We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My rating: 4/5 cats
A Nigerian acquaintance once asked me if I was worried that men would be intimidated by me.
I was not worried at all – it had not even occurred to me to be worried, because a man who would be intimidated by me is exactly the kind of man I would have no interest in.
this is the second book i have read from my quarterly literary box:
https://quarterly.co/products/literar…
this is very much like Between the World and Me in the sense that they are both short works addressing huge issues (race, gender) and approaching them more or less anecdotally, which is a really refreshing approach. i liked this one more than i liked coates’ book, which i never even reviewed because i am the worst. (nor have i yet reviewed many of my teeny tiny nonfiction reads from the past year: Consider the Oyster, The Face: Cartography of the Void, The Clothing of Books) but i’m reviewing this one! even though i don’t have much in the way of response/content. i love the way adichie writes – this book is conversational and relaxed, there’s good flow between her examples and arguments, and her suggestions about how to adjust the way we think about gender and to address inequality are small and manageable, but it’s precisely those small, everyday situations where examples set by individuals have an impact on the way the world works, the way we treat other people, the influence on the following generation. ‘be the change you wish to see in the world’ and all. or, in my own philosophy, ‘try not to be an asshole today.’ small acts, but big goals:
What is the point of culture? Culture functions ultimately to ensure the preservation and continuity of a people…Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.
a lot of adichie’s examples are specific to nigeria – i’ve never heard of a woman being asked to produce her key in a hotel lobby to ensure she was not a prostitute, and waitstaff in america tend to be, if anything, more attentive to women than to men, but many of her observations do have parallels/relevance to gender issues in my land. in any event, she’s a hell of a writer and you should probably read this and see what you can do about making the world a little less obnoxious.
‘cuz we could use that right about now.
