Customer Reviews

The Prisoner of Sex

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

 

 

There is much to argue with in "The Prisoner of Sex", and though I'm in sympathy with the aims of the womens' movement, I cheer Mailers' defense of the artists right to use their sexuality and sense of the sensual world as proper fodder for poetic expression.

There are times when Mailer- the- mystic clogs up an otherwise lacerating arguement,where his romanticism veers dangerously towards a lunatics hallucinations, but his defense of Miller, Lawrence and Genet against the clumsier moments of Millets' orginal critique in "Sexual Politics" is literary criticism at its most emphatic.

"Prisoner of Sex" is, I'm afraid, incoherant at times, but there are long passages of rich knock-out prose that demonstrate why Mailer is thought by many to be one of the premiere stylists of the times, and if nothing else, his lyrical defense of D.H.Lawrence is worth the purchase by itself.

This work, although not typical of Mailer, was of his best. Mailer portrays his views of feminism by tearing apart Kate Millet and her take on feminism. Despite the common perception of this book as an anti-feminist work, Mailer clearly respects the basis of feminism.

There is much to argue with in "The Prisoner of Sex", and though I'm in sympathy with the aims of the womens' movement, I cheer Mailers' defense of the artists right to use their sexuality and sense of the sensual world as proper fodder for poetic expression. What makes the book important is precisely the fact that Mailer felt there was a need for a man to stand up and have a word against and about the rising tide of Feminist theory; while many male writers were too confused, adrift in daydreams of irony or bottled up rage, and while the academy was surrendering its arms without a shot being fired, Mailer spoke up and wrote that there was a profound and important difference between the sexes, and that while social justice must and will prevail regarding the rights of women in the work place and overall social sphere, one cannot maintain, straight faced, that the only difference between the sexes has to do with genitalia.

There are times when Mailer- the- mystic clogs up an otherwise lacerating arguement,where his romanticism veers dangerously towards a lunatics hallucinations, but his defense of Miller, Lawrence and Genet against the clumsier moments of Millets' orginal critique in "Sexual Politics" is literary criticism at its most emphatic. "Prisoner of Sex" is, I'm afraid, incoherent at times, but there are long passages of rich knock-out prose that demonstrate why Mailer is thought by many to be one of the premiere stylists of the times, and if nothing else, his lyrical defense of D.H.Lawrence is worth the purchase by itself.

This book, wriiten when the women's liberation movement was still in its nascent stage, is a reponse to some of the writings of the movement's leaders, in particular, Germaine Greer, Kate Millet, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem. While the author makes some valid points (I agree, political correctness does tend to have a chilling effect and censorship is to be avoided.), it is nothing more than an overrated, pretentious, self-indulgent polemic. His response to the writings of feminist intellectuals is over the top, treating their writings as mere diatribes, rather than as the cutting edge views of a segment of society that was rising up to be heard and reckoned with. Women were, indeed, the prisoner of sex, before the feminist movement loosened societal restrictions on women. Men, too, were prisoners of sex, but it was they, who were the wardens and jailers of those prisons. They were the ones who set the ground rules. The feminist movement merely ponted this out.

Moreoever, Mailer's views are often put forth in a rambling, stream of consciousness fashion, ponderous and pedantic, and often incoherent, so puffed up with self importance is the writer in his ostensible defense of the male sex. He misreads the feminist movement, thinking it to be an attack on manhood, his, in particular, when all it really was calling for was the full inclusion of women in society. Were it not for the feminist movement, women of today would still be very limited in terms of opportunities to be all that they could be, constrained by their sex. One should be mindful, however, that while women may have come a long way, they still have a way to go. There are, unfortunately, still a lot of Mailer types out there. Like the dinosaur, however, they will one day cease to exist.

This book, wriiten when the women's liberation movement was still in its nascent stage, is a reponse to some of the writings of the movement's leaders, in particular, Germaine Greer, Kate Millet, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem. While the author makes some valid points (I agree, political correctness does tend to have a chilling effect and censorship is to be avoided.), it is nothing more than an overrated, pretentious, self-indulgent polemic. His response to the writings of feminist intellectuals is over the top, treating their writings as mere diatribes, rather than as the cutting edge views of a segment of society that was rising up to be heard and reckoned with. Women were, indeed, the prisoner of sex, before the feminist movement loosened societal restrictions on women. Men, too, were prisoners of sex, but it was they, who were the wardens and jailers of those prisons. They were the ones who set the ground rules. The feminist movement merely ponted this out.

Moreoever, Mailer's views are often put forth in a rambling, stream of consciousness fashion, ponderous and pedantic, and often incoherent, so puffed up with self importance is the writer in his ostensible defense of the male sex. He misreads the feminist movement, thinking it to be an attack on manhood, his, in particular, when all it really was calling for was the full inclusion of women in society. Were it not for the feminist movement, women of today would still be very limited in terms of opportunities to be all that they could be, constrained by their sex. One should be mindful, however, that while women may have come a long way, they still have a way to go. There are, unfortunately, still a lot of Mailer types out there. Like the dinosaur, however, they will one day cease to exist.