Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers | 
“We are the Apocalypse…dead blondes and bad mothers, harlots and abominations, witches at the gate of light and darkness; we are the end of the world that was, and the first sign of the world to come, in the age after patriarchy, when monsters rule the earth.”
In the tagged book Doyle examines how women have been represented in culture, often as “monsters“ & “bad mothers“ & goes onto discuss the liberating impulse of embracing the “ferocity“ of these figures. I have been meaning to read Doyle for years now & reading the blurbs on this one, it sounds flippin' fantastic. #maternal #maycharacters @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
pickDoyle has given us an important book that looks at the violence & fear patriarchy has inflicted & continues to inflict on women & girls. Using books, TV, film, media, news, current affairs & history, Doyle illustrates the power & reach of the Patriarch that is still very evident to this day. Doyle doesn't preach, she merely shows you a hidden truth. "Imagine what we can do if we recognise our collective power".
#FemalePower #Patriarch #Truth
pickDead Blondes and Bad Mothers is a solid look at how our patriarchal society demonizes women to maintain control over us. Doyle looks at current popular culture as well as history and mythology to explore her thesis. There was one badly misinterpreted piece of medical data that could have torpedoed the book for me if it was a more data-driven book overall, but is isn‘t, so I quite enjoyed this.
#bookspinbingo
Examining the patriarchy through pop culture. You love to see it.
Some new additions to pad out the shrinking to be read pile! All slight variations on a theme and I can‘t wait to get stuck in! Starting Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers today!
pickI have enjoyed Sady Doyle‘s writing since Tiger Beatdown, and this book was no exception. She writes about the way women are only ever acceptable in their relation to men: as someone‘s daughter, wife, mother, and then often held accountable for the bad behavior of those men. Interesting points and great use of pop culture.
Hell yes to this book which opens with a quote from The Craft. Gotta keep the witch season vibes going.
I have been reading a chapter of this a day and I gotta say, I wish there was less recounting of actual, horrible murders!
pickTrue crime and horror are difficult genres for me, in part because so many well regarded stories seem wildly misogynistic (cough Supernatural cough). The way Doyle embraces and explores that aspect of these genres is, honestly, such a relief. It‘s not just me. Someone else noticed! Maybe this book will give me a way to enjoy horror going forward.
“We all meet Tiamat in our own way. This was mine. Jurassic Park was the first story that told me girls could be dragons too; that somewhere inside me, somewhere so deep I might not even recognize it, was something very old and very strong. Something that did not take kindly to cages.”
“5-year-old Amy Burney ... threw too many tantrums. To exorcise the demons responsible, her mother and grandmother forced her to swallow a potion made primarily of vinegar and ammonia, taped her mouth shut, and ... threw her body out with the garbage. You could happily go your whole life without hearing that ... story, but maybe you should hear it anyway. Maybe you should have to. There is deep brutality in how we fear our girls.”
