A new way of looking at feminism from one of our funniest writers.
1913 - Suffragette throws herself under the King's horse.
1969 - Feminists storm Miss World.
NOW - Caitlin Moran rewrites The Female Eunuch from a bar stool and demands to know why pants are getting smaller.
There's never been a better time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain...
Why are we supposed to get Brazilians?
Should you get Botox?
Do men secretly hate us?
What should you call your vagina?
Why does your bra hurt?
And why does everyone ask you when you're going to have a baby?
Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin Moran answers these questions and more in How To Be a Woman - following her from her terrible 13th birthday ('I am 13 stone, have no friends, and boys throw gravel at me when they see me') through adolescence, the workplace, strip-clubs, love, fat, abortion, TopShop, motherhood and beyond.
About the Author
Caitlin Moran had literally no friends in 1990, and so had plenty of time to write her first novel, The Chronicles of Narmo, at the age of fifteen. At sixteen she joined music weekly, Melody Maker, and at eighteen briefly presented the pop show 'Naked City' on Channel 4. Following this precocious start she then put in eighteen solid years as a columnist on The Times - both as a TV critic and also in the most-read part of the paper, the satirical celebrity column 'Celebrity Watch' - winning the British Press Awards' Columnist of The Year award in 2010 and Critic and Interviewer of the Year in 2011. The eldest of eight children, home-educated in a council house in Wolverhampton, Caitlin read lots of books about feminism - mainly in an attempt to be able to prove to her brother, Eddie, that she was scientifically better than him. Caitlin isn't really her name. She was christened 'Catherine'. But she saw 'Caitlin' in a Jilly Cooper novel when she was 13 and thought it looked exciting. That's why she pronounces it incorrectly: 'Catlin'. It causes trouble for everyone.
Industry Reviews
I adore, admire and - more - am addicted to Caitin Moran's writing * Nigella Lawson *
I have been waiting for this book my whole life * Claudia Winkleman *
This might just be the funniest intelligent book ever written .. Moran's work packs a feminist punch in a way that Germaine Greer and an entire army of female eunuchs could never do, because she writes about things we've all done, thought, and said - but not quite so eloquently...the book everyone will be talking about * Stylist *
Moran's writing sparkles with wit and warmth. Like the confidences of your smartest friend * Simon Pegg *
It would almost be unkind to call this an important book, because what it mostly is is engaging, brave and consistently, cleverly naughtily funny, but actually it is important that we talk about this stuff -- Katy Guest * Independent on Sunday *
Humour and common sense make Moran's redefining of what it means to be a feminist as readable as it is essential * Elle *
Spectacular! Very, very funny, moving and revealing * Jonathan Ross *
It is so brilliant ... it deserves to be read more than once -- Emma Watson
A must read for all humans, this -- Dave Sexton * Evening Standard *
The book EVERY woman should read * Grazia *
A witty and bold account of modern womanhood ... she is a genuinely original talent -- Germaine Greer * The Times *
Hilarious * Heat *
Very, very funny...however, if you are female and particularly if you are a female under the age of 30, then, tucked around the jokes, Moran has provided you with a short, sharp, feminist manifesto. -- Miranda Sawyer * Observer *
Addictive stuff and extremely funny -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *
I loved How to be a Woman so much that, during the two days it took me to read, I couldn't bear to be parted from it; like a best friend you can't stop gossiping with. * Sunday Express *
I devoured How to Be A Woman in one sitting...this is the book that frustrated boyfriends have wanted someone...to write for decades -- Dan Stevens * The Times *
Anarchic, bonkers 21st century woman's lib with laughs * Red *
Moran is a clever, cheery companionable voice of sanity and How to Be A Woman is a laugh-aloud call to arms * Metro *
This brilliantly argued and urgently needed book - highly comic and deadly serious - is precisely what feminism has been waiting for * TLS *
Ingeniously funny....In her brilliant, original voice, Moran successfully entertains and enlightens her audience with hard-won wisdom and wit....She doesn't politicize feminism; she humanizes it. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
