Women & Power: A Manifesto [Hardcover]

At long last, Mary Beard addresses in one brave book the misogynists and trolls who mercilessly attack and demean women the world over, including, very often, Mary herself. InBased on Beards lectures on womens voices and how they have been silenced,[A] sparkling and forceful manifesto&The book is a straight shot of adrenaline.Beard's thrilling manifesto turns to ancient times to find the seeds of misogyny, beginning with Homer'sBeard is our most famous classicist, with a gift for bringing ancient Greece and Rome alive on the page like no one else. She is a writer of exceptional erudition and biting wit, and reading her is always a pleasure. This latest manifesto...is no exception&Beard has written an indictment, perhaps her most uncompromising to date, of an ancient past that she is hardly asking us  has never unequivocally asked us  to celebrate. As far as women are concerned, in relation to this ancestral legacy, there is very little to be proud about&The question I finally take from this brilliant book is: what would such power  no rape, no guns, no shutting up of women  look like?Theres something aboutA pithy exploration of misogynys tangled cultural roots. Based on a series of lectures, this slim volume draws on Beards deep knowledge of the classical world and her personal experience as a target of online sexist abuse. She reflects on the gendered structures of power, from voiceless women in Ovids Metamorphoses to feminists reclaiming Medusa. With clearsightedness and wry humour, this self-described gobby woman proves public speech is no longer the preserve of maleness. More power to her.An urgent feminist cri de coeur, spot-on in its utterly reasonable plea that a woman who dares to open her mouth in public actually be given a hearing.'Mary Beard is a fearless writer with the gift of writing the right book at the right moment, and Ive been emboldened by her brilliant analysis of womens voice and role in society since antiquity,Atl3)