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| | Location: Home » Politics » General AAS » The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (Crossing Press Feminist Series) | November 19, 2008 |
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| The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (Crossing Press Feminist Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Marilyn Frye
Publisher: Crossing Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $0.44
You Save: $12.51 (97%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 489379
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 089594099X
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.42
UPC: 028195940994
EAN: 9780895940995
ASIN: 089594099X
Publication Date: May 1983
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Essays examine sexism, the gay rights movement, the exploitation of women by men, and other topics from a feminist perspective.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 life changing December 4, 2007
frye is an amazing writer that discusses theory in an interesting way that interacts with the reader. the arrogant and loving eye theory has changed my perspective on things
Excellent Philosophy March 12, 2007
The writing is logical, thorough, precise, and clear. It's written to be accessible without losing the force of its arguments. Its egalitarianism is a brilliant solution to the problem of form vs. content, without ever losing her great philiosophical and linguistic clarity. I believe that the label of "lesbian separatist" has dissuaded many from reading her, or from taking her seriously as a philosopher, which is a very mistaken judgement.
the choir of the 1970's needed some preachin', dude! April 12, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An example of why philosophy and feminist theory are valuable- provides those ah-ha! moments for those who get it-this excellent book is a perfect introduction to the wonderful world of 1970's, second wave feminism. That "birdcage" still very much exists, though, which is why this book is a great introduction to feminism- great to give to young women. accesible, even funny. don't let anyone tell you there is no need for feminism anymore or use radical as if it is a bad word!
 A Book Preaching Only to the Choir June 23, 2005
6 out of 23 found this review helpful
The first thing that one should realize when reading Marilyn Frye's book is that it is not a work of philosophy. It is propaganda. The only people who will be convinced by her arguments are those people who agreed with her to begin with.
Frye's analogy of the birdcage is often cited, but her actual argument is circular in nature. She says that if one only looks a one bar of the birdcage, it will seem like no oppression is happening. With a single bar, the bird could just go around by sidestepping. To see the birdcage, oppression, one has to move from the microscopic to the macroscopic. Instead of looking at one bar, you have to look at the whole to see that there is a system of oppression, a system of bars. Sounds good, right?
The problem is that it is circular when Frye puts that analogy to work proving the oppression of women. Take one of her examples of female oppression such as men opening doors for women. If you look at opening doors as an isolated event, you cannot see it as a "cage bar." But if you look at door opening in the macroscopic, that it is one event in a system of oppression, you can see that the action of opening a door for a female is oppressive. Did anyone see the problem there? To prove systemic oppression she must display the "bars" that create that oppression, and to prove that some event is a "bar" in a systemic oppression, one must look at that event in the perspective of its participation in a system of oppression. She came full circle.
But the force of Frye's argumentation isn't with its soundness (which it has little), it is with her persuasiveness as she makes ad hominem arguments. She attempts to trick her reader into agreeing with her arguments. She does this by clever examples, such as juxtaposing a rich, pampered male skier with a poor, black ghetto mother. She includes an entire section about abduction and brainwashing, and hopes that her reader doesn't realize that the whole section is a weak analogy (which she conveniently forgets to posit how the analogy relates to actual world events.)
In the end, her conclusion that women should separate themselves from men into lesbian communes is ridiculous. I don't see many women converting to lesbianism at whim and moving into the country. But I don't think they would be able to anyway, Frye gives no clear idea of what a "woman untouched" would actually be, so no woman leaves the book with a clear path to what she should be working toward.
If you like man bashing, especially homosexual male bashing, you will enjoy this book. If you are trying to get a sense of what Feminism is about, don't read this book. This is radical Feminism, and should not be taken as representative of what sane feminists believe.
Excellent April 21, 2003
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is one of the clearest, most carefully argued explorations of feminist themes I have encountered. Indeed, It is one of the most accessible works of philosophy around, period. I use it in my intro to phil classes and in intro to gender studies. Read it--it's very good.
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