More of a solid 3.5 but I’m rounding up.I knew I had to read this book as soon as I saw the title. Every single word that the authors discuss in this collection of essays has a history of dehumanization and insult when attributed to women, even though some of them don’t feel so on the face. Some of these personal stories were very relatable, some interesting to get to know while others didn’t leave that much of a mark - but ultimately, this is a noteworthy collection of essays, not just to under...

A lot of good essays my favorites being Too, Mature, Ugly, Crazy, Funny, Intimidating, Tomboy, and Fat.

I received this book from a Goodreads Giveaway. I enjoyed many of the essays.

This book sees me: fat, intimidating, ambitious, crazy, aloof, shrill, feisty, too, mom. “America hates women and we’re all fucking tired.”Amen sister.

While I’d never heard of a couple of the words explored in this book before, including yellow-bone, most have been attributed to either myself or women I know. I expected to get fired up reading this book and assumed I’d finish it with an overwhelming need to fix something, anything, everything, like I did after reading Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture. Unfortunately, while some chapters stood out to me and made me want to know more about their authors (these are marked with 😊) I coul...

I will now share the following collection of gems that I transcribed from this enjoyable collection of essays on being anything that defies the status quo while female.“I was and am driven by relentless curiosity. I wonder about everything all the time. I ask endless questions because the world fascinates me. And this has made me very, very good at my job” by Adaora Udoji (0:40:40).“To make our arguments heard, in debate and in public discourse, our voices must first and foremost give comfort to...

"Pretty Bitches" by Lizzie Skurnick is a collection of essays written by women addressing the labels women face in the workplace, at school, in life in general. These brave women write candidly and openly, sharing their personal stories showcasing the challenges women face for being women. Many of the topics and labels addressed are words and situations that we hear about everyday. Reading these essays opened my eyes on how hurtful different words/looks/actions can be and how women can hide that...

This is a hard book for me to rate as a whole as this is a collection of essays. This book attracted me quickly and I was excited to read it, especially as a woman who has been called and/or labeled plenty of the words this book focuses on. The downfall of this book for me was that the collection of essays were all written by different women. I loved this idea, getting perspectives from all different women and their different experiences, but that meant that each and every chapter was a differen...

This is a book of essays all by women on words that have been used to undermine them (and are used to invalidate and devalue woman and their experiences in general). I read a review that said something like “this is a book that every woman should have on her to read list” and yes, I agree with this, it’s 100% true, but I will also say: MEN need to have this on their to read list. Let’s stop putting pressure on women to explain to men why their behavior is fucked up and sexist, and encourage men

Here comes the book that needs to be on every woman's to-read list. A collection of essays written by very different women, from very different backgrounds, that blend and flow together amazingly well. Each essays explores a word, that all of us as women collectively, have been called at one point or another in our lives. Bossy, loud, cute, lucky, fat... Words have power, and those who wield them even more so. But these women are trying to reclaim that power. Some them have already done it and a...

Pretty Bitches is a collection of essays on how certain words can be used to undermine women. As you'd expect from a fairly expansive collection of essays, some are great, some are okay, and some are meh. The theme that was more surprising to me was all of the subtle ways women are undermined for their accomplishments. That was more prevalent than any other theme. This was described in several essays including "Professional", "Lucky", and "Ambitious". My favorite of those was Lucky, in which the...

Like any collection of essays, some were better than others, but this book is well worth your time.

Oh yes, I happen to love and Lizzie Skurnick, but that doesn't mean I can't write an honest review of her outrageously funny and smart new book she's edited, PRETTY BITCHES. The concept--using a single word as a way to talk about how women navigate our world--is genius, and the essays range from being a princess to a professional. It's downright empowering, and also, really, just what every person needs to read.

So good on audio!! Really enjoyed this book of essays about women’s experiences of being judged for being strong, independent, bossy and every other word you can think of and how they’ve over come it.

"The lie doesn’t just exhaust me; it hurts us all. When we lie about the basic values of our culture (that women must be beautiful) and yet do everything in our power to adhere to that value (we kill ourselves to make ourselves beautiful) and lie about the labor women must put into adhering to the unspoken value of our culture (we have to be effortless ), we ensure that nothing will ever change. We can’t change our culture when we lie about what the culture is. We can’t accept ourselves until we...

Pretty Bitches is a collection of essays from well-known authors about all the words used to undermine women. Some may not be obvious like "too," "lucky," or "disciplined" while others like "ugly," "shrill," or "crazy" are obvious, although still not to everyone. Overall, it was a great collection of essays. I genuinely liked most of them, which can be rare in a compilation like this. Definitely worth adding to your feminist reading list. Some quotes I liked:"But the reality, I realized as I wre...

I wish this were a book just about language undermining women. There is much to say on this topic. Instead, it is a collection of feminist essays that felt very general in topic. But there were some definite gems in there (particularly about the word "crazy"), but it wasnt what I was expecting from the title. I enjoyed the pieces about how women get undermined or written off as "difficult/to be avoided" whenever they disagree with the majority male opinion. In solid middle age territory as I am,...

The project's conception was perfect -- each essay was written by a different author about a particular word used to diminish/denigrate women. I liked the variety of perspectives & each felt authentic. I agree with some of the other reviewers that not every essay spoke to me -- but that's okay -- enough of them resonated. Words matter & books like this that highlight how acceptable terms are used to keep women in their place are important influences on our society. Changing our culture so that o...

A great collection of essays. Some were wonderful, some just okay, but the book as a whole was entertaining and thought-provoking. Many of my pet peeves about how women's behavior is often described were addressed (you know, women are emotional or hysterical, men are "passionate," etc. etc.). So a very satisfying read. I was unfamiliar with some of the authors of these essays, and will be looking for their other writings.

I enjoyed this book for its diverse voices. They all fit together very well, despite being written by vastly different people covering different subjects. However, as much as I enjoyed reading the essays, I didn’t love the book itself. I wish that there had been a slightly more robust wraparound instead of a relatively short preface and ending on a list of words you really shouldn’t call women (which was clever, I admit, but I don’t think it really served in any way to end the book).As I said be...