
This is a very funny illustrated book documenting how stupid the male establishment has been throughout history in disrespecting the potential and achievements of girls and women.

Yes, we have the depressingly realistic Handmaid’s Tale to satisfy our need for dystopian feminist horror, but once in a while we need to laugh at these related issues, even in these #metoo times (I say, speaking for myself, now, in the third person, and FOR you, in the male way). Romanes thought that women's minds tended to wander and waver all the time?Īlthough it was a little too short for my liking, the sarcastic voice still makes for an interesting and thought-provoking read. Needless to say, every idiotic remark is confronted to the reality in order to show - if needed - how ridiculous it is. Or, their love affairs are the only aspects that are mentioned, like Aliénor d'Aquitaine's (which is a shame really, given how interesting she was). Yet they only offer "generic chapters" for now (more like 2 pages really), as "women during WW2" or "women during French Revolution" - better than nothing, but definitely not enough. They're trying, though, and the textbooks - thankfully - evolved during the last 20 years.

and she introduces several women whose apparitions in History books stay awfully rare (trust me, I'm a teacher - women are definitely NOT present in History texbooks, if you except Marie Curie). I mean, have you read Émile ou de l'éducation? I did, and really, with all due respect to my teaching professors who urged me to read it at the time, not only this is painfully boring, but his "views" on women's education are plain sexist. Or Jean-Jacques Rousseau (because I'm not chauvinistic). Jacky Fleming both quotes some *delightful* opinions from our much-beloved geniuses, like Charles Darwin. I don't know what's the most horrifying really : the narrow-minded and downright stupid misconceptions all these so-called geniuses spread about women through History, or the fact that many people *cough* politicians! *cough* still perpetuate parts of these offensive stereotypes.
