Review: How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran was selected for this month’s A Practical Wedding Book Club. Being a devout follower of A Practical Wedding, a lover of all things feminist, and mostly because my pal, Jillian, asked me if I’d like to go with her to the meeting, I ordered my book immediately. And that’s where the fun began.
Caitlin Moran is decidedly British. This might seem obvious to those of you who have read anything by or about her, and I knew that before I cracked open the book – I did, after all, have to order it used from a vendor in the US because it is only available new from the UK – but I did not expect her writing to be so, incredibly, British. There were so many references to British pop culture she made as what I assumed were jokes, but could only assume such because, if I had taken the time to look up all of the references I didn’t understand, it would have taken me three months to read the book, still reading every day. As I was reading, I could almost hear myself reading with a British accent. This was not, however, what earned the book a three-star review.
Moran is a bold writer, and she has to be with the subjects she covers. From her puberty – described in detail – to her awkward teenage years, to her acceptance of “strident feminism” as she calls it, through her marriage and childbirth and rearing, she absolutely covered what almost every woman goes through in her course to be, well, a woman. However, it was her bold writing (LOTS OF IT IN ALL CAPS, UNEXPECTEDLY) that had me wishing the book was about half the length it was. While I’m not sure what subject I could do without in the book, I do think she went on quite a few tangents that weren’t all together necessary, and it did make the book difficult to continue reading. In the same vein, I wish I had more time to read it, which would have given me more space to digest what it was she was saying.
I, for sure, could have gone without the broad, sweeping generalizations about women she made. From “women should have children” to “women shouldn’t have children” and all through the description of her wedding, which made her assume that all women secretly (or not so secretly) hate their wedding, seemed a bit much. It’s one thing to be A Practical Wedding, accepting everyone’s idea of the perfect wedding. It’s quite another to say women don’t have any fun at their weddings and, therefore, should just give up on the whole thing. (I, for the record, had the most fun I had ever had at my wedding, though the planning was a bit arduous at times.)
That said, there were some wonderful parts to which I found myself fist-pumping in agreement. This, for example:
If you look recognisably, straightforwardly human – the kind of reasonable figure a ten-year-old would draw, if asked to sketch a person in under a minute – then you are fine. … If you can find a frock you look nice in and can run up three flights of stairs, you’re not fat.
Preach, sister.
Also, this:
We need more women who are allowed to prove their worth as people; rather than being assessed merely for their potential to create new people. … Whilst motherhood is an incredible vocation, it has no more inherent worth than a childless woman simply being who she is, to the utmost of her capabilities. To think otherwise betrays a belief that being a thinking, creative, productive and fulfilled woman is, somehow, not enough. That no action will ever be the equal of giving birth.
Yes, Caitlin Moran. Yes.
So, all in all, the book was a good, feminist read. It was also very funny at times. Rarely do I laugh out loud at a book, causing my husband to give me the eyebrow from across the couch. I would definitely recommend it to a feminist looking for a break from feminist theory and a foray into feminist real-life.
Buy How To Be a Woman from Powell’s, and I’ll receive a piece of the profit.