This follow-up to Everyday Sexism is the ideal first book on feminism for young women, but is too restrained. Bates seems scared to show her anger
“Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women,” begins Laura Bates’s Girl Up, “there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex.”
Wait – sorry, my mistake. That was the opening of the radical feminist Scum Manifesto, published by Valerie Solanas in 1967. Here’s how Girl Up begins: “Before social media, the internet was a bit like an electronic version of a library.” Over the next 350 pages – broken up by graphics and inspirational quotes – the follow-up to Everyday Sexism aims to encourage young women to embrace feminism, love themselves (sometimes literally) and discover 100 synonyms for vagina. It’s part handbook to teenage life, part introduction to patriarchy-smashing. Covering consent, dating, body image and role models, it would make an excellent present for a young relative.
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