Jennifer Loustau's Broader Standards is a short and sweet, yet insightful, inquiry into the experience of femaleness. Rather than focus on feminist theory or politics outright, Loustau writes a brief reflection for each year of her life, from 12 to 72, which illustrates how a woman's place in society has morphed over time. Though easy to read, the essays are entertaining and illuminating, especially for myself as a woman nearly 50 years Loustau's junior.

Loustau's central argument is that a society that assumes the male perspective is the standard loses the subtlety, sensitivity, and nuance the female perspective often offers. Though I agree that a healthy society needs the voices of all its members, I don't think it's quite accurate to argue that the female perspective is inherently softer than the male. That said, I was particularly struck by Loustau's continued attempts to understand the male perspective without putting it down, which she did successfully. At several points, she helped me view issues in ways I hadn't previously considered.

Finally, it's important to note that Broader Standards focuses almost exclusively on American politics and history, so I'm not sure how relevant the book would be to readers outside the US. Still, I think this would be a great primer for young women getting interested in feminism.

I always find memoirs and non-fiction collections of essays difficult to review. I like that each essay only takes a few minutes to read. This, paired with the comfortable writing style, means the book is quite easy to get through even though the list of 60 chapters from Jennifer's preteens to her seventies feels like it might be a bit overwhelming at first. I liked that the essays are about actual experiences and describe issues which should really have already been solved in society by now, but is written in a non-preachy way and doesn't insult the people who have opposing views.

The brief essays, or "musings" you could say on Loustau's experiences and awareness of being female from a pre-teen up to her 70s are written with warmth and generosity. Loustau takes us through historically important moments for womankind whilst showing us the lacks that these highlight without preaching but rather by inviting us all to reflect on how we could help to shape the world we want to see.

At points funny, others sad, it is hard not to feel Loustau would be an ideal dinner guest with many interesting tales to tell. Though she highlights her many accomplishments, Loustau does not beat around the bushes telling us that her lack of acknowledgement for these is partly due to the patriarchal values held by large swathes of society and the inability of a single woman to change that.

Broader Standards book offers wisdom, humility and a hope for a brighter future for both men and women.

This book is a set of short essays about being woman/female. The writer states that this book is not a biography, and the essays depict what it means to be a female in different years. The idea is indeed curious. The format serves the idea. Overall, this is a quick read, and some aspects of it will leave you thinking.
I would have liked to read longer essays with a little more depth into the subjects/periods discussed in relation to the context. Though, I understand that the intention was to offer a glimpse into being female, and we certainly need books that offer a practical read.

I unfortunately decided to DNF this book at around 70% through.

I think my main problem with this is that it is centered around the US, their politics and politicians, their feminist issues and developments, and I am not American, so it felt utterly irrelevant to me. I usually give books I DNF one star but I think this would honestly be much more interesting for someone who is American, who understands the political terms and names of politicians. It just went straight over my head.

My other issue with this book is that it is very "white woman feminism". It lacks a perspective on intersectionality and it feels very self-centered. It didn't give me a new perspective on anything, but I would say it might be interesting for someone who is more new to the idea of feminism. I'm not.

I would still like to thank NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this book, even if it wasn't a hit for me.

I really enjoy reading this memoirs. It is an excerpts of author life in yearly summary. It's very interesting too that she added the major thing that's happening on that year, What is interesting, no matter what year it is, it feels like women nowadays is still fighting the same fight 50 years ago.

Just FYI for the publisher, check year 1990 - the chapter is writing 1989. i am sure it is a typo