Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women (Paperback)

by Christina Hoff-Sommers (Author) "A surprising number of clever and powerful feminists share the conviction that American women still live in a patriarchy where men collectively keep women down..." (more)
Key Phrases: filler feminism, feminist ideologues, campus feminists, New Jersey, United States, New York Times (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Sommers presents a controversial viewpoint, accusing feminists of using unsubstantiated information in portraying women as victims.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this jeremiad, Sommers (philosophy, Clark Univ.) takes out after antimale "gender feminists" who willfully, she contends, distort information on women's status to keep their lock on government and foundation money. Their dark agenda includes silencing sensible "equity feminists," who celebrate women's achievements and who seek, in partnership with men, to make the few minor adjustments needed for perfect equity. Her chief disagreement with "gender feminists" concerns their belief that gender bias is so ingrained that we are frequently unaware of its influence. Unfortunately, Sommers's scornful tone makes her reporting suspect; she mocks the arguments she opposes rather than engaging and refuting them. She is strongest when she criticizes the methodology of some well-known feminist research, but she undermines her credibility when she fails to apply her own standards to studies that suit her position. This book will have as an audience readers who share her politics. [BOMC alternate.]-Cynthia Harrison, Federal Judicial Ctr., Washington, D.C.
--Cynthia Harrison, Federal Judicial Ctr., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684801566
• ISBN-13: 978-0684801568
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #280,689 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 150 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Reasoned, June 23, 2000

By	Jon B. Thomas (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women (Hardcover)

A well written and researched book. The author identifies two basic types of feminists: equity and gender. She seems to believe that the great majority of historical feminist figures prior to the 1960's based their arguments upon equality of economic opportunity, full political liberty, fair and equal treatment under the law, etc. It's difficult for most reasonable people to not support such admirable goals.

However, she sees gender feminists as being of a more radical variety that seem to equate maleness with innate evil. She is very effective at pointing out outright lies, misrepresentations, and simply incredibly sloppy research on the part of some gender feminist writers. She additionally argues that any school of thought based upon demonizing an entire group of people because of a certain physical characteristic must be held to be highly suspect. The holders of these views too often find themselves in close company with racists, xenophobes, etc. Understandably, true believers of this sort do not enjoy their errors pointed out to them--witness the malicious ad hominen attacks of some of the prior reviewers.

Ms. Sommers wrote a very good, thoughtful book. I think society needs feminism, but not of an insanely ideological sexist kind.

50 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Truth is no enemy to compassion and falsehood is no friend", November 23, 1999

By	Scott Berwitz (Marlboro, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women (Hardcover)

Besides using facts, and debunking the high status of gender feminists like Faludi, Mackinnon, and Wolf with their own words, Sommers shows us how the lies used to disseminate their brand of feminism hurts our society. How can a problem be sufficiently answered if gender feminists, or any group for that matter, muddles the truth with exaggerations. The March of Dimes study that falsely attributes the majority of birth defects to battery is symbolic of the problem. The true problem is that not enough pregnant women are screened for battery. Like Sommers said, the false but sensational claim that battery is the number one cause of birth defects works great for gender feminists. But the true problem--that not enough women are screened for defects--will be unanswered because the truth often does not make headlines. In the few but vicious poor reviews of this book, I have yet to see one that found any errors that undercut Sommers' larger argument--that gender feminists are liars, and use the stigma of the label of "anti-feminist" for political gain and ultimately hurt a mainstream feminism that "never recognized their leadership" Instead of saying that Sommers' book is poor, I would like to have one person show that it is so, rather than just making the assertion. Until then, this reader will continue to regard Sommers as the genius she appears to be.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A *very* Feminist Book, July 12, 1999

By A Customer

I don't understand either the feminists who claim that this book is evil for bashing feminism, nor the anti-feminists who think this book is a weapon against feminists. This book IS feminist, and is *written* by a feminist.

This books invites women to question, investigate, defy, think independantly and to be skeptical, logical, assertive, fair, cool-headed, scientific, and to stand boldly in the face of criticism. It invites women to make partnerships with worthy men, and to stop associating the worst of human traits with average, everyday men. I can think of nothing more Feminist.