Jo (The Book Geek)'s Reviews > Girls Will Be Girls: Dressing Up, Playing Parts and Daring to Act Differently

" It means that girls can change the world with the ways they choose to be girls."

Emer O' Toole, is the kind of individual I'd buy a coffee for. Actually, let's scrap that, I'd buy her dinner. But, in return, I'd expect to have a interesting and in depth conversation related to the amazing book that I've just read. O' Toole, is such an inspiring individual, and I loved how she has gone about writing this book. Some of it caused me to laugh long and loud, but parts, really irritated the hell out of me, and I felt my angry feminist side coming into play.

According to Emer O'Toole, being a woman is like an act, or a performance. I mean, let's be honest here, many people act in relation to their gender, and don't bat an eyelid as to why we do it. O'Toole asks the question of what would it be like, if we didn't let our gender define us?

O'Toole, throughout her life, has experimented and had significant experiences with different gender roles, and we get a taste of some of these experiences in the book. First off, on Halloween, instead of dressing as a woman, or how a woman is expected to in today's society, she did one better, and dressed like a man. She then went further, and stopped shaving her body hair completely. There is this terrible stigma with female body hair. Apparently, if a female has hair growing under her armpits, on her legs, or woe betide, on her genital area, she is automatically deemed disgusting, dirty, and even unattractive. I won't even go into the health benefits of having pubic hair. But yet, a male can waltz around that damn hairy, that you can't see the skin for hair, and he's deemed a sex God. Where's the logic? Personally, I think that it is all bollocks. Why must we rid of our natural hair, just because society expects it, or, worse, because a man expects it?

There were so many interesting sections in this, but one that I enjoyed a lot, was one nearing the end. It was where Emer O'Toole ended up having a personal family bust up, due to her brother, or basically the males in her family, refusing to acknowledge that kitchen duties, like washing dishes, is not woman's work. I've experienced this sexist bullshit in the workplace, and various other places more times than I care to remember. Placing a gender label on to a certain job, is wrong, as well as being downright crazy. Just because you are male, does not give you an automatic entitlement to sit on one's behind, and not get in that kitchen, just because you think women are "better" at it. You know, it rattles me even typing this!

I honestly feel, that this book is for everyone, regardless of gender. It is incredibly thought provoking, and I think some women may feel more confident in their bodies after reading this book.