Apparently "Caitlin Moran puts a new face on feminism, cutting to the heart of women's issues today with her irreverent, transcendent, and hilarious How to Be a Woman. Half memoir, half polemic, and entirely necessary,"
True, I laughed out loud several times per chapter, and as a memoir - one of the most grungy and funny I've read, a genre which is "Part memoir, part rant". The memoir, was great - but as for feminism's face-lift Moran style, I can't be more sure that her brand of feminism isn't for me, or for anyone who can honestly call themselves a "strident feminist" as Moran encourages.
Moran couldn't be more accurate when she said: “After all, history is very much ‘99 per cent women being subjugated, disenfranchised and sexually objectified’.” But just a few chapters later Moran calls for a 50% increase in pornography - the PR division for subjugation and embodiment of objectification!
“How women look is considered generally interchangeable with who we are – and, therefore, often goes on to dictate what will happen to us next.” I loved Moran's take on body topiary, and among from unsavory suggestions made some observations worthy of note.
Despite my more radical feminist views (Andrea Dworkin suits me better), Moran raised a number of excellent issues, and though I dislike her more flippant approach to feminism and the global suffering an abusive patriarchy has caused and perpetuated, her emphasis on personal choice and responsibility is important.
I was frustrated that for Moran personal responsibility didn't extend to taking control of contraception and the consequences of unprotected sex discussed in her chapter on abortion. A ballsy move with the self-disclosure, but it's just not my kind of feminism. So, 'How to be a woman' maybe was a poor choice of title, perhaps 'How to be a woman before reading any decent feminist literature which is not written by Germaine Greer'
Despite this I enjoyed the book because at it's core, though the views are not my own, they are at least raising questions and focus on the life behind the views expressed, thus reminding us all how our beliefs are shaped by own experiences.
Finally, I'm happy to read any book that makes an argument for why feminism is important - essential in fact...
“Because for all that people have tried to abuse it and disown it, ‘feminism’ is still the word we need. No other word will do."“We need to reclaim the word 'feminism'. We need the word 'feminism' back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29% of American women would describe themselves as feminist - and only 42% of British women - I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of 'liberation for women' is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? 'Vogue' by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY?”
“These days, however, I am much calmer - since I realised that it’s technically impossible for a woman to argue against feminism. Without feminism, you wouldn’t be allowed to have a debate on women’s place in society. You’d be too busy giving birth on the kitchen floor - biting down on a wooden spoon, so as not to disturb the men’s card game - before going back to quick-liming the dunny. This is why those female columnists in the Daily Mail - giving daily wail against feminism - amuse me. They paid you £1,600 for that, dear, I think. And I bet it’s going in your bank account, and not your husband’s. The more women argue loudly, against feminism, the more they both prove it exists and that they enjoy its hard-won privileges.”
Thus, despite my dislike of much of what Moran professes - the book is worth a read...
“Because the purpose of feminism isn’t to make a particular type of woman. The idea that there are inherently wrong and inherently right ‘types’ of women is what’s screwed feminism for so long – this belief that ‘we’ wouldn’t accept slaggy birds, dim birds, birds that bitch, birds that hire cleaners, birds that stay at home with their kids, birds that have pink Mini Metros with ‘Powered By Fairy Dust!’ bumper stickers, birds in burkas, or birds that like to pretend, in their heads, that they’re married to Zach Braff from Scrubs, and that you sometimes have sex in an ambulance while the rest of the cast watch and, latterly, clap. You know what? Feminism will have all of you. What is feminism? Simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy and smug they might be. Are you a feminist? Hahaha. Of course you are.”
Yay! Your review! I agree with a lot of what you said. I found the book interesting. I will admit to having a vague idea that I was a feminist, but not being sure. I agree as well, that I don't buy wholeheartedly into her view of what feminism is. I disliked the whole chapter about pornography and the whole lady gaga as feminist icon? Nah. What this book helped me to do was to think consciously about what feminism means to me. How I can be a better role model for my young girls about believing in the good in themselves, and men in the world (I particularly liked that Moran was not a man-basher)and expecting the best of everyone. That they are deserving of respect and achievement for anything they work hard for in the same way as my son. I liked Moran's writing style, I liked many (not all) of her arguments and I liked that it sent me on a journey to be a better feminist for myself and for my daughters and for my son. Thanks for reading and agreeing to think about it with me. International book readers, unite! And now, what next?
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