Penny Red has a review up at The F-Word of the new book, The Noughtie Girl's Guide to Feminism.

Penny describes the book in her opening paragraph as, "...all wrapped up in a kitsch pink cover with the ubiquitous pair of disembodied stilettoed legs that screams “whatever this is it’s disguised as chick-lit!” Unfortunately, the disguise works a little too well."

I haven't read the book, and honestly, after reading Penny's review I think I would rather not. A second reviewer at the F-Word said that, "If you’re looking for a primer in how to gain more equality without risking becoming one of ‘those’ feminists ... then this book might be right up your alley. Otherwise, it very well may make you go screaming down one instead." Penny's description of what it made her (want to) do was rather more graphic still, but had the same sentiment. And honestly, I suspect if I were to attempt reading it then I would experience the same urge.

I'd pick out choice quotations here from Penny's review, but since I haven't read the book (and am now unlikely to) it would be a bit pointless: I gave you all the link to her review, read it yourself! I can't add any more context to it.

One quotation I will add, though, is from the other reviewer, Amity Reed:

One of her most outrageous statements is that there are different levels of rape, with violent attacks by strangers being far worse than date rape, and that “changing [your] mind after penetration is not rape”. She also thinks that rape jokes can be funny and serve as an outlet for us to release our fear surrounding the issue. Her astonishing naivety or wilful ignorance (and I’m not sure which is worse) regarding rape jokes as part of a permissive rape culture that entirely diminishes its gravity and prevents it from being taken seriously makes me, in turn, not take Levenson very seriously and diminished my overall impression of her book.

Honestly, if that really is what the book's author says in the book, then it wouldn't just make me "not take her very seriously", I would question how she is qualified to write an introduction to feminism at all. Surely a CENTRAL PILLAR of feminism is bodily autonomy, and if that doesn't include the right to say "no!" (or some other safeword) at ANY moment during sexual encounters and have it stop right then and there then to my mind it's utterly meaningless. You might as well argue that you can be feminist and argue that a woman has no right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term.

I can sort of see the point being made about rape jokes. Yes, "gallows humour" can, amongst those whose lives are actually affected by the darkness, "serve as an outlet for us to release our fear surrounding the issue." But that is not the way that rape jokes happen in society. As Amity Reed so pointedly says, in real life what actually happens is that rape jokes help to make rape something that it's okay for guys to do. Maybe not legal, but certainly not as horrible as you might think. The whole thing about "different levels of rape" with "date rape" not being as bad as "stranger-rape" is just another tranche of that same philosophy. A way to say, "hey, having your control over your body ripped from you in the most invasive ways possible, it's not THAT bad!" Right now, with the world the way it is, we're still working on making it clear that NO rape is acceptable, so debating about "was that rape as bad as this rape?" seems to me to be a bit pointless.

Anyway, go read Penny and Amity reviewing the book, and make up your own minds whether you'd read it. Mine already is.