Indeed women are subject to sexism in many areas of life, but is "magic ovaries" and/or "men fear us because we are so powerful" the way to go? From my perspective, that sounds like an escape, a way to distract people in general from facing the real problems and working to solve them. I can believe with all my might that, if I concentrate hard enough, and as the Universe, I'll be able to command Mjölnir, but that still won't fix the wage gap or the lack of real job opportunities for women, or the disparity in domestic life and household responsabilities. (Even if it were cool to toss Mjölnir around and have it come back to me upon comand, unlike my keys).

That's also what I heard! A book about claiming your power back. However, a book where claiming your power back stands on an "us vs them" scenario doesn't give you power, but an scapegoat.

Thank you for your comment. I was indeed an adult in the 90's, but I do not live in the United States, nor lived there back then. I did suspect there was some cultural element coloring her writing, so I was wondering if maybe the author was immersed in a cultural environment where this reactive-female, still strongly bound to the patriarchal role models was the goal-feminine.

Something I found strange was the way words were being used to impress. For instance, even though the book was written in the 90's, the author uses "afear" instead of "afraid", or mixes in words in other languages (mostly Spanish, Hungarian and some German", and then translates herself in a way that doesn't make much sense. In this sense, for instance she uses the word "Anlage" (German) to mean "what will be" or "potential", but if you look it up in a dictionary, that's not what comes up. Also uses the Hungarian word tüz (and that's not written correctly), which means "fire" and says its spirit.

In her analysis of fairytales, I guess she builds on the fact that many don't know the original story (I have never heard Vasilissa translated as Vasalisa, as Vasilissa is the feminin of Vassili, and we talk of Vassili, not Vasali), and enters changes (I knew the tale as Vasilissa the Beautiful, not the Wise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasilisa_the_Beautiful ), and then spuns an analysis about who represents what and what thinks this or that, or how the characters feel and so what does that mean, without actually explaining how come does she get to those conclusions. For so many references, the book doesn't provide much of a reference, or at least my copy doesn't.

I wouldn't know if she represent the view of the 90's, or at least that's not what I remember of that time (I was immersed in the X Files back then, and electronic music), but be it as it may, it seems to be more hoo-ha than actual research and tested knowledge.

I have found some polite reviews as well, that only made me curious about the book, without specifics. I'm glad I was able to help you.

Thank you, I like your idea. The book club is an ongoing one, and it has a lot of young women who have found a wealth of great advise in these pages. Maybe there are cases where "if it works for me, what's the damage?" kind of thinking excuses a text that brings also a message that reads a lot like extremism. However, as you mention, in a more mature group, diverse, it would be an interesting reading for discussion and also to shed lights on things we currently don't see.

I don't usually turn to self-help books precisely because I have a similar view about them as you do. Recently I even had a psychologist suggest me to read a self help book and "take what works". Though I understand that approach, I find it problematic because often the questionable parts might bring into question the validity or the soundness of the foundation upon which the "working parts" stand on. The whole book should be cohesive, it's not a bag of tricks with working parts among a lot of debris.