Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture - Female Chauvinist Pigs

I found out about this book by watching Ladies Day on the Colbert Report TV show. Several things got my attention about the book. The author, Ariel Levy, seems about my age so I figured our world views would be similar. I'd been watching the reality TV show, Flavor of Love season two on VH1. The jaw dropping behavior of the contestants both appalled me and made me feel like an old fogey. For instance, there was a scene when the women decided to have a stripper pole dance contest. Most of the contestants took to the pole like second nature, it wasn't a big deal. When my friends and I were the age of the women on the show, mostly early to mid 20s, maybe one of us would been half as familiar with the pole. Since when did stripper pole dancing become a required social skill for young ladies? FCP helped me understand why the young women seemed so highly sexualized.

Another thing I liked about the book was peek into sub-cultures not part of my everyday routine. I never knew about the Boi community or the concept of loophole women, even though I live in the relatively progressive and trendy San Francisco Bay Area.

About 60% was rehash feminist/womanist theories and concepts but the 40% new information definitely made the book a worthwhile purchase.

In Female Chauvinist Pigs, Ariel Levy exposes 'raunch culture' in our society, and how some women seem to embrace base sexual expression as liberating. She presents 'raunch culture' (e.g. g-strings, pornography; i.e., women emulating and/or embracing male chauvinism) as a wrong turn that women have taken toward liberation.
I found her overall thesis to be important, but far from solid. Ariel looks at the muddy margin of pop culture to find crude examples of sexuality gone wrong and attempts to mesh this into the overall historiography of the woman's lib. movement. This is a trite thesis, which I am sure could have been produced to similar effects for the last several decades.
Apart from the shaky thesis, I thought that the book suffered from lackluster examples - as if attending the Maxim Top 100 Girls event, or attending the "Manshow," are fair examples of our mainstream culture. Ariel seems to pick on unsavory examples of pop culture and the daft people who follow it in an attempt to identify some grand cultural phenomenon. Her research is also questionable. Be prepared to read through pages of conversations she had with Junior High students, and FTM lesbians, instead of current cultural theory. Such primary research should be used to supplement facts and theory, and fail to stand alone as meaningful insights.
Finally, although this book is very short, it tends to jump all over the place. Ariel attempts to tie in popular culture, the porn industry, LGBT dating stories, the history of the womens' movement, and Sex in the City. Her coverage of such topics is superficial at best.
That being said, this book does have its place. It was a fun and easy read. I could see this book being useful for Junior High and High School students learning to find their sexual identity in a hypersexualized culture. However, unless you are someone who watches the "Manshow" without identifying its ironic distaste, or someone who thinks that the Playboy bunny icon is "cool," you won't be too enlightened by this book.

Are women helping the chauvinist pigs stay in power? That's the argument Ariel Levy makes in her book. After reading the first chapter which is a behind the scenes look at the video phenomena "Girls Gone Wild," it's hard to say that she doesn't have a point. While I thought the book petered out at the end when she started looking at the fringe elements of raunch like strippers and prostitutes (for better insight read Tracy Quan's novel, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl), Female Chauvinist Pigs does do a great job of summarizing the chronology of the feminist movement. Unfortunately, just like Maureen Dowd in Are Men Necessary?, Levy is unable to supply much insight into how we got from there to today where young girls (even the highly-educated ones) have apparently "gone wild." She does offer one incredibly insightful clue, however, when she writes: "FCP's [Female Chauvinist Pigs] have relinquished any sense of themselves as a collective group with a linked fate. Simply by being female and getting ahead, by being that strong woman we hear so much about, you are doing all you need to do, or so the story goes."

Like most people in America, I once believed the male sex drive was the soul reason for our society's raunch culture, but Ariel Levy's book, Female Chauvinist Pigs forced me to look past the stereotypes and see that women are as much to blame for the rampant lewdness in pop culture as are men. From Levy's interviews with the female producers behind Girls Gone Wild and Playboy to would be strippers and Penthouse posers it becomes evident that women are not only conforming to stereotypical sexuality--they are inventing it, marketing it, and selling it. And the price men and women are paying for this canned version of sexuality is far too high.

In the words of Paris Hilton "[girls these days] are sexy but not sexual." Levy's book reveals the hook-up culture as a place where women are detached from their own sexuality. Instead of experiencing sex intimately, women in the hook-up culture use it to boost their ego or get what they want. They aspire to be sexually, "like a man" pursuing what turns them on and leaving relationships when the desire wanes--or having no relationship at all. Robert Jensen explores this topic further in his book Getting Off: Pornography and End of Masculinity.

Levy's book is a rebuttal to what the women behind the sex industry have been saying about raunch culture, that it is empowering, liberating and healthy for women. Levy explores the origins of today's trashiness as a confused byproduct of the sexual and feminist revolutions. How did women go from burning their bras to taking stripping lessons and having poles built into their bedrooms? Why is it healthy for women to imitate strippers--women whose job it is to fake arousal? And how is a stripper--a women who is essentially mute and void of humanity--an empowering role model? Meanwhile, women are loosing real power in politics and the workplace. Levy's book proves the work of feminism has yet to be accomplished. Truly empowered and liberating sexuality leaves room for individuality, not the plastic version the sex industry tries to sell us.

I gave Levy's book four stars because it truly opened my eyes to the raunch culture that surrounds me, its origins and the people behind it. This knowledge has empowered me to do what I can to change it. Now I completely detest seeing young girls wearing the playboy bunny charm even more than before because I realize these young girls are buying into an industry that will ultimately rob them of their unique voices and sexuality. Levy's writing style is easy to read and sometimes overly simplistic. The book would have been stronger if it was more intellectual (Levy tended to repeat a lot of dialogue from her interviews and I think this was mostly unnecessary). Statistics, more first hand interviews and an official study would have made for five stars. Nevertheless, it is a quick read and its message is easily understood.

This book was a big disappointment. I was expecting some well-researched, reflective critiques regarding contemporary feminism and the hit back of raunch culture. Instead, I got detail after detail after boring detail of one, no maybe two tv shows that seem to mesmerize Miss Levy. She is so so wrapped up in her faux outrage, describing the sexual escapades on these shows, that she loses the larger perspective that was supposed to be the thesis of this book. I could not get past the third chapter and I almost always finish a book. Not recommended.

I read this book and then read _Pornified_. Levy's book is superior of the two. She gives detailed examination of the "rise of raunch culture" and it's support by young women. This is not an academic tome or a polemic. Her audience is vast- academics will hopefully use it and the lay audience should also read it.

I found the writing clear and clever and not the least bit condscending, which is important if young women and men are going to read this book. I'm going to assign portions of this book in one of my WS classes this term and I'll post a later review about that.

This is an extremely important book--one that I wish was read more often. It basically backs up observations I've been making for these past few years with journalistic research. The inconsistency of posing for Playboy, appearing in Girls Gone Wild videos, and the like, with any semblence of feminism is one that I wish were more obvious to a lot more people. However, Levy make her case quite well against these inconsistencies.

One area I was especially interested in was her account of how the male / female dichotomy even works its way into the Lesbian community, where some gay women take on the identity of immature, Maxim-reading boys. The implications behind this are extremely interesting, and if you're curious about them then I suggest you read this book. I didn't know anything about this until reading the book, so I found it quite enlightening.

One problem with Levy's analysis, however, is that she is under the impression that women "don't have to" engage in pornography, prostitution, and the like, anymore due to social advances. Unfortunately, that is the main reason most women enter these pursuits; they need the money. Levy poses the question of "Why do women still do these things?" with that "fact" in mind, and I really don't think it's relevant to the question. However, Levy discusses the social forces at work here extremely well, and I find no other flaw with the book.

Highly recommended, especially if you've found contemporary media images and verbal messages incredibly conflicted and absurd.

Levy's book chronicles the rise of raunch culture, particularly women's increasing involvement and participation in raunch. The book is filled with anecdotes and conversations that will have you raising your eyebrows, shaking your head, and occasionally dropping your jaw in disbelief that people are actually saying what they are saying.

As a college student, I found this book particularly interesting because of the pervasiveness of frat party culture. I went to dances because it was a way to hang out with girl friends, but once there I felt unattractive when I wasn't dancing with someone and disgusted by the way I was expected to dance. When I didn't go to dances I felt framed as uptight or boring. Levy's book shows how the message that one has to be exhibitionist to be attractive came to be the status quo. It shows how sexuality has been pigeonholed to one particular expression of sexuality (that is hardly ever pleasurable to women, and is intended solely to receive men's attention).

The reason I gave this book four stars out of five is that I don't think Levy really provided a strong outline of how to create a more fluid conception of gender beyond the dichotomy of male-female. At one point an interviewee talks about a spectrum of gender identity, but it still ranges from extreme of masculine and feminine. There is discussion of how women act like men in the workplace in order to break the glass ceiling, and how that isn't breaking the ceiling at all if feminine women are still considered less worthy of holding power, but there isn't a discussion of how women can be women in power.

All in all, this was a thought provoking read that I plan on encouraging all of my friends to read as well.

The book was interesting in that it tries to analyze a trend that IS puzzling and creepy. However, it's extremely unbalanced - what about women who like to look good but also use their brains and ability and don't care about strippers or porn stars? Not one such woman is presented in this book. Because of this lack of balance, the book makes you feel depressed. It offers no alternative ideas or models of women to admire or emulate or give you hope. You would think that only raunchy self-hating women exist in America.

Another thing that interested me was that she talks about the raunch trend like it's totally new. But when HAVEN'T looks been emphasized? When HAVEN'T women tried to look sexy? Levy views the sexiness issue from just one perspective; there are others. Some women want to look good AND be smart, which isn't always easily accepted. Some women want to become more like men by caring less, so they won't get hurt. Some women use sexiness to tease or lure, sometimes in a negative way. There are so many reasons women use sexiness, and Levy basically looks at one of them, the most ham-handed and clumsy one.

The writing style is choppy, and sometimes I couldn't tell whether Levy was saying she felt something was good or bad. And parents are completely absent from her analysis. Do they no longer exist in high school girls' houses? How could little girls dress in tank tops and "belts" without their parents paying and seeing? This too was another area in which balance was sadly lacking and thus detracted from the point. And the conclusion! It zips along like she suddenly got bored. It might have been good to give younger women who feel surrounded by this trend some ideas on how to express female freedom in a more constructive way.

If you haven't spent time in teen/college culture lately, "Female Chauvinist Pigs" will wake you up to the direction we're headed. Young women now think it's normal to want to emulate porn stars. Those twisted values are starting to saturate our culture and reach younger girls each day through products like thong underwear made in girls' size 10. While boys and men are a key part of this equation, Levy's book focuses on females who have been co-opted into "chauvinistic" behavior toward other women.

I am proud to be a progressive feminist, and the saddest thing of all is that some young women think the "Girls Gone Wild" raunch is about empowermenet rather than exploitation. (Who knew I'd feel so old school before age 40?)

The writing in "Female Chauvinist Pigs" could use some polishing, and some ideas called out for more exploration. That said, Levy's work provides an important cultural critique. Still skeptical? A quick browse through the teen universe of My Space will validate Levy's ideas.

I discovered "Female Chauvinist Pigs" when its author, Ariel Levy, appeared on an episode of The Colbert Report to talk about her book. I was deeply impressed with her -- an intelligent, funny, confidant, and down-to-earth woman -- and the subject matter of her book, compelling me to go out and buy it. Levy examines the current state of feminism in a society that has been infiltrated by "raunch culture." This term refers to the rise of porn and sexuality into the mainstream, whether through porn star Jenna Jameson becoming a prominent media figure and a bestselling novelist, the success of female-exploitation products like the "Girls Gone Wild" DVD series, women enrolling in cardio striptease classes at gyms across America, or the popularity of instructional lap dance videos and classes. Women have embraced their sexuality as the ultimate expression of empowerment, proclaiming that this is the new face of feminism. But Levy isn't so sure that raunch culture is as feminist as these women seem to think it is, and sets about debunking that belief through a series of interviews and research assignments going back five years. She aims to prove that the women at the forefront of this new movement are not the ultimate feminists but the result of a misguided mutation of the feminist movement that has produced female chauvinists instead of feminists: women who espouse the same stereotypical views about women and womanhood that a male chauvinist would have, sort of like a gay republican. Suddenly women seem to want to be one of the boys and are desperate not to get labelled a 'girly girl' -- the ultimate slander in raunch culture. The way to achieve this, Levy argues, is to dress and act like a stripper. But where is the liberation in this? Men don't have to undress to become powerful beings -- and we certainly aren't under as much aesthetic pressure as women. Instead of liberating themselves, these women are trapping themselves in the very same system that has degraded them for centuries. Wanting to act like a man implies that there is something unpleasant about womanhood that must be escaped from.

The proliferation of sex is particularly troubling to Levy, and in her interviews it becomes astonishingly clear that the women who are pursuing empowerment through a sort of sexual revolution are feeling very empty about their sexuality. Almost all of the women she speaks to admit that they don't get much pleasure out of their intimacies, but keep seeking out meaningless sex for various reasons (they don't want to be seen as a prude, they want to keep adding notches to their belt, they want bragging rights, etc.). What, then, is the point in increasing your sexual productivity if the results aren't gratifying to you? And why go to the extremes of mini-skirts, waxing, cleavage-and-midriff-baring tops, implants, lifts, tucks, and such to attract men if your goal is to develop a sense of self worth? A male interview subject points out that "what girls don't understand is guys always want girls. If every girl dressed casually, you'd still like girls. It's like, you don't have to exhaust yourself." And why emulate strippers and porn stars? Research shows that the vast majority of women in the sex industry are the products of sexual abuse, and in interviews they never mention deriving pleasure from their work so much as a feeling of revenge. Furthermore, strippers and porn stars are paid to simulate sexual gratification -- so how can anyone presume to find sexual liberation in imitating an imitation?

If I have a complaint with Levy's work, it's that she sometimes makes errors in her pop culture references and interpretations. She refers to rapper Snoop Dogg as Snoop Doggy Dogg -- a name he hasn't gone by for years. She also incorrectly identifies the first single from Paris Hilton's album (although I cannot fault her for not wanting to get more specifics on that abomination). These are relatively minor mistakes, but for a young woman like Levy they feel surprising to me. The big one was that I felt that she really misinterpreted "Sex and the City" big time. Yes, the show did start out with Carrie wanting to "have sex like a man" and dealt with sex as a commercial commodity -- but the genius of the show was that its multi-faceted, complex characters really grew and developed over the years, and in the end they all found themselves in serious relationships -- leaving the offensive aspects of raunch culture behind them.

Having said that, I am impressed with the depth of insight Levy offers to her research and her involvement in the subject matter. She makes a very clear, convincing argument (even if I was biased to believe it in the first place), and at the very least she is to be commended for bringing the subject up for discussion (indeed, her thesis is relevant not only to gender politics but to differences of race and sexual orientation as well). It's about time someone did, and thank goodness it was an author with the clarity, wisdom and open-mindedness of Ariel Levy.

the fascinating thing about this book is the way it challenges its readers...men AND women...to broaden their sexuality. sexuality should never just be strippers, prostitutes and sex workers, or scantily clad women who don't know what they want. after reading plenty about women who are in these professions and chose to be (withOUT a history of abuse plaguing them), it was more noticeable to me that levy was making her main point that these women are doing this because we are told that this is what sexuality is...not because women WANT to do it. as a matter of fact, she touches very explicitly on the fact that most women DON'T know what they want, other than to be wanted...and that they will do anything to feel that desire from others. What happened to a woman's individual sexual desire and why must it be captured in raunch culture? With raunch culture, no one wins--men are told that they're not men if they don't love strippers and fake boobs, so this is all they've got to be turned on by. women aren't sexy then, if they're not doing these things that are supposed to be "sexual." it's a vicious cycle--women give the men what they are supposed to want, and men continued to be attracted to what they are 'supposed' to be attracted to...and no one wins. it's amazing that many men asked levy to write a book about men and raunch culture as well--the segment on 'the man show' really said it all.

not only this, but the ideas of what is 'masculine' and 'feminine' are really challenged in this book. women are either trying to desperately to be a caricature of a man or a caricature of what a woman is supposed to be sexually. you don't have to be frigid to be a feminist...you just have to know that you WANT what you're asking for...that it turns you on, arouses you...that you DESIRE it for more than just being wanted. but stop trying to be a 'man.' the pinnacle in levy's work is when she begins to quote women who don't want to be 'girly girls,' and instead are sleeping with men haphazardly and not caring--not because it arouses them, mind you...but because they don't want to be the committed girly girls--in order to be more like 'men.' but who, levy asks, is this mythological man we are all trying to be like?

women who consistently try to identify traits of theirs as more 'masculine,' will hopefully feel differently after reading this book--if you are a woman, you are feminine...no matter what...by virtue of BEING a WOMAN. and a man who likes to read and dress nicely is still masculine...by virtue of being a man.
excellent read.

Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs was incorrectly recommended to me because the queer chapter was supposed to resonate with me. Um.... that chapter did nothing but fill me with abhorrent rage. When I spoke to the previous reader, they were surprised with the way I read it. So I re-read it again, and this time I felt like spitting in the book. So, no that queer chapter didn't resonate with me. But okay, let me say something positive before I get too deep into that.

Despite the advert homophobia, transphobia, and whorephobia, there *is* something of merit to this book. It deconstructs enthusiastic sex-positivity feminism, pro-sex work feminism, AND commercialized feminism, all areas that need a hard eye. As a sex-positive pro-sex work feminist, it is really easy for me to be really open and enthusiastic about any element of a (wo)men expressing their sexuality, either personally or commercially. This book's main idea is to be wary of this.

It reminds us that a man-centered, materialistic, commercial and very sexual feminism is very easy to sell and buying into it can lead to poor education, self-esteem issues, and issues with our consent and self-expression. Raunchiness is only one type of sexuality, but it is the one that is being packaged and bought in mass leaving minimal room for personal growth and individuality.

On the other hand, sex isn't this monogamous pleasurable romantic experience all the time. For example, turning some tricks for money isn't inherently oppressive because sex means more things that making love, basically. But I do agree with her point in saying that sex workers are *workers* and aren't the sexual role models for our private life. At times the overbearing idealization of sex workers forces some women to replicate porn stars and strippers in their actual non-fantastical lives, leading to a male-centered idea of sex, the complete opposite of "sexual revolution".

But anyway, let's get back to the queer chapter. The author discredits genderqueer and transmen experiences by making massive generalizations about lesbians and transpeople. Basically, the author writes that the motivation between mastectomies, masculine pro-nouns, and transitioning away from one's assigned gender (female) is internalized misogyny. This blanket statement is extraordinarily problematic and dangerous for readers who are not familiar with transpeople, and especially genderqueer people-- the author straight up says that the only way to be a real boy is to go "all the way" with the transition. She also interviews transphobic lesbians and asks them about their opinion on trans* people as supporting evidence-- let's repeat that. This straight cis-feminist, a group that has historically eliminated trans* people from their community, interviews lesbians, another group that has historically eliminated trans* people from their community, about whether trans* people are ~real~ or not.

*head desk*

I mean, okay, her point is that misogyny is pervasive and is in queer communities, and I would agree with that. I would agree that queerness isn't a safety net to be oppressive and queer people have been given too much slack in the civil rights world. But like, the couple of interviews with random NY/SF misogynistic lesbians she met and one queer magazine editor / "community leader" isn't exactly fact-finding. If she didn't have time to do this chapter right she should have just cut it.

Also, what's up with her insulting queer people for being non-monogamous. Since queer people have been exiled from traditionalism, they have created their own relationship structures that go beyond the monogamous fairy tale idea of sex and love that the author is trying to push so badly.

Yeah, this book has some interesting points but honestly I would just read the Conclusion and Afterword in the library and then pick up something else.

Ariel Levy is amazing, smart, witty and funny without using harsh language or stereotypical bias of women. She readily admits about "wanting to fit in and be part of the crowd," which I can relate to completely going to college during most of her examples (2001-2005), and my mom was even on the television show "The Swan." I lived raunch culture in college and then realized my own insecurities lead me down that road, to degrade myself and use my sexual powers as a tool to please men rather then to please me. This book is a must read for anyone who is alive and breathing. My mother has book about to be published about her stint on "The Swan," Titled "The Swan Diaries" by Tawnya Cooke in which she tells the truth about what really went on behind the scenes of the show, and Levy was right they made all the women, except my mother, bigger, blonder and faker rather than changing them from the inside out which was the overall so called premise of the show. My mother lost the "Beauty Pagenet" competition due to opting out of plastic surgeries in order to look like her daughters. Reading FCP's really opened up my eyes and made me angry enough to do more research on Obama's plan for teen sex education in schools and to start writing letters. Thank you Ariel for such an eye-opening awesome read!

A very interesting take on where feminism has come and how it got to be what it is. The author makes several very good points when comparing how females act in relation to men and the problems that occur.

Ariel Levy wrote a book full of thoughts and feelings I've been having for years, and it makes me feel less alone. I am glad that there are women out there still fighting. The world is a sick place, and it could use more conscious idealists to make it better.

I remember when I was younger, the chief complant by many feminist-minded women was that women were forced to wear less and less clothing by those darn perverted men. Yet, when I asked those women why it was that in the countries where women have the most freedom to behave how they want to, they wear the least clothing, while in the most conservative, male-dominated societies like in the Middle East or Victorian Britain, they cover up, there was always that hesitant silence which always follows when someone's neat preconcepions of the world have just been shattered, as this fact completely undermines all feminist ideology on the subject. Women are NOT forced to behave the way they do - it's part biologically programmed into all submissive genders, and partly the result of the extended adolescence of both genders - I often see women way past their prime dressing like teenagers, trying to look sexy but looking as ridiculous as an old man trying to show off his masculinity. The truth is that in societies where men dominate, the patriarchical ones like Victorian Britain or traditional Islamic societies, women have to cover up. The more freedom women have, the less clothes they wear, at least in civilized societies. Look too at organizations led by women - look at PETA and Femen, for example. No man asked those women to strip in public when they demonstrate, those organizations are led by women alone. Women have an innate tendency to exhibitionism, which is biologically programmed (or has evolved) in the gender of all species which take the submissive role in courtship. In 95% of all living species, the male takes the role in courtship, and is thus physically larger and more aggressive. In 5% of all species, the female takes the initiative in courtship, and in those species the female is bigger and more aggressive. Thus, according to current evolutionary theory, the only way things are going to change on earth is when women take the initiative in courtship over a very long period of time.

The social engineering I see people here praising is of dubious long-term value. It's like genetic modification, but for a society, not just an individual. Just as the plants we eat should evolve naturally, and suffer from possible side effects when genetically modified, so a society suffers from horrible side effects when we don't allow it to evolve naturally, and try to genetically modify it. Curiously, it is just those people who go nuts about the genetic modification of food who are most in favour of doing the same to our society. The rise of fascism was an inevitable counter reaction to that unnatural and drastic social engineering initially proposed by Marx, and led to the deaths of up to 100 million people. One wonders if all those deaths are considered to have been 'worth it' considering the 'rights' gained, especially as because these rights did not evolve naturally, the world is bound to revert to the stage to which it should naturally have evolved. It is high time that someone tackled this issue, and Ariel Levy is to be praised for at least shining a little more light on a subject which has only been more misunderstood by feminist ideology based on victimization which refuses to take any blame or responsibilty for one's actions - in other words, it is the effect of feminist ideology itself on women which has led to the so-called Raunch Culture.

What a great book. Well written, and very intelligently constructed commentary on the " raunch culture" and the female chauvinist pigs dilemma. Ariel Levy gives a solid argument that the so called current sexually liberation and it's embracing by younger (and older) women, is in fact a commercialized product that has replaced real sexual liberation. The commercialization of female sexuality has been criticized little by feminists, due to the fear of reverting back to conservative sexual views, or denying female sexual expression. But as Ariel Levy explains, the 21st century version of free sexual expression of women, is a carbon copy of what titillates and has been sold to men for years - the playboy bunny, the porn star, which is now being sold to women by women. On top of that 90's reverted bimbo mentality, is the anti intellectual and over- bored sexuality of the Paris Hilton/s and Tara Reid/s. The willingly exploitation of sexual commodities is done from a business, pleasure and expression of pleasure is non existent. The power in sexuality is individual, not standardized, sanitized and conformity based.

So, what the heck has happened to society? I thought I was the only one who noticed the trends Levy writes about, but apparently not. Despite the naysayers who don't seem to understand the tenets and history of feminism, even though Levy carefully lays them out, and the concepts of "raunch culture", the author has struck a big nerve. "Female Chauvinist Pigs" is a polemical sister to "The Feminine Mystique" and "Backlash".

Levy is not saying sexuality is bad, and she goes out of her way to prove her point. What Levy is concerned about is this mechanical, forced sexuality that suddenly seems ubiquitous that really isn't very sexy or empowering. One interesting point Levy makes is how this raunch culture seems to be flourishing under the harsh political climate of the Religious Right. It is a measure of the hypocrisy on all levels of American Life that while the zealots are foaming at the mouth to stop gay marriage, an entirely different problem is emerging and nobody has said one thing about it. Perhaps the lesson is raunch will be allowed to exist as long as it is heterosexual. Remember, all those girls kissing girls are doing it for the guys sake.

Whether you agree with Levy or not, this is a book that should be read, debated and distributed.

Very well done! Ms. Levy has touched on the very topic that I find perplexing. Here we are, in 2009, and we have girls as young as 10 or 11 aspiring to look like strippers and/or porn stars. What is going on?!?!?!? I think we need to keep the discussion going and Ms. Levy's book is a good way to begin it.

Female Chauvinistic Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture: Perhaps the biggest let down of 2007? First I would like to come right out and state it - just because you write as a journalist, even if you're a good journalist, does not necessarily mean that you can write a book. Now that this is said, within newer feminist texts the authors more often than not wrote magazine articles and their books read as a series of magazine articles with the hope of some sentences or paragraphs to connect ideas. My suggestion for this new group of "authors": just give us the damn articles with an intro and conclusion to wind it together because you're attempt at a book is a complete let down.

Each chapter leads the reader on a rather exciting journey until you reach the top of the metaphorical hill and realize there's no other side, there's no conclusion, there's only paste and plaster. When reading the book I loosely gained the idea that Levy was discussing the idea of women representing a false front - whether it's to claim "I'm a man," "I dislike girly girls," faking orgasms and posing, etc - and that this idea became highly symbolic in the U.S. as culturally we worship porn stars and strippers - people who "fake" their sexuality (okay, perhaps not all of them) and are performing sex rather than enjoying real sex.

However, in her conclusion Levy says the book is about "what the sex industry means" (199) and she completely lost me there. As an introductory reader to feminism the book is fabulous: she puts a new spin on some old ideas, introduces some marvelous case examples and language, and massive kudos to you for remembering your feminist foremothers and giving them their due. As a serious feminist text that contributes to the body of feminist literature it was a bit of a let down. As a loosely, knitted veil of ideas I wonder if this is all "my" generation has to contribute?

This is a brilliant book. Levy does an excellent job articulating a rather recent development in the life of young women (at least in America): women objectifying themselves and each other. A passionate demonstration of the ways in which female sexuality has been hijacked by our corporate culture. A must-read for young women and everyone who interacts with them (so everyone).

This book is about the thorough sexualisation of our culture and how women especially are effected by it. It is also about how feminism has gone wrong, and how human sexuality has been reduced and restricted by the new porn culture.

Now these are all themes that one would think a good religious conservative could wax eloquent on. But the author is both secular and liberal. Thus she senses a problem and seeks to tackle it. Yet pointing out worrying symptoms is not enough. One must also accurately pinpoint the source of the problem, and offer practical solutions to the problem.

Levy tries to identify the source of the problem, but many would argue that she misses the real picture. And she does nothing about offering solutions.

As to the symptoms, well, that is the easiest part. Anyone can amass a wealth of examples and details about how Western culture has been turned into one big brothel. And Levy has done a good job of pointing out many examples, by way of interviews, or of a journalists eye for observation, to make her case. And the case is readily made.

Everywhere we look we are inundated with sex, sex and more sex. Shows like Sex and the City, books like How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, and the Lad Mag like Maxim, Ralph and FHM are just a few examples that can be cited. The truth is, porn has become mainstream.

And this does not stop with adults, but extends to our young people. The general sexualisation of our children is of special concern. Children trying to get the "look" for example, to be cool, are increasingly seeking to dress as adults, and as very tawdry adults at that. Thus we see the rise of lingerie marketed for kids, and the `prostitute chic' as one has described it. Children are encouraged to emulate and slavishly follow the fashion sense of their favourite pop stars and media idols. And given that so many of these are following the raunchy trends in fashion, our children are copying this sleazy image.

Young girls are especially being targeted here. Thus we have eight-year olds wanting T-shirts with the word "Porn Star" emblazoned across the chest, or ten-year olds buying padded bras at mainstream shopping centres.

Why have Paris Hilton, strippers and porn stars become the new role models? Why have Desperate Housewives and classes in pole dancing become so mainstream? Here Levy is less than helpful. She basically speaks of the betrayal of feminism and complains about "the future that never happened".

She does trace the division in feminism in the 70s between anti-porn feminists and pro-porn feminists. Obviously the later have won out. Levy thinks any gains of feminism in the 60s and 70s have largely been lost today. But she offers only a weak explanation here as to why this is so, and is even on thinner ground when she looks at the way ahead.

She says that if women want to be "lusty, busty exhibitionists," that's fine, but there is more to sex, and life, than that. But she gives us no compelling reasons as to why this is so and why women should do more than aspire to being a stripper.

Thus the value of this book lies in the documentation of our porn-crazed culture. But as I said, that is the easy bit. One simply has to clip headlines or ads in papers, or tape highlights on the TV, or look at the clothes being manufactured and targeted to young people, for example, to make this point. And others have made it as well. (See for example two recent titles: Ben Shapiro, Porn Generation or Pamela Paul, Pornified.)

But as a warning about where society is going, this book serves a useful service. It acts as a bit of a wake-up call. But one will need to look elsewhere for actual solutions to the problem.

This book is about the thorough sexualisation of our culture and how women especially are effected by it. It is also about how feminism has gone wrong, and how human sexuality has been reduced and restricted by the new porn culture.

Now these are all themes that one would think a good religious conservative could wax eloquent on. But the author is both secular and liberal. Thus she senses a problem and seeks to tackle it. Yet pointing out worrying symptoms is not enough. One must also accurately pinpoint the source of the problem, and offer practical solutions to the problem.

Levy tries to identify the source of the problem, but many would argue that she misses the real picture. And she does nothing about offering solutions.

As to the symptoms, well, that is the easiest part. Anyone can amass a wealth of examples and details about how Western culture has been turned into one big brothel. And Levy has done a good job of pointing out many examples, by way of interviews, or of a journalists eye for observation, to make her case. And the case is readily made.

Everywhere we look we are inundated with sex, sex and more sex. Shows like Sex and the City, books like How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, and the Lad Mag like Maxim, Ralph and FHM are just a few examples that can be cited. The truth is, porn has become mainstream.

And this does not stop with adults, but extends to our young people. The general sexualisation of our children is of special concern. Children trying to get the "look" for example, to be cool, are increasingly seeking to dress as adults, and as very tawdry adults at that. Thus we see the rise of lingerie marketed for kids, and the `prostitute chic' as one has described it. Children are encouraged to emulate and slavishly follow the fashion sense of their favourite pop stars and media idols. And given that so many of these are following the raunchy trends in fashion, our children are copying this sleazy image.

Young girls are especially being targeted here. Thus we have eight-year olds wanting T-shirts with the word "Porn Star" emblazoned across the chest, or ten-year olds buying padded bras at mainstream shopping centres.

Why have Paris Hilton, strippers and porn stars become the new role models? Why have Desperate Housewives and classes in pole dancing become so mainstream? Here Levy is less than helpful. She basically speaks of the betrayal of feminism and complains about "the future that never happened".

She does trace the division in feminism in the 70s between anti-porn feminists and pro-porn feminists. Obviously the later have won out. Levy thinks any gains of feminism in the 60s and 70s have largely been lost today. But she offers only a weak explanation here as to why this is so, and is even on thinner ground when she looks at the way ahead.

She says that if women want to be "lusty, busty exhibitionists," that's fine, but there is more to sex, and life, than that. But she gives us no compelling reasons as to why this is so and why women should do more than aspire to being a stripper.

Thus the value of this book lies in the documentation of our porn-crazed culture. But as I said, that is the easy bit. One simply has to clip headlines or ads in papers, or tape highlights on the TV, or look at the clothes being manufactured and targeted to young people, for example, to make this point. And others have made it as well. (See for example two recent titles: Ben Shapiro, Porn Generation or Pamela Paul, Pornified.)

But as a warning about where society is going, this book serves a useful service. It acts as a bit of a wake-up call. But one will need to look elsewhere for actual solutions to the problem.

Ariel Levy and I could probably not be more different. She is a liberal, feminist, democratic, New Yorker. I am a conservative, biblical, Canadian Christian. Yet Levy and I share a common concern when we look at women in our culture. Not too long ago, Levy began to notice a change in women. "I'd walk down the street and see teens and young women - and the occasional wild fifty-year old - wearing jeans cut so low they exposed what came to be known as butt cleavage paired with miniature tops that showed off breast implants and pierced navels alike. Sometimes...the shirts would be emblazoned with the Playboy bunny or say PORN STAR across the chest... People I knew (female people) liked going to strip clubs (female strippers). It was sexy and fun, they explained; it was liberating and rebellious. My best friend from college, who used to go to Take Back the Night marches on campus, had become captivated by porn stars." She discovered a raunch culture that had begun to interest women. This apparently "didn't mark the death of feminism, they told me; it was evidence that the feminist project had already been achieved. We'd earned the right to look at Playboy; we were empowered enough to get Brazilian bikini waxes. Women had come so far, I learned, we no longer needed to worry about objectification or misogyny... If Male Chauvinist Pigs were men who regarded women as pieces of meat, we would outdo them and be Female Chauvinist Pigs: women who make sex objects of other women and of ourselves."

She found that those immersed in raunch culture were motivated to do all of this for the sake of being "one of the guys" or being experienced "like a man." Somehow a resurrection of every stereotype of female sexuality that she thought had been banished by feminism was being seen as good for women. Looking like Pamela Anderson, imitating strippers and porn stars (whose job is to imitate arousal) was seen as sexual liberation.

What is going on with women in our culture?

Levy points an accusing finger towards this new breed of woman, the Female Chauvinist Pig, whom she describes as follows: "The Female Chauvinist Pig (FCP) has risen to a kind of exalted status. She is post-feminist. She is funny. She gets it. She doesn't mind cartoonish stereotypes of female sexuality, and she doesn't mind a cartoonishly macho response to them. The FCP asks: why throw your boyfriend's Playboy in a freedom trash can when you could be partying at the Mansion? Why worry about disgusting or degrading when you could be giving - or getting - a lap dance yourself? Why try to beat them when you can join them?" Our culture's obsession with raunch allows a woman an opportunity to prove her mettle, first among men but now among women as well. By engaging in the raunch that men enjoy, and that feminism initially combatted, women can flaunt their coolness and mark themselves as being tougher, looser, funnier - a whole new kind of woman.

To prove that the FCP is no mere invention or caricature, Levy takes the reader through a brief and somewhat biased history of feminism. She takes the reader into lesbian culture where a whole new type of lesbian, the "boi," has arisen to mimic the heterosexual FCP. She is exasperated to learn that women express their empowerment by exposing themselves in Girls Gone Wild videos, by posing naked in Playboy magazine and by augmenting their bodies in any number of unnatural ways. But this is not something that is foisted upon women. Rather, it is a deliberate decision made by women. "We get to go to college and play sports and be secretary of state. But to look around, you'd think all any of us want to do is rip off our clothes and shake it." And, of course, once it has been determined that it is normal and good for women to enjoy reading Playboy and to get breast implants and to be jealous of porn stars, the only alternative is to be uncomfortable with and embarrassed by sexuality. Raunch has become a litmus test of female uptightness.

In the most startling, convicting chapter, Levy leads the reader into teen culture and shows how teenage girls are increasingly becoming FCPs, or as she says, are "pigs in training." She shows how teen girls are increasingly involving themselves in sexual encounters not because they feel sexual desire, but because they feel a desire to be cool and to obtain bragging rights. The most popular creative outlet for adolescent female energy seems to be "the expression of imaginary licentiousness through gesture, demeanor, dress." It is imaginary, for the girls do not truly feel sexual desire. They simply mimic what they see and experience in their role models. Teens "live in a candyland of sex...every magazine stand is a gumdrop castle of breasts, every reality show is a bootylicious Tootsie Roll tree. And these are hormonal teenagers. This culture speaks to them...They are taught that sex is wrong until you have a wedding" yet see sex portrayed all around them. Here is the message the average girl derives from media: "Girls have to be hot. Girls who aren't hot probably need breast implants. Once a girl is hot, she should be as close to naked as possible all the time. Guys should like it. Don't have sex." She says, correctly, that the way we educate young people about sexuality is not working. Culture bomards them with messages that are in direct opposition to what we teach them. Her solution is that "rather than only telling teens why they shouldn't have sex, perhaps we also ought to be teaching them why they should. We are doing little to help them differentiate their sexual desires from their desire for attention." For too many young women, sex is about ego, not love or lust. They understand sex to be a performance rather than a thrilling and engaging experience. Girls are almost afraid to experience arousal, lest they make sex into something just a little too significant. It is a tragedy that is unfolding in our neighborhoods. Perhaps even in our homes.

Having discussed the programming that pollutes our television screens, showing that these shows so often cater to a chauvinist point of view, she says that "Adolescents are not inventing this culture of exhibitionism and conformity with their own fledgling creative powers. Teens are reflecting back our slobbering culture in miniature."

The book concludes with a chapter entitled "Shopping for Sex" in which Levy shows that sex and consumerism have become entwined. In a particularly convicting section, she challenges what our society seems to believe to be true: that porn stars and strippers are the experts on female sexuality. Assuming, as she does, that up to ninety percent of porn stars have suffered childhood sexual abuse, she questions whether we should base our assumptions on sexuality on role models who have been sexually traumatized. "It's like using a bunch of shark attack victims as our lifeguards."

Levy's final reflection, consistent with her feminist ideals, is this:

If we believed that we were sexy and funny and competent and smart, we would not need to be like strippers or like men or like anyone other than our own specific, individual selves. That won't be easy, but ultimately it would be no more difficult than the kind of contortions FCPs are constantly performing in an effort to prove themselves. More important, the rewards would be the very things Female Chauvinist Pigs want to desperately, the things women deserve: freedom and power.

It is not difficult for me to extend her conclusion and adapt it to a Christian worldview. If women believed that they were sexy and funny and competent and smart, and were to return to the biblical ideals for womanhood, they would not want or need to be like strippers or like anyone other than their own, specific, God-ordained selves. The rewards would be the freedom God promises and provides to those who live in the way He created us to live. Freedom - true freedom - is found only when we live within His will for us. When women act as biblical women, they will gain tremendous power and freedom.

This book is frank and sometimes crude. Levy's disgust with the FCP is clear. She understands, as do many men, that the FCP is the type of feminist men can handle. What more could men want then women who will give much and require little? Women who will give men exactly what they want, all the while acting as if they enjoy it just as much as the men do. Yet the book is not without its problems. Levy takes the cheap shots at George W. Bush that seem to be a necessary component of so many books these days. Ironically, she tacitly commends Bill Clinton, all the while ignoring his significant contribution to the very problem she deals with in this book. Few men have done more to advance the cause of FCPs than Bill Clinton! Her feminist biases are obvious throughout the book. Yet, while I cannot agree with her proposed cure, her diagnosis seems sound. Her feminist frustration with contemporary women is much the same as the frustration Christians feel as they survey women in our culture.

Feminism has failed women. Levy would not agree with this, of course, and would call women back to the ideals of feminism. Yet we would do better to call them back to the Bible's ideals for women. God, who created men and women, and who thus created manhood and womanhood, has given us instruction on how we are to live within our roles as men and women. We need to look back to the author of manhood and womanhood and recover the beauty of the roles He created for us. That is were true beauty and freedom will be found.

This is a great read. Everyone should read this, especially if you're one of the few to notice what Levy has pointed out. I've been talking about some of these issues mentioned for a few years now. Or whenever Britney Spears, Christina Aguliera, Jessica Simpson, and Sex and the City burst onto the pop culture radar.

Levy's writing style is easy to read, not at all distracting like some other writers in this genre, like Naomi Wolf, who take the focus off the material. I really apreciate the chapter devoted to the women's movement since I was born years after and the women's studies class i recently took failed to cover it. That chapter puts some things in perspective for me. Read this book. You will not be disappointed.

This is a smart, readable book that addresses all the ways in which women are becoming raunchier -- and how this is not neccessarily a sign of female empowerment. Many feminist books can tend to be a bit dry, but this read like a novel. Fascinating and thought-provoking; every teenage girl and woman should read this.

Levy picked a good eye grabbing topic for this book: Sex. But when you get down to it, this book is little more then amassing of interviews of FCP and the like. In her Chapter Pigs in Training after all the interviews with teenagers and discussion she talks about how for her generation it could be rebellion against the feminist generation before them, but she can't understand why teenagers are turning into FCPs.

This is biggest issue with the book. She makes great discussion, but can't deal with coming up with good solutions or getting to heart of the problem that Media is shaping our ideas and there's no one out there with a loud enough voice to counter it. Besides this the book is a good starting point if you want to know more about America's Raunch Culture.

I love this book. It is possible that this could--as one reviewer suggested--be boiled down to a very long magazine article but I for one wouldn't pass on any of Levy's chapter musings. It is also possible that Levy is not the foremost authority on all things feminist. But she never has claimed to be. What she does offer is a witty and accessible romp into all that she calls "raunch culture" (why have all things skanky suddenly become liberating?). I have not seen anything this comprehensive on the topic and the book offers, as the New York Times says "many 'aha' moments."

Having recently read Maureen Dowd's new book (Are Men Necessary?), I'll note there is much crossover in their subject matter. However, they are both worth reading and come highly recommended.

I have read this book through several times now and really appreciate how Ms. Levy systematically examined the dichotomy of modern feminism. This book gives an unvarnished look at how feminism defines itself in modern American culture, without drawing conclusions for the reader. Though she sometimes questions how modern feminism equates with classical feminism from the 60s and 70s, she makes no judgements and allows the reader to draw her, or his, own conclusions. An excellent read, I highly recommend it.

Ariel Levy is magnificent at showing how every self classifying people in America have become chauvinistic. Very well written and documented about how sad we really are about portraying proper respect for one another.

I was getting tired of the constant barrage of messages suggesting all women would achieve sexual liberation through porno chic.

Then, lo and behold: Female Chauvinist Pigs came along!

Levy articulates the madness of our culture with a degree of humor and precision that will have you underlining passages and asking questions about how to create a more sexually positive culture.

Many moments in the book will have you exlaiming "exactly!"

Ariel Levy is a journalist, and her book "Female Chauvinist Pigs" reads like it was writtten by someone accustomed to fitting complex issues into an article-length, palatable piece of writing. This is not necessarily a bad thing - her style is engaging and colorful, and the book can easily be read in a single sitting. But the conventions of writing for newspapers and magazines seem to have left their imprint on Levy when it comes to delving deeper into her subject matter, which will probably be disappointing to anyone expecting to read the book and come away with in depth analysis. She occasionally touches upon truly refreshing insights, but seems to lack the ability or desire to pursue them to a point of thorough explication. There are also few, if any, remedies proposed for alleviating this cultural problem, and when they are, they are softened in an unappealingly cagey ("perhaps we ought") way. Why does Levy shy away from simply, clearly stating "we need better sex ed," when all the information she has presented undeniably supports such a conclusion?

Levy most grieviously falls flat when she comes to her chapter "Shopping For Sex" which, for me, dealt a major blow to her credibitility. I was devestated by her entirely uncritical embrace of radical feminist Melissa Farley's highly idealogy-contaminated research on prostitution, and Levy's confusing insistence that "most women in the sex industry have been victims of sexual abuse," despite the fact that she admits 1) this is a cliche and 2) it is a cliche largely unsubstantiated by studies not undertaken by "biased extremists." It seemed that Levy was willing to include sources here primarily because they readily lent themselves to her conclusion, and not because they were the most accurate or intelligent.

The book is posited as a serious feminist text (see the blurb on the back from feminist icon Robin Morgan and the cover jacket's attempt to put her in the ranks of Susan Faludi), but reads much more like a series of human interest stories. The entire book concept arose from her work on an article for New York magazine, and this also shows in the book's construction; it seems like it was cobbled together and rushed to press without serious revision and reflection. There are plenty of interesting anecdotes but the commentary and subsequent assertions don't always carry the weight they are intended to. You can actually google Levy and find some pieces of FCP published in various free online news sites (like Slate) to get a taste of her style, and the way in which she tends to let her accounts of personal exchanges and situations stand in for actual analysis.

Levy questions whether the rise of attention-seeking promiscious behaviour is a direct legacy of the Women's Lib movement. Enjoyable, entertaining and not too taxing, Female Chauvinist Pigs asks far more questions than it attempts to answer. However, you will have fun discussing some of the issues with your friends later on.

As 20-year-old bombarded with the objectified image of porn stars and soft core porn daily, I was quite anxious to read one of the few books out there questioning our culture, and not glorifying it. One cannot turn on the televison or open a magazine today without the sexified yet vacant image of women staring back at us. What's worse people my age seem to embrace this as "empowerment." This book gave me some semblence of hope for my generation.

I've read a variety of professional reviews of this book, and I have to say I disagree with most of them.

A major trend this days is to "reclaim epithets". LBGTs have reclaimed the word "queer" as way to denote people who are, in an incredible variety of ways, not heterosexual. For years, African-Americans have reclaimed "ni**er as a term of endearment, not as a racist putdown.

However, I cannot understand why any woman would feel that deliberately identifying herself as a "slut" is somehow empowering.

I'm not arguing that women should be stop dressing like Paris Hilton or Pamela Anderson. They can, but they shouldn't. I can destroy my body with excesses, if I so choose, but it's not particularly healthy.

Yes, this is a judgement call, but I'm making it.

Trivialing sexuality and objectifying one's body is hardly a way to feel more powerful. Women are perptuating the idea that their only real worth lies in whether they or not they are society's concept of what constitues physically attractive. There are many many other, healthier ways to be sexy without having to dress provocatively. I would even wager that the sexiest women are those who are resourceful enough be seen as sexy without having to pander for attention on such a base level.

What I find is most tragic is that the ideals of feminism have been twisted into some sort of a self-deluded fantasy. It's a particularly depressing kind of denial that is as much the fault of rabid commericialism as it is a backlash against first-wave feminism.

I was completely riveted by this book. Levy does a beautiful job of highlighting the (very often self-inflicted) injustices that plague modern so-called "liberated" women.

The idea that, as women, we are socialized to objectify ourselves and other women in order to appear more desirable is articulated flawlessly by Levy. I am buying this book for all the women in my life -- and the men too. We could all use a serious reality check.

hymns! jubilo! what flare! what romp! by far one of the best books i have read in a long time! no book captures the conflicting quandaries of being female than this book's blaze of howl! as i read this book, flush with profligate vision, heated spasms my cheeks assaulting, i feel mixed, confused, distraught, amazed that indeed it must in fact be difficult being a woman and yet just as college students do not realize that college life is the best time of their lives since they cannot compare it to the tarantulas soon to come so too am i unable to enjoy the benefits of being masculine since i cannot compare it to an oppressive female existence. outrage primero: 85% of the entertainment industry, the propaganda of our oligarchy, is run by those for whom the bison and the raw romp is the ideal rather than those who find solace in the caress or the tissue. outrage secundo: the if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them mentality that at present plagues the clean sex. women have got to be firm, rugged, chaste, robust, responsible, hardened and must not yield to the wooden hyenas that run maxim and girls gone wild, a scourge which is an anathema to everything good in society. it is the clean sex that must take the lead again and end this latest fad for drunken sleaze, everywhere getting and spending, laying waste our powers, giving our hearts away to a sordid boon. this craze can't last long. only another ten years and we will soon see a violent backlash, the behemoth choking on his own booze, the leviathan bloated from too much snot. ariel levy's book is a triumph, a tour-de-force, a strong cry against this bewildering new trend in feminist thought. the feminist movement was and still remains an intelligent, vibrant attempt to reduce the harms inherent in our culture, a reduction of pigs, a dwindling of the rat, undoubtedly plenty of obstacles were removed, trophies obtained and new planets visited yet we have temporarily faltered in our quest for the flash-grail. woman has succumbed to michelob and bedded herself with budweiser, unable to lift man out of the wino-stench that he slogs in. if women join us men in the mire-ditch then we are both lost, both prey to the unscrupulous rogue-fiend, both blind against the acid-fiend of sensuality. woman is noble, rapto-radiant, shinning, clean, a comfort to the young son, an inspiration to the young daughter and yet christie hefner and her pseudo-reasoning have now hoodwinked her in shadow. outrage terzo: the way women proudly exult in their masculinity, some entertainment executive, por ejemplo, bragging that she had the biggest cock in the building - it is this exultation in masculinity that must end. and yet the great irony of this book is how stunning and beautiful ariel levy is herself! how flush with verve, how splendid with euphony! this is not some woman bitter that she does not have monrovian physique to display or some quintogenarian lamenting the rats that the younger generation writhes in but instead (frolic! agape!) this is a healthy venusian, replete with apple, bananas and grape! i will soon be posting an elaborate study and detailed outline of this book as soon as i have ariel levy's permission.

monrovia: beautiful, after marilyn monroe

venusian: woman

author of lorelei pursued

wrestles with God

Ariel Levy puts the current social situation regarding how women are viewed in this society under a microscope in this book. She put a lot of things I've felt into words and made me go "Absolutely! Uh huh! THAT'S SO TRUE!" Little tidbits like the bit about Paris Hilton flashing her vagina at cameramen makes you wonder "Why in the world are these ditsy women being made such a big deal over?" Well, Ariel Levy answers that question and many more questions that should be very important to women in this book. Frankly, it made me madder than I already was. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, anger is a great motivator.

Ariel Levy picked a great topic on which to write. Rauch culture is something that's so ubiquitous that a thoughtful study is deeply relevant to both feminist thinking, as well as American cultural thinking. A thoughtful study would have been nice to read. While Levy has some great points to make on what improperly passes as "liberation", it's done through a layer of rabid anti-sex work and with a deep condescension to almost all of her subjects. While her afterword notes that she isn't anti-stripping, her book does not necessarily support this statement. She makes several demeaning remarks, and her handling of the topic of prostitution is misinformed and offensive. She blatantly equates trafficking and sex work, treats all sex workers as "victims", and states that even though there's no research to support the idea that most sex workers have been sexually abused, it's a "cliche worth repeating". Apparently, this is what passes for research. Furthermore, almost all of her subjects/interviewees are white, and many of them are affluent. There are a sprinkling of African American women, but one would be hard pressed to find other racial minorities represented in the book.
Levy's book presents an overwhelming conundrum which is never mentioned, addressed, or, most likely, considered. If women are agent, sexual beings, capable of making their own reasoned decisions, then how can you spend an entire book judging various women for their personal decisions and not find that demeaning and infantilizing? She scoffs at the idea that some women define sexuality outside of her idea of sexuality. There are some worthwhile arguments to be made here, but if we are really going to redefine sexuality to allow women agency and freedom, we're not going to do it by telling smart, educated women capable of making their own sexual decisions that they're not allowed to express themselves how they choose. Even if we disagree. That's the point of sexual freedom, after all. Isn't it?

The book made a very complex impression on me : it's both very good and really bad. Levy sets out to denounce the new trend among women of all ages and professions that she considers to be very dangerous for the cause of feminism. In order to be more acceptable to men, to seem cool, hip and "in", women participate - according to Levy - in a culture that objectifies women and revolves around a cartoonish, exaggerated, and unrealistic portrayals of female sexuality. These women wear revealing clothes (because that's what men like), are ready to strip for any one, frequent strip bars, are obssessed with strippers and porn stars, and provide sexual favors to men (stripping, oral sex) with no view to their own gratification. As a result, the images of women we see everywhere around us - from the schoolyard to the television - are those of half-naked, wriggling, heavily made up women with breast implants desperate to be seen as sexual objects and nothing else. Our attitudes to sex, says Levy, have also changed and not in a good way. Sex is everywhere but it's not a liberating, feminist version of sex. It's the kind where women kill themselves to please and men sit back and decide whether to grant their approval. People have become indiscriminate about sex because of "our baseline assumption that sex is something you should always automatically take when you can get it". This happens because a large number of sexual partners brings us prestige.

This does sound like a nightmarish kind of world. The picture Levy presents in the book is, indeed, scary. The only problem is: where does she see all of this? I believe I have a pretty varied acquaintance among women of all kinds of age groups and professions. And, for the life of me, I can't remenber observing anything like what this book claims is happening all over the place. I don't know any women who frequent female strip bars. Some of my friends have been to male strip clubs, which makes more sense for heterosexual women, but going to look at female strippers? What on earth for? My friends and I do wear low-cut shirts and short dresses when we go out but none of us have ever stripped for men in public, or kissed each other to attract male attention, or even been asked to do any such thing. Neither do we ever discuss strippers and porn starts, either to admire them or to criticize them. It's just not a topic. As to women accumulating sexual experiences because it's considered prestigious, that doesn't happen either. I do, however, know women who conceal the number of their sexual partners for fear of appearing slutty.

As to men, I fail to see those men who have such a free and easy access to sex from any woman they want any time they want. The men who surround me are wonderful, intelligent, attractive, successful people. I can't say, however, that it's in any way easier for them to find girlfriends or sexual partners than it is for my female friends. When we go out together, I never see any women running up to them and trying to attract their attention to stripping. Just the opposite, my close male friends have shared with me how difficult it is to try and approach a woman you like in a bar or a club, how sometimes you feel rejected or even humiliated, how these experiences accumulate and leave you fearful of dating.
I belong precisely to the group of people in their early thirties, well-educated and professionally successful that Levy sees as the most avid participants in this "raunch culture." I have lived in many different places in North America, big cities and small towns, I know the East Coast and the Midwest. How come all of this has passed me by?

It is, of course, possible that I'm personally so out of touch that I managed to snooze through a major cultural phenomenon that is happening everywhere except within my circle of equally frumpy friends. In that case, I would have certainly seen manifestations of the "raunch culture" on television. Levy talks at length about the numerous TV shows where women strip, make a spectacle of themselves, are criticized if their appearance is not up to the mark, and behave in highly sexualized way. Yet again, among all the shows she mentions in her book, the only one I ever watched or even heard about is Sex and the City.

So, the question remains: does the "raunch culture" exist? And if not, then why are so many feminists (Levy is far from being the only one) wiritng about it as if it were the next big menace to the cause of feminism?

Levy attempts to explain the view of sexuality that currently exists in the US by the "unfinished business of feminism." The conflict between "sex-positive" feminists and anti-pornography feminists left us without a coherent stance on sex and female sexuality. As a result, the raunch culture emerged, where objectification of women hid undeer the guise of female sexual liberation.

I believe that it's here that Levy's argument fails. Her views become parochial and limited at the point where she sees the current attitude to sexuality almost exclusively as a result of what the 2nd generation feminists did or failed to do. As important as the ideological differences between Jong and Dworkin are for the history of the movement, it doesn't seem like the whole country was sitting there, waiting with bated breath for the resolution of their conflict. Levy's main error is equating obssessive sex talk with actual sexual liberation. There is a very telling moment in her book when she talks about the Girls Gone Wild series, the favorite whipping horse of those who believe in the "pornification of America." One of the young women who takes part in the show by stripping for the camera "declared proudly" that she was a virgin. Here is the answer to the entire problem. This young woman lives in a society where, instead of a mere physiological fact, virginity is an issue that merits emotional attachment and is something to be proud of. So she goes on the show to enact sexuality, since practicing it is forbidden to her by a repressive society. Girls Gone Wild comes not out of a sexually permissive society, but rather out of a sexually repressive one.

The author chronicles the slide in standards for the behavior of "modern" women. But the most important parts of this story orbit just past the author's mindset. First, when "girls try to be like the boys" in the name of equality, they are not successful. We are hard-wired for our male and female roles far more than feminists have ever wanted to admit. Second, sexuality without context; spirituality, love or procreation, usually leads to an empty cul-de-sac. Sex is important when it is considered important. The author relates how sexuality is commoditized and used as a way to keep score. Unfortunately, the game and the prize lacks the fulfillment that I believe everyone deep inside is really looking for.

The author's prose is crisp and the book is a quick read. The book offered some insight into the "hook-up generation," but it proved less fulfilling in conclusions due to the author's constraining feminist point of view. Read it and decide for yourself.

Every once and awhile, a book brings together cultural trends that until then were rattling around unconnected in the back of our minds. This is one of those books. When and how did porn suddenly become mainstream and cool? It wasn't that long ago that it was a back-room thing, and now it's sexy and desirable. Girls don't want to be pretty anymore -- they want to be "hot," which apparently means something that used to be called "slutty." Read this book, and a lot of contradictory cultural trends suddenly come into sharp focus. A great analysis of modern American trends.

Wonderful! Don't be mislead by the title; this book isn't one of those poorly disguised anti-feminist screeds you sometimes find in the Women's Studies section. Rather, it's anti-'women who are anti-women' - of which there seem to be more and more. As a college student, I live in the generation Levy writes about, and as far as I can see, she gets it all right. I'd highly recommend it for young women AND young men.

This smart and closely argued book is an absolutely marvellous piece of work. Makes you wonder how nobody thought of this before. Ariel Levy is a curious and compassionate reporter first, a lively and confident storyteller second, and finally a brilliant essayist. All these components come together here, and it doesn't matter if one has an interest in sexual politics or not--it's really a book about the culture that all Americans live in.

The work of Joan Didion, John Seabrook, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Malcolm Gladwell all come to mind.

In Female Chauvinist Pig, Ariel Levy asserts that, despite women's struggles for equality and rights, many women of today's society have taken the position of the male to an extreme level, where they begin to oppress not only other women, but also themselves, by submitting to a mentality and behavior that oppresses their gender. Rather than develop a new sense of what it means to be a "liberated woman", women simply jump on the bandwagon that men have been riding all along, following the principle "why try to beat them when you can join them."

Levy tackles the problem of the disturbing rise of teenage pregnancies, widespread pornography, plastic surgery to look like "Barbie", and the overall growing attitude of women that promiscuity equals womanhood. She describes her firsthand experience of exploring the shoot of the popular video "Girls Gone Wild", which she believes is an exploitation of women. However, because these women claim to like exhibiting themselves, how can anyone argue with them? As Levy and others point out, nobody forces these women to take off their clothes in front of a camera so how can it be exploitation? Levy argues that the problem is deeper than that as many women have been made to believe that such "freedom" is true freedom. There is pressure from society that a woman conform and "be free". If she doesn't, then she is labeled as stuck up, uptight, bitter, sexually deprived and the list goes on. Therefore, the choice of making a sex video or anything close is underlined by the desire to be accepted by society.

While Levy makes some excellent points and provides disturbing facts about our society and its expectations, limitations and requirements of "what a woman is", I could not seem to find a proposed solution. She talks about the problems and the causes, but offers a very vague explanation of how to accomplish the goal of truly liberating women. Unfortunately, by the end of the book, Levy does present herself as one of those women who are doing the very things she is supposed to be against. By placing the blame on women who mistreat women, she makes the assumption that the mistreated women are simply sheep and have no mind of their own, thus condemning most of her gender. While it is possible that this may be the case for some, I find it somewhat hypocritical for her to make a judgment on a whole gender based on a few interviews. Also, her book is extremely exclusive, geared mainly towards women like her - white, middle or upper class, women. Her observation of the struggles of female teenagers (again, from a very exclusive background) and their sexuality in the face of society is perhaps the only well developed portion of the book, that offers not only the cause of the problem but also a well thought out proposition of a solution.

Her writing style is also very choppy and does not flow well. It seems that she simply took a few of her editorials, put them together, inserted a "connecting line" or two, and called it a book. Perhaps the main problem lies in her trying to tackle so many problems. She jumps from feminism to lesbianism to teenage promiscuity. Her conclusion, although well written, does nothing to help tie the book together, leaving one with the feeling that too much information has been absorbed but without much depth.

This is an interesting and well-written book. Ariel Levy makes some important points, ties together a number of significant trends, and provides a believable answer to the timely question of "Why the heck are so many women -- and young girls -- dressing and behaving LIKE THAT?"

In so doing, Levy makes some depressing discoveries about what the ideal of the "empowered" woman has been reduced to, and why strippers and "adult actresses" -- porn stars -- have been adopted as role models. The key conclusion is that it doesn't really have anything to do with sex, per se. Levy quotes Paris Hilton's remark, "my boyfriends say I'm sexy but not sexual." In other words, "being hot" is a pose, an act, a tool, and entirely divorced from either physical pleasure or romantic love. Levy quotes one adult woman who cannot understand why she cannot bring herself to have sex with a man to whom she's not attracted, and a teenaged girl who can't grasp how a woman can "get the guy" without dressing (and acting) like a "ho."

Levy does a great job explaining the costs and consequences of America's all-pervasive "raunch culture." Where she did an incomplete job was in explaining the causes. Levy traces a fairly straight line from the feminism of the Sixties and Seventies to the "post-feminism" of today, with the requisite nods to "Sex and the City" and "Playboy" magazine (causes or symptoms?). But as I was reading this, I kept thinking of a much larger web -- a litany of cultural and political failure of which raunch culture is just a part.

Why do so many young people seem incapable of creating a sense of self that isn't driven by the media? More than raunch culture, wouldn't a society that idolizes Pamela Anderson, Kid Rock, or the aforementioned Ms. Hilton be better described as "moron culture"? Isn't raunch culture an inevitable consequence of the effort to separate sex from ethics ("if it feels good, do it!" to quote the cliché)? What has rendered generations of fathers incapable of modeling to their sons *and* their daughters how a man properly and respectfully treats a woman? And -- as my wife asks every time we take a trip to the local mall and see teenagers dressed in "skanky" clothes -- "What mother would let their daughter dress that way?"

Indeed, parents are notably missing from Levy's analysis. I recall one mention early on of a mother who, I think, bought her daughter a "Brazilian wax" for her birthday, and a few passing references to Levy's own parents. But how do 14-year-olds get the money to buy themselves thong underwear? In the litany of failure, the failure of parents to set standards and model good behavior is the dog that didn't bark in "Female Chauvinist Pigs."

I suspect Levy wouldn't agree with that analysis. Given her dismissive opinion of abstinence-based education and obligatory disparaging comments about George W. Bush (can't get published without 'em!), I think the proposal that what we could use here are a few "traditional values" is not something she'd be interested in entertaining.

That's too bad, because "Female Chauvinist Pigs" is an interesting and important book as far as it goes. But at the risk of double entendre, it doesn't go all the way.

I was very disappointed in this book. The author simply fills the pages with facts and statistics that are already well known (such as listing all the sex-based reality TV shows, latest teenage fashion trends, etc.) What the author failed to do was to provide some real insight as to why this sudden trend toward promiscuity and raunchiness has occurred. She does offer a point of view that women, in an effort to be more like men, are adopting casual attitudes toward sex and promiscuity. But she failed to back that up with any real data. I feel that I wasted my money on this book.