“Gender is an inequality of power, a social status based on who is permitted to do what to whom. Only derivatively is it a difference. Differences between the sexes do descriptively exist; being a doormat is definitely different from being a man. … Inequality comes first; differences come after” (p. 8). If you share (or are interested in) this notion of social stratification and a truly simplistic interpretation of the distribution of power in human society, this book is for you. It allows you to skip Max Weber and C. Wright Mills and go directly to “feminism stresses the indistinguishability of prostitution, marriage, and sexual harassment” (p. 59).

This book [Feminism Unmodified] consists of a congeries of speeches, mostly devoted to the law on sexual harassment, which she has devoted herself to establishing, and to the law on pornography, which she believes is in serious need of reform. The speeches are characterized by angry rhetoric; they are a joyless set. The two words with the longest lists of citations in the index are “pornography” and “rape.” The word “orgasms” appears twice in the index (“female: faking” and “male: from pornography”).

The author's misandry infects her forceful prose style and corrupts her analysis of urgent matters: rape and the law, pornography and the First Amendment, gender and social stratification. Her hyperbole is not persuasive. The shrillness of her prose trivializes issues deserving thought, research, interpretation, and prescription.