Final Book Review

Final Book Review

Author

Institutional Affiliations

Final Book Review

The book 'We Should All be Feminists is written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who is a Nigerian writer. She published this book in 2014 in Nigeria, and it was adapted from one of her most famous TEDx talks under the same title. She believes that admitting to being a feminist is to admit that the fact that sexism prevails among us ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"SuD7SZ8s","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Adichie, 2014)","plainCitation":"(Adichie, 2014)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":792,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/OnfrXiA2/items/37G6QKJW"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/OnfrXiA2/items/37G6QKJW"],"itemData":{"id":792,"type":"book","title":"We should all be feminists","publisher":"Vintage","ISBN":"1-101-87293-4","author":[{"family":"Adichie","given":"Chimamanda Ngozi"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Adichie, 2014). In this book, she has mentioned various anecdotes about her living in Nigeria and her life experiences that shaped her thoughts about feminist ideologies. She explains the meaning of feminism, sexism, gender roles, and conservative cultures that have brought toxicity for both men and women in our society. She starts her book by describing how she inspired the literature and art by delivering a lecture at a conference that was primarily based on African culture and literature.

She believed that her talks about feminism would be considered unpopular in society due to the stigma that is attached to it. Thus, she hoped that her lectures along with her book would make a difference and initiate serious dialogues about feminism in Africa and around the globe. The first story that she mentioned in this book is about her encounter with one of her close friends, where they were talking about the hot current topics, and her friend called her a feminist in a tone full of hatred. Another incident that she recalled was from her childhood, where she and her male classmate were opponents for being the hall monitor. However, her teacher selected the male student due to his belief that only males can have the authority. Upon her inquisition, her teacher told her that it was obvious that a boy would take the role. She also narrated the story when she paid the tip to a valet, and he returns thanked her male companion, believing that the male must have given that money.

When she published her first novel 'Purple 'Hibiscus,' many people approached her and asked of her to not call herself a feminist despite her interest in women’s rights. It was a stereotype of the time that feminists were unhappy people who could not get married. She was so fed up by the stranger’s views and comments on her that she finally stood up and embraced herself as a feminist to change the notion of people about the term. She has also explained that gender roles and norms are extremely damaging for both men and women in Africa and beyond. These stereotypes with the male and female roles and limitations in the society have added extra burden on people. She has implored at the end of the book that all people despite gender, race, origin, religion and sexual orientation must embrace feminism. She has left open questions for the male readers that they need to ponder over the fact that sexism exists among us to the extent that they elude being vulnerable while women are being forced to appear weak. She concluded the essay by giving a new definition of feminism that it is the matter of accepting the idea that there is something wrong with the gender in this world.

In her book review, published in The Guardian, Eleanor Tomas has written that this book highlights the need that why everyone should be a feminist. She noticed that this extremely important topic goes unnoticed in our society; however, this book inspires people from different backgrounds to learn more about the ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"krs4MIvY","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Eleanorreads, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Eleanorreads, 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":793,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/OnfrXiA2/items/33TWM5DB"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/OnfrXiA2/items/33TWM5DB"],"itemData":{"id":793,"type":"webpage","title":"We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – review","container-title":"The Guardian","URL":"https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/jan/01/we-should-all-be-feminists-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-review","author":[{"family":"Eleanorreads","given":""}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016",1,1]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",12,2]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Eleanorreads, 2016). The essay is persuasive; however, it does not pressurize the readers into agreeing with her as her story speaks for itself. Her way of stressing that feminism is the idea of equality among both sexes, and it makes the core of this movement is quite commendable. The real definition of feminism is often overlooked in today's society. Everyone needs to read this book in order to understand what exactly feminism is and how everyone should support its ideologies.

I believe ‘We Should All be Feminists’ is a significant introduction to the desperate need for nuances of feminism in this world. Women around us are the victims of micro-aggression, yet no one gives it enough attention, and if someone does, there are distinct stigmas attached to it. The word ‘feminism’ has itself become a negative connotation for many. Nevertheless, Adichie released this word from the strikes of the objectionable lexicon. We are institutionalized such that the concepts of the heteronormativity of gender as a social construction is ingrained within us at a very younger age. The ideas of marriage, femininity, masculinity, and freedom have been distorted and we are unable to distinguish the rights from the wrongs. We see such things around us in our society, yet we choose not to raise concerns over it. We have become stagnant in the way of development of gender roles due to the stereotyping and cultural limitations. Adichie has made us understand that there are no mistaken versions of feminism but wrong perceptions about the feminist ideology. Feminism is not only the agenda of one country or class or religion, but it is also a global dilemma and it needs proper recognition. This book should be made compulsory for everyone to read despite the gender, class and race. We must voice our concerns related to the cultural relevant feminism to deliver the simplistic truth that we all should be feminists.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Adichie, C. N. (2014). We should all be feminists. Vintage.

Eleanorreads. (2016, January 1). We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – review. Retrieved December 2, 2019, from The Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/jan/01/we-should-all-be-feminists-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-review