Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Seven Stories Press
Description
In her first book of comic strips, Emma reflects on social and feminist issues by means of simple line drawings, dissecting the mental load, i.e. all that invisible and unpaid organizing, list-making and planning women do to manage their lives, and the lives of their family members. Most of us carry some form of mental load--about our work, household responsibilities, financial obligations and personal life; but what makes up that burden and how it's distributed within households and understood in offices is not always equal or fair. In her strips Emma deals with themes ranging from maternity leave (it is not a vacation!), domestic violence, the clitoris, the violence of the medical world on women during childbirth, and other feminist issues, and she does so in a straightforward way that is both hilarious and deadly serious. If you're not laughing, you're probably crying in recognition. Emma's comics also address the everyday outrages and absurdities of immigrant rights, income equality, and police violence.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member villemezbrown
A French blogger effectively and humorously lays out progressive and feminist hot topics of the day in a dozen essays in comic book format.
I was a stay-at-home dad when my daughter was young, so I can relate to the first entry, "You Should've Asked," about the mental load that can be felt by the
Emma is not doing a deep dive on any of these topics or offering up a lot of insight, but she certainly sets up a delightful little echo chamber for the likeminded.
I was a stay-at-home dad when my daughter was young, so I can relate to the first entry, "You Should've Asked," about the mental load that can be felt by the
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homemaker in a couple when it comes to doing household chores and taking care of children. And as a liberal, I found myself agreeing with her points about sexism, sexual harassment, childbirth, universal income and police brutality.Emma is not doing a deep dive on any of these topics or offering up a lot of insight, but she certainly sets up a delightful little echo chamber for the likeminded.
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LibraryThing member froxgirl
The title refers to the neverending burden carried (and mostly unshared) by the women who manager their households and the men who sit and wait for orders. It's also called "The Second Shift". The default value here is a hetero couple - I wonder how same-sex families handle this - and it's from a
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French author/illustrator. There's plenty of humor here to balance the underlying pain and frustration. If the author does daily or weekly comics in France, I'd love to see them here. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheLoisLevel
I liked this book more than I expected to. I preferred the chapters that discuss topics I really already know, such as "the mental load". Some of the political stuff I take with a grain of salt because the perspective is very specific, and I don't trust "Emma" to have all of the information.
LibraryThing member AlisonY
I've not really read graphic books before (well, not since I was very young, anyway), so this gift was a nice introduction to a different genre.
The enigmatic Emma is a thirty-something French computer programmer who also has comic strips in The Guardian and podcasts for the French Culture radio
This is a great book - the graphics really stuck in my head about a lot of the points made in a way that pages of text wouldn't. Whilst I wasn't nodding my head at all of her points (perhaps I'm lucky to be married to someone who pulls their weight quite well domestically), she certainly hit the mark in a number of areas, particularly on the topic which led to the title.
I've never classed myself as a feminist (in fact there are areas of feminism that irk me considerably), but (sorry chaps - you may want to stop reading here) I was nodding my head vigorously on the subject of mental load. Like in many households, I end up taking care of all the household admin, whether it's stuff to do with the kids, school, bills, booking holidays, and there is a huge mental stress with always having this endless list of things to do and squeeze in around work. Whilst my husband is generally pretty at doing certain things around the house, it does wind me up that a common refrain is "you just needed to ask me to do x" (after I've spontaneously combusted over something). Emma nails this as a cop out, with women assuming the unwanted role of project manager in the house.
I don't want to male bash here. My husband does the lion's share of the outside work, so from a pure work perspective I'd say we have a healthy split, but I don't think men always appreciate that the job of mentally keeping on top of everything that needs done and ensuring balls don't get dropped gets tiring when it's carried mostly by one person.
Emma tackles other topics in this book too, such as the unhealthy work culture of 'he/she who stays latest in the office must be the better employee', the treatment of coloured young males in France by the police and the court system, motherhood and paternity leave.
All in all I enjoyed this book. Emma really cleverly picks up on some hard hitting points, and the graphics are a terrific way to get the message across.
4 stars - this will encourage me to pick up some more graphic books in the future.
The enigmatic Emma is a thirty-something French computer programmer who also has comic strips in The Guardian and podcasts for the French Culture radio
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station. She's a young woman with strong ideas on feminism and racism and she's not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. This is a great book - the graphics really stuck in my head about a lot of the points made in a way that pages of text wouldn't. Whilst I wasn't nodding my head at all of her points (perhaps I'm lucky to be married to someone who pulls their weight quite well domestically), she certainly hit the mark in a number of areas, particularly on the topic which led to the title.
I've never classed myself as a feminist (in fact there are areas of feminism that irk me considerably), but (sorry chaps - you may want to stop reading here) I was nodding my head vigorously on the subject of mental load. Like in many households, I end up taking care of all the household admin, whether it's stuff to do with the kids, school, bills, booking holidays, and there is a huge mental stress with always having this endless list of things to do and squeeze in around work. Whilst my husband is generally pretty at doing certain things around the house, it does wind me up that a common refrain is "you just needed to ask me to do x" (after I've spontaneously combusted over something). Emma nails this as a cop out, with women assuming the unwanted role of project manager in the house.
I don't want to male bash here. My husband does the lion's share of the outside work, so from a pure work perspective I'd say we have a healthy split, but I don't think men always appreciate that the job of mentally keeping on top of everything that needs done and ensuring balls don't get dropped gets tiring when it's carried mostly by one person.
Emma tackles other topics in this book too, such as the unhealthy work culture of 'he/she who stays latest in the office must be the better employee', the treatment of coloured young males in France by the police and the court system, motherhood and paternity leave.
All in all I enjoyed this book. Emma really cleverly picks up on some hard hitting points, and the graphics are a terrific way to get the message across.
4 stars - this will encourage me to pick up some more graphic books in the future.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Weird, but very interesting. It's a blog (or essays) in comic form; like Hyperbole and a Half, though less funny and more...political? It's largely, though not entirely, about women's rights, and unfortunately that's political these days. The title piece is about the invisible part of household (or
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workplace) chores, the planning and remembering and managing part - which is still largely the woman's task at home. There's also several about maternity leave and managing with a new child - about workplace expectations and men's behavior and doctors' and nurses' behavior during and after the birth. A couple about police violence, and about how violence of all sorts is reported (in France, where she's based) - riots are reported but not the causes, attacks by protestors are in focus and protestors dealing with the aftermath of violence directed against them isn't... There are several about how, in different ways and different fields, our expectations affect our behavior - from women suppressing their reactions, to people working "bulls**t jobs" that do nothing but enrich the already rich (but that's the way things are and always were and will be...isn't it?). It's interesting angles on a lot of things, with the simple, blocky images conveying as much as the words. Interesting, worth reading, worth spreading the word about. Show Less
Original publication date
2017 (France)
2018 (US)
DDC/MDS
| 305.42 |