The back cover blurb of award-winning journalist Caitlin Moran's
memoir-rant How To Be A Woman positions the book jokingly alongside
notable moments in the history of the feminist movement: "1913:
Suffragette throws herself under the King's horse. 1970: Feminists
storm Miss World. NOW Caitlin Moran rewrites The Female Eunuch from
a bar stool and demands to know why pants are getting smaller".
It's a tidy summary, for while Moran does address some serious
issues, it is the author's sense of humour and, despite her
success, very likeable tendency toward self-deprecation, that keeps
you reading. And read it you will; I suspect I'm not the only
person to idly pick it up only to plow through it in an evening,
propelled by the heady mix of personal confession, humour and
insight.
The book begins by detailing some of Moran's childhood
experiences. These early confessions - her childhood crush on Chevy
Chase, her adolescent enjoyment of Jilly Cooper's Riders - are
funny (and bravely forthright), but it's in later chapters, which
have titles like Why You Should Have Children, and Why You
Shouldn't Have Children, where Moran has some serious points to
make. Why do so many women continue to wear high heels? Are
weddings good for women? What do our celebrity role models say
about us? And so on.
Moran is a very accomplished columnist, having written for The
Times for many years, so it will probably come as no surprise to
hear that How To Be A Woman reads like a very long, and very good,
newspaper column. It's a fun, lively read but more importantly it
addresses women directly and asks us to examine our place in this
culture right now. For that reason, particularly, it is well worth
a look.
How To Be A Woman is available now from Ebury Press, RRP
£11.99
How To Be A Woman at Amazon
