How to Be a Woman Caitlin Moran

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.

I didn't know Caitlin Moran before and after reading very opposing reviews about the book I decided to read it. I think sometimes a "love or hate" book can be very interesting and can show me different points of view of life. This was the first book I've ever read by Caitlin Moran.

The book is mainly an auto-biography that highlights in each chapter one aspect of her life. Say, puberty, relationships, marriage, work, children, abortion, fashion. The book is written almost as a very informal conversation, that gave me the impression of reading a transcript from a talk.

I enjoyed her direct and fun way of discussing these topics. I do not completely agree with her opinions, but in general I could relate with some of the situations she describes in the book. I am Brazilian and there are many regional references I actually didn't understand, obviously, because she has a different background than mine.

But aside from cultural differences, there were common experiences addressed in the text, specially feelings, that I can relate to. I think she has a good sense of humor although sometimes I considered it too acid or too harsh.

The book brings the author's raw and personal insights about modern feminism, which may seem biased or not all-inclusive to some people. Well, I think it is biased since its her own view on the matter but by no means that spoiled the discussion raised by her.