"King Kong Theory" is Despentes' candid account of how she became notorious: reviled and admired in equal measure for her rape-revenge novel turned film, "Baise-Moi", she is the poster girl for modern female rebellion. Powerful, provocative and personal, "King Kong Theory" describes the ways her ideas have been shaped by her experiences of rape, prostitution and working in the porn industry.Feminist theory sheds its fusty image and takes on a punk mentality as Despentes claims that sisterhood explodes our belief in feminine perfection and creates a space for all those who can't or won't obey the rules. Woolf and de Beauvoir are revived and updated by the loudest, most fiercely unapologetic misfit writing in France today.
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About the Author
Virginie Despentes was born in Paris in 1969, where she still lives. Her previous books include Les Jolie Choses, Teen Spirit and Bye Bye Blondie. She co-directed a screen adaptation of her controversial novel, Baise-Moi in 2002.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sending The Whole Lot Flying,
This review is from: King Kong Theory (Paperback)
Covering difficult territory - rape, prostitution - has longtime been the province of feminism and feminist theory. In this newly translated book, Virginie Despentes offers an uncompromising example of what Jane Gallop might call "Anecdotal Theorizing." Moving seamlessly back and forth between personal narrative and meta-reflection, "King Kong Theory" is a book to be reckoned with. At times entertaining, at times truly difficult to read, it asks us to reflect anew on the taint and terror of sexuality in quotidian discourses of femininity and social "agency." I recommend this book to anyone interested in feminist theories of the visual, feminist autobiography, sex and sexuality. But even more importantly, I recommend this to anyone who thinks feminism is dated. With Virginie Despente, I say to them: "Feminism is a collective adventure, for women, men and everyone else. A revolution, well under way. A worldview. A choice. It's not a matter of contrasting women's small advantages with men's small assets, but of sending the whole lot flying." This is something that has been said before, but it is something that still bears saying. My hope is that reading this book will support and inspire a new generation of feminist thinker-makers to raise their voices, however they see fit.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
LOVED IT!,
This review is from: King Kong Theory (Paperback)
King Kong Theory kicks butt! I devoured every hairy page like a hungry monster, and it was absolutely delicious and satisfying. When Virginie Despentes roars, what a thrill. When she purrs, its pure love. She unravels the mysteries of sex work, pornography, and femininity. Finally someone has done it! The feminist movement needs the King Kong Theory now more than ever. A must read for every sex worker, tranny, punk, queer, john, academic, pornographer--and for all those people that dislike them too. I'm buying copies for all the people I care about, so that they too can gain the insight into the nature of our beasts. Virginie Despuentes is my shero.
Annie Sprinkle, Ph.D., Sexecologist, Artist, Author
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
King Kong makes me hot too,
By
This review is from: King Kong Theory (Paperback)
I devoured King Kong theory in one long delicious reading. This was nothing less than a miracle because I had so many other books/emails/memos/boring bureaucratic letters that I was supposed to be reading. But, from the first line, "I am writing as an ugly one, for the ugly ones:" I was hooked. The heat that this book exudes is reminiscent of of Valarie Solaris' SCUM manifesto but instead of calling for gendercide this book calls for women just to take their power and laugh in the faces of all those who would prefer that we be silently polite in the face of never ending misogyny. A beautiful, powerful manifesto that reads like a post porn punk country love song and a must read for all of us who have ever felt ugly-or beautiful for that matter.
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