Unspeakable Things
Sex, Lies and Revolution
-
- $17.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for The Green Carnation Prize 2014
'This is not a fairytale. This is a story about how sex and money and power police our dreams.'
Clear-eyed, witty and irreverent, Laurie Penny is as ruthless in her dissection of modern feminism and class politics as she is in discussing her own experiences in journalism, activism and underground culture.
This is a book about poverty and prejudice, online dating and eating disorders, riots in the streets and lies on the television. The backlash is on against sexual freedom for men and women and social justice – and feminism needs to get braver.
Penny speaks for a new feminism that takes no prisoners, a feminism that is about justice and equality, but also about freedom for all. It's about the freedom to be who we are, to love who we choose, to invent new gender roles, and to speak out fiercely against those who would deny us those rights. It is a book that gives the silenced a voice – a voice that speaks of unspeakable things.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist and activist Penny (Meat Market) combines unsparing autobiography and searing political analysis in her latest book; the result is a powerful feminist polemic that critiques the structure of society. Though she adopts a radical perspective, Penny avoids the usual hectoring that overvalues the politics of the personal, and she makes it clear that, as a feminist, she's not interested in how women dress or whether they wear makeup. Instead, Penny tackles broad issues of gender and sexuality. The first two chapters provide a masterful analysis of the place of both women and men in society, and later chapters present Penny's brilliant views on sexuality and "cybersexism." The author incorporates rich personal narratives that serve as reminders of the injuries inflicted on individuals by the social problems under discussion. The book is chilling and accessible, a majestic treasury of ghost stories that are, in fact, all too real. Penny has given us a feminist book for our time that burns with a wild light and deserves attention.
