Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Nasty WomenNasty Women by 404 Ink
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The world is a dangerous place right now, but not as dangerous as a nasty woman with a pen in her hand and story to tell. These voices telling our truths cannot be shaken and they certainly will not be drowned out any more. Why fear us when you can join us?


This collection of essays blew me away. As a newly christened feminist, I was looking around for some empowering literature that could empower me through the voices of the women fighting against sexism, racism, homophobia, ableism, etc. Coming out of this reading experience, I’ve discovered some kick-a*s role models who are champions in the movement. I feel more passion, more spark than I have in what seems a very long time, but is just months since the November election.

Every single one of these essays are on an important topic, and a majority of them were successfully were intersectional. We have imperfect feminists that have mental illnesses, drug addicts, and people who’ve fuc*ed up. We have proud daughters of immigrants, who describe the struggles of their parents giving them a better life.

“I shake in terror for them and with them and I cannot decide what is scarier: that Drumpf is president or that people I know and love enabled him.”

As with any collection, there are weaker ones and ones that you absolutely loved because it related and resonated with you as a women. My favorite one was actually the first one, which is hella political and truly packs a punch from which I am sure that I will reread over and over again.

Firsthand experience, first person POV is essential for making these people who are writing these essays connect to their audience of readers. A successful piece of writing makes the reader feel empathy and want to do something about the injustice that is being spread. So many pieces did that to me, quotes that stuck with me and resonated deep within myself. This book made me confront my own racist behavior and thinking that was harmful and horrible, and so for that I will be forever grateful for that.

This isn’t sugarcoating “comfortable” feminist stories, it’s raw, painful, sorrowful, passionate, personal and more than that. It opens your eyes to example of microaggressions that black women experience, it talks about survivors of sexual assault and rape (trigger warnings). But walking away you feel like you learned something valuable.

****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

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