How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (Ebury Press)

'The more women argue, loudly, against feminism, the more they both prove it exists and that they enjoy its hard-won privileges.

 Because for all that people have tried to abuse it and disown it, 'feminism' is still the word we need. No other word will do. And let's face it, there has been no other word, save 'Girl Power' - which makes you sound like you're into some branch of Scientology owned by Geri Halliwell. That 'Girl Power' has been the sole rival of the word 'feminism' in the last 50 years is a cause for much sorrow on nehalf of the women. After all, P. Diddy has had four different names and he's just one man.' (p. 80)

I first came face to face with Cailtin Moran in an advertorial for her newer book, Moranthology, in Stylist magazine a couple of months ago. I thought 'Er...I already know how to be a woman, because I am one...and what's with that green eye make up?'

How to be a Woman is made up of three major elements. One third rant, one third autobiography, and one third sarcasm. These elements are varied throughout sixteen chapters, which each sound like a magazine column centred around her personal life - which is just as well seeing as Caitlin Moran has been reporting since the age of sixteen. She started her journalism career at the now defunct music magazine Melody Maker, and twenty one years later is now a prolific writer who speaks to her middle class audience via The Times and occasionally Stylist, if she's got a new book coming out.

Mentally, woman to woman, you can forge an internal relationship with Moran's narrative as she goes through the many embarrassing, strange, or everyday things that happen to us women. Things like period pain, wearing high heels, and getting drunk with Lady Gaga. She manages to embellish each anecdote with an exaggerated humour, which is what I think makes this book so easy to consume, and probably so comprehensible to the 400,000 people who have invested in it. Her frank tone is contagious, and her openness leaves you feeling like, upon finishing, you've had a very long and very intimate chat with an old friend.

Having now read 'How to be a Woman,' I can see that Caitlin and I not sharing the same taste in eyeshadow is superficial and irrelevant to the fact that this is a bloody good book. Honestly, I have never felt tempted to read any feminist literature before. Perhaps this was because, in my naive mind, I associated it with not wearing a bra and growing out your body hair. And although Caitlin Moran does suggest the latter in the chapter, 'I Become Furry,' she completely succeeds in creating an accessible, funny, and inspiring feminist triumph.