How to be a Woman

Book, 2011

Premise - A writer named Caitlin Moran shares the details of her own life and how they have influenced her concept of womanhood. Topics are organized in the order they became relevant in her chronological life, particularly through her pubescent years.

Review - Before I had even cracked open a page, I found this book off-putting. Perhaps it was the bluntness of the title (even if it's meant to be ironic), or the warnings that this book was crude or crass. What unsettled me the most was its mention in Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay, who criticized Caitlin Moran saying that women should reclaim the term "strident feminist" in the way black people reclaimed the 'n' word, actually saying the 'n' word herself. I still agree with Gay here that this was a severe misjudgment. I've never even heard the term "strident feminist" before. Nobody throws that around as a violent slur.

With that said, I should note that from the very first word of this novel, I was sucked into her humor instantly. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Caitlin herself and the comedic timing was glorious. I wanted to cry-laugh the whole time, but I listened to the majority of this on a public bus. Perhaps what makes it the most funny is how novel, or perhaps shocking, the humor is. In our society, we're just not used to people being so blunt about topics such as female masturbation, or leg hair, or periods. It's strange because men can joke about their sexuality all day long. Penis jokes occur in our media several times per day. But vagina jokes? Come on, they can be pretty funny, and they haven't run stale like penis jokes.

Needless to say, I felt ashamed of having judged Caitlin so harshly beforehand, because I truly fell in love with this book. Feminism can be such a serious, daunting, frustrating topic. But this book is like a breath of fresh air. You get the satisfaction of ranting about serious women's issues, while still having a good time.

The reason why Caitlin's book is so successful is that, unlike the title suggests, she does not dictate to anyone how to be a woman. The book is entirely about her life and her own experiences, flawed as they may be, and how they have taught her to be a human being.

As with the nature of all humor, sometimes she creates a pitfall of generalizations, or starts to accidentally mock the lifestyles of certain women (real or fictional). Humor can be a really difficult balance between poking fun at one's self, or poking fun at others/society, and for a topic as difficult as feminism I think she did more than a decent job. Thanks once more to Emma Watson for recommending this book for "Our Shared Shelf." She also did an interview with Caitlin Moran that I have not seen, so I'll have to check that out! (90/100)

Quote - “It's difficult to see the glass ceiling because it's made of glass. Virtually invisible. What we need is for more birds to fly above it and shit all over it, so we can see it properly.”

If you liked this book, I'd recommend Bad Feminist!

Written by Caitlin Moran
Published by Ebury Publishing