Books like Herland

I clearly did not get the memo on this one. I thought Herland probably had such a low average rating on Goodreads because it was dated - which it is, obnoxiously so - but I didn't realize what a hate-filled piece of propaganda this book really is.It came up again when I recently reviewed The Cerulean, a book about an all-female society. People have been mentioning this book to me for years. A secret society of women have created the perfect utopia by killing off the remaining few male survivors of a volcanic eruption and - oh my! - actually doing things for themselves. Killing off all men does feel like a dated kind of feminism but, okay, I'll bite. It's entirely possible I would have wanted to kill off the men, too, if I had been alive in 1915.Yeah, but it's not just the men. It's the mentally ill and disabled. It's anyone who doesn't fit into their idea of "perfect". It is - at least it seems - any woman who isn't white. This is not me reading things into it. The women of this society are very open about their "negative eugenics":\ There followed a period of “negative eugenics” which must have been an appalling sacrifice. We are commonly willing to “lay down our lives” for our country, but they had to forego motherhood for their country—and it was precisely the hardest thing for them to do. \ It's one thing, I think, for oppressed women to imagine a society where their oppressors don't exist. It's quite another to imagine breeding a race of perfect humans who are white, female, able-bodied, and neurotypical.But even allowing for these attitudes that seem abhorrent today, it's a very basic and poorly-written story. I don't think it was meant to be farcical but some moments definitely seem like it, such as when the three men wander into Herland in the beginning and are yelling:\ “Girls!” whispered Jeff, under his breath, as if they might fly if he spoke aloud. “Peaches!” added Terry, scarcely louder. “Peacherinos—apricot-nectarines! Whew!”\ These men toddle around, scratching their heads, and saying ridiculously twee things. The men are so obviously and overly condescending in parts of the book just so the women can correct them on it and explain why their notions of gender are stupid. But it all just doesn't seem that feminist today. Is it feminist to imagine a perfect all-female society where the women have been bred to be stronger and smarter than men? Isn't the underlying implication that women as they are are not good enough? And the pregnancy! All these women care about is pregnancy and motherhood. The ultimate goal is to have children. It seems that even in a feminist utopia, women are still tied to their biological role. Abortion is unthinkable, of course.\ “Destroy the unborn—!” she said in a hard whisper. “Do men do that in your country?”\ There are a couple of interesting ideas about education and not force-feeding kids - the Montessori methods are viewed highly. I liked the discussion about not naming children after yourself as it suggests a form of ownership, which is also clearly a critique of women taking a man's name in marriage. But I'm scrambling around for a couple of good things to say about it. Overall, not a good experience for me.Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube