Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers

By: Sady Doyle

Narrated by: Chloe Cannon

Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

Women have always been seen as monsters. Men from Aristotle to Freud have insisted that women are freakish creatures, capable of immense destruction.   

Maybe they are. And maybe that's a good thing....

Sady Doyle, hailed as "smart, funny, and fearless" by the Boston Globe, takes listeners on a tour of the female dark side, from the biblical Lilith to Dracula's Lucy Westenra, from the T-Rex in Jurassic Park to the teen witches of The Craft. She illuminates the women who have shaped our nightmares: Serial killer Ed Gein's "domineering" mother Augusta; exorcism casualty Anneliese Michel, starving herself to death to quell her demons; author Mary Shelley, dreaming her dead child back to life.    

These monsters embody patriarchal fear of women, and illustrate the violence with which men enforce traditionally feminine roles. They also speak to the primal threat of a woman who takes back her power. In a dark and dangerous world, Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers asks women to look to monsters for the ferocity we all need to survive.

©2019 Sady Doyle (P)2019 HighBridge Company

This book is exceptional!

Sady Doyle picks apart major events, ancient mythology, Hollywood blockbusters, & even mindless daily traditions down to their core; exposing their roots in the community indoctrination of patriarchal norms that surround us.

This entire book will have you on the edge of your seat & the edge of your sanity as the entire world shifts before your eyes.

It reads almost like a collection of essays. Easy to follow and packed with references to existing works as well as documented historical accounts.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

I didn’t like it

Sady Doyle is just not a good writer in my opinion.

Chloe was a great narrator!

Food for thought

This book contextualizes our societies underlying subconscious view of women in a way that is both enlightening and challenging. I didn't agree with all the conclusions but the examples used where excellent and the book gives space to draw your own conclusions. This is not a book for first timers in feminist theory though, some understanding of tropes, feminist history, and women&economics will allow a reader to get the most out of this book.