Saturday, August 18, 2012

My New Hero: Caitlin Moran

I finished Caitlin Moran's book How To Be a Woman and she is officially my new hero. :)


Quote on the back cover, "Caitlin Moran taught me more about being a woman than being a woman did.  I'm pretty sure I had testicles before I read this book." - Jenny Lawson, author of Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)

I'd already purchased the book when I saw this, but it made me want to read it even more.


"I am a feminist!"



Of the multitudinous good points made by Caitlin Moran throughout her book I really like her views of feminism.  In addition to the quote in the NPR story where I first heard about this book, the following quote makes me laugh:

"So here is a quick way of working out if you're a feminist.  Put your hand in your underpants.  a) Do you have a vagina? and b) Do you want to be in charge of it?  If you said "yes" to both, then congratulations! You're a feminist."



In a world where reproductive rights are threatened, pay inequality persists, glass ceilings exist, and sexism overtly and covertly pervades the day to day we need more people to stand up and shout, "I AM A FEMINIST!"

"I don't want men to go away.  I don't want men to stop what they're doing.  What I want, instead, are some radical market forces.  I want CHOICE. I want VARIETY. I want MORE. I want WOMEN.  I want women to have more of the world, not just because it would be fairer, but because it would be better.  More exciting.  Reordered.  Reinvented.  We should have the lady-balls to say, "Yeah -- I like the look of this world.  And I've been here for a good while, watching.  Now -- here's how I'd tweak it. Because we're all in this together.  We're all just, you know.  The Guys.""

I've been a feminist for awhile, but a quiet almost embarrassed type of feminist, because who talks about feminism these days.  Her book was exactly what I needed: loud, brash, humorous, and honest.  I will forever appreciate her personal account of her abortion and her views on the subject.

So, to anyone reading, "I AM A FEMINIST". :)

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