Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman | 
pickI loved the “too queer” chapter on Caitlyn Jenner. Petersen‘s discussion about “passing” as a trans person gave my language for my own complicated feelings on gender, sex and femininity.
#selfguidedwomenandgenderstudiescourse
panHonestly, I didn‘t gain anything from reading this book. The arguments were surface level, and Petersen did not engage meaningfully with the legitimate critiques and/or problematic aspects of the women she chose to focus on. I wasn‘t a fan of some of celebrities she decided to write about, but was especially disappointed that the “too queer” chapter was about Caitlyn Jenner.
This was my #BookSpin pick for November @TheAromaofBooks 2⭐️
pickAn academic look into the various ways women‘s behavior is policed by focusing on one celebrity and her “unruly” trait per chapter.
so-soI really liked this book. Each chapter focused on a celebrity who was too something (fat, naked, queer, loud, etc). I was definitely skeptical at first because of some of the women that were chosen (Lena Dunham and the Kardashian's specifically) but eventually came around. Especially when it became obvious that not all the celebrities were chosen because they were the “best“ example, but rather the contrary. This book was also pretty singular.
pickNot the tagged book. I‘ve been feeling super burnt out lately and I was excited for this Audible Original this month. Peterson explores the unique ways we experience burn out, what causes us, and some of the ways we cope.
pickI listens to this as a palate cleanser after my last book and it was a great discussion of women who are unruly in a specific way, and how they take charge of their own destiny and can be inspirations to other women. #audiobook
I haven‘t made too many plans for this month, the one thing I do want is to catch up on my reading challenge! Finished Suzanne (which was a quick but heartbreaking read), and I started this last night.
My bff is helping her local library become more inclusive in the books they carry and they told her to stop 🤣
pickFinished this interesting book last night. Loved the concept of it and how it looked at different women. There was some repetition, as another poster mentioned, but I suppose all the issues eventually lead back to the same thing, that women are still not equal.
Staying with my parents for the bank holiday weekend and going to see DJ Jazzy Jeff at Dreamland in Margate tomorrow night (yay!!) after an amazing Take That concert last night, but still hoping to squeeze in more pages of this!! Almost halfway through so far and it‘s interesting. I like the different ‘too...‘ reasons as a starting concept
"Welllll if She just didn't get herself into that situation..." Is one of the most disgusting phrases on the planet and it is unacceptable. If I wanna go to a party I should be able to play TEN MILLION games of beer pong and walk around naked without fear of being assaulted. Victim Blaming Needs to Stop. #IBelieveChristine #ShowSomeSkin #SisforSeptember
#audiobaking this afternoon.... pairing coffee walnut cake with some feisty feminism (listening as a re-read for book club this week)....
pickThis is a fantastic book concept and the author mostly does well with it. Her choices of women to recognize each type of unruliness are, with one exception, great. At times she does get repetitive within each chapter. Overall I do recommend this book. 4⭐️ 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Miss you so much Hillary! This is true for so many professional women. It‘s such a fine line for us.
Finally reading this! So far I‘m really enjoying it. #proudunrulywoman #feminist 👍🏻
pickThoughtful, smart, sharp. Petersen examines how society views and judges women in the public eye and what that means for the rest of us. I appreciate her format, an essay each about very different women and the perspective their story brings to gender, equality, and progress. If you are interested in these themes, I highly recommend this book!
#heyjune
#ladymadonna gets her own chapter, (Too old) in this book about how women are labeled.... #unrulywomenrock #nevertooold
@Cinfhen @GypsyKat
We arrived at our pre-anniversary trip destination this afternoon, and we‘re relaxing before dinner, so I thought I‘d get some reading in. June is “non-fiction” month for me, so I‘m finishing up this one!
bailedMeh. It was a little too identity politics driven for me, I‘ll probably come back to it at some point but for now it‘s a dnf.
What does it say about me that my favorite section is about Jennifer Weiner? My face every time Franzen‘s name is mentioned —>🙄
When the #libraryholds come in, it‘s all at the same time 😄
Sending flowers and sunshine your way, snowed in Littens! #audiowalk
pickA book that will make you think, not just about the women profiled but about women in general and the labels/roles often assigned to them. I didn‘t know what to expect when I picked this volume up for a book club but I‘m glad I read it. It wasn‘t always a comfortable read but it was interesting, especially when I wasn‘t familiar with the woman being profiled. Highly recommended read, especially for those of us who have been feminists for a while.
#Aprella #ItsAShame that we are still busy labeling others when we don‘t know anything about them...I‘m curious to read this collection of essays ~ it‘s gotten good reviews
Just finished this one and am pretty sure my husband thinks I‘m unruly. Each chapter is about one famous woman and the quality that pop culture reigns on them. I learned so much. Highly recommend you to read one chapter at a time to absorb.
“[A]bsent recognition by national awards organizations or review sections like The New York Times‘s, there‘s no way for a woman, writing about women‘s lives, to unlike herself from a classification as chick lit, mass culture, less-than, not literature.”
pickThis book was so well-written and the author explains her ideas so clearly that she interested me in women, such as Kim Kardashian, Caitlyn Jenner, and Lena Dunham, that I‘ve never had any interest in before. She gave me a new way of perceiving them.
pickMy favorite thing about this book is the title. I read this for Book Riot's online book club. I enjoyed the collection in general. Naturally I liked the essays about celebs I am already fond of (Serena Williams, Jennifer Weiner) more than those about people I like less. I had the feeling in some cases that the author just really wanted to write about a certain star, so she made them fit. Overall, it made me wish our society was less judgmental.
Had a relapse of the crud I had last week caused by my plague-carrying granddaughter, so I‘m lying in bed switching between this and Honor Girl.
“Because when hate and fear become the status quo, the simple act of trying to understand others who don‘t live and act the same you do [...] becomes a profoundly unruly act.”
“The capacity to listen and contemplate has rendered her a formidable legislator and statesman — yet, crucially, done little to change her aptitude at campaigning.”
“She may not own the label of feminist...but that doesn‘t mean her work to make the labor of femininity visible or reduce the stigma around the ‘non-beautiful‘ pregnancy isn‘t, at heart, a feminist project.”
Decided to read this for the new #bookriot #feminist #bookclub. So far I've read Too Strong, Too Fat, Too Gross, and Too Slutty. I'm familiar with all the women with dedicated chapters, but I'm learning a lot about people that I already have perceptions of. I never thought I'd come to respect Nicki Minaj, or that I needed to. Shown: today's socks.
“[H]er [Madonna‘s] attempts to fight age may have been working — but they were also consuming all that was interesting about her.”
“The crafting of the face is a billion-dollar industry because there‘s actually only one truly acceptable face to create: that of “the girl.”” Sadly, I believe that. Even though I don‘t wear much makeup, I do use a variety of skin care products. I also take pride in not looking or acting my age. Does that mean in a decade or so I will be Madonna?
“[S]he‘s not the passive participant in someone else‘s story of who she is. She bursts through the glossy veneer of the celebrity industrial complex, wrests control of the narrative, calls bullshit on the rhetoric and mechanisms that would frame her as unruly, acting out, overly aggressive.” Wow. Just wow. What a terrifying statement. Not just because it‘s something I aspire to but because putting it out there even just in words feels dangerous.
Recently I joined BookRiot‘s Feminist Bookclub & this is the first title we‘re reading. I have to admit, I was skeptical but the subtitle (The Rise and Reign of The Unruly Woman) sold me. Now that I‘m several chapters in, I have to admit I‘ve found more substance than expected. I‘ve also discovered more resonances between the millennial feminist icons being profiled & those feminist icons of the 60‘s, 70‘s & 80‘s I grew up on. Really enjoying it!
“I stand for girls wanting to be sexy and dance, but also having a strong sense of themselves. If you got a big ol‘ butt? Who cares? That doesn‘t mean you shouldn‘t be graduating from college.” Nikki Minaj #feministbookclub #persist
