Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Non-Fiction / Current
Events / Culture
Approximate word count: 35-40,000 words
Availability
Click
on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
Smashwords store
Author:
Leah Carey
is a journalist, professional speaker, life coach, and author. She conceived of
this volume, edited and compiled it, as well as adding her own material to tie
it all together.
Description:
“On May 24,
2014, Twitter exploded with stories of women’s experiences of harassment and
assault in their daily lives using the hashtag #YesAllWomen.
With the
Twitter conversation as inspiration, 10 women came together to share their
stories with each other and the world. They dug within themselves to find
wisdom...but they also revealed their own inner conflict about their
experiences and their views of the world. They were willing to be vulnerable
and admit not only how they have been hurt, but also how they have hurt others.
Through
telling our stories - and hearing the stories of others - we learn that there
is much more that unites us than divides us. That is the purpose of this book.
To remind you: You are not alone.”
Appraisal:
The point
of this book, on the surface at least, seems clear. Through the stories told
the authors can share their experiences (a positive for them, as you’ll see if
you read it), and in the process tell other women that You Are Not Alone, another positive in the message of understanding
it sends. The clichéd win-win.
However,
I’m not in the obvious demographic to read this book and would suggest it can be
a win-win-win. (Something that Carey recognized as well.) With decades of
training and feedback from sisters, spouses, a daughter, and now a granddaughter
who is old enough to speak up, I like to think I’m more cognizant of how
certain actions or words can be perceived. That it is easy to send a message
that is unintended. It is easy to say you see those of both genders as equals,
but actions sometimes contradict what you say and consciously believe. Many of
these stories, I understood. But others, gave me a different perspective that
will hopefully help in the interactions with the important women in my life.
Lest any
man think this book is about man bashing, it isn’t. There is a universal
recognition among the authors that many of the things discussed are cultural
attitudes that, if they are to change, need to be discussed. There is also an
understanding (explicitly stated in a few places) that women are also guilty of
reinforcing some of these cultural stereotypes. Interspersed through the book
are tweets from the original twitter explosion mentioned in the book
description.
One of them seems like the ultimate description of how I perceived
this book.
I think a lot of people assume the
goal of #YesAllWomen is to persuade when really, it's just to explain what so
many of us go through.
FYI:
A small
amount of adult languge.
Format/Typo Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating: ***** Five Stars
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