More Than A Woman is a memoir and feminist manifesto by Caitlin Moran which includes lots of humour, brilliant ideas, thoughts around feminism and personal anecdotes. Often funny but also unexpectedly sad and moving, Moran not only talks about what it means to be a middle-aged woman juggling demanding teenagers, a marriage, elderly parents, but also what beauty really means, how gender stereotypes hurt both women and men, eating disorders and body image.
Because Moran covers topics ranging from Botox to eating disorders, all subject matters are written appropriately, both humorously and seriously, as she approaches them with maximum respect and readability.
The bestselling author of How To Be A Woman says that as a middle-aged woman who has truly seen it all, she’s back to talk about what happens next, and give us a guide to growing older, a manifesto for change, and a celebration of all those middle-aged women who keep the world turning.
She treats the nerve-wracking subject of toxic masculinity with an insightfulness not seen before. Why can’t men like flowers? Why can’t men change their fashions? Why does our sense of beauty have to be so gender-coded? Though the title is More Than A Woman, this book is not just for women.
Moran discusses the way that gender stereotypes hurt to just women, but men as well, which is why most reviews note that it’s a must-read for both genders. It is praised for raising social issues like cancel culture, eating disorders, and why men tend to feel that feminism has gone too far. Why? Because topics like these aren’t discussed regularly, even though it’s really important that they’re on the agenda for public debate.
However, some reviewers believe Moran offers too many generalisations on what it’s like to be a woman, in that it focuses on a very specific type of woman: white, middle-aged, middle-class, married and generally straight. It also relies mostly on the view that the norm is for women to get married and have children, although this is drawn from her own experience, therefore it may not resonate with single women and women of different races, classes and sexualities.
The lower scoring reviews for this book were often due to readers simply not being the target demographic. However, in the reviews by middle-aged, middle-class married readers, more than most enjoyed the sheer amount of humour in this memoir and found it relatable, validating, affirming and comforting.
The book is definitely recommended as a humorous, life-affirming and wise insight into what it mean to be a middle-aged woman in this day and age.
No matter how awful things get, Moran comforts us with these words: “You outlive the bad times. Happiness comes again, eventually... Just by staying alive. That’s all you have to do. A year can pass so quickly. Your foot is on the accelerator now.”