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Unspeakable Things
Sex Lies and Revolution
288 pages
A fiery, unapologetic manifesto that dismantles corporate feminism and demands a more radical, messy, and liberated future.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in a crowded, dimly lit pub with your smartest, most fiercely radical friend as they dismantle the patriarchy over a pint. It is a brisk, electric read that crackles with righteous anger and unapologetic vulnerability. The prose is sharp and polemical, seamlessly weaving deeply personal confessions with sweeping cultural critiques of capitalism, internet culture, and modern gender dynamics. The mood is urgent and rebellious, refusing the sanitized polish of corporate feminism in favor of something much messier and more liberated. It moves from a place of deep, systemic exhaustion to a fierce, collective hope. This is a book for anyone tired of leaning in, who instead wants to flip the table and build something entirely new.
- Mood
- urgent
- rebellious
- electric
- righteous
- Tone
- irreverent
- fierce
- unapologetic
- impassioned
- sharp
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- intersectional feminism · commodification of desire · radical resistance · systemic trauma · digital age alienation
- The writing
- Sharp, polemical, and deeply personal, blending cultural critique with raw, confessional storytelling.
- The arc
- Moves from righteous anger at systemic injustices to a fierce, radical hope for collective liberation.
- Who it's for
- Left-leaning millennials, activists, and anyone exhausted by mainstream, corporate feminism who craves a more radical critique.
Content notes
- sexual violence
- eating disorders
- mental illness
- sexism
- trauma
About the book
Smart, clear-eyed and irreverent, 'Unspeakable Things' is a fresh look at gender and power in the 21st century which asks difficult questions about dissent and desire, money and masculinity, sexual violence, menial work, mental health, queer politics and the Internet. Journalist and activist Laurie Penny draws on a broad history of feminist thought and her own experience in radical subcultures in Britain and America to debate cultural phenomena from economic justice and the Occupy movement, through eating disorders and social control, to online dating and freedom of speech.
Description from Open Library.
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