The Guilty Feminist: You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Overthrow the Patriarchy

Comedian Frances-White shares lessons learned from creating and hosting The Guilty Feminist podcast in this bighearted effort to raise consciousness and incite activism among the timid. She writes, “It’s not enough to feel like a good person: we need motivation to put things right. Doing nothing and saying nothing is tacit support.” It starts, she suggests, with women embracing their own flawed selves, finding and using their voices, setting boundaries, and forming alliances. To succinct explanations of feminism’s history, goals, and pitfalls, she adds advice, personal confessions, punchy examples, and a hefty dose of humor. Frances-White is meticulous and incisive, and makes a point to interview queer, nonbinary, disabled, and nonwhite colleagues (Jessamyn Stanley, Susan Wokoma, and Becca Bunce among them) on their feminism; repeatedly notes that she speaks from a place of white middle-class privilege; and acknowledges that gender is an increasingly fluid concept. With a distinct, lively, and consistently hilarious delivery, Frances-White upends common misconceptions—feminists, she assures readers, can love lipstick and men—and encourages readers to do “what you can, when you can” to end oppressive power structures. Feminists of any stripe will be moved by this rousing, funny, highly appreciative exhortation to “smash the patriarchy like a strong, green, healthy plant breaking through the foundations of an old house.” (Jan.)