Publisher Description
These empowering essays from leading women writers examine the power of the gendered language that is used to diminish women -- and imagine a more liberated world.
Words matter. They wound, they inflate, they define, they demean. They have nuance and power. "Effortless," "Sassy," "Ambitious," "Aggressive": What subtle digs and sneaky implications are conveyed when women are described with words like these? Words are made into weapons, warnings, praise, and blame, bearing an outsized influence on women's lives -- to say nothing of our moods.
No one knows this better than Lizzie Skurnick, writer of the New York Times' column "That Should be A Word"and a veritable queen of cultural coinage. And in Pretty Bitches, Skurnick has rounded up a group of powerhouse women writers to take on the hidden meanings of these words, and how they can limit our worlds -- or liberate them.
From Laura Lipmann and Meg Wolizer to Jennifer Weiner and Rebecca Traister, each writer uses her word as a vehicle for memoir, cultural commentary, critique, or all three. Spanning the street, the bedroom, the voting booth, and the workplace, these simple words have huge stories behind them -- stories it's time to examine, re-imagine, and change.
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Lizzie Skurnick has been the go to person for words for as long as I can remember. Now, she has gone even further, redefining the way we use them. This collection of breathtaking essays shows how seemingly innocuous words (and some pretty ugly ones, too) were once used to keep women down -- but not anymore. Take that, mansplainers. Pretty Bitches is truly something.
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Marcy Dermansky, author of Very Nice and The Red Car
About the Narrators
Shayna Small is an actress, singer, and educator based in New York, where she received her BFA in Drama from the Juilliard School. She has worked across a variety of media including theater, film and tv, music and voice-over.
R. F. Daley is an actor, voice-over artist, and audiobook narrator. His television credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bones, Dexter, The Office, Arrested Development, Boston Public, and Spin City, among many others. He has narrated numerous audiobooks by L. Ron Hubbard and was the voice of the military adviser in the video game Civilization V.
Kasey Lee Huizinga is an actor, singer, and web show host born and raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. She recently graduated from Northwestern University where she studied theater and music theater.
Shayna Small is an actress, singer, and educator based in New York, where she received her BFA in Drama from the Juilliard School. She has worked across a variety of media including theater, film and tv, music and voice-over.