Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture Paperback – October 3, 2006

I just finished reading FCP, and have to say it was one of the most engaging books I've read in quite a while. It was a quick read (one day) while still being extremely thought provoking and engaging. I won't waste my time summerizing the book (plenty of others do that below)...but I truly enjoyed the way she challenged (gently to my mind) the widely prevailing point of view of women's sexuality and power. She did a terrific job of setting up the context, looking at the different historic and social forces that have shaped the current state of affairs, and made, overall, quite a compelling case.I would love to see (perhaps in a second book??) a more nuanced presentation of her views on a different way to approach sexuality as well as the perspective of some women who's sexuality is NOT based on Raunch culture (as she says, there are many many different ways of being sexual...I'd love to hear her take on some of the 'more successful'). How have other's managed to explore the vast and complex landscape of sexuality, desire and pleasure without falling into the trap of reducing it to an act devoid of so much meaning? I've had some interesting discussions about the difference between pornography and eroticism...and I believe that there are both out there...I'd like Ariel Levy's take on the difference.I'd also want to hear more about men's perspectives (the afterwards addresses some of this...but again more would be nice)...no matter what she intended, I believe this book is as relevant and important for men as it is for women. A great read.

I highly recommend this book to people who have a generally positive attitude about sex (even outside of marriage), but who also feel somewhat disgusted by many of the depictions of a supposedly "liberal" sexuality. Levy looks at pop culture, conducts numerous interviews with women of all ages, and gives a brief history of feminism, while keeping a quick pace (I read this book in under 24 hours).This book is really about two things: sexual pleasure and freedom. Specifically, Levy wants to know why "post-feminist" freedom and sexuality -- epitomized by Girls Gone Wild, Playboy bunnies, and the glorification of porn stars and strippers -- looks so much like its opposite: a pre-feminist world in which women try their damnedess to please their partners (or crowds, or video cameras) without a strong sense of their own sexual desires.There are two different identities that Levy describes: first, that of the "empowered" sex object, personified in the idea of the sex worker (porn stars, strippers) as the ultimate women; and second, the woman who is actually one of the guys, personified successful corporate women who, like Judith Reagan, seem to talk about the the size of their penises a lot, while professing a general distrust of women, especially "girly-girls", who are generally referred to as "pussies".The two identities generally overlap (combining into the "Female Chauvinist Pig"), and even people in the first group seem to hate "girly-girls". But people solidly in the former group seem to be drunk, unhappy, and prone to eating disorders, whereas people in the latter group are more likely to be successful and tend not to make out with other women in bars. But a lot of women seem to spend time in both categories, and sometimes you get a Paris Hilton, who perfectly embodies both sides of the coin.The book really focuses on the peusdo-stripper aspect of the identity, which makes its way down to girls who are younger and younger (think middle school), and older and older (think thirty-something lawyer). The problem with this identity, for Levy, is that strippers and porn stars are inappopriate sexual role models, not because they are too sexual, but because they are paid to pretend that they enjoy something that they wouldn't be doing otherwise.And in interview after interview, Levy finds sexually libertine females of all ages who don't seem to enjoy sex at all, in no small part because they don't seem to really know what it is that they would want from a partner (other than attention), or what they would want sexually (other than to please someone else). For Levy, it would seem, the ultimate sin is having sex and not enjoying it. And it's a sin that has its roots in a culture that teaches women to be sexy and men to be sexual.Some reviews have said that Levy doesn't offer solutions; I don't think that that's true. Levy brings in a brief history of feminism from the 1950s to the 1980s to argue that freedom (through equality) and honest female pleasure were really what feminists were after, and the breakdown of feminism around issues like pornography and the universality of lesbianism has left modern women less able to understand the idea that women share a fate.Levy argues over and over that if women, as a whole, are thought of negatively, then the mere fact of being female will continue to be a taint on all females, even those who most solidly identify with masculinity. So the beginnings of a solution are fairly obvious; women should understand that their fates are linked, and people should generally work to destigmatize womanhood.Barring that, individuals should look at their own sexuality and sexual behavior and ask themselves if they're really getting what it is that they want, and if not, they should pursue a different strategy for sexual fulfillment.

I was going to write a long, formal magazine review Ariel Levy's "Female Chauvist Pigs" for it's nearly decade anniversary. After reading the book, I decided against it because my critique will be that Levy didn't write the book I wanted her to write and this is a lame critique for a long form review. The book begins lays out an argument in the first three chapters about the inversion of radical feminism in the 1980s, but doesn't fully articulate it because it shies away from using too much radical feminist or Marxist language or analysis--instead it insists on a liberal journalism style of half-anecdote and half-interview. Particularly, in the second chapter, Levy seems to want to lay out an argument for what when wrong in the 70s, and the Marxian and radical feminist language keeps being left in the text like lipstick traces on a collar: the normal liberal complain about the insights that Dworkin made and how she went too far is laid out, but not why Dworkin went too far. Levy doesn't seem to know the problems of the larger left-wing movement of the period and how those feminists of the second-wave went from being key-theorists within the left to flailing around for allies even in the far right to fight pornography apologetic This historical context would be an entire book on its own, and a bit of cultural pathology of the 1970s radical mileau that would have to be explored in more material history than reporting originally done for New York magazine in the highly readable style of "new" journalism would can allow. Levy's impact is to put that debate back into the liberal consciousness, but her implied critique of the situation in the 1970s that led to the kind "empowerment" dialogue of the 1980s and 1990s remains just implied while the reaction against feminism by many involved is explored. This seems to be treating the symptoms rather than the disease.The last three chapters seem to be only tangentially related--one on the misogyny of San Fransisco Boi's in the 2000's, and another on high school sexuality and the failure of abstinence education during the Bush years that could have been written by anyone at the Atlantic. So these parts read like a book with magazine pieces sutured in, and when I read the notes they were. There was nothing particularly objectionable to these sections but instead of going deeper into the roots of the problem, just more symptoms are pointed out. While the "raunch culture" Levy describes may have died-down a bit, the aping of stereotypes of male and female values have not and the neo-liberalization of feminist rhetoric continues. This book seems to indicate that Levy would have a lot to say on that, but more pathological work is needed. This book isn't in the genre for that to possible within its pages.For what the book actually does, popularizing a problem that seemed be treated as a dinosaur's debate in the late 90s and early 2000s, Levy's book is excellent. The events are real and implied, although even though it is only eight years old, actually feels surprisingly dated now. I just saw a pathological critique implied about how the problem emerged hidden in the pages of Levy's book, but the structure and format of popular non-fiction long-form journalism didn't enable it to come out.

When you think you know everything about feminism and the role of woman in society, Ariel Levy kicks you in the stomach and makes you reflect the new roles and oppression we are building. Fundamental to everyone that thinks about the subject!

Ten years after its publication, this superbly written, thoroughly researched book is, sadly, just as relevant. And although documented with examples from the US media, politics and culture, the book perfectly relates to Britain and, without a doubt, the rest of the world. Some of those real-life facts from the US are astonishing; did you know, for example, that in the 'Bible belt' the divorce rate is far higher, and so is the consumption of raunchy TV shows, compared to America's liberal regions?I am very grateful to Levy for explaining so well in this excellent book what a tragic mistake we're all making today - why us women are so profoundly wrong in thinking that we are empowered and liberated when, for example, we now imitate strippers and/or porn stars in dress and behaviour; when we subject ourselves to mutilation (including genital) under the guise of cosmetic surgery; when we forego education, hard work and generally being excellent people, and choose instead to focus on our (increasingly standardized) looks ... and imagine we're doing it for our own gratification.'Female Chauvinist Pigs' tells us how and why this all started, how our whole culture and way of life have become so pornified, why everything in our society today has to be ''sexy'' in order to be noteworthy. For women, but resolutely not for men, being ''sexy'' is the one and only factor by which our worth as human beings is measured; and sadly, women willingly participate in this tragic situation. Levy successfully takes apart the contemporary prevailing argument, the gigantic misconception we all now seem to have: that striving for sexiness at all cost is somehow feminist, liberating, and altogether some kind of wonderful and empowering thing for women everywhere. It is not.To those who believe it is, I warmly recommend this book. Likewise, if you are trying to make up your mind, you will find here a lot of intelligent arguments to help. A brilliant but easy read, which made me re-think a whole lot of my own assumptions.

I love this book. Levy is a great writer with a great point. For a long time - beginning in adolescence - something had been bothering me. There have been contradictions in my own self that I didn't understand and couldn't fit together and it is what she describes in her book that was/is a part of me and had been bothering me for so long. I recognize it in other women and because of this culture, five years ago i considered myself a misanthrope and had pretty much lost faith in humanity. But then I decided to figure out what I truly wanted for myself and step away from what society projected and in turn, I drew people to me who appreciate those qualities.Ariel Levy has explained in her book things that had been bothering me but I couldn't put into words. Its nice that someone has figured it out and pointed it out for us all to understand. This book has helped me to be more confident to be the kind of woman I want to be, and in a way that I don't feel quite so alone about it. I will share this book with many people, my son and daughter for sure and would recommend it to anyone who can handle taking a good hard look at themselves and how they contribute to "raunch culture."

We're all so liberated now. No need for the feminist critism of the depiction of women in the sex industry. No need to maintain distance to TV shows which show young women eager to display their boobs and more to the world for a lousy T-shirt. Yay for us, women who can go to a strip joint, watch, and have fun. And if we're in the mood, why not hook up with the next guy and go home with him?This seems to be a common stance taken in today's culture, not only in the US (which the author here analyzes exclusively). But have we really gained so much? Are women really part of it? Is the power of one form of sexuality the only power available and in fact desirable for women?Levy undertakes a tour of the US, interviews women and men in the TV industry, the sex industry, straight and lesbian women about their perceptions of women and femininity and develops a position highly critical of what she terms "raunch culture."While her style is mostly essayistic and sometimes a little repetitive, her description of the situation women find themselves in today - a total commodification of their sexuality disguised as liberation - is very successful. Her comparison to the feminism of the 1970s - both its criticism of porn and its demand for a freed, sovereign sexuality for women - is very illuminating, especially when she interviews an icon such as "sex-friendly feminist" Erica Jong.The analysis could be sharper and better balanced at times. I was left wondering whether "raunch culture" is really that ubiquitous in the US (Levy reports mainly from the coasts and her subjects seem to be mainly white middle class young women) and whether there aren't any benefits to it (the freedom to have sex as opposed to, say, old-fashioned religious control over women's bodies).However, all in all I find this an important publication that helped me developed new distance to the omnipresence of sexualized pictures of women. Yes, I find these pictures offensive. Yes, women should not just have (some sort of limited) power because they have boobs. I, personally, want the power of making responsible decisions because I have a brain and a will and dedication.Levy does a good job of reminding us of the importance of this form of participation and she argues well that we must not let ourselves be limited by one idea of male centered sexuality.(I would give this book 4,5 stars if it were possible. Since I consider it an important publication, I will give it 5)

This is a fun and accessible read. It's rare to find a book that is simultaneously beach-ready and informative. I would definitely recommend it for all 20-30 something's, men and women alike.