Book Review: How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

I wish I had this book as a teenager. Then maybe I would have been kinder to myself and understood a thing or two about my physic. We have too many taboos we don’t speak about, and when growing up, it seems insurmountable to ask someone what the crit is happening to my body and is this normal. It’s not only about body changes, but it is also about who you are, what you are about to come, and it is okay to be the way you are. I sometimes wonder why those questions are so difficult, making precious those who are courageous enough to say them aloud for others to feel relieved. We should speak more about our own insecurities, so we would notice that almost all humans ask the same questions and if they don’t, I’m sure they are aliens in disguise.

What I am trying to say here, that Caitlin Moran speaking about her becoming a woman and her journey to herself is a valuable way to show to those who come after her that we are all flawed, that it is okay to flounder, and yes, hair grows in funny places, and no you don’t have to shave it, (if you don’t want to.) While I couldn’t relate to some of her issues what women are supposed to be and what is okay behavior as I grew up in a household with a strong mother who was raised by even a stronger mother who thought women could do anything they set their minds into, (making me never even glance towards high heels), I think Caitlin Moran raises important misconceptions of womanhood. Not all have to want babies. Feminism doesn’t mean hating men. And you don’t have to shop if you don’t want to. It’s okay to buy new clothes once every millennium.

I listened to the book, and I enjoyed myself despite not learning anything new about me being a woman or others being one. As I wrote in the beginning, I would have needed this book in my teens, but now in my thirties, I have a pretty clear picture who I want to be, who I am, and that is okay not to wear heels, and not giving a hoot what Caitlin Moran thinks about cargo pants and Christina Hendricks.