well written! Loved it

This book was gripping. It truly grasps the current difficulty of not noticing inherent differences between men and women. Some topics such as abortion, single sex education etc didn’t have me as endorsed in the audio as other topics discussed, however it is truly eye opening and worth a read for young men and women all over the word struggling to understand 21st century gender identity, discussions and conundrums.

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Excellent book

I think a lot of people have bad reviews because they believe it is PC to do so. Ashley McGuire offers nuance in a world which only looks one way. Even if you disagree with the topic of this book I recommend reading it to gain insight. Very interesting and well backed up too :)

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If Mike Pence wrote a book on gender.

I was hoping for a balanced, nuanced criticism of feminism and trans issues but this book was not it. Completely shocked it was written this century.

The author believes women shouldn’t be in the military due to male servicemen sexually assaulting them, believes women are at fault for their husbands affairs if they earn more as that hurts the man’s ego, and believes that contraception for both men and women is a bad thing.

While there are some issues raised regarding gendered safe spaces eg. bathrooms , the author explains all the possible risks, without explaining how rare these are, or suggesting any other solutions that make trans people safe. You could get better analysis of this topic in a buzzfeed article.

The author does explain in the final couple of chapters that not all the gendered stereotypes are true for everyone, and that some of the issues where she has compared men to women, she has only focused on comparing women to mens strengths, but this is should have been mentioned throughout for her analysis to seem unbiased.

Overall this book makes me sympathise with the author, because if she believes women’s and trans issues need to work around men being disrespectful, predatory, fragile ego-d and uncaring (a very crude stereotype mentioned throughout), rather than seeing all these stereotypes as a solvable consequence of the patriarchy, I can’t imagine how men (including her husband) have treated her throughout her life.

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Very poor.

The book bemoans “woke” groups pushing an agenda; this book does precisely that.

For a book so focused on “the facts”, this was remarkably lacking in precisely that. It quotes things like, “99% of people would agree [with my proposition…]” with no evidence to support this. Rhetorical flourish is fine, but don’t use it to rebut statistical arguments.

It also deliberately obscures examples for its own purpose. For example, it cites the example of a male swimmer being classified as female. This is not the case - due to originally well-meaning legislation (Title IX) being misinterpreted/misapplied, a male swimmer wasn’t forced to compete in the women’s team (there was no men’s swim team, individuals must not be discriminated from participating in sports due to gender, so rather than make a men’s swim team, his college told him to swim in the female team.)

To be honest, I did not get much further than chapter two. I’m all for “getting out of your bubble”, but deliberate obfuscation and apparent bad faith arguments is frustrating and not an enjoyable listen.

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Pure nonsense

Just another item of hate in already hateful world sad really that this is here

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Limited analysis of an important topic

You can shorten this book to: men did it. But the real problem with the book is that even if you agree with that premise you won't find any deeper explanation than Because.

There's no consideration of the philosophical or moral landscape; men are oppressors women are oppressed is presupposed when how the interaction of competing moral systems, changing culture and law in how we arrived where we are have no bearing at all.

The book lacks any positive vision, being only able to point at problems rather than considering the goals and weighing the costs, benefits and likely outcomes. Instead you'll bounce from problem to problem with no connective tissue to tie what information is presented in any meaningful light. The outcome is a muddled litany of complaints, but with no helpful direction it's just another book cursing the darkness than lighting a candle.

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Dangerous drivel

Imagine knowing so little about a topic but still deciding you’re the perfect person to write a entire book about it. Then imagine that writing said book didn’t even teach you a single thing about that topic.

Never once does McGuire seem to get her head around the difference between gender and sex. Never once does she step back far enough to realize she’s telling women who they are and what they should do/be. Never once does she show a glimmer of insight into *where* sex differences might come from. She can only point and say ‘Look. Difference. Man. Woman. Different.’

The weirdest thing is how well structured this book is. I guess you can be great at one thing and abysmal at everything else. Or maybe she just had a phenomenal editor.

Overall, this is damaging material.

McGuire seems to have as much genuine concern for women as she had for the passed out student she left being pushed around in a shopping trolley by a group of triumphant, drunk, frat bros.

Honey, I get that you were scared. I get that your fight/flight instincts carried you away. I get that you didn’t call campus security or the police because sometimes when we’re really scared we don’t think to do things like that. But, dude, since you didn’t do those things you don’t get to use that story years later as proof of anything. Not the ‘dangers of hook up culture’. Not your disgust at sex work. Not your anti-sex, anti-women, puritanical, transphobic rhetoric. Nothing.

Because you don’t know anything about what was actually happening there. Or whether the person in that shopping trolley was really passed out. Or actually in desperate need of saving. Or, indeed, in the process of being saved.

Just like you know nothing about the topic of sex and gender. Even though you wrote an entire freaking book about it.

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