Very much appreciate this in-depth treatment of diverse types of feminisms. The title makes a point that hadn't occurred to me before and that has persuaded me: if someone is activisting with the intent of benefiting at least some women and she's calling it feminism, we should probably call it feminism too even if we disapprove of it and believe it's harmful, as using that language enables us to examine and respond to what she's doing. There are various feminisms, some of which we'll agree with and some of which we won't, and acknowledging that they are feminisms is a more honest way of looking at the landscape. We can judge someone's ideology to be bad and still acknowledge it as a feminism.

I came for the history of TERFism and I appreciated how that history was woven into the history of racist and fascist white feminism.

This is a book I'll return to, as I feel it will continue to be a source of insight for me.

This was my first time reading from Sophie Lewis and as someone who is very interested in her areas of specialty, I was really looking forward to it! Sadly this particular book wasn’t for me. I DNF’d around 30%. Enemy Feminisms is definitely going to be a perfect place to start or continue learning for those newer to reading about the incredibly varied and scary versions of ‘feminism’ in society today.

I still plan to read Sophie Lewis’ previous shorter books on Family Abolition as this is where my initial interest in Lewis’ works began. I have a strong hope that this will be more successful for me. I couldn't help but feel that Enemy Feminisms was perhaps a little too broad in its scope and page count. It often felt to me like information was purposely ‘bulked up’ by the author’s attempts to centre the historical information in current cultural context and to reiterate and rephrase information. Unfortunately, this writing style didn’t work for me personally.

I am excited to try another of Sophie Lewis’ books and I truly hope this evidently well researched labour of love finds its ideal audience once it’s out in the world.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc. All opinions are my own.

I found parts of this book very well researched and informative--namely those regarding the first wave of feminism and Klan feminism. I never realized how intertwined those feminisms are to our current wave, in addition to how feminists in the past and present draw from these pasts without realizing. I'm glad Lewis shed a light on these.

Other chapters, though, and this is where we differ with our feminisms--I felt were not researched or understood to its fullest. Namely, second wave anti-porn feminisms. I'm glad Lewis confirms that Andrea Dworkin never said that all heterosexual sex is rape, but I find that Lewis misinterprets Dworkin and MacKinnon. I read this as an arc that is no longer available for me to directly reference, but I found her interpretation comes from a misunderstanding of anti-porn feminists as well as her own informed experiences. It's just a difference of opinion, but it's a strong one.

I think Lewis' opinions, obviously, inform a large part of this book. And again, it makes sense that we share a lot of them--obviously racism and Klan feminism are really horrifying to learn and read about in the history of feminism. But as we grew closer to modern day feminisms, the less I think Lewis thought critically about how specific people's experiences informed their feminism. Not that you must agree, but I think someone growing up in an oppressive, Islamic country and family absolutely has a right to speak out as loud as she wants against it--just as someone growing up in an oppressive, Christian country and family has a right to speak out as loud as she wants. Only, one feels like punching down in the United States, and one feels like punching up.

Still, I learned quite a lot and I do think that this was well researched. I just don't agree with some of it.

This is a thorough investigations into the many problematic forms feminism has taken in history and was well researched.

Unfortunately, even for someone with a degree in sociology this was a very dense and technical read that did not flow, but rather read as an assortment of information interspersed with disparaging comments and cultural references that not every reader (even within the discipline) would understand. I appreciated the hard social justice line taken against the imperial, racist, oppressing feminisms that were discussed, but the points were less presented and argued than dropped onto the page and snarked at. Even taking liberties with academic voice, and with the offset of how thorough the research was, this book did not form a clear thesis and felt unfinished and simultaneously over-presented in facts.

This would make a great reference for research already done but is less helpful on its own.

Enemy Feminisms by Sophie Lewis is an engaging book that will bring many contradictions, in how we think and whom we praise, into stark contrast.

You can approach this book in several ways, and I will highlight how I did. I read this as a history which is written to speak to our current environment. In other words, taking the past, and how we have used and sometimes misused it, to illustrate how we might best approach our present and future. As such, I didn't have to fully agree with every point Lewis makes as long as I do my best to understand as well as I can. Bracket my own ideas so I might better grasp theirs, then bring them into conversation with each other.

One takeaway, among many, is the need to identify our enemies, even when those enemies happen, at times, to be allies. Or even perhaps even ourselves, we're all capable of working against the very things we profess to be supporting. Whether historic figures who were instrumental in some areas but despicable in others or contemporary figures who use their fame to spew ignorant hate rather than write their next novel, we need to be able to assess these people, and ourselves, more honestly and with more nuance.

This isn't "hard feminism," whatever the heck that is, this is critical feminism. Critical of external and internal inconsistencies. If being forced to acknowledge some of your own shortcomings upsets you, this may not be the book for you. If you understand that none of us are perfect and we must always be considering and reconsidering paths forward, then this will be a valuable addition to your library.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

Unfortunately could not finish this in time because I got sick during new years. But what I have read seemed very good and I look forward to trying to find it locally one day so I can finish this.

Going to be in my highly recommended reads for early 2025, if only because we elected the fucking Leopards Eating Your Face Off party into power again, and it needs spelling out that not every feminist is working for the betterment of all. There are probably some folks who are going to take issue with the idea of classifying some of the people in here as "enemies", but man, Lewis uses historical and current precedent to show that not everyone using the feminist label is on your side.

Enemy Feminisms aims to present its reader a history of times when some feminisms have been aligned with the oppressors, by pandering to cissexism, white supremacy, femmephobia and policing the marginalized.

It was a really interesting read that does really well in drawing parallels between these problematic histories and the way the thinking they stemmed from shows up in our current times, encouraging us to always challenge those ideas to cultivate feminisms that are intersectional and accountable for their failures.

It's also a very up to date book so I was really happy to read a non-fiction that recognizes and calls out the transphobia and racism of some figures of today.

Overall, a really informative read. It requires a bit of prior knowledge of the different feminist movements and some US history, but it's still accessible enough that a few searches can catch you up to speed if there's anything you didn't know before. The chapters are also concise, short but well-developed. Some of the ironic or sarcastic tones had me confused because I sometimes struggle with those.

I'd recommend this to anyone wanting to look into ways in which feminism hasn't been inclusive in the past (and even today) and what we can do to address those issues.

If you have an interest in hard feminism (which I do not) then be sure to read this book. The author opposes the nuclear family, and g craves total equality between the sexes, but she refuses to acknowledge the deep biological differences between males and females so "Enemy Feminism" misses the mark!

In the current political climate we’re in feminisms is very important. This book is mostly history about past feminisms movements. I was hoping for more like a guide on how to better be involved with feminism in the present

I am not used to nonfiction books making references to all the newest memes and history. Usually by the time book comes out it's all slightly outdated and by the time I read it it's very out of date.

This book is about the feminisms which fight against women's interests and why they do that. (I'll never understand marginalized people wanting to be oppressors) Each chapter has different subject beginning from white supremacist feminism, pornophbia to TERFs. It contains biography, cultural context and commentary on the most noticable representative of that particular movement. I've read some feminist literature but not much I'll admit. I personally found a lot of new information on this work. I doubt that will be the case for someone more versed in the studies than me. At least now I know where the world girlboss came from. 😅 The book is mostly about the UK with some added context to the USA.

I didn't fact check all the references but the ones I checked did say what the author claimed they say.