Front Cover of The Guilty Feminist
The Guilty Feminist (2018) by Deborah Frances-White
Deborah Frances-White’s The Guilty Feminist book is based on the podcast she hosts, created jointly with Sophie Hagen in 2015.
Both book and podcast perfectly balance intellect, humour and honesty. It is much about how women’s feminist objectives can often conflict with societal conditioning. Frances-White speaks truths that resonate on a beautifully human “guilt and all”1 level that is highly accessible and inviting.
She bids you to laugh off your baggage of imperfections and inconsistencies, with a charming tagline to insert humorous confessions: “I’m a feminist, but…”2.
Frances-White’s own offerings include, “I’m a feminist but some days my life doesn’t even pass the Bechdel Test”3, along with anecdotes about being distracted from women’s marches by face cream counters, or lying about one’s weight thus endangering a small aircraft.
The book delves into issues ranging from sexuality to workplace ideologies and even democracy. One can relish in the debates about confidence, inclusion and everything in between. Closely considered from the standpoint of intersectionality, The Guilty Feminist is clearly a space intended for everyone.
There is a particularly enthralling feminist-revision of a speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V as well as interviews with an array of activists and performers, including Susan Wokoma and Hannah Gadsby.
All of the beauty and rawness of this book is propelled zealously by the notion that we do not have “to be perfect or even consistent to be a force of meaningful change.”4
Both book and podcast perfectly balance intellect, humour and honesty. It is much about how women’s feminist objectives can often conflict with societal conditioning. Frances-White speaks truths that resonate on a beautifully human “guilt and all”1 level that is highly accessible and inviting.
She bids you to laugh off your baggage of imperfections and inconsistencies, with a charming tagline to insert humorous confessions: “I’m a feminist, but…”2.
Frances-White’s own offerings include, “I’m a feminist but some days my life doesn’t even pass the Bechdel Test”3, along with anecdotes about being distracted from women’s marches by face cream counters, or lying about one’s weight thus endangering a small aircraft.
The book delves into issues ranging from sexuality to workplace ideologies and even democracy. One can relish in the debates about confidence, inclusion and everything in between. Closely considered from the standpoint of intersectionality, The Guilty Feminist is clearly a space intended for everyone.
There is a particularly enthralling feminist-revision of a speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V as well as interviews with an array of activists and performers, including Susan Wokoma and Hannah Gadsby.
All of the beauty and rawness of this book is propelled zealously by the notion that we do not have “to be perfect or even consistent to be a force of meaningful change.”4