Elizabeth M. Johnson

Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy was a book that I first came across in mid-2006 where I believe it was reviewed in Psychology Today. The review was favorable, if brief, and I sidemarked the book for future reading. After repeated attempts to inter-library loan FCP, I finally relented and bought it last Fall. Somewhere along the way, I stumbled and put it down for a few months. I picked it up last week. I finished it quickly and almost out of breath. This is good stuff.

Levy contends that so much of the modern sleaze in today’s world perpetrated by young girls and women alike are actually not new feminist acts by a new generation of women stepping into their power but rather a growing disturbing trend which centers on women exploiting themselves and other women in order to one up each other in the only way that they feel like they can…with their bodies. From women competing with themselves for the highest number of sexual partners to CAKE shows or participation in Girls Gone Wild contests, women today are lowering themselves to possibly a point of no-return. In reading the book, I was struck by how powerless the women seemed. They appeared to have validation in their own eyes and through their peers only if they continually compromised themselves by their vacous sexuality. From the woman who was ticking off the sexual partners she had on her imaginary belt to the women who were really into watching strippers, almost all of the women and the young girls in the book seemed to glom onto their sexuality as their own way of success, affirmation or validation. And, in order to keep that front of sexual power (which was really controlling them and not the other way around) they needed to continue to debase themselves.

One of the key pieces that I am taking away is that women must have multiple avenues for self-esteem. Even if Susie has had more partners than any woman she knows (or any man for that matter), her entire sense of self cannot be tied up only within her sexuality. That’s a sure fire way to lose whatever self-esteem she has, especially when (and she will) get rejected.

Another key piece is that women need to feel that they have more power and control over their lives and their bodies than they do. Current politics which seek to limit the control that women have over their own body as well as issues as basic as universal healthcare, paid parental leave and female politicians who don’t feel as if they can dress how they really want are all contributing factors to the power and control chasm that exists in the lives of many women.
Of course there are more issues that can be discussed in a book of this caliber. Levy’s book is an eye-opener. Buy it, borrow it, then loan yours to a friend. Get people talking.