Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs

This post is a review of Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture (2005).

Not long ago, I asked several of my friends and fellow book club members to read this book. Due to the nature of the book and my book club’s fervent discussion, I have decided to write a personal response and review of the book. This book was originally recommended to me by Dr. Jeffrey Murray who recognized my interest in feminist thought in his class on Kenneth Burke at Virginia Commonwealth University. Overall, Levy suggests that many women today have internalized the male gaze and therefore become Female Chauvinist Pigs or FCP. These women, as Levy discusses are women who want to be one of the guys, reject being a “girly” girl on a full time basis, but accept some form of this identification when they use sex appeal to their advantage. This book also uses a lot of anecdotal evidence to show what’s going on in the world today and is used to cater to Levy’s overall goal, which is how female empowerment in the form of accepting some form of raunch culture is actually moving feminism backwards rather than forwards. Women of raunch culture basically refers to women who sell sex whether it’s prostitutes, girls who show their breasts for GGW t-shirts, porn stars, or everyday women who use sex appeal to get what they want.

I think Levy successfully discusses the past feminist movements pertinent to the topic (she focuses primarily on second wave feminism) and the tensions amongst feminists themselves as well as the tensions between feminists and non-feminists. She also refers to a wide range of testimonies that reinforce and elucidate how society has changed. She discusses everything from Girls Gone Wild to CAKE parties to Hugh Hefner to sexist marketing techniques directed towards teenagers. One of the problems Levy identifies is: “why can’t we [women] be sexy and frisky and in control without being commodified” (43). She equates women who are “Female Chauvinistic Pigs” or FCPs with the stereotype of Uncle Tom. She suggests that “An Uncle Tom is a person who deliberately upholds the stereotypes assigned to his or her marginalized group in the interest of getting ahead with the dominant group” (105). According to Levy, FCPs think they are rebelling against patriarchy, but are in fact upholding sexist stereotypes because they have internalized the male gaze. Unfortunately, Levy does not offer a practical solution to counteracting the negative affects of raunch culture. She argues that our culture is “a culture that equates the selling of sex with sexual liberation,” which is extremely problematic (201). Levy also does not give any opposing views when she examines specific avenues of raunch culture. She also does not give any statistical support for the conclusions she draws. She focuses mostly on testimonial and anecdotal evidence, which problematizes her entire project. With this in mind, she does raise several important questions, which generates a lively a discussion. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in raunch culture and female empowerment.