Unspeakable Things
Sex, Lies and Revolution
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize 2014
Laurie Penny, one of our most prominent young voices of feminism and dissent, presents a trenchant report on our society today--and our society tomorrow, as she is willing to fight to see it.
Smart, clear-eyed, and irreverent, Unspeakable Things is a fresh look at gender and power in the twenty-first century, which asks difficult questions about dissent and desire, money and masculinity, sexual violence, menial work, mental health, queer politics, and the Internet.
Celebrated journalist and activist Laurie Penny draws on a broad history of feminist thought and her own experience in radical subcultures in America and Britain to take on cultural phenomena from the Occupy movement to online dating, give her unique spin on economic justice and freedom of speech, and provide candid personal insight to rally the defensive against eating disorders, sexual assault, and internet trolls. Unspeakable Things is a book that is eye-opening not only in the critique it provides, but also in the revolutionary alternatives it imagines.
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.
