider black feminism. Also represented are gay and trans women, such as Meredith Talusan, who asserts that "Clinton's loss, despite the fact that she was exceedingly better qualified than Trump, mirrors the way trans women and femmes are marginalized in post-Trump feminism, despite our significantly greater experience of fighting oppression" compared to mainstream white women, who, several writers note, dominated the women's march after Trump's inauguration. Kera Bolonik, a gay mother raising an adopted black son, and the granddaughter of Jews persecuted by Nazis, sees parallels to fascism in the atmosphere of hate and fear unleashed by Trump and his supporters. Strong, thoughtful, and angry voices ring out for resistance, empathy, and solidarity.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2017

This collection of essays edited by Mukhopadhyay (senior editorial director of culture & identities, Mic) and Harding (Asking for It) aims to present a diverse group of voices "writing at the intersection of feminism, identity, and personal experience" with a primary focus on the 2016 presidential election. Many pieces focus on the authors' personal reaction to the election results, with some describing their anger, fear, and heartbreak. The contributors, including Cheryl Strayed, Rebecca Solnit, Alicia Garza, and others represent a variety of groups who fear being marginalized under Donald Trump owing to discrimination based on their race, ethnic background, religion, sexual orientation, or gender nonconformity. Some essays analyze the reasons behind Hillary Clinton's loss of the presidency and the sexism that permeated the election, presenting historical context on the struggle for gender equality. There are also chapters on current women's issues: health care, reproductive rights, immigration, and economic inequality. Taken together, these writings emphasize the need for an intersectional feminist movement. The final essays present a general path forward and the importance of building an inclusive coalition focused on active resistance. Unfortunately, these chapters lack details on specific actions, but they broadly encourage personal and public forms of resistance. VERDICT A thought-provoking view of the election from an array of feminist perspectives that will be of interest to many. [See Prepub Alert, 3/27/17.]--Theresa Muraski, Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Lib.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2017
Twenty-three influential and eloquent feminist writers of the twenty-first century have come together to create this searing and urgent collection. Contributors including Rebecca Solnit (The Mother of All Questions, 2017), Samantha Irby (We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, 2017), Cheryl Strayed (Wild, 2012), and Jessica Valenti (Sex Object, 2016) present vulnerable, furious, and frank accounts of their lives since Donald Trump's election to the White House. Editors Mukhopadhyay and Harding have assembled an impressive breadth of perspectives, giving voice to the transgender and queer communities, women living with visible and invisible disabilities, the Black Lives Matter movement, the overlooked resilience of black women, the Asian American experience, the skyrocketing patterns of violence against Native women and children, the labor movement, and countless others that are all too often left out of U.S. political consciousness. The writers are emotionally generous as they meditate on this pivotal moment in American history. The 2016 election marked a deeply personal shift in the tides of hope for so many. This book invites readers to converse, comfort, and hold one another accountable in the hope of igniting radical, intersectional change.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)