BOOK REVIEW: How To Be a Woman

How To Be a Woman – Caitlin Moran

Reviewer: Sarah Graham

A far cry from the “humourless feminist” stereotype, Caitlin Moran’s How To Be a Woman is a hilariously entertaining introduction to feminist issues in the lives of modern women.

Moran’s memoir opens with her awkward fat, thirteen year old self, dressed in men’s clothes, running from bullies and struggling to come to terms with the onset of puberty and what it means to be a woman. She writes frankly and vividly about her first experiences of masturbation, periods, body hair and boobs (and the all-important dilemma of what to name them!) Addressing the issues so many of us struggle with but so few of us talk about, Moran questions the received knowledge that being a woman is really all about Brazilian waxes, painfully high heels and tiny knickers. Her ultimate gauge for sexism is “are the boys doing it?” and it turns out that in many cases they are not. Why then, she asks, should women be hairless, skinny sex objects just because the pornography, fashion and beauty industries teach us that’s how to be a woman? 

As she meanders through her memories – from teenage girl to married mother of two – Moran addresses more serious feminist issues: lap-dancing, sexism in the work place, fat, weddings, parenthood and abortion. She provides serious food for thought on the marriage questions which preoccupy so many heterosexual feminists and writes extremely openly about miscarrying her first pregnancy and the traumatic birth of her first daughter. By far the most moving, touchingly human part of the book is Moran’s writing on abortion. As is her style, she is astonishingly up-front about her experience of terminating an unplanned pregnancy, her reasons for doing so and her unconditional support for the right of all women to do likewise.

Described as The Female Eunuch rewritten from a bar stool, How To Be a Woman is a tipsy rant against a society in which women are still fighting for true equality. I don’t totally agree with Caitlin Moran on every feminist issue, any more than I agree with Germaine Greer on everything, but she is certainly successful in her mission of bringing feminism back to the mainstream. Friends who would never have called themselves feminists have read the book and raved at me about how brilliant it is – how honest and hilarious they found it, and how much it made them think. One friend loved it so much she’s now passed it on to her mum.

How To Be a Woman is not a definitive guide to feminism, or a definitive guide to being a woman – it’s the memoir of a cis-gender, heterosexual, white, middle-class, Western woman, with working class Wolverhampton roots, a well-established career as a journalist, a supportive husband and two young daughters. As such, there are parts which won’t be relevant to everyone and there are parts not everyone will agree on, but it’s a fun introduction to challenging the patriarchy – from the little things like stilettos, to the bigger issues like reproductive rights and the sex industry. Moran’s frankness and wit pervade the book, as they do her columns in The Times and even her tweets. Whilst it’s her humour that makes the book such an enjoyable read, it’s her honesty which is most refreshing. Caitlin Moran alone is unable to represent all women or provide all the answers, but she does highlight the need for us – like the consciousness raising groups of the Second Wave – to be more honest about our struggles, both as women and as feminists.

Sarah Graham is a feminist, an aspiring journalist and a fourth year English and French student at the University of Warwick. She blogs on women's issues at petitefeministe and on Huffington Post UK. You can follow her on Twitter @petitefeministe.