THE FEMALE EUNUCH

A blistering but stimulating British contribution to Women's Lib literature, covering much old ground, in which Miss Greer admits some libidinous pastures skirted by many militants.

The female eunuch results when the female is taught to deny "the element of quest in her sexuality...and in all her contacts...so that when she becomes aware of her sex the pattern has sufficient force of inertia to prevail over new forms of desire and curiosity." But emancipation from the stereotype "feminine"—the docile student, the ultimate giver and yielder, the victim, the consumer of material goods, the sex object and helpmeet—does not mean adoption of the masculine role, but rather a counterbalance to the Masculine Mystique (particularized in a recent Lib parade slogan as "My Lai"). She discusses love, society and morality in many fierce little chapters arguing against any relationship that does not rest on assertion of the self. She probes the underlying hostility and falsity buried within "feminine" altruism, "romance," and self-sacrifice. As for sex, the "sexual personality is anti-authoritarian." Masters and Johnson and other sex experts are preachers of "dull sex for dull people...making love to organs, not people"; and the male-fantasy subpornography, which she reviews with some amusement is "the opiate Of the supermenial." Miss Greer discusses current trends in the Movement, gently puts down the Friedan-inspired tendency to "stress nonsexual aspects of a woman's destiny at the expense of her libido," and masculine-inspired violence.

Miss Greer's (admittedly) dream solutions are drastic: marriage is out and children (she enjoys children and respects their rights) would fare better in communes. Unbuttoned and heated polemic here and there but fresh and lively.