Book Review: "Off With Her Head" by Eleanor Herman

4/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

“Why are we so eager to blame a woman rather than admit to the shortcomings of men?”

Off With Her Head by historian Eleanor Herman is a humorous, yet often infuriating romp through the annals of history to modern times about the ever-pervasive misogyny women face. Admittedly, it was a very difficult read, having almost thirty years of experience of being a woman in this world under my belt and seeing the patriarchy at work—on the outside and within my own thought processes. And yet, I learned even more crazy, depraved stories about men unable to compute that a woman are human beings as well.

“In each woman’s story, I discovered organized smear operations churning out unfounded accusations of sexual improprieties and criticisms of her ambition, untrustworthiness, appearance, and unlikability, accusations rarely made about male leaders either in the first century BCE or today.”

Of course, it all starts with Eve, who got humanity kicked out of the Garden of Eden for having wanted the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Honestly, curiosity is one of the best things about humans, although what we do with knowledge, of course, has positive and negative consequences. I grew up Catholic and remember as a kid thinking how weird it was that Eve was solely blamed for the Fall of Man and why curiosity was being punished. And then most of the stories in the Bible that said women could make up for their original sin by being submissive, supportive partners, dedicating themselves to home and family.

It was surreal to be reminded of how explicitly these gender roles were stated sometimes, like in the first book of Timothy. Verse twelve of chapter two is concise, to the point:

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”

I must have blocked that one out because of just how much I disagreed and thought it was stupid. (I guess I am going to Hell.)

So, I enjoyed the bit about an alternative story about how Lilith was Adam’s first wife, but she was independent and wanted equality in their relationship, so God had to find a more submissive partner for him instead in Eve. But it turns out that even with Eve, she broke the preferred mold as well.

Anyways, Off with Her Head does not just give a shout-out to the problematic portions of the Bible. Herman surveys centuries upon centuries of women in leadership positions being cast as the witch, temptress, shrew, and more, that have made it even clearer that we still have the same issues today.

Women in politics must put up with so much. Because women are thought to be irredeemably emotional, appearing more stoic may have people seeing her as not warm, but robotic. Appearances are also one of the things women are judged harshly for. Women must be put together, professional, but may risk being seen as out-of-touch if the clothes are deemed too fancy. But she cannot show up in bargain-bin, everyday clothes, because she then looks disheveled. Can’t have that.

All women candidates want is to be asked about their policy positions and experience but find a ridiculous preoccupation in the media about her appearance and the way she speaks. Then there is the ever-present specter of being a bad mother by being in politics and not devoting herself solely to her children and husband. God forbid their partner take on some childrearing and housekeeping responsibilities while they campaign and then do the work of their constituents.

“The accusations rarely have anything to do with experience, political mistakes, policy, or platform. They are name-calling caricatures that create two-dimensional comic book villainesses. She’s a whore. A lesbian. A nymphomaniac. Frigid. Or all of the above. She’s treacherous. Decadent. Power-crazed. Frivolous. Her voice is shrill. She is phony, inauthentic, unlikable, unpresidential. She is a witch. A bitch. She’s ugly. Dresses poorly. Her clothes cost too much. Her butt is big. Her hair is wrong. She is angry, nasty, hormonally imbalanced, and irrational. She is a bad woman, a bad wife, a bad mother. She’s a sexy vixen whose wanton ways and feminine wiles destroy good men. She is the very essence of moral turpitude, demolishing everything she surveys as she strides through life in four-inch stilettos, cackling wildly.”

Overall, I found the book thorough and well-researched, and even humorous despite the subject making one want to tear one’s hair out of frustration. The fact that this book even must be written, all the evidence gathered together so more people can see the problematic nature of traditional gender roles and the double-punch of being a woman and a person of color, speaks sad volumes about our society.

Although, I do wish that there were more than one chapter that focused about historical and contemporary women of color in politics and more suggestions as to what we can do to challenge misogyny in our everyday lives.

Nevertheless, Off with Her Head is a must-read for anyone who wants a better society, because racism and sexism suck, and we would be better off without them.

Happy reading!

--BookOwl