How to Be a Woman audiobook

iiiiiiii looooooved thiiiiis sooooooo muuuuuuuchhhh omgggggggg.No but really. It's the thing everyone says, but this book is full of so many "omg! i feel that way too!" over and over and over again. I felt so understood and so together with Caitlin Moran and was so thankful to have this collection of frank and honest thoughts on being a lady today. Some people might even use the word "empowering".

If you have even slight feminist beliefs, or if you are a woman who wants your eyes opened, sensibilities shocked, and then laugh your ass off, this is the book. I read Bossypants, which I love, but Caitlin Moran's strong feminist words were so inspiring to me, and just MADE SENSE. I might not have agreed with everything, but I was certainly amused and entertained the whole time. Definitely an auto-biography worth reading, dude or gal! And it's really dirty in parts, she talks about things you NEVER thought people would bring up. Too good!

Let me be clear from the outset: I am a Feminist. Yes, I might have a willy, but I believe very firmly in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. To be honest, the issue for me lies with those who do NOT believe in this. If anything, we should stop talking so much about 'feminism' and spend more time heaping shame on those idiot men (and women) who continue to believe that a woman's place is in the home, or a strip club, or behind a secretary's desk. If we were all feminists by default, then gender equality would become less of a choice, and the sceptics would be shown for what they are - a bunch of arserags.Having said all this, perhaps the reason more people refuse to identify as feminists is because of the crazy ideas held by the more militant branch of feminists. I've heard of women claiming that all heterosexual sex is rape. Some are choosing to raise their child as 'genderless', allowing their child to 'choose their gender' identity when they reach their teenage years. More still argue that you're 'waging war on women' unless you completely support all the ideas and demands of their 'modern feminist' movement. Also, Lena Dunham. And the word 'mansplaining'.That's why this book was such a breath of fresh air. Moran isn't looking to wage a war against men. For her, feminism is not an 'us versus them' thing. For her, it's simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy and smug they might be. It's a stripped-back feminism. Feminism made simple. And it's something that we should all embrace without question.

Because life is too short to feel guilty about not being a perfect woman. Let’s get real.Caitlin Moran is wicked funny and painfully, awkwardly truthful in this book. Rather than harp on the theoretical implications of modern feminism, Moran skips the arguments and says simply, “Feminism is having a vagina and wanting to be in charge of it.” Ding ding!She manages to address the horrors of childbirth and the joys of parenting, the conundrum of naming of vaginas, and the unnecessary discomfort of women hiring domestic help – all with a deft hand and abundant use of italics. As an added bonus, you’ll learn a fair amount of confounding British slang. A girlfriend gave me this book, and I continue to pass it forward. I wonder what amazingness would occur if every girl received this book on her 15th birthday? We could all save ourselves so much time, effort and angst! Read this book now, then give it away.“No one has ever claimed for a moment that childless men have missed out on a vital aspect of their existence, and were the poorer, and crippled by it. Da Vinci, Van Gough, Newton, Faraday, Plato, Aquinas, Beethoven, Handel, Kant, Hume, Jesus. They all seem to have managed [childlessness] quite well.”

Everyone--men and women--should read this. I'm a dude and I didn't, like, grow a vagina or anything. So it's safe.

Feminists have been moaning about why women (and men) hesitate to label themselves as feminists these days. And rightly so. It makes no sense for women (or men) to be nervous about being pro-gender equality. I have a theory about that, which fits with both this book's assertions and many of the negative reviews of it here on goodreads. A lot of "traditional" feminists have this reputation for being aggressive, judgmental, and overly serious. Who wants to hang out with someone who is likely to find fault with everything you do, everything you say, and every opinion you hold? Militant feminists can be a minefield, making you feel like an enemy to your gender for wearing kitten heels, or for refusing to wear kitten heels. The rules keep changing!But Caitlin Moran, on the other hand, leaves all the strident in her feminism, without all the militant. This brand of feminism is fine with you wearing kitten heels, or with you refusing to wear kitten heels, so long as you made the decision for your own happiness, and not to satisfy the happiness of others. This brand of feminism makes it clear that healthy women love men, even if they don't love love men. It takes back the idea that independent, modern feminists can be funny, silly, and can make fun of our idiosyncrasies. We don't have to be all dour and glum, muttering about The Man all the time. These are feminists you want to hang out with, and be associated with. These are the feminists who make you happy to get up on a chair and shout "I am a strident feminist!" with.Plus, this book made me snort-laugh a few times. Always a good sign.

I finished this book over a week ago, but then promptly packed up to go visit my grandmother, and was nowhere near a computer. My grandmother turned 95 on Friday. She's a pretty remarkable woman. There's a story that is told in women's history circles, about the classic assignment to go interview your grandmother, and how everyone comes back, convinced that their grandmother was a "feminist," whether or not their grandmother would have agreed with that assessment. Everyone's grandmother seems to be more opinionated, stronger, and more capable than they were expecting, and that translates in their heads, into "feminist."Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

Part memoir, part rant, this is my second Moran read and yet again she's left me feeling inspired and empowered, determined to be just a little bit better at being me.

3.5 rounded up

4.5 This was hilarious, breezy and relatable. There's no dry academic feminism talk to be found anywhere.Personal anecdotes and stories serve as launching pads to discuss feminist issues ranging from motherhood to abortion, sexism, weddings, plastic surgeries and so on.Having Moran herself read the book was like having a chat between the girls over a glass of wine or two. She's funny, swears a lot, and is unapologetic. I dig her! I'll have to get my hands on her latest book on the dreaded M.

Two caveats:One: At times, Moran misses the opportunity to connect the feminist needs and experiences of hetero women to the feminist needs and experiences of GLBTQAI, minority communities, and other groups of people to whom the female experience is infinitely parallel.Two: I straight-up disagree with her on at least two major points. But the thing is, her arguments for those two points were not ones I'd heard before. They made me think about issues in genuinely new ways. And I spend a LOT of time thinking about these things. She's a fresh and incisive intellect. But in general, this book had a great balance of anecdote and analysis, alternating milk-out-your-nose-funny stories of booze and underpants with cogent analyses of the current Western State of Affairs. A great read.

I remember seeing the cover of this book and wondering: Who is this Caitlin Moran person, and why should I care about her being a woman?Well it turns out she is quite a big deal in the UK, where she wrote a novel at 15, became a music journalist for the weekly Melody Maker at 16 and briefly hosted a Channel 4 pop culture show called Naked City at 18 before embarking on a long career as a TV critic and satirical columnist for The Times.In fact, while visiting the UK last fall, I saw one of her columns in that paper (I think I only read real newspapers when I’m visiting somewhere else) and thought: Aha! And I was hooked.So when this book popped up at the library I thought: Why not? And I listened along to the audio version, which turned out to be a good decision. Her exuberant, fierce personality comes through – in both her prose and voice. (I have yet to see her on TV or onstage, but I have a feeling she’d be just as exciting.)How To Be A Woman is a lively, smart and thoroughly entertaining memoir about growing up in a semi-hippie-ish large family (seven kids!) in a council house in Wolverhampton, England, surviving bullying and being called fat (by a bloke she had a crush on, no less), learning about boys, sex, coming to terms with her body (including what to call her lady parts), falling in love (with the wrong guy, oh was he ever the wrong guy), experiencing sexism, conducting some bizarre interviews (there’s a chapter set in a strip club), finding the right guy, getting married (oh that wedding sounded horrible) and having kids but understanding why you might not want to have them, too.Whew.Also included are some shots at footballers’ wives and Katie Price, British things that made me scratch my head (although I think I can imagine their North American equivalents).Moran’s a gifted, naturally funny writer with strong and persuasive opinions that come from her 40-odd years of life. (She’s packed a lot in.) Chapters have sassy, intentionally bad headline titles like “I Am Fat!” or “I Get Into Fashion!” to go with the book’s tongue-in-cheek overall title, which seems both a proud declaration of feminism and a send-up of the kind of self-help titles marketed mainly to women.What’s especially intriguing about the writing is you’ll begin a chapter on one thing and then take a detour to somewhere equally fascinating. The section on menstruation (“I Start Bleeding!”), for instance, soon becomes a hilarious and refreshingly honest look at her sexual awakening, via Jilly Cooper novels, Chevy Chase movies (!!!) and the complete oeuvre of Jenny Agutter. That, in turn, leads to an intelligent and passionate discussion about porn.And while Moran can be wildly funny and chatty, she’s dealing with serious issues. Her chapter on feminism should be required reading for all human beings. And a section about delivering her first child is painfully, almost excruciatingly, honest and real.Even her analyses of pop culture figures like Madonna vs. Lady Gaga are filled with smart cultural insights.As with any book like this, there’s a bit of repetition, and some topics will appeal to some readers more than others. I sort of glossed over her section on women’s clothes, for instance. But after reading Moran on the hell that is the high heel, you have my sympathies, women.The book ends with a discussion of getting older and touches on things like plastic surgery. I look forward to reading Moran chronicle the second half of her life, hard-earned wrinkles and all.In the meantime, I’m buying copies of this book for my two nieces.

Synopsis1913 – 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. SCREAM! I loved this book, it is like spending an evening with your new, very funny/very clever,best friend.This is a gloriously funny, witty memoir that will have you snorting with laughter within 5 mins. Let's be honest it is not going to become a academic tome of feminist philosophy but underneath all the jokes is a 'short, sharp feminist agenda'. Be happy in yourself and women stop falling for the lies the world tells us about what it is to be a woman - and as a result, start having a good time. ENDOV!!"Because if all of the stories in this book add up to one single revelation, it is this: to just...not really give a shit about all that stuff. To not care about all those supposed 'problems' of being a woman. To refuse to see them as problems at all. Yes - when I had my massive feminist awakening, the action it provoked in me was...a big shrug," says Moran

Six months ago, a memoir by a British columnist about feminism would not have caught my eye. Feminism (in this country, anyway) always seemed unnecessary to me, something that had been capably handled by the previous generation and no longer required much thought. This attitude no doubt stemmed from my having spent the majority of my life in progressive liberal communities and primarily self-employed, vaguely aware of that nagging gender pay gap but never having felt personally affected by it.Then came Elevatorgate, an explosion of misogyny hurled at women in the skeptical community who had dared express opinions on how they would like to be treated at conferences. This fire was fueled by an astonishing display of patriarchal density from no less than the esteemed Richard Dawkins, causing me to think maybe this equality thing wasn't quite as well handled as I'd assumed.Not long after, I heard about this book. I was still a little unsure about the whole feminist thing, but an affably written and funny memoir about it seemed like an accessible place to start.And funny this book is. Moran has all the key qualities of a skilled memoirist - she's a fantastic storyteller, witty, self-depricating and insightful in all the right ways. She also has a conveniently nutty family she is skilled at exploiting for comedic gain. She can often be over the top, but in the way of that loud but utterly charming woman you find yourself glad you are sitting next to in a bar.She is also extremely blunt and pulls no punches as she traces her own development into womanhood and her ham-handed attempts to figure it out along the way. Moran's chapter on the sudden arrival of her own body hair segues into a graphic discussion of the modern industrial porn industry and its dramatic impact on currently acceptable standards of female grooming. I was so appalled by what I learned from this chapter I wanted to buy a copy of this book for every teenaged girl I know to inoculate them against the apparently pervasive idea that the Brazilian is now mandatory for all women.Her chapter on falling in love, on the other hand, surprised me with a very personal insight into an early romance that was primarily conducted inside my head. I thought I had manufactured this relationship because of the distance between us, but reading Moran's accounting of an imaginary relationship she had with a man who shared her flat and her speculations as to why women are so skilled at this kind of mental romance was quite thought provoking for me.It was when she started talking about shoes, however, that the visceral, yeah we still got a ways to go on that feminism front hit me in the gut. I am utterly baffled that strip club footwear has become the standard for women of fashionable tastes, as the increasing popularity of these towering torture chambers strikes me as something that can in no possible way be considered a step forward for women.Moran shares my disdain and takes her own into the strip club itself, painting it as a kind of grotesque revival of a minstrel show that has some how slipped past the PC sensors.Her opinions on the sex industry - while boldly stated - are not always easy to pin down, however. Strip clubs are bad, but burlesque, which she argues provides a woman substantially more power of self-expression, is okay. She has no problem with the concept of pornography itself, but derides what she refers to as "industrial" porn, that classic set-up in which the woman can at best be described as disinterested, and why would she be any other way when her personal satisfaction is clearly not the point of that standard shot. This is the classroom in which our children are learning about sex now, and Moran is rightly adamant about the need for additional education into what sex looks like when the woman is actually having a good time.Moran's particular talent in this book is taking the challenges of everyday womanhood - underwear, grooming, love, motherhood, career, abortion, plastic surgery and failed princess fantasies - and using them as doorways into what feminism means today. I don't agree with her on everything, and I think there are places where her ideas are less well thought out than others. More than any book I've read in a long time, however, she got me thinking. That she was able to do that while simultaneously making me laugh was impressive.The cover of this book has a quote describing it as the British version of Bossypants, but I don't think that's accurate. Tina Fey's awesome memoir gave me great insight into Tina Fey's life. This book, on the other hand, repeatedly gave me real insight into my own. I'm not sure I'll be running around labeling myself a strident feminist anytime soon, but I already feel a little freer having read this book.

Loved this book! It's so great to read a book that's touted to be funny and is actually funny. Moran also has a realistic and down-to-earth take on Feminism and being a Feminist that doesn't presume that there's some secret conspiracy of the patriarchy to keep women down. A terribly clever and likable writer.

I'm not sure this is a review so much as a need to address how this book has been interpreted. It made a lot of women laugh and feel inspired, but I understand it also made a lot of women really angry... Now I should start with a disclaimer: I have been told I am a bad feminist for wearing skirts and makeup and for liking to cook for my husband. That strikes me as really funny and intellectually lazy, but that might just be me. I bet the people who passed this judgement will feel vindicated when they learn that I enjoyed "How to Be a Woman", since this book contains broad generalizations about both genders' behaviors and lacks objectivity about some of the topics addressed.I laughed as I read and highlighted many hilarious and surprisingly deep passages in my copy. Like Moran, I like sex, I hate double-standards (her “would the guys put up with this shit?” method to detect sexism sounds simplistic, but it really IS that simple when you think about it), I think weddings are pure insanity and I get incredibly irritated at people who throw the word “feminism” around without understanding it. This book manages to be crass and clever at the same time, and there’s some really interesting food for thought in here. Of course, if you are a PhD in gender studies, you will learn nothing new here. You might also not be Moran’s target audience…This book is not an academic gender study, it is not a self-help book: it's a 300-or-so-pages comedic opinion piece. This book is like sitting down with someone even more dirty-minded and foul-mouthed than me, having a few scotches and talking about their experience as a woman in a world that is not really built for women. This book is the written equivalent of that tipsy, giggly girls-night-in rant about masturbatory habits, waxing, having babies (or not), the absurdities of the wedding industry, etc.Just like in those gin-fueled evenings, there are some moments of wonderful insight in this book. I finished some passages laughing out loud and overcome with an urge to get up on my couch and shout "Can I get an amen!" at my stupefied cat. There were stories I related to, anecdotes that made me think of my own experiences slightly differently and others that just made me cringe. And again, like a drunken ladies’ night in, there’s a lot of ridiculous things in this book: but I can’t believe I have to point out they shouldn’t be taken too seriously…All that to say that depending on your personal view of feminism and experiences (and let's face it, your level of tolerance for gross and politically incorrect humor), you will either enjoy "How to Be a Woman" or you will hate Caitlin Moran's guts and find her super annoying. I kinda like her, and not only because she makes me sound positively prim by comparison, but because she is outspoken and opinionated, something I find to be sorely lacking in too many women of all age groups. It didn't agree with everything that she said, but I very much appreciate that she had the guts to say it, write it and get it published. I feel that a clever reader will be able to form is own opinion from Moran’s writing - and take some and leave some.If you like Amy Schumer and Jim Jeffries’ humour, you’ll probably enjoy “How to Be a Woman”. If you are a dude and are interested in the weird and occasionally icky things that are part of women’s daily realities, you should check this out. Or if you simply want to learn some new and graphic British slang, this is the book for you! 3 and half stars, rounded to 4.