Between Katy Tur’s Trump book, this fantastic collection of biographies, and Elizabeth Warren’s This Fight Is Our Fight (review forthcoming), I have read some excellent works by some pissed off women lately. And I’m loving it.
“She should be assertive but not bossy, feminine but not prissy, experienced but not condescending, fashionable but not superficial, forceful but not shrill. Put simply: she should be masculine, but not too masculine; feminine, but not too feminine. She should be everything, which means she should be nothing.”
Petersen uses this book to explore controversial women — controversial because they don’t fit neatly inside the box that society (men) have created for them. Serena Williams is too strong. Lena Dunham is too naked. Hillary Clinton is too shrill. Petersen talks about these incredible women, and how they should be celebrated by society, not denigrated. My main complaint was it was just too short — I demand more immediately.