How to be a woman

I feel like many people misunderstood this book. I see a lot of angry rant reviews on here of people complaining about Moran being a privileged white faux feminist, and I get where they come from. I have no knowledge about Moran other than what I read in this book, but still I would like to defend this book a little bit. Simply because I think it can be good if you don’t have any expectations of it.

It’s not a manifesto and the word should NOT have been on the fucking cover. Because the book, had it been intended as a satirical telling of the life of a Western ‘quirky’ (or whatever) woman, it would’ve just been a funny read. She wrote from her own perspective and that was entertaining. She should not have turned her own perspective into a feminist manifesto because she doesn’t acknowledge other perspectives in this book well enough. She discussed valid points but because of the amount of humor and trivial shit it almost felt like she was ridiculing the bigger issues. As if the solution the sexism and misogyny is for women to just do whatever they want.

I laughed a lot while reading this though. Moran is a brilliant writer and I enjoyed the book a lot. Let’s just not expect this book to be revolutionary and let’s not compare this book to great groundbreaking feminist work because that’s just not what this book is. This book is meant for Western women (who also identify as such) to read with a cup of tea and laugh hysterically at the ridiculousness of life as such a woman. For my mother, this book was a good way to make her laugh and also make her realize how much sexism she has experienced in her life and how much of a feminist she really is. My mother doesn’t read much and also doesn’t enjoy ‘heavier’ non-fiction. For her, this book was perfect.
If that’s all you expect from it, you’ll have a great time and enjoy this book. If you expect to read a strong, intellectual, intersectional feminist piece of literature, this is not it.

first off, this book is 10 years old and the author was 35yo when she wrote it so maybe it would have spoken to me when it was fresh, and society had sort of turned their back on the need for feminism? instead, for me, it's a collection of things a woman is supposed to care about (clothes, expensive bags, unwanted hair, how to tame your breasts) but I don't. She's a columnist so it's no surprise each chapter could be a standalone article, and humor is obviously a part of her appeal. unfortunately, when humor is involved, you can reiterate topics or use lists to drive home a punch line but it's also an excellent way to extend your word count while not adding to your premise (but again, this should not come as a surprise as there's backpage recommend from Jenny Lawson and she's another one who could use an editor.)

there is a unifying structure in the first 7/8th of the book with enthusiastic titles of: I Get Fill-in-the-Blank! which is effective when it's a 13yo's lens, not so much when you're in your 20s. The final eighth of the book breaks the title pattern and tries to get serious with 3 chapters on birthing children (too dismissive of traumatic births), choosing to be childless (the most inane since she can't relate) and abortion (the strongest entry). Mostly though, it screams "Someone gave me a book deal so whatever" and she used her opportunity to spice up her childhood, brag about her dorky yet cool youth, and declare adult opinions that I'll bet have shifted alongside the culture. When you're an "It girl", you must keep up.
(But it won't be enough... I give her 'till 2025 when she'll be scrubbed from view. hers, mine -our - generation has outstayed its welcome)