Review: How to Be a Woman
Hello HVNGRY readers - may I firstly take this opportunity to congratulate you on stumbling across this proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! You’ve chosen well. Here you will find a refreshing change. We will not feed you with meaningless celebrity gossip, slowly lowering your brain functioning, nor will we encourage you to obsess over your weight and looks. Guess what? You don’t need to know which lipgloss is hottest this season, your beauty is individual, unique, not everybody should buy Rimmell #336. Guess what else? You don’t need to know the 100 greatest sex tips, pleasing a man does not validate your worth despite what the media would generally have you believe. You are more than a beautiful object, you have brains, you are you and you alone, and I’ll be damned if deep down inside your boat is afloat with Kim Kardashian’s latest outfit disaster, or how Miley Cyrus looks without make up. Who gives a crap? Seriously…
Here instead you can appreciate women who are truly inspirational. You can relate with real people. These woman have ambitions and hopes and dreams. They have interests and hobbies, opinions and personalities. Yes they will also have their own neurosis’ and flaws and bad habits. We are not all the same, but the one thing I am 100% certain we have in common is feminism.
You probably just shuddered, felt appalled, reached for your mouse, desperately clicking away - “x”, “x”, “x”. If you are still here, please don’t be put off by that dirty feminist word. I guarantee you’re a feminist to.
Despite the common misconception, being a feminist does not necessarily involve forgoing shaving, or burning your bra - just ask Caitlin Moran - or rather simply read the fantastic part memoir, part rant “How to be a Woman”.
Honestly, it just makes sense and is truly, genuinely, laugh out loud funny whilst dealing with real issues. From tampons, to sex, to what you should call your boobs (or daughter’s vagina). From having no friends, to dealing with role models (Lady Gaga - yes/Katie Price - no).From children to feminism to suffragettes - you name it, it’s in there.
This book made me proud to be a woman and, more importantly, a feminist. Caitlin reminded me that being a feminist isn’t about being a man hating activist, but just about treating everyone fairly and equally. It reaffirmed that being a woman doesn’t mean striving to be a gorgeous size 6 model, never seen without make-up and high heels, whilst having a fabulously busy, successful career and many children, all of which are perfect from conception onwards.
We are actually fine the way we are. The mistakes we have made, and will no doubt continue to make, make us who are are. This book will inspire you not to let people push you into a corner and force you to be the way they want you to be - but to be the person you want to be. Even if that person wants to skip a wax and swear a lot.
I loved this book and will definitely be visiting it again for more sage advice and words of wisdom from one of my new heroines, Caitlin Moran.
P.S. I AM A STRIDENT FEMINIST! ▼
