"The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society" by Eleanor Janega

 

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Copyright: 2023

ISBN: 9780393867817

This was a very enjoyable and extremely informative book to read. It gives the reader whole new insights into how women have been treated over the centuries and the reasons behind why they were generally treated so badly. Primarily this was due to the influence of the various flavours of the Christian church, Which essentially blamed women for everything because of the mythology surrounding the original sin.

As a humanist I will freely admit that I do not understand the concept of original sin, and the various other concepts and myths that are listed in the Bible, as for the most part they seem to simply take a concept or an event and find someone or something to blame it on. And while this seems to comfort a large group of religious people in the world it seems like a rather shortsighted way to justify the way society as a whole treats 1/2 of our population.

Dr. Janega goes into a lot of detail as she investigated the various roles that women filled in medieval times, and looked at how real women lived in that era.

I first encountered Dr. Janega on the History Hit YouTube channel where she does the occasional episode on medieval history, which I would highly recommend if you're interested as she gets into some very interesting topics. She is also the creator of the popular "Going Medieval" blog and the author of "The Middle Ages: A Graphic History".

An excellent read with lots of fascinating information. Highly recommended.

"Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas" by Laura Sook Duncombe

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Copyright: 2017

ISBN: 9781613736012

This is an fascinating book filled with great information on the women who were or at the very least contributed to piracy throughout history. The vast majority of works about piracy never mention but a few women, when it seems rather obvious (at least to me) that there must have been a significant number of them. Unfortunately due to the patriarchy most women have been pushed to the side and therefore written out of history. Even more unfortunately is that this is a common occurrence in virtually all aspects of historical writing, unless of course the author is 1) a woman, or 2) cares about representing history truthfully.

I 'met' for the first time in this book many women pirates whom I'd never heard of before. Most people have I'm sure heard of Anne Bonny, and Mary Reed. But the adventures of women pirates started many centuries before these two ladies came on the scene.

Other notable women pirates included in this volume come from many ages throughout history. Some were forced into piracy due to their circumstances, other chose the life for themselves. Some of the women pirates are fictional, but others were real. Some only aided the pirates in their lifestyle while others were actually crew members. The majority of the ones who were actual crew members dressed as men, in some circumstances this was for disguise, while in a number of cases I'm relatively sure it was for practicality.

This was a very well researched and informative book. As for as I can tell Ms. Duncombe hasn't written any others to date but I would watch out for anything she produces in the future.

Highly recommended.

“Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating” by Moria Weigel

 

Publisher: Straus and Giroux

Copyright: 2016

ISBN: 9780374182533

This book looks at the history of dating, from his very early beginnings as a recognized activity through to modern day.

The author has done considerable research into this subject and presents a detailed examination of all the things that have both influenced people who date, as well as how dating has influenced the world we currently live in.

The book is written from a feminist point of you, but this just adds to the overall story as it gives a woman's point of view, whereas the majority of other books out there seem to focus more on the male perspective.

Ms. Weigel touches on a number of different subjects throughout the book such as historically how families dealt with the prospects of romance and used their influence/positions of power to select partners for their children, and how this practise changed throughout history. How things changed during and after the two world wars, and how it is continuing to change into the digital age.

An extremely interesting book to read.

"Adulting: How to Become A Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Lessons" by Kelly Williams Brown

Publisher:New York : Grand Central Pub., 2013.
ISBN: 9781455516902
Characteristics: viii, 273 pages :,illustrations

I was extremely impressed by the wisdom of the advice given in this book. While it is intended primarily to be read by young women and girls, the vast majority of it is applicable to young men and boys as well. Come to think of it I know quite a few older women and men that could benefit from this advice as well.

The 468 steps Ms. Brown lists are all well thought out and very pertinent to today's society. I'm over twice Ms. Browns age, and I wish someone had written a book like this for when I was starting out as I made some blunders, and I'm sure I would have handled things much differently if I'd had access to what should be considered basic information.

In Alberta's high school curriculum a course known as Career And Life Management (CALM) is taught. This book would make a great resource for any teacher preparing lesson plans for this course. Of course minor changes would need to be made, as it is an American book and certain things that are applicable south of the 49th Parallel are different than up here, but they are minor changes.

The book takes you o a journey through such topics such as cooking, getting a job, dealing with money, getting along with people, love, families, and much more. This is definitely a book I'll be recommending to quite a few people.

Enjoy

"Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed

Publisher:New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Edition:First edition.
ISBN:9780307592736
Characteristics: 315 pages :,map ;,25 cm

An amazing book that details the trials of a young woman who hikes the Pacific Crest Trail (Mojave, California to The Bridge of the Gods, Oregon) alone. It details the problems she had, what made her attempt such a trek--and win, and the people she met.

This book is written in a way that grips the reader, and forces them to keep turning those pages. From the first few right through to the end. You hike the trail with her through scorching heat, snow, rain, and in one case a whole lot of frogs. She met quite a few people, some bears, a deer, fox, and a few rattlesnakes but survived her ordeal and was a different person at the end.

This was an excellent read, and I would encourage anybody who is interested in hiking the Pacific Crest Trail to definitely read it before they leave, along with the various guide books on the trail: "The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 1: California" & "The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 2: Oregon and Washington". Come to think of it, I think it would be a good book for everyone to read, as it gives a person insight into a whole new world.

"The Female Eunuch" by Germaine Greer

Publisher:New York : HarperCollins, 2008.
Edition:First Harper Perennial modern classics edition.
Copyright Date:©2006
ISBN: 9780061579530

I had been meaning to read this book for some time, but never quite got around to it. I finally took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and was very sorry that I'd waited so long, as it definitely is one of the most important (if not the most important) books on feminism to ever be written.

Even though it has been 48 years since it was originally published the information in it is still as relevant as it was back then. Dr. Greer's examination of the way women have been, and still are treated and oppressed forms an important historical record for all of humanity.

Some of the references may be considered by modern readers to be very dated. But when the facts presented are examined in a modern context it will easily be seen that very little has changed to any appreciable degree in today's world. In most cases it is just harder in some instances to see the oppression as the oppressors have become more skilled at hiding it, and people today have become so used to it that they tend ignore it.

This is a book that everyone should read - especially by men!

"Moranthology" by Caitlin Moran

Publisher:New York : Harper Perenial, [2012]
Edition:First U.S. edition.
Copyright Date:©2012
ISBN: 9780062258533
0062258532
Characteristics: xi, 237 pages ;,23 cm

This is Caitlin Moran's second book and it is just as delightful as the first (How To Be A Woman - 2011). In this book she writes about a great many topics, and also reveals a fair bit about her personal life, all of which are interesting.

Ms. Moran is a columnist for the Times in London, and was named columnist of the year by the British Press Awards in 2010, and Critic and Interviewer of the Year in 2011. What even more interesting is that she has been a journalist since she was 15.

Some of the topics she covers are her enjoyment of caffeine, Michael Jackson's memorial, her use of Skunk (a cross breed of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica - thanks for this Urban Dictionary, as I didn't know. Okay, so I lead a sheltered life!). Her introduction to World of Warcraft, Dr. Who, Downton Abby, the fact that the original Ghostbusters is the greatest movie of all time (can't argue with that - the newest one sure failed IMHO). She also touches on such topics as the Burqa controversy, chivalry, trolls, children's  birthday party etiquette, the Royal Wedding in 2011 (between Prince William & Kate Middleton).

She also relates interviews she did with Keith Richards, Lady Gaga, Sir Paul McCartney, a slight obsession she has with "Sherlock" starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and much more.

This is a great read, that gives a little bit of insight into what's it's like to live in Britain, hopefully something I'll be able to experience sometime in the near future.

"How To Be A Woman" by Caitlin Moran

Publisher:New York : Harper Perennial, [2011]
Edition:First U.S. edition.
Copyright Date:©2011
ISBN: 9780062124296

I decided to read this book as the cover states "Caitlin Moran is the feminist hero of our times" so I figured she would be a good resource to determine whether I was in fact a feminist. (I have been calling myself one many years even while still being not 100% sure I knew all the ramifications of the term.)

I am now happy to conclude that I am in fact a feminist and believe that women deserve exactly the same benefits as men have enjoyed for the last few thousand centuries.

Ms. Moran gives us a very insightful look into the world of feminism, and all the silliness that women have to put up with in a male dominated world. Her views on certain topics may to some be quite radical (primarily to men who hold the positions of power) but her views are well thought out, and presented with sufficient personal experience, evidence, and humour to easily convince an intelligent reader.

My next book will be her follow-up work "Moranthology" which I'm sure will be equally interesting.

"Feminism & Men" by Nikki van der Gaag

Publisher:London : Zed Books ; Halifax : Fernwood Publishing, 2014.
ISBN: 9781780329116
Characteristics: 246 pages :,illustrations ;,22 cm

This book was a very interesting read, that opened my eyes to a number of issues regarding feminism, ones that I hadn't considered in depth before. Ms. van der Gaag does extremely good job of outlining the various issues. A great deal of the book deals with why men act the way they do with regard to women, and the author gives excellent examples from all over the world to support her thesis.

I found it particularly disturbing to learn of the number of men in the world who believe that women are essentially just sex objects, second class citizens, or dare I say slaves. That this opinion seems to be directly relatable to the culture they are raised in, what is even more disturbing as nothing like this was ever mentioned to me when I studied different cultures during my anthropology degree. It all seems to be relatable to the macho image that men are indoctrinated into, and expected to exhibit throughout their lives.

Ms. van der Gaag notes a number of websites that give further information on this subject, and I would encourage people to check them out. Three of the main ones are:

http://menengage.org/

http://www.heforshe.org/en

http://www.whiteribbon.com