ambivalent on this one. i could see almost any 1--5 star rating. Feminist take on various aspects of dating, love, sexuality, relationships by single 33-year old Indian American woman. Somewhat interesting personal stories about how her approach to casual sex has changed since early 20s, or how people respond to her based on stereotypes about South Asian women.But mostly a high-minded, general critique/rant covering well-worn material. If it's new to you to consider such possibilities as:1. "pic...

I appreciated Mukhopadyay's perspective and viewpoint on dating and relationships within our American Society. Separate from a feminist view, I felt she covered several areas about how dating is approached in our culture, and the many ways the mainstream perspective can be damaging to those who view relationships in a less "traditional" way. I felt the last chapter of the book was most helpful, as she covers several dating topics from the viewpoint of a feminist, and provides wonderful quotes fr...

A short book that covers a lot of ground and ends up kind of scattered. The point is to debunk the most traditional romantic understanding of dating, where everything is supposed to escalate towards marriage and your value as a person is dependent on what progress you're making. Explicitly addressed to female readers, and implicitly to straight or straightish ones; I'm male, but I found the early chapters informative about how those narrowly romantic norms get transmitted - mostly through TV sho...

A solid book that tackles how feminism can improve women and men's dating in a patriarchal society. Specifically, Samhita Mukhopadhyay writes about women are taught to value themselves based on whether they are in a romantic relationship above all else. The following passage displays one of the main messages of the book, about the dangers of making women prioritize their search for a male partner:"Keeping women focused on finding the right man is an underhanded way to keep us acquiescing to trad...

I read this book in just a few hours. I was hoping it would be an enlightening feminist guide to dating, but it was more of a debunking of the "romance industrial complex" and the myriad ways dating is socialized along gender roles. For an avowed feminist and someone who stays on top of this stuff, it didn't offer a whole lot of new insight and material. It felt more like one really long blog entry, especially with the citing of Facebook and Twitter as sources (to be fair that only happened occa...

I picked up this book because I was intrigued by Samhita Mukhopadhyay's Occupy V-Day project and thought it would be interesting to hear a more thorough critique of "the romantic industrial complex" from her. The book ended up taking me weeks to slog through. The majority of her critiques -- of pick-up artists, dating manuals, and familial pressures -- are important but not new. As other reviewers have pointed out, if you're immersed in the feminist blogosphere or were, at some point, a gender s...

If you've been immersed in the feminist blogosphere for any length of time, nothing here is particularly revolutionary, and most of the first half felt very 101, but I enjoy the simple fact that this book exists. I wanted it to go a bit further, and the "I'm going to tell you, I just told you, as you recall in chapter whatsit" was a little wearing, but, again, overall I liked the balance she struck of personal to larger trends. One picky little point entirely unrelated to the quite nice content

I don't know that I'll finish this one. I was reading it to see if it had potential use in a women's studies classroom. I find it much too basic and repetitive but 18 year olds might respond differently...

Dear Samhita,Thank you for writing this book. I cannot believe how much I have been wanting this book and have needed to read this.IN this book, one of the editors of Feministing takes a look at dating, the dating book and magazine industry and some of our ideas about dating, romance etc, and how they are misogynistic and sexist. Some of the myths perpetuated are harmful to both men and women, and the current standards and assumptions we have about sex, single women and how men and women think a...

Thank God (and feminism) for books like this one. Writers like Samhita Mukhopadhyay are the only people who don't make me feel like an utter failure. After all, as an unwillingly celibate female (and not, "oh ha ha I haven't done the nasty in six months I'm totally celibate!" celibate. I mean completely celibate) who has never been on a date, been asked out (or asked anyone out for that matter), it's easy for most writers to dismiss me as a failure. In fact, I'm already considered a freak-of-nat...

I'm writing a piece for Bitch Magazine on this book, so I'll save most of my opinions for that. But I loved it.

It seems a cliche to say I found this book empowering, but I did. Very straightforward look at how the romance "industry" has not caught up to those who are living in the new mainstream.

This is a crucial book for anyone interested in changing the way gender relations are playing out in 21st Century America, and beyond. Ms Mukhopadhyay courageously (and sassily) takes on the Dating Industrial Complex and asks some hard questions about the state of the game for young women. The book does a great feminist critique of the dating-advice market, but beyond that digs into masculinity issues and issues of sexual freedom and identity. While Dating While Feminist may be really freaking h...

I am a sucker for feminist dating books.

I think this is actually a good book to read even if one doesn't quite identify as a feminist and might be a little uncomfortable with the word. It makes it really approachable and explains that feminism means equality and fairness for us all, not just for women. Instead of issuing blanket statements about what is right or wrong, it questions certain behaviors and practices so that we can be critical of our own actions and really think about why it is we do the things that we do. There was a lot...

Have had this book in my "work bag" whereby I read it on my break, hence me taking so long to read it in the background! This is 3.5 stars as opposed to 3. I think I've read too many completely amazing feminist texts to be enraptured by this one. It deals with the subject matter of approaching dating with feminist values of independence, self esteem, self value and worth. It gives good advice and highlights major issues and shortcomings with some males in their approach to women (objectification...

A little dated by now (no pun intended), but a critical groundwork book in examining culture and dating through a sex-positive, growth-mindset, feminist lens. Would love to see more books in this vein of analysis, inspiration, validation, and feminism. It was a pleasant surprise to come across it, and I hope to find more like it.

A critique of the modern dating narrative presented by pop culture (particularly self-help books, but also TV, movies, magazines, etc.) This is stuff I've ranted about for years, and it's precisely this widespread and infuriating sexist baggage that made me give up on dating straight people. (Luckily, I had other options.) In many places the book had me saying "Right on!!"Here's the problem: this book has no audience, other than me. I'm ignorant enough about feminist theory that this was more or...

This is probably the longest rant I have ever read, and it's repetitive. Not that there's anything wrong with that--I love a good rant now and again, and I've been known to indulge in a decent amount of wallowing myself, but I expecting something more than the obvious. This book contained nothing I haven't already heard and read in shorter articles. Simply put, this book is too repetitive and basic. I picked this up because a friend recommended it to me, and honestly, a little because the author...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it certainly gave me much to think about and chew on. There was a lot of information in here that I was not expecting. I enjoyed reading her take on a number of issues outside of just dating; she made a lot of interesting arguments.I wasn’t to keen on all of what she said in the DWF chapterI definitely agree that we need to communicate openly and honestly about what we want both in & out of relationships. There is definitely a lot of pressure and misinformation...