10 Worst Crimes Committed Against Womanity by the Publishing Industry

Posted at 5:02 AM Apr 06, 2009

By Jennifer Mathieu

No, I'm not talking about chick-lit or old Jackie Susann novels.  That's just harmless fun.  I'm talking about the crap that rolls off the publishing conveyor belt and hits us ladies where it hurts.  For example...

10. The Rules by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider

I was in my early twenties and single when this steaming pile hit the bookstore shelves.  Full of antiquated, stupid advice such as "Don't Accept a Saturday Night Date After Wednesday," and "Don't Stare at Men and Talk Too Much," the Rules writers treated women (and men) like a bunch of infantile, helpless creatures who needed to trick each other into falling in love.  By the way, I broke pretty much every rule in the book and have been happily married for three years.  And author Ellen Fein got divorced after this book came out.  So nyah nyah nyah. 



9. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by "Dr." John Gray

When men are upset, they have to go into their caves (e.g. the garage so they can drink beers with their buddies).  And ladies, you've just got to understand that!  Those silly men!  Bleh.  Seriously, this book's analysis of gender roles makes an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" look like a doctoral dissertation on the topic.  When I stole and read my mom's copy at the age of 16, even I knew Gray's theories seemed built on outmoded stereotypes.  Not to mention that he has rather shaky credentials. 

8. Creating a Life: Professional Women and the Quest for Children by Sylvia Hewlett

Oh this one made me sooooo mad.  Hewlett's much-criticized 2002 tome warning women that their clocks were ticking and they'd better pop out a baby now ("snatch a child from the jaws of menopause" as she put it) generated a lot of anger and for good reason.  Seriously, have you ever in your life met a woman who is not well aware that fertility starts to dip after 35?  Does Hewlett actually think women naively run around certain that they'll easily have a baby at 50 if they want to?  Frankly, I've never met such a person.  Hey, Sylvia, why not write a book about the fact that our society is still set up for men who want a career and a family, but women have to choose?  That might be nice.

7. The Way Home: Beyond Feminism and Back to Reality by Mary Pride

The name may not be familiar, but for anyone who has studied the Quiverfull movement and the world of Christian patriarchy, Mary Pride is something of a fire starter.  A former engineer and feminist, Pride and her husband eventually converted to evangelical Christianity, driving herto shun her past and embrace a world where a woman knows her place.  What is that place, exactly?  At home, having as many babies as God wants.  (Birth control is not Biblical, of course.)  More than twenty years after its publication, The Way Home is still considered a necessary read for any woman who wants to submit to her husband.  Sigh.

6. The Smart Girl's Guide to the G-Spot by Violet Blue

Oh, please.  Blue calls the clitoris the "smug little mistress of gratification" and encourages women to focus on finding their G-Spot, that fabled legend of quaking orgasms and bedtime explosions.  Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't.  Maybe you'll find it, maybe you won't.  Either way, after work and the dishes, I'm happy with my clitoris, thank you very much.  Isn't it bad enough that many women have trouble climaxing...now they're being told their orgasms are the wrong kind?