How to Be a Woman - Caitlin Moran

Review by Coll
4 Stars

So I decided to read this book because it was the chosen one for April for Emma Watson’s Goodreads group, Our Shared Shelf. I became incredibly curious about it after seeing the numerous comments that popped up on the thread announcing the book. Some people were excited to read it, but a good many were up in arms about the book, asking for it to be changed to something else. It was obvious to me that many people were offended by the book and I was interested to see what my feeling on it would be.

Caitlin Moran wears many hats; she is an English journalist, author, and broadcaster.  She is definitely someone who is not afraid to say what is on their mind and she often does it in a comedic and explicit way. How to Be a Woman is a nonfiction book that is a mix of feminism, memoir, and humor. Moran uses her personal experiences and relates them to issues women face every day such as sexism, objectification, abortion and reproductive choices, sex, and many preconceived notions that the world holds about women that are untrue in many cases. I found it very refreshing to hear someone speak in such a blunt and forthright way about so many topics that are often deemed to be touchy subjects. To me it was nice to read the words of a woman who was basically saying “Fuck no, you can’t tell me who I should be or what I can and can’t do.” 

I want to point out that although the book is titled How to Be a Woman, do not take the title literally, which some people have seemed to. At no point is Moran instructing you on “how to be a woman”, and she even says something to that effect in the postscript.  What she is doing is relating her life to the presumption of what a woman has been, and often still is, expected to be, and then tying it all together with her opinion on the matter.
I will not deny that Moran is crude in her writing and curses, A LOT. She is also very blunt and brutally honest, and I, for one, really loved that about the book. I am not sure if it is because I was raised in Jersey and now live in Brooklyn so I am used to crude vernacular, but the language did not bother me one bit. I think it added to the humor of the book and was another level of not acting like a “woman” because she was cursing up a storm. I found it to be refreshing. :-)

The chapters in this book are not meant to apply to everyone, nor are Moran’s opinions meant to apply to everyone. I think that when reading this book it is important to keep in mind that it is an opinionated piece, full of her personal experiences and thoughts. No one is saying you have to believe or agree with everything she says, but she does make some very good points. I took the book for what it was worth and found it interesting, humorous, and insightful at times. Yes, there were some things I did not agree with, but then I am sure not everyone agrees with my opinions either, nor do I expect them to.

All in all I really did enjoy this book and thought it was a fun read, and I am glad Emma chose it for the book club. I learned some things and often found the book very relatable, I felt a little empowered by it, and of course it made me laugh at times which is a plus. I do recommend reading How to Be a Woman, but I also recommend not going into it thinking Moran is trying to guide or advise you on how to actually be a woman, or that you need to agree with all her views. After all, isn’t that supposed to be the beauty of the world, everyone having his or her own opinion? Sometimes I think we all tend to forget that.

“I’m neither “pro-women” nor “anti-men.” I’m just “Thumbs up for the six billion.”

Interested in How to Be a Woman? Check it out on Goodreads.