Girls Will Be Girls Audiobook By Emer O'Toole cover art

Girls Will Be Girls

Dressing Up, Playing Parts and Daring to Act Differently

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Girls Will Be Girls

By: Emer O'Toole
Narrated by: Olivia Caffrey
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About this listen

Being a woman is, largely, about performance - how we dress and modify our bodies, what we say, the roles we play, and how we conform to expectations. Gender stereotypes are still deeply embedded in our society, but Emer O'Toole is on a mission to rewrite the old script and bend the rules of gender - and she shows how and why we should all be joining in.

Exploring what it means to "act like a girl", Emer takes us on a hilarious and thought-provoking journey through her life (including singing "Get Your Pits Out for the Lads" on national TV after growing out her body hair). Cross-dressing, booty shaking, sexual disasters, family dinners, and full-body waxing are all lovingly dissected in search of wisdom.

With game-changing ideas, academic intelligence, and laugh-out-loud humour, this book will open your mind and revolutionise the way that you think about gender.

©2015 Emer O'Toole (P)2015 Audible, Ltd Gender Studies Social Sciences Witty

Critic reviews

"A fascinating exploration of how we 'do' gender. From the early labeling of infants to the ironclad enforcement of grooming and interpersonal behavior, gender expression is neither a matter of biological mandate nor individual choice. Emer O'Toole nimbly weaves philosophy and personal experience into a vivid depiction of gender identity as performance art." (Lise Eliot, author of Pink Brain, Blue Brain)
"The blogger and columnist, who is emerging as one of the leading lights of the new feminism, uses anecdotes from her own life - from 'cross-dressing to pube-growing and full-body waxing' - to illuminate some of the the dos and don'ts for women trying to set themself free from gender stereotypes." (The Guardian, "Unmissable books for 2015")
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I enjoyed hearing the author's Irish accent as she read her story. Her experiences aligned with mine, and helped me see the rituals that young girls undergo in a new light. I'm going to put segments of her book on my syllabus and make it required reading for my students.

Witty and insightful

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