Update: Apparently this author is transphobic!! BYE HON :) ps: everything I wrote here was before I've learned that. We should all be feminists. Why? Adichie responds to this question impressively in her book which is a 30-maximum 40 minutes read. I really enjoyed reading this book, it was quite easy to read and the author was straightforward whilst bringing together her thoughts on the argument and stereotypical views on feminism. “[...]his advice to me was that I should never call myself a feminist, since feminists are women who are unhappy because they cannot find husbands. So I decided to call myself a Happy Feminist.” There are many quotes that I absolutely loved, and you will not believe how many quotes I have underlined in this book which has about 30 pages, but I had to narrow them down to add some to my review. “[...]we say to girls, ‘You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful but not too successful, otherwise you will threaten the man. If you are the breadwinner in your relationship with a man, pretend that you are not, especially in public, otherwise you will emasculate him.’ But what if we question the premise itself? Why should a woman’s success be a threat to a man?” Gender expectations have become a great obstacle that prevents us from pursuing our interests. As Adichi said, women are not born with the cooking gene, and it is ridiculous how men rely on women for the act of cooking, for the act of nourishing oneself just because it is "uncanny" or "feminine" for a man to cook. This is how society views men who cook, hence it is now normalised that women should be the one cooking dinner instead of men. “The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.” Most importantly, amongst many cultures, women are expected to stay at home and do housework. These old fashioned thoughts are hidden under the word "culture". Some people say that it is "just the way it is" or it is "in their culture" that women belong in the house and men in workplace. As Adichie puts, culture does not define people, people do. So, we must stand up and change our "culture". “Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.” The quote below actually made me well up because it must have been such a rebellious and inspiring story for many young women who are constantly pressurised to have a successful marriage. It is not important whether a marriage is successful or not if it is with the wrong person. In fact, it is most likely to be unsuccessful. However, if we keep silencing our voices or letting them be silenced, just for the sake of men and their "masculinity", that would be giving up. So it is about time that we all became feminists and stood up for the injustices towards women no matter what gender we identify as. “My great-grandmother, from stories I’ve heard, was a feminist. She ran away from the house of the man she did not want to marry and married the man of her choice. She refused, protested, spoke up whenever she felt she was being deprived of land and access because she was female. She did not know that word feminist. But it doesn’t mean she wasn’t one” This is a book that everyone should read in my opinion. It is a very short read, as I've said before but it gives you a new perspective on feminism or supports the perspective you've embraced. One of the shortest but most inspiring books of 2022 so far. Thank you, my friend Ada, for recommending me yet another amazing book :)

We Should All Be FeministsChimamanda Ngozi Adichie · Vintage Books · 201499 okunma

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