Feminism has had a shot in the ha-has recently, with bestsellers by Caitlin Moran (How To Be a Woman) and Tina Fey (Bossypants) proving that pro-women ladies can give the laughs. Their sales are almost more important than what these authors have actually written: in a capitalist world, if a product sells well, then that opens the door for other, similar products to make their mark. You don't get Adele or even Jessie J – both quite odd female pop-stars – without the even odder Amy Winehouse kicking several barriers out of the way. So, Hadley Freeman's Be Awesome is a post-Moran/Fey "similar".
No doubt someone in publishing is coining a word for this new genre: tits-n-wit-lit or something. Personally, I'm hoping for more books along such lines: I'd far rather see an airport newsagent's overloaded with the wonky world-views of laugh-along femos than laden down with me-too misery memoirs. And Freeman's contribution to this new genre has much to recommend it: a celebratory attitude to fashion, a perceptive section on how life changes when your friends start having babies, an argument for why office life is actually good for you.
Her subject matter – like that of Moran and Fey – is the life of a modern professional woman under 40, but that's no surprise: these writers are of a similar age, with similar working lives, so they share many attitudes. Her book, like theirs, seems designed to bolster younger women: to reveal where life's pitfalls and pratfalls may lie, to point out how sexism holds them back and to reassure that every one of us makes mistakes and that's OK.
Freeman is a successful columnist (for this paper), and this shows in Be Awesome, which is less of a story than a series of articles, some written in parody style – such as a woman's magazine celebrity interview – and others in list-form. Most of the lists are at the end of the book and contain suggestions for books to read and films to watch. Plus, there are films to avoid (Pretty Woman, Love Actually), which I approve of. And there's also a selection of admirable women.
This bittiness reminds me of what Germaine Greer said about writing The Female Eunuch: that she wrote short chapters because she didn't have much time, and neither did her readers. Freeman's target audience is busy women, and a book designed as a dip-in can be an asset. Sometimes, though, Be Awesome's scattershot approach can make you feel as though you're reading a notebook rather than a book-book.
She is a charming companion, a warm writer with clever attitudes and a recognition that understands that comedy is often the best way to make a serious point. Occasionally I wanted more depth, less sparkle. Her chapters on "What to expect when your friends are expecting" and "How to cheer up your friend who is depressed about being single" made me long for more of her on those tricky topics.
But Freeman doesn't want to go too close to home: she resolutely refuses to reveal too many details about her life. In a chapter on eating disorders, where she talks briefly about her own difficulties with anorexia, she says: "I don't believe personal experience imbues one with expertise … I try to avoid talking about it altogether, mainly because I hope that I have something more to offer than my history." This is a political point, obviously, as well as a personal one: women are often encouraged to write about their own lives, especially their love lives, as though they can't have an opinion on anything unless they've been through it themselves. However, a memoir gives a natural structure to a book, draws you in, and sometimes I wanted more of Freeman the woman, rather than Freeman the smart Daily-Mail-basher.
Be Awesome is a delight to read, from its deconstruction of blow jobs to its analysis of "self-deprecating Tourette's" (it names Tina Fey as a sufferer). It is a worthy, funny addition to our new tits-n-wit-lit genre, but if I were her agent, I would tell Freeman to write a novel. After all, the easiest way to rid yourself of any inhibitions over revealing your personal life is to disguise it as somebody else's.
