Publisher’s
write-up:
‘Powerful, provocative and personal, King Kong Theory is a candid
account of how the author of Baise-moi came to be Virginie Despentes. Drawing
from personal experience, Despentes shatters received ideas about rape and
prostitution, and explodes common attitudes towards sex and gender. King Kong
Theory is a manifesto for a new punk feminism, reissued here in a brilliant new
translation by Frank Wynne.’
Note: I read the
original of the book, in French. Translations are widely available.
King Kong theory is a collection of essays written by the writer, film
director and feminist activist, Virginie Despentes. In this essay, she talks of
her personal experiences, when she suffered a rape aged 17, and also the
understanding of the current society on various issues of women, like rape, the
position of women in the household, the workplace, and how the current system
helps this patriarchy, which is detrimental to women and even several average
men.
She presented her arguments very well in an easy to read format. The
examples that she provided were very relatable, regardless of the gender
identity of the reader. I liked her essays ‘Sleep with the enemy’ and ‘Witch
pornography’, where in the first, she narrates her own experiences working as a
sex worker in Paris and Lyon, and how she discovered that so long as the transaction
was consensual, it was both empowering and liberating, and here it was the
woman taking charge and gaining independence, owing to which the society does
not like this aspect.
The essays are mostly the author’s personal opinions surrounding the
rights of women. Thus, it is not an academic work nor a traditional
non-fiction, as there are not several citations that could support the
affirmations that she had made. Maybe, if she had added those, that would have
rendered these essays a lot more powerful.
Based on my experience, I strongly recommend this book and I award it a
rating of eight on ten.
Rating – 8/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
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