Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter

‘This is the book that everyone should be reading’ Sophie Dahl, Elle
    ‘Coolly devastating … Living Dolls is a call to arms … At this crucial moment in women’s history, Walter provides a crystal-clear enunciation of the hypocrisy, shallowness and misogyny of our age’ Bidisha, New Statesman
    ‘Copies of Living Dolls have been dispatched to my fifteen-year-old goddaughter and my twelve-year-old granddaughter. Should they roll their eyes, I’ll tell them it is a survival manual for negotiating an increasingly confusing world … Their road to freedom will doubtless be as potholed as the one we took, with as many disappointments and wrong turnings. But I can think of no more reliable and steadfast guide than Natasha Walter’ Susan Dowell, Tablet
    ‘She does a brilliant job of demolishing [scientists’] arguments and showing how scientifically contentious their conclusions are. We don’t expect our scientists to be driven by ideology, but Walter makes an irrefutable case that they are’ Susie Orbach, Mail on Sunday
    ‘An important book’ Sarah Vine, The Times
    ‘Elegant and thought-provoking’ Antonia Senior, The Times
    Natasha Walker’s gripping book Living Dolls … does a wonderful job of bringing into sharp focus a sea change that’s been creeping up on us over the past decade’ Amy Jenkins, Independent
    ‘A very intriguing and worrying read’ Dominic Savage, Observer ‘Paints a frightening picture … Walter is especially scathing about the way that our culture’s antagonism towards women is being framed, of all things, as feminist … It is when focusing on our hypersexualised culture that Walter truly shines … She does an excellent job of walking a controversial line … Walter skilfully takes apart a growing market for journalism that joyfully promotes this men-are-from-Mars mentality, even at the cost of accuracy. It’s hard to disagree with anything Walter writes … Walter’s passion is stirring’ Jessica Valenti, Observer
    ‘In Living Dolls , Walter makes a compelling case that we need feminism more than ever … This book makes a disturbing, passionate and compelling case for revisiting our notions of equality … Everyone who cares anything about the kind of society we are currently creating should read this book’ Sunday Business Post
    ‘A provocative and passionate reassessment of women’s liberation’ Sunday Times
    ‘A welcome addition to the feminist bookshelf’ Kira Cochrane, Guardian
    ‘Living Dolls challenges the prevailing dogma of liberation … She holds on to her longstanding belief that not all pornography inevitably degrades women … This book is required reading for everyone who cares about our humanity, and that means all of us … A valuable book’ Kathy Sheridan, Irish Times
    ‘Living Dolls does an excellent job of exposing the brutal reality behind the sex industry’s increasingly sophisticated façade’ Charlotte Raven, Guardian
    ‘A lively polemic’ Terri Apter, Times Literary Supplement
    ‘Worth reading – and thinking about, long and hard. To tell the truth, it makes me want to cry. In a year or two, when I can pry my daughter away from Twilight and Bridget Jones’s Diary , I’m going to beg, cajole and demand that she reads it too’ Meg Rosoff

Copyright
    Published by Hachette Digital
    ISBN: 978-0-748-13206-5
    Copyright © Natasha Walter 2010
    Cartoon copyright © Kipper Williams / The Sunday Times / nisyndication.com
    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
    Hachette Digital
    Little, Brown Book Group
    100 Victoria Embankment
    London, EC4Y 0DY
    www.hachette.co.uk

For Harriet Gugenheim, with thanks

Acknowledgements
    Thank you to Cassie Browne and Flo Nicoll, who gave so much time and energy to checking facts and sources with me. I was lucky to meet you at the beginning of what will