Off with Her Head is an exploration of how the patriarchy has treated women in power, comparing the treatment of historical women with modern day women in power. The author touches on the stories of Anne Boleyn, Hateshput, Cleopatra, Catherine d'Medici, Marie Antoinette, and other female rulers, comparing the names they were called, how their appearances and voices were criticized, and how they were treated with modern day female politicians such as Hillary Clinton, AOC, Kamala Harris, and others.

Each chapter deals with a different aspect what the author refers to as The Misogynist's Handbook- things like their clothing, voices, being referred to as a witch, etc. It was an interesting comparison piece, but I didn't find anything particularly new in the exploration.

“Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power.” I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley, and if I could give it more than five stars, I would. It’s an incredible historical journey into the origins of misogyny and the recurring tropes. Her guide to the misogynist handbook covers all weapons utilized by the patriarchy to keep women in their place. Overreach, and you can expect one, all, or some combination of the following criticism: she’s too ambitious; she’s unattractive; she can’t control her emotions because of hormones; her voice is too shrill; she’s unlikeable; who’s taking care of her husband and children?; she’s a witch (and other monsters like shrews, harpies, sirens, the anti-Christ, and generally any being with supernatural powers, which are often used to castrate men); she’s a bitch (and other animals like dogs, pigs, and snakes); she’s sexually depraved; and she’s a murderer. Some particularly intimidating women find themselves subjected to all of them.

There are even some more modern ways to attempt to keep women in their place and these include: mispronounce her name; deny her her proper title; call her by her first name; don’t use her name at all (call her a “she”); keep repeating that she’s a “female” leader; compare her to a doll; prove that sexist thing you did is not sexist because you have a wife and daughters; use gendered words to describe her; focus on her body parts; vilify her when she makes a mistake (but not him); give her a really lousy toilet in a galaxy far, far away with no tampons; make sure it’s almost impossible for her to do her work if she has young children; and make sure she knows she doesn’t belong there. Every woman has either experienced or witnessed another woman being subjected to many of these things, and part of the purpose of that is to make sure that all women know that when they step out of their prescribed roles, they will be treated just as horrifically. One of the final chapters is focused on misogynoir, the double-whammy of being a black woman. I’m ashamed to say that as a white woman, I hadn’t taken the time to consider how demoralizing it can be to fight two prejudices at once.

Ms. Herman debunks many of the stories we’ve been told about powerful women from history, by showing us the misogynistic tropes used to defame these women, in some cases hundreds of years after their deaths. The true stories of these impactful women and the revelations for why they struck fear in the hearts of men is, sadly, not something relegated to the past. And the absurdity of some of the claims would be hysterical if it weren’t for the fact that they cause such harm.

I found this study fascinating. The Council on Foreign Relations blog featured an article titled, “Women’s Participation in Peace Processes.” In it, they revealed, the “participation of civil society groups, including women’s organizations, makes a peace agreement 64 percent less likely to fail.” Additionally, they found “when women's parliamentary representation increases by five percent, a country is almost five times less likely to respond to an international crisis with violence. Within countries, women’s parliamentary representation is associated with a decreased risk of civil war and lower levels of state-perpetuated human rights abuses, such as disappearances, killings, political imprisonment, and torture.”

There were so many wonderful quotes in this book, I couldn’t possibly list them all, but here are a couple of the shorter ones:

“...it’s much easier to say we don’t like a particular voice than acknowledge we don’t like the fact that a woman is talking. Or even expressing her voice through writing.”

“Have you already chosen whether you want to be a bad mother or a bad minister?” (a talk show moderator’s question to Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s minister for family affairs on International Women’s Day, 2021)

Not content to point out where we’ve gone wrong, there is a chapter at the end devoted to reporters and commentators, with suggestions to avoid the misogyny tropes. To be fair, these guidelines were compiled by UltraViolet and distributed to the media, but it’s always helpful to reiterate important points. There are also suggestions for what the rest of us can do, both women and men, to lessen the effectiveness of tools that have been used for thousands of years.

This is an informative and entertaining read—so much so, that I read aloud portions of the book I found most interesting or amusing to women in my family—and I highly recommend it to everyone who knows and loves a woman. Come to think of it, I’d even recommend it to those who don’t.