/lit/ - Literature

The defence of misogynist art is not dissimilar to the defence of misogynist everything else. Misogyny both creates and thrives on women’s intellectual insecurities, implying that dissent merely signifies one’s inability to access a greater, higher truth. Don’t criticise misogyny in porn or people will say you’re sexually repressed; don’t criticise it in comedy or they’ll say you’re humourless; don’t criticise it in art or they’ll say you’re stupid. In fact, why not save time and never criticise it anywhere? Be a cool girl, not some 1970s earth mother who believes all kinds of hippy shit about women’s bodies, inner lives and creativity being worth something. Welsh describes the outrage directed at American Psycho as “disingenuous”. It’s not clear what he means – perhaps he doesn’t know, either – but it’s made quite clear that a good girl ought to shut up and do what the nice man says.
It’s hard not to follow that advice, especially when you’re young. While studying for my PhD, whenever I came across some aspect of literary theory I found incoherent – particularly in relation to gender – my “this is bollocks” response was almost instantaneously recast as “clearly I’ve missed something here, so I’d better go along with it”. We grow up feeling intellectually inferior to men. When we impress it is because we’re dutiful, compliant plodders, unlike our genius male counterparts. For us it is hard not to feel a fraud and all too easy to panic. When thrown off guard, it is easiest to parrot the supposedly complex, nuanced opinions of those who intimidate us the most (and in a sexist world such people will rarely, if ever, be other women).

How good is this book? I'm at the library and I'm not sure if I should check it

>>5969044

>>5320566
I'm interested

>>5320571
Very true, I just meant from a prose and general nihilism standpoint. A few of the sentences are similar to various portions of Bateman's monologues, and regardless of whether this is intentional or not they are still effective here