Leben heißt frei sein

by Benoîte Groult

Leben heißt frei sein - bk2029; Droemer Knaur Verlag; Beneoite Groult; pocket_book; 1999

Genres: German Literature

378 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 1999

About the author

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beno%C3...

Reviews

[Oceana2602 · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, feminism, huh? I'm a second generation feminist, which is to say, my mother was a feminist, the first woman of her family to be sent to university, politically active, career and family in the seventies etc.

I grew up thinking that being a woman was the best thing that could ever have happened to me, because clearly women are the superior sex, and there's nothing they cannot do, plus they can have children too, and men tend to do things for them just because they are female. Who needs feminists, when women are so clearly better than men!

However, once I broke out of my idyllic little women-are-the-true-super-heroes upbringing, I discovered that life is different. Not everywhere, but on most places. And my admiration for the women who fought for women's rigghts grew. I was still too spoiled by life to become actively engaged in womne's rights, but hey, I appreciate others doing it for me, right?

Wrong.

I've had a change of heart some time ago. Not because I think that I need it, because yes, I am that spoiled, and I can do whatever I want, and being a woman probably was a huge advantage for me so far, but because others can't. Still no hardcore feminist, but I'm very actively aware of the situations where there's not still .equality between men and women.

Benoite Groult's book is interesting because she is in interesting character.It's interestingly written with the change between the storytelling and the interviews. But most of all, for me, and to my surprise, it was interesting to me because of how she so naturally speaks out for women's rights. Nothing like the scary, unattractive and down-right frightening purple-wearing feminists of my childhood memories! For me, personally, with my history of being anti-feminist on the account of not thinking that feminism is necessary, this was a very interesting discovery.

Coincidentally, my reading of this book collided with an incident at work, at my oh-so-enlightened and progressive work, where, surprise! the majority of my male colleagues spoke in favor of not putting a woman in a lead position, because the client didn't want to have to deal with a woman on a daily basis. Well, fuck you, dear male client. If we had been so careful not to step on anyone's toes fifty years ago, I wouldn't be where I am today. (the woman took over the projecvt, btw.)

My mama would be so proud of me. ;-)

P.S.: that thing I said about woman being the true super-heroes and stuff? Yep, still believe that. But don't worry, I really like men. I even consider keeping one or two at home, to keep them from going extinct, you know, after Dolly and the whole cloning thing.... ;-)
(just kidding, my dear male readers. *smooches*)

[soline · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'était une lecture extrêmement facile et intéressante, tous les chapitres n'ont pas eu la même résonnance pour moi (puisqu'on suit le parcours de femmes de l'auteure dans tous les stades de sa vie) mais je les ai tous trouvés prenants. Le passage sur le combat de l'auteure pour la féminisation des noms de métiers et de fonctions m'a beaucoup éclairée. J'ai aimé l'alternance entre les chapitres narratifs et ceux dans un format d'interview ; Josyane Savigneau pose souvent les questions qui me venaient moi-même en tête.
Mention spéciale aussi pour l'introduction qui m'a presque fait vibrer avec ces questions autour du mépris pour le féminisme et de la distance que beaucoup de femmes prennent avec cette qualification, que je trouve malheureusement très actuelles encore.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lecture facile
M'a intéressé pour :
- l'accès à la contraception, et le recours à l'avortement. Je ne m'étais jamais rendue compte des réalités de l'époque.
- la féminisation des noms de métier : je ne savais pas qu'on était parti d'aussi loin.
Le mixte interview/récit permet d'équilibrer l'aspect trop autocentré inhérent au fait de rédiger des mémoires.
La fin m'a moins parlée, et je n'étais pas d'accord avec les vues de l'auteur sur le recours à la chirurgie esthétique, les différences d'âge dans les couples, et l'impossibilité du couple non ouvert. Pour moi c'est une vision datée.

[Ulrike Bungert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hab ich nur gelesen, weil mir Salz auf unsrer Haut in den 90ern so gut gefallen hatte. Ist eine Autobiographie. Das ist allerdings nicht halb so gut wie Salz auf unsrer Haut. Würde ich vielleicht auch heute anders sehen.