Feminist literature from Melissa Febos, who has written about her addictions and sex work. She now writes about the development of the female body, the patriarchy, and being objectified as a way of life. She uses personal anecdotes, mythology, and feminist scholars to discuss the many issues girls face as they grow into their female bodies.

A deeply moving collection of personal essays about women, girls and women-aligned identities that explores the marginalization and advancement of women through anecdotes and cultural references. Reads like a combination of Lindy West and Maggie Nelson, and is very illuminating and wonderfully complex! Definitely recommend.

I've heard this author's other books, so I'm already a fan of her work. That said, I really enjoyed this essay collection. The writer weaves personal narrative, research, and interviews very well, so her stories consistently branch out into the bigger picture. In a lot of ways, I can see this book as being an authoritative text on "girlhood," which I mean in the best way. On a structural level, I love the illustrations that open each essay. As always, the prose is beautiful and the essays are masterfully structured and arranged.

As negatives, I was surprised and disappointed that the experience of trans women (or trans girls) did not get attention here, especially as the writer identifies as part of the LGBTQ community herself. I was very pleased to see interviews with sex workers and women of color, for example, and wish some trans voices had been included in that too. I also was uncomfortable when, in an essay toward the end, the writer brings up another person's essay on abuse, and suggested that the writer didn't make their case well enough; I found it unnecessary to make her argument on consent/trauma, and rather mean-spirited. The author is clearly welcome to use Latin and Greek definitions to find her place within trauma (or not), but that doesn't mean every other writer (or person) has to.

Even with those negatives, I still strongly recommend this book!