Women rule in Women's Country. Women live apart from men, sheltering the remains of civilization. They have cut themselves off with walls and by ordinance from marauding males. Waging war is all men are good for. Men are allowed to fight their barbaric battles amongst themselves, garrison against garrison. For the sake of his pride, each boy child ritualistically rejects his mother when he comes of age to be a warrior. But all the secrets of civilization are strictly the possession of women. Naturally, there are men who ...
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Women rule in Women's Country. Women live apart from men, sheltering the remains of civilization. They have cut themselves off with walls and by ordinance from marauding males. Waging war is all men are good for. Men are allowed to fight their barbaric battles amongst themselves, garrison against garrison. For the sake of his pride, each boy child ritualistically rejects his mother when he comes of age to be a warrior. But all the secrets of civilization are strictly the possession of women. Naturally, there are men who want to know what the women know. And when Stavia meets Chernon, the battle of the sexes begins all over again. Foolishly, she provides books for Chernon to read. Before long, Chernon is hatching a plan of revenge against women.
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Add this copy of The Gate to Womens Country to cart. $53.45, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Tantor and Blackstone Publishi.
This book is one of my all-time favorites, and a must-read for any woman who has ever wanted to feel empowered. Though it does have its violent moments, the story is an overall illustration of the silliness of war, violent sports and many of the other pasttimes that attract almost exclusively men. The book is not a man-hating treatise, but it does definitely have a feminist feel without going too crazy with the theme. Sheri S. Tepper is a genius, and this book is by far her very, very best. You will love and hate the characters at the same time, which makes them so human. You will also come to understand that there are more ways to overcome problems than with the direct approach.
ekstra
Apr 3, 2007
Not just feminist!
This is one of those book that I've gone through multiple copies of. I buy it whenever I see it and pass it on to someone new. In most cases, they pass it along also. Set in a post-nuclear northwest (Oregon, perhaps?), the women live inside walled cities. The men live outside, and train as armies...unless they are willing to live by the women's rules inside the city. Wars are common between the city-states, and are fought in close-in fighting. No horses. No projectile weapons. One on one, so you have to see the person you are fighting. After a battle, the survivors are cared for by the armies (the women offer a draught to those who will not recover, but it's considered "unmanly" to take a painless death). Women mourn lost lovers, sons, and brothers as they always have. As the tale unfolds, we learn more about the reproductive practices of the towns (a week-long festival when the men and women cohabit inside the walls) and just why the number of men who elect to stay with the armies tends to be dropping every generation. Tepper is considered a "feminist" author...I prefer to think of her as "humanist". The men inside the walls, for the most part, are those who we think of currently as "real" men... gentle but strong, capable without aggressiveness, and quite knowledgeable.