Beastmomma

From goodreads: 

Caitlin Moran interweaves provocative observations on women's lives with laugh-out-loud funny scenes from her own, from the riot of adolescence to her development as a writer, wife, and mother. With rapier wit, Moran slices right to the truth—whether it's about the workplace, strip clubs, love, fat, abortion, popular entertainment, or children—to jump-start a new conversation about feminism. With humor, insight, and verve, How To Be a Woman lays bare the reasons why female rights and empowerment are essential issues not only for women today but also for society itself

Pages: 301 pages (Paperback)

Publisher:  Published July 17th 2012 by Harper Perennial (first published June 16th 2011)

Rating: 7 out of 10

Source: Checked out of the library multiple times

Date Completed: May 10, 2013

Everything I heard about How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran indicated that I would enjoy the book: funny, strong feminist perspective, and a quick read.  The book was picked for a book club that is no longer in existence, but I still wanted to finish the selection. When I read the prologue, I was immediately struck by the line "zero tolerance on all patriarchal bullshit."  As I dove into the first chapters, I started to struggle.  The references to pornography started to bore me.  The framework felt crass and forced. I was annoyed. 

I liked the last part of the book much better.  The chapters on sexism, marriage, fashion, why you should have children, and why you should not have children were all very good.  In those, I felt the connection between her personal observation that was filled with wit and insight to a larger structural problem.  The abortion chapter was a bit bumpy, but I appreciate the attempt to reduce stigma. 

When I first finished the book, I had more things I intended to write in my review.  As with most things these days, the details spilled from my memory and I want to check something off my never-ending to-do list.