Caitlin Moran - Journalist, Feminist, Inventor of the Feminist Smile.There’s a lot to love about Caitlin Moran! She wrote her first novel at 13, was presenting her own Channel 4 show by 18, she’s written for The Times ever since AND somehow found time to pen one of my favorite books of recent times; How to be a Woman.
Also there’s this picture:
Such a great snap!See!? A lot to love!
Last Thursday night I was lucky enough to attend her conversation with Sinead Gleeson hosted by the Dublin Writers Festival at The National Concert Hall (thanks Aisling!)
It’s pretty rare in life to be surrounded by 1200 like-minded types. But listening to Caitlin talking about abortion and The Late Late Show and Lena Dunham I knew I was in good company.
Caitlin Moran opened her sell-out conversation with Sinead Gleeson by saying ‘I MUST take a photo of this and IMMEDIATELY tweet it!’
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"I MUST tweet this!"From there we were treated to the celebrated writer and feminist expounding on anything and everything in her trademark swear-y mile-a-minute style.
Moran has a brilliant way with words, and a fantastic line in common sense feminism. Who else but Caitlin Moran would advocate for ‘the revolution of w’evs’? Moran advises women to acknowledge the pressure society puts on us and just refuse to take part. You think I should dress a certain way? You think I should brush my hair? Whatevs – I don’t care!
Just say w’evs! Brilliant!
My absolute favorite moment of the evening was Moran telling us about the pose she really wanted to do for the cover of her book – the feminist smile. She hoisted up her shirt and grabbed her belly at the sides, twisting it up into a smile to demonstrate.
“You draw a nose and two eyes on my tits and that’s the feminist smile! Because I love my belly!"
If you haven’t read How to be a Woman yet I STRONGLY urge you to go out and buy it. One of the best and most quoted parts of it is Moran’s take on the shocking amount of women who don’t identify themselves as feminists:
…here is the quick way of working out if you're a feminist. Put your hand in your pants.
a) Do you have a vagina? and
b) Do you want to be in charge of it?If you said 'yes' to both, then congratulations! You're a feminist.
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So is everyone as mad about Caitlin as I am? Are YOU a feminist? And more importantly will you be doing a feminist smile at your next photo-op?!
