Women's Stuff Book and Movie Club - October 2025 - Month 2 🎉

Herland

Overall this was a good read in my opinion. It lulled a bit in the later half for me, but was pretty engaging throughout. It appealed to the luxury gay space communism I strive towards, so it was fun to get lost in that world and essentially have my idealized (I'm not in support of eliminating men obviously) worldview supported and explored by this author.

It was interesting to see that they still had a religion, but just had morphed it to fit their lifestyle. I know this is basically what people have done since the dawn of time, but in my ideal space communism, we don't need religion or veneration. We all kinda just do what's right because that's what's right. Also notable that virgin birth plays a role in their religion too. I understand the men were hesitant to provide a lot of details of their religion, but you'd think there'd be more exchange regarding that. There's a lot to be said about the assumptions the men made regarding life after marriage. They didn't explicitly say anything and are surprised when things don't go exactly as they expected. Still extremely relatable unfortunately. I wonder if the author added the polygamous nature of the original society because she assumed the marriage tradition would be too deeply embedded in the culture to have fallen out of common knowledge.

I was surprised that a group that venerates motherhood would so readily move back to standard male/female breeding. What if they had a male child? Their whole religion and way of life revolves around the feminine motherhood in a way a male cannot directly engage in. It's one thing for outsiders to feel excluded, it's another for a male child to grow up in that. I'm sure he'd be doted on, but there's something there that was not addressed. I feel as though if this was written by a male I'd assume that had a female written it it'd have been different. But here we are with a female writer envisioning a female only society excited to reintroduce random males into their essentially eugenicsed society. There was no explicit mention of women who were not interested in having children, but I believe they did reference some being unable to, so possibly the inability stems from an unwillingness, but I would have liked to see that addressed.

I am curious as to what happened with the local men that had previously attempted to seek Herland out. Strange that native people were potentially unable to traverse the cliff safely but these men were. Or were they just captured and executed ages ago and they haven't tried in a long time? Sex, lesbianism, and physical pleasure are also never really mentioned, but I'll just chalk that up to this being originally a serialized work and needing to adhere to some kind of propriety.

The paternalism of the state seemed to persist in the way that a small group seemed to be making the decisions as to what to do regarding the outside world. Maybe I missed a vote or something, but I would have preferred seeing the inhabitants making the decision to stay isolated, especially as it can be suggested to be the best outcome for their children.

Also interesting that they seemed to have spent a lot of time and likely resources in making a tree they found beautiful bear food. I liked that they had done away with a lot of frivolous personal aesthetics, but were willing to invest in something beautiful that would outlast them. It speaks to a collective interest in beauty that seemed to be a throughline in their way of live in lieu of an ownership of beauty.

I made some notes about the perspective on animals in the book. Nothing particularly coherent, but things like the elimination of predator species. The encouragement of the prey drive in cats since they prey on "pests", but restricting them from hunting birds. They must have a large rodent population to feed all the cats since cats are obligate carnivores. They also mention the removal of invasive moths. Clearly some things must be sacrificed so that others can flourish, but I don't think that's even a big theme, just something of note.

A highlight for me was the centering of older women. They were written of with a lot of respect that I rarely see given to them. The direct acknowledgement of that was also nice. The protagonist explicitly realizing that his society often discards women like this felt like a turning point. They reference a specific kind of aunt-mothering that is part of the cultural consciousness but not often addressed. A lot of cultures use aunt as a term of respect or endearment and you see it used for women in positions of authority in societies like Gilead in the handmaids tale. I like that this shined a light on that position that a lot of women are put in, regardless of if they wanted to be there or not.

I do want to point out that the protagonist somewhat excuses his friend for attempting to rape his wife. I'm not sure if the rape excuse is a reflection of the author or their view on men and this particular mans inability to truly hold his friend accountable. There was also elements of eugenics, and referring to people as savages. It definitely shows its age.

Thelma & Louise

This was a very well written and acted movie, but I can't say that I enjoyed it. Much of it felt like trauma porn, or as Dandelion aptly put it, an exploitation film. I'm glad it was made, and it is definitely true to much of the female experience, but it was tough to watch.

I understand that the sex scene with Brad Pitt was supposed to seem reclamatory at first, but even in the moment it felt bad to watch. This naive woman was obviously being played, even if he hadn't taken anything from her, it would have felt like there was an element of him taking advantage of her situation. I understand she's a grown woman, but it felt manipulative the whole time.

Some small details I really enjoyed were when they were talking about Louise's eye color. Previously she had closed her eyes when she asked him. This time she covered his eyes. I don't know if that was intentional or just the most convenient or aesthetic choice, but it seemed a subtle nod to her agency. I liked that the Jimmy farewell kiss was the back of her head and not the side view we often get. It wasn't about the kiss itself, just about her as a person. It made the kiss feel more personal than had they shown it in more detail in my opinion. I also liked that they didn't shy away from showing that Jimmy was a bit of a mixed bag. He was violent, and obviously not a great partner, but Louise still loved him and he was trustworthy to a certain extent. It's nice to see complicated relationships on screen, even if I'd prefer them to not be the case.

Overall it felt like there is no good move for women. Naive and trusting or bold and protective, either will lead to trouble. That's often what it feels like, but watching it play out like that made me feel more upset than seen. I'm not excusing murder, don't go do that ladies, but it really felt like they were backed into a corner and ended up spiraling, and all of it, even their spiral, was rooted in men. Even the "good cop" hoping to "help them" ends up being the reason they get caught. If they hadn't somewhat trusted him, they wouldn't have called him and given away their location. I'm glad I saw it, but it will be a one time watch for me.

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