How To Be A Woman

Caitlin Moran comes to Waterstones Leeds Wednesday 19th September to promote her new tome, ‘Moranthology.’ We seized the day to see what two blokey blokes would make of her award-winning handbook ‘How To Be A Woman’. Here ‘Book Club Boy’s Ian Street and Phil Dean attempt a CV first – a double handed book review.

Ian: So Caitlin Moran, a famous name and face but I must admit I can’t recall anything I’ve ever read by her so I was interested in finding out a bit more. I knew that she had written for the Melody Maker, but I was always an NME kid and that she writes for the Times, but I don’t read that either so I was hopeful that ‘How to be a Woman’ was going to be something new and fresh for me. My other thoughts before I even turned a page were what the book was actually going to be about, an autobiography? A polemic? A whimsy class of wine and gentle banter? Completely new take on feminism in the 21st century? I did know right from the first few pages that it was going to be funny – both funny ha ha and funny what the chuff is she going on about.

Phil: I’d heard of Caitlin Moran but if I’m honest not really read much of hers stuff. I think I’d come across her column in The Times when I used to read it. I also had a vague notion she flew the flag for feminism but I have no idea why. Oddly, as I was about to read the book I heard her on Radio 4 interviewing Jennifer Saunders and I really liked her tone, she had a warm voice full of smiles and respect for her interviewee. There was also something about her picture on the cover of the book – all manic expression – that told me this wasn’t to be a run of the mill biography.

Phil: I also have to say that I picked up the book with a little trepidation and I felt like I was about to get some deep insights into the mysterious world of the female. This is obviously tosh, but it definitely felt like I was about to get the inside track on all things womanly – and what would I make of that?

Ian: Humour plays a huge part in the book and there were several times when I found myself chuckling out loud, one time dissolving into a fit of giggles while at other points I had myself thinking blimey that’s a bit close to the knuckle, can you say that? In a chapter where discussion takes place on what to call the vagina, growing up Caitlin’s family had used the word navel, which caused much hilarity when Sarah Ferguson was going to marry a naval officer! For much of the book it rollicks along in a similar vein although I personally felt the napalm “joke” was in incredibly bad taste.

Phil: There aren’t many books that make me laugh out loud but this book was definitely one of them. Moran’s sometimes outrageous sense of humour bestrides the book like a colossus. I chortled, smirked, chuckled and hooted my way through this book and I think Ian has a point; she can’t resist making everything funny at the risk of watering down the serious points she makes. Although I have to say, the lighthearted way she delivers some very hefty topics is a skill in itself and gets them in under the literary radar.

Phil: I’d like to be able to say that Moran writes about universal truths of being female and male and there is a degree of truth in that. Whilst some of the more physical elements are clearly unique to being a woman, there are lots of parallels to be drawn with my early childhood growing up with themes like fitting in, eccentric families and a teenage obsession with the opposite sex.

Ian: The book, I feel, is essentially an autobiography but using Caitlin’s life to date to explore issues of feminism. In many respects this works really well but I could not help having huge amounts of frustration in reading it as key elements of her life that could be very interesting to all sorts of readers are simply left out. We skip from the hilariously described but undoubtedly uncomfortable early teens to three years later when at 16 she is in London working for the Melody Maker and I find myself saying – how did that happen? How did you go from the no friends outcast you describe in the first few chapters to getting that job? Then you are presenting a TV show and at 18 writing for the Times – again how did you do that? Surely there are huge lessons there for young women who may aspire to follow you, advice you could give to illuminate that incredibly difficult transition into the adult world. Why was it not included or did you simply pull the drawbridge up behind you?

Phil: I wasn’t too concerned about the lack of detail around some of these key themes although I can see why Ian makes this point. Moran just arrives in scenarios that then become a vehicle to explore themes like fashion or the workplace. It definitely felt like a meander through the high (and low) lights of her life and I can imagine she’s hugely entertaining in person because she really does know how to tell a story. I’m sure this will be the first of many – in fact I notice there’s another book around the corner.

Ian: I also found myself getting slightly frustrated by the consistent over egging of the point being made, Caitlin will come up with the point she wants to make and then illuminate this, usually, with a very funny joke or anecdote to back it up which is great but you will then get another one and another one etc which for me dilutes rather than reinforces the point being made. I’m going to make a wild assumption here that the vast majority of the people reading this book are intelligent well read people – they are going to get the point being made without the constant reinforcement. It made me wonder whether some clever camouflage was taking place – has she actually got anything to say other than saying something funny?

Phil: I think that Moran’s style is all about using the humour to make the point in a non-preachy way. She disguises hard-hitting themes with visual language liberally dosed with well-judged obscenities and plenty of CAPITAL LETTERS. The only chapter where this style wouldn’t work was Abortion and she played it very straight for all the right reasons. Having said that, there were some chapters where I got a little bored of the equal rights feminist polemic – I definitely felt when she used situations from her life as a cipher for the points she wants to make.

Ian: And yet and yet the book is heartfelt and poignant and Caitlin lays open her own feelings and experiences with a brutal and at times painful honesty. She makes countless well argued points about feminism today and I for one would be happy to stand on a chair and declare myself a feminist as challenged in one of the chapters. Confusion reigns though for me as despite what is a really great book there are elements that just gnaw at me, are there really any new solutions here? Is this simply a book that like-minded women can pick up and nod comfortably to each other as Caitlin has summed up their experiences to date? Is there enough objective criticism of the media and fashion industry, of which Caitlin is a part, and the role it plays in gender stereotyping and how it portrays body image? Is Katie Price v Lady Gaga the best way to differentiate positive role models and is Lady Gaga the best example of a female role model?

Phil: I’m not sure I feel qualified to get up on a chair and declare myself a feminist after reading this book! I do like to think I’m as enlightened as the average man (which I’m sure isn’t anywhere near as much as I should be) but this book did get me thinking about the issues women face every day without batting and eye. It got me thinking about my relationship with my wife, my daughter, my female work colleagues and friends. It made me more aware of the everyday issues women face that us men take for granted and I found myself agreeing with pretty much everything Moran wrote. That said, it seemed to me much more like a book all women should read to try and take more control of the things in their lives. In mainstream circles feminism has a bad reputation I think (Guardian reading Lesbians etc) but this book presents a modern, practical application of the ideology for the modern age.

Ian: Overall I enjoyed the book it’s very funny, intelligent, honest and Caitlin is one of those authors who would be great company, she has a clear voice and viewpoint that she puts across very well but for me, whilst I enjoyed the book, it was ultimately forgettable. I may not have learnt how to be a woman but I did learn:

• Women should wear big pants
• Politeness is the cure for sexism
• Lady Gaga needs re-evaluating as a feminist role model

Phil: Right – I’m off to read some Hemingway to restore the male/female balance!

Phil: This book is great fun and not the scary, ideological rant I was expecting it to be. Yes, it’s near the knuckle and yes, it pulls no punches in the quest for girl power but it’s very likeable for all that. I read an interview with Caitlin Moran in the Observer Food Magazine this weekend and in typical style, she gurned through every photograph. But when I read her thoughts on food, I felt like I knew her well, which is plainly ridiculous, as I’ve only read her sketchy memoir. Now that is testament to this punchy, painfully honest and heartfelt book.