sadiereadsagain's review against another edition
4.0
I suppose I need to start this with a disclaimer that I fookin' love Caitlin Moran. I love her writing, I loved Raised by Wolves, I love listening to her speak. She isn't perfect, and she comes at feminism from her own place of experience, but unlike others I don't mark her down for those things. She doesn't pretend to be the all-knowing and she is very evidently trying and evolving. And as she rightly also points out in this book (not about herself), no one woman can represent all women, no one oppressed person can represent all oppressed people. She is speaking for and as a white, mid-life, working class woman from Wolverhampton. That should be enough of a place to start from.
Anyway, on to the book, which is a mix of pieces she's written for the Times and others written for this book. I didn't read it when it first came out, so some of the things she discusses (David Cameron being the current PM, the 2012 Olympics, Louis CK being a person you want to include in feminist writing...eww, etc) aren't current, which dates it a little. But I often find that with books of this type, it's the nature of the beast. Look beyond that, and you find a really funny display of awareness, intelligence and honesty thinly veiled in pieces as diverse as a day spent with Benedict Cumberbatch, the Bedroom Tax, tv reviews and abortion. She can be at turns facetious, earnest, passionate or touching, but always with a warmth and hilarity which made this a total joy to read.
“It’s amazing to me that it’s still considered a notable, commendable trait –‘Oh, she’s a well-known feminist’ – in a woman, or a girl, or a man, or a boy. That that is the unusual thing. Really, it should be the reverse. Rather than what seems like a minority having to spend time, energy, brain and heart explaining why they’re ‘into’ equality, the majority should be explaining why they’re not."
Anyway, on to the book, which is a mix of pieces she's written for the Times and others written for this book. I didn't read it when it first came out, so some of the things she discusses (David Cameron being the current PM, the 2012 Olympics, Louis CK being a person you want to include in feminist writing...eww, etc) aren't current, which dates it a little. But I often find that with books of this type, it's the nature of the beast. Look beyond that, and you find a really funny display of awareness, intelligence and honesty thinly veiled in pieces as diverse as a day spent with Benedict Cumberbatch, the Bedroom Tax, tv reviews and abortion. She can be at turns facetious, earnest, passionate or touching, but always with a warmth and hilarity which made this a total joy to read.
copykat42's review
5.0
I know it's just a bunch of old columns with little intros. I know some of it is quite dated (and some folks complain about the super-British bits).
But...
There's her piece on the two things men need to know about women.
Or the one on not expecting any one woman to fix all the problems facing women. "We're all working on a massive patchwork quilt called 'A Better Future' here - anyone can pull up a chair and have a go. The only rule of Feminist Quilt Club is that we don't expect one woman to sew the entire damn thing herself, while bitching about it to her face. Oh, and crisps."
Or on why we should stop calling things "women's problems"... "Women don't live on a separate continent - Birdtopia - communicating only sporadically with the menfolk by email. If 52 percent of the potential brain power in the world is being hindered by something - like lack of child care or WTF? creepy debates on rape and contraception - it behooves this small planet for everyone to jump on it and sort it out as quickly as possible."
Plus plenty of the pieces on things other than feminism, particularly the ones about the future.
Just wow. In a good way.
But...
There's her piece on the two things men need to know about women.
Or the one on not expecting any one woman to fix all the problems facing women. "We're all working on a massive patchwork quilt called 'A Better Future' here - anyone can pull up a chair and have a go. The only rule of Feminist Quilt Club is that we don't expect one woman to sew the entire damn thing herself, while bitching about it to her face. Oh, and crisps."
Or on why we should stop calling things "women's problems"... "Women don't live on a separate continent - Birdtopia - communicating only sporadically with the menfolk by email. If 52 percent of the potential brain power in the world is being hindered by something - like lack of child care or WTF? creepy debates on rape and contraception - it behooves this small planet for everyone to jump on it and sort it out as quickly as possible."
Plus plenty of the pieces on things other than feminism, particularly the ones about the future.
Just wow. In a good way.
findyourgoldenhour's review
3.0
I think readers need to be up on British pop culture to fully appreciate Moran. So many references went right over my head! The book is a collection of essays written for a British newspaper, and they are grouped by theme. "The Feminisms" section is by far the best of the entire book; I wish everyone (men and women) would read the essay titled "The Two Things Men Need To Understand About Women." Its worth getting the book from the library for that essay alone!
I have one issue with Moran, and that is when she writes about drinking alcohol. I have no issue wth people who drink; heck, I drink! Plenty! But she writes it in this "funny-haha-I always drink to the point of oblivion and wake up hungover and promise I'll never do it again but get just as wasted the next time!" tone that is not funny at all.
I have one issue with Moran, and that is when she writes about drinking alcohol. I have no issue wth people who drink; heck, I drink! Plenty! But she writes it in this "funny-haha-I always drink to the point of oblivion and wake up hungover and promise I'll never do it again but get just as wasted the next time!" tone that is not funny at all.
nikshelby's review
5.0
I don't remember how I found this essay anthology from Caitlin Moran. However, I am glad I did. She felt like someone I'd like to buy a pint for at the pub (she's from the UK), and chat about everything in the world - silly and serious. This book felt like it was her side of the conversation, and my questions and thoughts were between the lines.
Some random quotes:
>>> "I started to think, 'Maybe there's something to learn here. Maybe you don't need to be the 'right' kind of person to write about big things. Maybe anyone thoughtful, and making an effort, can contribute to the debate. Maybe there are thousands of us who are not thinking, and not writing, and not talking - just because we think we are the wrong kind of person. So - I am going to write about politics now. Firstly, because I think I should; and secondly, because I'm old enough now not to care if people think I can't. I love getting older. You might lose skin elasticity, but you also lose the amount of fucks you give. It's awesome."
>>> Milton Friedman "Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable."
>>> "There is one huge, untapped resource which would allow a light-speed jump in progress - and it's us. We are the big, obvious resource of our age...This, then, is the ultimate argument for the urgency and necessity of equality. For equality isn't some fabulous luxury we treat ourselves to when we're rich enough - the legislation and infrastructure we get round to after we secure our economies, or wrangle foreign policy. Equality isn't humanity's cashmere bed socks. It's not a present we treat ourselves to, like champagne. It's a fundamental necessity, like water."
>>> "The systems borked. The good news is, we have a billion ways to improve it. US. For we are the point of democracy. We are democracy. We are the conversation. We are the climate. We set the tone - we make the spaces where conversations turn into ideas, which then turn into action. We are the drivers - not just at the polling booth, every few years, but in the choices we make every day in what we buy, what we eat, the language we use, the ideas we share, the comments we make, and the connections we make across the world."
>>> "So much of the groundwork for change is done simply through human creativity, joy, and a willingness to consider future and parallel worlds. The BBC made the show {Doctor Who}, and we watched it, and in a small way - while we were at play, while we were happy - the world was changed."
Some random quotes:
>>> "I started to think, 'Maybe there's something to learn here. Maybe you don't need to be the 'right' kind of person to write about big things. Maybe anyone thoughtful, and making an effort, can contribute to the debate. Maybe there are thousands of us who are not thinking, and not writing, and not talking - just because we think we are the wrong kind of person. So - I am going to write about politics now. Firstly, because I think I should; and secondly, because I'm old enough now not to care if people think I can't. I love getting older. You might lose skin elasticity, but you also lose the amount of fucks you give. It's awesome."
>>> Milton Friedman "Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable."
>>> "There is one huge, untapped resource which would allow a light-speed jump in progress - and it's us. We are the big, obvious resource of our age...This, then, is the ultimate argument for the urgency and necessity of equality. For equality isn't some fabulous luxury we treat ourselves to when we're rich enough - the legislation and infrastructure we get round to after we secure our economies, or wrangle foreign policy. Equality isn't humanity's cashmere bed socks. It's not a present we treat ourselves to, like champagne. It's a fundamental necessity, like water."
>>> "The systems borked. The good news is, we have a billion ways to improve it. US. For we are the point of democracy. We are democracy. We are the conversation. We are the climate. We set the tone - we make the spaces where conversations turn into ideas, which then turn into action. We are the drivers - not just at the polling booth, every few years, but in the choices we make every day in what we buy, what we eat, the language we use, the ideas we share, the comments we make, and the connections we make across the world."
>>> "So much of the groundwork for change is done simply through human creativity, joy, and a willingness to consider future and parallel worlds. The BBC made the show {Doctor Who}, and we watched it, and in a small way - while we were at play, while we were happy - the world was changed."
teerah's review against another edition
3.0
Not her best. There was a tendency to introduce really thought-provoking ideas and then abruptly cut the chapter short and move on to something else.
nightingfae's review
4.0
4.5
I've given it 4.5 stars because it was published in 2016 and some things are a bit out of time, now. But this woman is my idol and I want her to rule the world and fix it.
Go. Read. Her. She's the best.
I've given it 4.5 stars because it was published in 2016 and some things are a bit out of time, now. But this woman is my idol and I want her to rule the world and fix it.
Go. Read. Her. She's the best.
spiderfelt's review
5.0
I ❤️ Caitlin Moran. Full stop.
These essays are funny and clever. When Moran dips into politics, her ideas are bright, refreshing and thought provoking, if often pie-in-the-sky dreamy. I've been walking around with Caitlin in my head (thanks to jean pockets and headphones) for several days straight, and could listen to her for several more.
These essays are funny and clever. When Moran dips into politics, her ideas are bright, refreshing and thought provoking, if often pie-in-the-sky dreamy. I've been walking around with Caitlin in my head (thanks to jean pockets and headphones) for several days straight, and could listen to her for several more.
niaemt's review
1.0
Disappointed to find that a lot of these essays were essays from Moran’s online journalism which I’d already read.
Finding feminism of this genre to be rather self-serving at this point, lacks intersectional perspective which is central to modern feminism.
Finding feminism of this genre to be rather self-serving at this point, lacks intersectional perspective which is central to modern feminism.