Book Review: How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

Let's cut to the chase. Everyone, male and female, needs to read this book. In How to Be a Woman, Caitlin Moran takes an incredibly (seemingly) complicated issue (feminism and female identity) and makes it almost unbearably simple. She sums it up in two short questions:

"Do you have a vagina? Do you want to be in charge of it?"

It can, apparently, be that simple. 

Through an  honest, emotional, and hilarious recounting of her own life, compared with strong, well-researched analyses of the female plight, Moran creates the image of a world in which women can just be women--and still be successful. Where it isn't a "man's world" or a "woman's world" but just "the world". She refers to humanity as a whole as "The Guys"; a group that everyone should be a part of, equally,without putting gender specifications on behavior, looks, and social niches.

"...the purpose of feminism isn't to make a particular type of woman. The idea that there are... inherently right 'types' of women is what's screwed feminism for so long..."

This is not the stereotypical "man-hating", strong-armed feminist prose. Moran presents a view of feminism where women don't have to hate men, where they can, in fact, enjoy the company of men. Enjoy things like shoes, and makeup, and sex. Moran's brand of feminism is not waging a war, it is issuing a detente under which the sexes can collaborate and enjoy the best of all possible worlds. Where sexuality is genuinely celebrated, not exploited or used for gain. Where people as a whole are allowed to make their own decisions about their own lives and say, "This is me!" without fear of censure from their peers. She specifies of course, that this does not mean being nice to everyone, or liking everybody all the time. Which will come as a relief to men and women alike.

Here is a thoughtful probing of accepted conventions of both feminism and anti-feminism, explaining with as much objectivity as possible why each camp is flawed, why we as a society are too obsessed with categorizing each other, and why women are sometimes their own worst enemy in their fight for liberation.

"In the 21st century, it can't be about who we might make, and what they might do, anymore. It has to be about who we are, and what we're going to do."

With wit, wisdom, and an outrageously simple plan for the success of the female gender, Moran creates what will inevitably become the new guidebook for young women everywhere looking for their place in the world and a reassuring treatise for women who have been fighting the good fight for years.

Do you have a vagina? It doesn't matter. You should read this book, discuss this book, devour this book as soon as possible.