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Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
I assume she was a promiscuous lesbian.
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bluebears
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
Also his hair could not look more ridiculous. What is he going for with that mess?
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Edited by bluebears at 11/20/09 7:03 PM bluebears was starred bluebears was unstarred

Diziet_Sma
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
How can someone so intelligent be so dumb?
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bluebears
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
I hate the concept of the sexual revolution. Media myth.
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andBegorrah
11/20/09

@bluebears: I prefer the idea of a sexual convolution. Or convulsion. Whichevs.
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bluebears
11/20/09

@andBegorrah: oh I LOVE sexual convulsions. Is Showgirls your favorite movie too?
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Edited by bluebears at 11/20/09 6:58 PM bluebears was starred bluebears was unstarred

andBegorrah
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
"You, alright?! I learned it by watching you!"

Parents who use contrarian sexist banalities have children who use contrarian sexist banalities.
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curiousgeorgiana
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
I think what she was doing was seeking protection from men, but it went the other way, she was often beaten up, abused and she simply used herself up,"

Yeah, the men had nothing to do with that. Damn sexual freedom for making my sister beat herself up.
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LutherNipperkin
11/20/09

@curiousgeorgiana: He ran into my knife. He ran into my knife five times.
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J.D.Regent
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
Right. Because pressure on women to have sex is totally feminist.
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HarpMadness
11/20/09

@J.D.Regent: On the one hand, we're uptight boner-killers who need to be more "sex positive", on the other, we're forcing women to have so much sex we end up all messed up.

One personality disorder ... er "trait" that many ultra-conservatives have is that they tend to be able to hold two opposing and contradictory thoughts in their head at the same time without cognitive dissidence. Go figure.
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bluebears
11/20/09

@J.D.Regent: It's all there in the seminal treatise Drop Them Panties: Give Up That Ass Ladies, by Gloria Steinem.
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Edited by bluebears at 11/20/09 7:01 PM bluebears was starred bluebears was unstarred

pesematology
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
Is she alive? If so, what does she think of this?
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shevralay
11/20/09

@pesematology: She died in the 2000s, apparently.
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pesematology
11/20/09

@shevralay: I guess it's good for her sake, then, that he waited until after her death to be so offensively dismissive of both her personal experiences and those of women in general
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Edited by pesematology at 11/20/09 8:10 PM pesematology was starred pesematology was unstarred

shevralay
11/20/09

@pesematology: Yeah, it's rather obscenely cowardly to publish something like that after she's no longer able to respond to it.
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Dodgergirl
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
I.... what?
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whats_in_a_name
11/20/09

In reply to Martin Amis: My Book On Victims Of The Sexual Revolution Is Totally Feminist
"It would've needed the Taliban to protect her"

Am I just misunderstanding that sentence, or did he just refer to his sister as "It"?
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
11/20/09

@whats_in_a_name: Her vagina, maybe? They could have sewed it up!
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CrapCommentFromADude
11/20/09

@whats_in_a_name: In context, this can pretty clearly be read as "It would've taken the Taliban to protect her." Which is one of the most common wordings around.

I agree that there's a definite possibility the end result might be problematic, but I wouldn't be able to tell it from this article. It's just a snip job that doesn't really say anything conclusive about the book.

Hell, the quote you're taking so uncharitably is trying to make precisely the point that it wasn't the 'fault' of the sexual revolution or the feminists that she ended up as she did, and that a simple 'return' to some unrealistic-yet-imagined "earlier, better time" wouldn't have saved her.

To the extent that we know anything from this article, it sounds pretty clear that he's making a book about how people fared in the sexual revolution, for good and for ill, *without* blaming the sexual revolution itself or claiming that society should have collectively 'done something else'.

What, exactly, is novel or controversial about the idea that with more freedom often comes new and different pressures, for better or for worse? Isn't this the basic idea behind schools that institute school uniforms?

I think a lot hinges on the book's portrayal of men -- whether or not their bad behavior is put under the microscope, subjected to real analysis.

If anyone deserves not to have pointlessly snarky conclusions jumped to, it's Martin Amis.
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winner
11/21/09

@CrapCommentFromADude: I always enjoy reading your point of view.

I'm an Amis fan. I put off reading the Guardian article until just now - mostly because I had little faith in the Guardian's ability to deal with Amis objectively given their general distaste for him but also because I didn't want to have to defend Amis for another poorly thought-out declaration. I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. For the most part.

I've read most of his stuff and I'd be quite surprised if he didn't put his men under the microscope. I don't think he protects any of his characters and certainly not his male characters - they are unreliable, violent and desperate in London Fields ; unreliable, violent and untrustworthy in Other People; inhumane, violent and delusional in Time's Arrow. He is just in the treatment of his characters and I look forward to his commentary on the sexual revolution. Though, really, he's commented on it all along and what I really look forward to is a synthesis of this commentary.

And anyway, this isn't the first time he's written about his sister. There's a little Sally Amis in all of his female characters.

.
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Her Grace
10/31/09

In reply to Radishes, Mermaids, And Shot-Putters: The Lessons Of Fairy Tales
Robin McKinley's reimaginings ftw. Everything else pales for me. She also writes original fairy tales, usually as novella-length pieces; they can be found in "A Knot in the Grain and other stories" and "The Door in the Hedge" books. #fairytales
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hydrogen_jukebox
10/30/09

In reply to Radishes, Mermaids, And Shot-Putters: The Lessons Of Fairy Tales
I have a paperback collection of short stories that are all classic fairy tales told with a strange twist or from an alternate point of view. I forget the name of it, but I love every single story.

Little Red Riding Hood lives in a futuristic wasteland ruled by man-eating clams, Snow White's witch works at an abattoir until she becomes obsessed with beauty pageants...you get the idea.

My favorite though? Cinderella, told from the point of view of Prince Charming, who has a foot fetish and a crush on his (male) tutor. #fairytales
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alula
10/30/09

In reply to Radishes, Mermaids, And Shot-Putters: The Lessons Of Fairy Tales
I'd put a word in for Marina Warner's From the Beast to the Blonde, too. Also, Maria Tatar has a book just focused on Bluebeard that I love. Oh, and the Terri Windling fairy tale series--I don't know if there are any still in development, but those are some AMAZING books. There are some great stories and essays in the collection The Armless Maiden, too. #fairytales
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bowleserised
10/31/09

@alula: Marina Warner is brilliant on fairy tales. #fairytales
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happysquid
10/30/09

In reply to Radishes, Mermaids, And Shot-Putters: The Lessons Of Fairy Tales
Hey Anna, I used to LOVE Andrew Lang's fairy books (i had the Red One). The story that most jumps out at me (the title of which escapes me) is the one about the princess who is kept in a tower and not allowed to see any men, until she catches sight of an envoy/diplomat guy through a hole in the tower and becomes infatuated with him. She runs away with him to an island with no food or water, and when she finds food/water she gives it to him, and he eats it all without offering any to her, and basically is a total jerk. So she realizes he is a jerk, and ends up marrying the prince instead.

I wish I could remember the title. Darn! #fairytales
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TransFat
10/30/09

In reply to Radishes, Mermaids, And Shot-Putters: The Lessons Of Fairy Tales

I have always been an enormous fanatic of fairy tales and mythology and most of what I write in my career use these stories for a base.

Do yourself a favor and check out Monty Python's Terry Jones and his fairy tale books. I was given this book on my 8th birthday and have loved its wit and wisdom ever since. And ATTENTION TEAM CAKE! There is a story about a cake horse that comes alive! Mmmm Mr. Edible.

[www.amazon.com] #fairytales
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