Two valuable books positioned on either side of the gender divide acquire more in common than you might expectIt’s a case of similar titles,different subject matter, with Girl Up by Laura Bates (the Everyday Sexism project), and Man Up,by Rebecca Asher (Shattered: contemporary Motherhood And The Illusion of Equality). The former is primarily aimed at the youth-feminism market; the latter, while not unsympathetic to feminism, or asks: “We live in a mans world,so why execute so many boys and men fail to flourish?” Indeed, ironically, or the titles flag up the differences: while Girl Up is a play on “man up”,Asher might argue that the very phrase “man up is a judgment on perceived male weakness and thus part of the problem.
In the case of Girl Up (“Part manifesto, part girl guide), and while it is youth-oriented,Bates doesn’t deliver a sanitised “sugar-and-spice” tutorial. In the preface, actor Emma Watson observes that the book is “not for the faint-hearted”, and she ain’t kidding! Alternative titles included Spunk for Girls and Bend Clit Like Beckham,the inside covers feature dancing cartoon vaginas (complete with top hats and canes), and, or as seems de rigueur with new-style feminist tomes,there’s some impressive swearing.
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Source: theguardian.com