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Evil Sisters: The Threat of Female Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Culture Paperback – January 1, 1998

4.3 out of 5 stars 13

Explores the historical perception of woman as the seductress whose influence undermines the power of the white male

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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt & Co; Reprint edition (January 1, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805055495
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805055498
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.55 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 13

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Bram Dijkstra
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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2015
I still don't know if I agree with this assessment of the symbols in popular culture- in a nutshell the argument is that social darwinism included the fear that "regression" to a lower, more instinctive state is always possible, and so people saw what they considered "uncivilized" urges such as sex and violence and lack of proper work ethic, to be connected. It goes on to say that men saw women as creatures who were more sexual, therefore more violent and constantly trying to "de-civilize" men. The social climate at the time included the belief that white europeans were the most "evolved" race and that they also wanted to bring down the more civilized white culture. This rehashes some of the material in "Idols of Perversity" and is shorter, so it's faster to read but includes fewer sources. I would have liked to see more of the book dedicated to watching this idea evolve into these racist ideas- more examples and more time is dedicated to showing why women were considered more primitive than men, but I feel like the idea of the racial groups people were afraid of being able to control or use women could have used a few more sources.

Also, the dust jacket and promotional blurbs made it seem like the author would be carrying his argument further into the modern day than the book does. The author accuses the modern vampire story of still carrying out these prejudices, but it would actually be very interesting to use the arguments made in this book to look at how the vampire changed sometime in the 80s and 90s to a more sympathetic figure who is often painted as more intellectual, artistic, etc. than those around him or her, and then the change in the aughts to a vampire as an elite who is forced to do violent things to maintain their power, and who is often given the traditional trappings of American old money aristocracy rather than assumed to have come from someplace else. The argument in the book stops with Hitler and his contemporaries.

I think this book is best read at the same time as Idols of Perversity, which has more examples and sources even though they don't stretch into films, pulp magazines, etc. It explains a lot of the terms the author uses in this book. If I had to pick one book to make the argument, though, I'd pick this one, because it's less dense so it's easier to get an overview of the author's ideas about this topic. This book also makes more of a case for these ideas still being relevant to the modern day reader, even though it lacks examples from the later half of the 20th century or anything from the 21st.

I think a lot of people will read either book and just say "This book accuses my favorite writers and artists of being racist misogynists!" and be offended and leave, but the author makes it clear that he's arguing that the ideas he's discussing were held by the majority at that time, and that he is not accusing these artists of being bad people, just arguing that NOT examining these ideas as the product of a racist misogynistic culture gives them more power.

This book is especially relevant right now to people who have been nervous about the resurgence of white supremacy and anti feminist groups on the internet. I've heard some of these terms and ideas thrown around by people on reddit or imageboards but not known where they came from.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2007
This fascinating book explores some shadowy aspects of early 20th Century American cultural history...pop Nietzscheism and pop Darwinism combined to make a hideous blend of racism, eugenics, sexism, and very strange biological pseudosciences...this dark part of our intellectual heritage was ignored and forgotten after we saw that it led to Hitler and genocide...to learn about it is to fortify ourselves against its contemporary permutations.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 1999
Throughout this book the author attempts to prove that all popular forms of entertainment have roots in misogyny. His reliance on examples nobody remembers is interesting, given his insistence on their powerful cultural influence to this day. Though it is useful in tracing the roots of misogynistic icons, the book strains at the bit to find a conspiracy of male poets, writers, artists, and scientists who were all out for one thing: to put women in their "proper" inferior place in the game of natural selection and pave the way for Nazism. He puts words in his sources' mouths repeatedly and engages in sometimes ludicrous speculation, making one wonder where the good professors own deepest beliefs lie. Very "politically- correct," but still a useful analysis, like his previous(better) work, IDOLS OF PERVERSITY.
9 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2015
I have the other book by Dijkstra and I think reading both of them several times is well worth it. The combination of artwork, history, and literature makes this relevant to many disciplines and those interested in gender studies.
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2013
awesome! it was in perfect condition and it will really help me with the classes I'm taking! thank you again!
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2001
Because of his previous study/essays in Idols of Perversity, I grabbed this book almost immediately after it was published. Just like the other book, this one was very insightful about the sort of deep-seated cliches applied to women in the arts - the virgin/whore/child-bride/vamp, etc. After reading it, I sat down and had another look at my own writings and tried to eradicate all those crippling, limiting roles from my female characters. One only wishes that this sort of thoughtful re-examination of female archetypes would be applied to more novels and films especially.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2016
I borrowed this from my older sister. Even though she complained it was dry, I wasn't deterred. In fact, I figured it sounded better than the last nonfiction book that I read. Well, until I got to the end of the acknowledgements. He sounded a bit pretentious just because, he wrote a history book with help.

Even though I still felt that way at the end, I felt that he paled in comparison to the people he studied. All those people made women seem to evil to the point they should've been gawked at. That said, they could've been indoctrinated and I imagine it's hard to resist that kind of teaching. Of course, I can't overlook the women. All they seemed to do was parrot their male cohorts while adding their own little twist. However, I assumed that was to gain an audience. Also, I gave a pass to Theodosia Goodman. She played by their double standard just to have a short career.

On another note, I found that the book became repetitive and immature when to sex and death. Of course, this just occurred at times. In fact, it was such a hard read that I almost quit! What stopped me is the fact that I had less than 100 pages to read. So I soldiered on. In addition, I thought page 144 was kind of powerful. There are still millions of people who operate by this kind of backwards logic. Also, there's a lot of people who glorify abusive relationships.

Top reviews from other countries

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Le parisien des Gobelins
5.0 out of 5 stars La suite des idoles de la perversité!
Reviewed in France on November 24, 2017
Il s'agit du second volume d'une somme monumentale consacrée au décadentisme et à la vision de la femme à travers les arts. Une grande partie du volume est consacrée à la femme-vampire (5 chapitres!). D'autres phénomènes comme l'hystérie sont évoqués. Iconographie moins riche que le volume 1 mais toujours très bien choisie. Un volume incontournable pour tous ceux qui s'intéressent à la représentation de la femme au sein de la société!
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