Caitlin Moran is the author of the funny and inspiring feminist book "How To Be A Woman". She combines humour, autobiographic parts with her theories about sexism and how to overcome it. If you haven't read How To Be A Woman yet, you should! I read it this summer while traveling and caused quite some confusion on planes, busses and in the hostel because I couldn't stop laughing. I would have never thought that a book about feminism can be so unbelievably funny. I can agree with almost everything she says, we have a very similar view on feminism. Caitlin Moran's theories and comments are always spot on and simply amazingly written so I thought I'd do a little post to share some of my favourite quotes from the book with you:
“We need to reclaim the word 'feminism'. We need the word 'feminism'
back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29% of American
women would describe themselves as feminist - and only 42% of British
women - I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What
part of 'liberation for women' is not for you? Is it freedom to vote?
The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal
pay? 'Vogue' by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR
NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY?”
“I cannot understand anti-abortion arguments that centre on the sanctity
of life. As a species we've fairly comprehensively demonstrated that
we don't believe in the sanctity of life. The shrugging acceptance of
war, famine, epidemic, pain and life-long poverty shows us that,
whatever we tell ourselves, we've made only the most feeble of efforts
to really treat human life as sacred.”
"I realised that it’s technically impossible for a woman to argue against
feminism. Without feminism, you wouldn’t be allowed to have a debate on
women’s place in society. You’d be too busy giving birth on the kitchen
floor - biting down on a wooden spoon, so as not to disturb the men’s
card game - before going back to quick-liming the dunny. This is why
those female columnists in the Daily Mail - giving daily wail against
feminism - amuse me. They paid you £1,600 for that, dear, I think. And I
bet it’s going in your bank account, and not your husband’s. The more
women argue loudly, against feminism, the more they both prove it exists
and that they enjoy its hard-won privileges.”
“What is feminism? 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. Are you a feminist? Hahaha. Of course you are.”
“It's difficult to see the glass ceiling because it's made of glass.
Virtually invisible. What we need is for more birds to fly above it and
shit all over it, so we can see it properly.”
“For throughout history, you can read the stories of women who - against
all the odds - got being a woman right, but ended up being compromised,
unhappy, hobbled or ruined, because all around them, society was still
wrong. Show a girl a pioneering hero - Sylvia Plath, Dorothy Parker,
Frida Kahlo, Cleopatra, Boudicca, Joan of Arc - and you also, more often
than not, show a girl a woman who was eventually crushed.”
And finally:
“Any action a woman engages in from a spirit of joy, and within a
similarly safe and joyous environment, falls within the city-walls of
feminism. A girl has a right to dance how she wants, when her favourite
record comes on.”
What do you think about those quotes? Are you interested in feminism? Have you read Caitlin Moran?
Have a great day,
The Countess
I've read this book and given it as a present to friends. It's one of the best things I've read this year and certainly made me feel better about being a woman! Here's to feminism! *raises glass of absinthe*
ReplyDeleteIt's a very good present to give to friends, I intent to force it onto all of my friends too! So far it still is the best thing I have read this year, I think but I am reading On The Road at the moment and that could become my number one... Here's to being a woman!
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