Customer Reviews

Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is both hilarious and makes you think. It's subtitled "A satire of the sexes", and that basically says it all. It's an upside-down society, in which men are repressed and taken advantage of, and women have all the power. There men wear the skirts and have to cover their unattractive, flat chests, while women wear the pants and can walk around topless if they want to. And the men take care of the kids, once the woman has decided she wants to have one. The whole language reflects this society's views, e.g. by referring to humanity as Woman, rather than Man. It's written in Norwegian originally, and I really feel sorry for the translator who had to find culturally and linguistically comparable expressions. I've read the original, and the language "switch" is even more successful there. (... that "history" was left in the original form, which it should rightfully be, as this has nothing to do with the pronoun "his") It does lose a bit of the wordplay-effect of the original, which is inevitable. Still I think the translation is good, considering the differences between the languages.

Because of the "creative" language it's a bit heavy to read, especially in the beginning. At least I found myself trying to "translate" back to the usual way of saying things - the patriarcaic way. But if you're looking for a book out of the ordinary and don't mind the effort, this is an interesting read.

Although the English version has about twenty to fifty editing errors and is not the original language it was written in, Egalia's Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, is a highly inventive study of female oppression through every stratum of society, down to the smallest detail, such as how women are oppressed liguistically. The english language denotes girls as females and women and denotes boys a simpler version or primary version of those words, male and men. Thus Egalia equates women with wym and males with mafeles, making the every word (except history) switch to give women a dominance over males.

The most interesting part, however, is not the lurid sex scenes, which are probably more accepted in Norway(is she from Norway?) or the hard to grasp linguistic switch Gerd presents, but rather the success of the menwym (men) to find freedom and some level of equality within an obviously biased and completely unfair society in which menwym are nothing more than sex objects.

I would suggest this book to anyone who does not agree with feminist thought. If you think women are treated fairly, read this book. It's not only completely entertaining, but educational as well. It made me think thrice.

This book describes a world in which gender roles have been reversed and in particular the fortunes of one "masculinist" boy who tries to fight against the opression of his gender.

When you first start reading it lots of the reversals may seem artificial and a bit trite and you might think that this is nothing more than a feminist take on the UK comedians the two Ronnies' long run sketch "the worm that turned". Even at this level it is very much worth reading if your sense of humour is in anyway childish and scatalogical.

This book goes further than this in two ways.

First it has brilliant justifications for why women (or wim) have the power in the society described in the book which are just as convincing as the usual psuedo-biological "survival of the fittest" type arguements most recently put forward by a certain US law professor. This undelines the point that a story consistent with the facts is not necessarily "true" , even if a "true" story could be used as justification for the status quo.

Second, by ascribing to the men in the book the characteristics usually asociated with women (so men are now from venus and women are from mars!) it also undermines the 70/80s feminst view that a society run by women would be much "bettter" than a society run by men.

While none of this points are very profound it is after all a novell rather than an essay in feminist theory, it is a brilliant satire and should definately be read.

Gerd Brantenberg's Egalia's Daughters creates a world where the women are in charge, and matriarchy exists. The women are the heads of the household, the breadwinners, while the men stay at home and take care of the children. If there is a party, the women have to convince the men to go along. However, the reluctant men worry that they do not look nice enough to go to parties, and complain of being too tired after doing housework. They do not want to spend time dressing up and fixing their beards with ribbons. Moreover, in this fantasy world, the language is completely different. The women are called wim and the men, menwim. This change enforces the idea of women being superior. Also, common last names include Lizdaughter instead of Johnson, emphasizing the feminine world of Egalia. This book satirizes our world in many ways and forces us to pay attention to the patriarchal society we live in.

This book is thought-provoking; men who just can't understand women's viewpoints no matter how hard they try (but are you really trying? I want to ask) should read this book and put themselves in the male protagonist's shoes. Another plus for the book is that it shows that a society run by women won't be much different from the one we have now, because for one sex to be dominant the other has to be oppressed. The book makes an interesting read and some very good points, so you probably won't find yourself bored. Try it, and after that I recommend discussing it with a member of the opposite sex.

Although you have to adjust to the pronoun reversal in the book (women=wym, men=menwym, history=herstory), I found it easy to get past this quirk and really enjoyed this book. I especially liked the fun that was poked at particular gender-specific activities: The traumatic rite of passage of buying a first bra is transformed into buying a first "pehoe" or penis cover; in hot weather, those with mammary glands are free to go about without a shirt, while those with hairy chests are forced to keep their clothes on; it takes hours to groom a beard and properly adorn it with beads and ribbons. These and other clever satirical twists make the book very effective in pointing out gender inequalities in our society. My reading group had a great time discussing this book.

A couple of things other reviewers haven't touched upon:

-Brantenburg presents a compelling illustration of the popular view that one must choose between being a Marxist and a feminist (or a Sparksist and a musculist!)

-The self-referential ending is a clever and extremely effective literary technique. It adds richness and interest to the story, and powerfully defends the book against some well-anticipated criticism.

Anyone who does not think that women continue to be oppressed in Western societies needs to read this book.

Brava!

This book is a captivating story about coming of age and a profound statement about gender divisions in human society. Brantenberg artfully tells a story about growing up and questioning the social roles and expectations encountered along the way. The history and social structure of an imaginary society are developed and brought to life in this book, to the point that I had trouble putting it down for curiosity about what would happen next.

Brantenberg shows us the ridiculousness of our own gender troubles by constructing a society that is or own stereotypically gendered opposite.

This book will make you look not only at society but the very basics of language in a different way. There is so much packed into this one short book that it will make your head spin! Read it again and again because there is always something new!!

The author imagines a society in which sexism goes the OTHER way: women are in charge, and men are stereotyped and oppressed. It is so very very well done that the book is worth reading just for that. Even the sexist language is well done: amazingly, since I imagine the original was in Norwegian. Indeed the language is one of the most delightful parts of the book. I wasn't as happy with the novel's plot, and I thought the ending was somewhat weak, but I got a lot out of the picture of the society and the discussions. Even long time feminists may find some new insights here as to how different elements of a sexist society work together to produce oppression. And it's such fun!