I have my doubts about including Virginie Despentes in this series. And whilst I’m still not sure she’s entirely my kind of girl, I’ve come to the conclusion that her views and experiences are intriguing enough to warrant some kind of description and discussion.

Director of controversial rape-revenge film Baise-Moi, and author of the novel it was based on, Virginie Despentes is certainly no stranger to media criticism and attention. Banned in several places and censored in most others, Baise-Moi was reviled across several continents for its contradictory combination of simulated blood-and-guts gore with graphic and violent penetration in the not-so-simulated sex scenes. The Independent described the film rather glibly at the time of its release, labeling it:

“A heady mix of explicit sex and exploitation violence, the film is a porno road-movie featuring an explosive cocktail of girls gone bad and the well-hung studs they use and abuse on the way. It's a kind of Euro-Thelma and Louise, with more guns and fewer clothes.”

And just as the novel of Baise-Moi makes for fierce but uncomfortable reading, so too does Despentes’ latest book, King Kong Theory. Released in the UK later this month, it has been published to lukewarm reviews in France since 2006 (with Queen of NY punk Lydia Lunch apparently assisting with the translation into English).

In King Kong Theory Despentes combines memoir with manifesto, alternating autobiographical experiences of rape and prostitution and the ways her views were shaped by these events with broader observations of gender inequality as it exists today. And there’s no denying she’s a skilled writer.

Candid, provocative, articulate and persuasive, with a strong authorial voice. But I have to admit to finding many of Despentes’ arguments potentially problematic, or at the very least woefully unsubstantiated. King Kong Theory disappoints because so much of the text is spent describing the realities of an inherently sexist society that we all experience and are frustrated by on a daily basis. But simple social and cultural observation, no matter how astute, is not enough. From an author of Despentes’ caliber, I want more.

But you never know, I might yet get it. Virginie Despentes will be speaking about King Kong Theory at the ICA on Thursday 22nd January, 7pm. So I’ll let you know.