Let’s just collectively stop this, okay? Thanks. Bennett made all kinds of valid points and observations about sexism in the workplace (yes, it still exists), but by packaging her ideas in the literary equivalent of a pink princess dress she pretty much lost me.įEMINIST AUTHORS: It is not necessary and is, in fact, generally off-putting when you market your work as though it were being sold to a Lisa Frank-loving fifth grader. This is all so disappointing because the content of the book was actually pretty good. Empowerment? Please! It used to be empowerment until the girls’ toy aisle threw up all over it and turned it into #GRRRLPW3R! The whole GD book is smothered in pink, frilly doodles and mindless diagrams that don’t actually make any sense. Not because the content wasn’t good or legitimate, but because whoever designed the physical layout of the thing decided to sprinkle girly fucking glitter dust all over everything. I really don’t want to be, but I am kind of hating this book. With original illustrations, Feminist Mad Libs, a Negotiation Cheat Sheet, as well as fascinating historical research and a kit for “How to Start Your Own Club,” Feminist Fight Club tackles both the external (sexist) and internal (self-sabotaging) behaviors that plague today’s women-as well as the system that perpetuates them. Bennett offers a new vocabulary for the sexist workplace archetypes women encounter everyday-such as the Manterrupter who talks over female colleagues in meetings or the Himitator who appropriates their ideas-and provides practical hacks for navigating other gender landmines in today’s working world. Hard-hitting and entertaining, Feminist Fight Club blends personal stories with research, statistics, infographics, and no-bullsh*t expert advice.

But the problems of today’s working world are more subtle, less pronounced, harder to identify-and, if Ellen Pao is any indication, harder to prove-than those of their foremothers. Once upon a time, you might have called them a consciousness-raising group.

Every month, the women would huddle in a friend’s apartment to share sexist job frustrations and trade tips for how best to tackle them. It was a fight club-but without the fighting and without the men.

Part manual, part manifesto, a humorous yet incisive guide to navigating subtle sexism at work-a pocketbook Lean In for the Buzzfeed generation that provides real-life career advice and humorous reinforcement for a new generation of professional women.

Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett