Ended up listening on audio rather than reading the eARC, and liked the audiobook. Interesting commentary, though now that I'm a couple years past when I read it, I don't remember any specifics from this. I like Anne Helen Petersen's writing a lot and would return to future reads from her.

Anne is a true journalist; her work is so researched that it could be considered overkill, but I appreciate her effort. It read much like a feature piece from a magazine. It is informative and thorough. The chapter on Jennifer Weiner really resonated with me. "Too Loud" was often used to describe me in my younger years. It gave me such a complex I conformed to the way perceived to be "acceptable" for young women to act. As I've aged and grown more accepting of myself, I realize that being myself is so much more comfortable than worrying what others think. I am now raising a daughter who I hope will feel comfortable enough to be her true self and doesn't allow anyone to make her feel ashamed for it. While I appreciate the work put into this, I think it will only be useful for a small set of people. Thank you for allowing me to review this book.

Thanks Netgalley for this ARC. I was intrigued because I love reading strong women's voices. Alas, this one committed the crime of not engaging me so I did not get past the first 100 pages.

I found parts of this book to be very interesting, but a lot of the nartive was frustrating for me. This was a feminist book all about gender equality, but it made men out to be evil. The author refered to men as “dudes.” There were even some chapters where I felt the author was talking poorly about the celebrities or talking down about other women.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. I am not someone who stays on trend with what is happening in pop culture, so I was a little nervous that I wouldn't get some of the references that were being discussed. But she kept her analysis to cultural icons that were easily identifiable. What was interesting about that approach was that each carried baggage of their personas. The chapter I thought I would least like ended up being the one that impacted me the most- the discussion of Kim Kardashian West and her agency of her body. Through the analysis of that public figure, the scorn that is leveled against her and the things that she tries to do to reassert her control gave me a much-needed reminder that feminism is for all women, not just ones that I identify with. And on the flip side, the icon I thought I would breeze through the chapter on, Madonna, really caught me. The idea of how getting older has shaped her career and choices was illuminating and less liberating.

This is a book that I would certainly give to someone new to feminism that may not yet want to read about feminist theory with a lot of jargon. This was a great gateway into that, using modern pop culture icons as exemplars to guide the conversation. I think it was very well done and I have thought about some of the chapters long since I put the book down.

You know the type: the woman who won’t shut up, who’s too brazen, too opinionated, too much. She’s the unruly woman, and she embodies one of the most provocative and powerful forms of womanhood today. In Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, Anne Helen Petersen uses the lens of unruliness to explore the ascension of pop culture powerhouses like Lena Dunham, Nicki Minaj, and Kim Kardashian, exploring why the public loves to love (and hate) these controversial figures. With its brisk, incisive analysis, Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud will be a conversation-starting book on what makes and breaks celebrity today.

As it turns out, feminist essay collection are one of my favourite types of books to read – who would have guessed? Unfortunately, this one didn’t really make it for me.

By all means, that’s not to say I did not enjoy it. It was a fast, thought-provoking read, and the author actually explored different parts of womanhood in as much depth as she could within approximately 350 pages. Her chapters/essays were not 100% focused on the celebrities mentioned in their respective titles; they rather used them as a starting point to further analyze a problem in society and how that affects women. The unfortunate part? I really don’t like or respect some of the women depicted in this collection.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Serena Williams as much as the next person does, and the chapters about Jennifer Weiner & Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson turned out to be my favourites. But Hilary Clinton? Caitlyn Jenner? Or Lena Dunham? That’s just a big no for me. I disagree with their stance on so many things, I consider all of them to be really bad role models, and (honestly) overall pretty awful human beings. I understand why they were used a starting points for an argument that had to be made. But even the mention of their names made me uncomfortable; the author, however, especially in Clinton and Jenner’s case, made sure to include the controversy surrounding many of their actions – which I deeply appreciated it.



**An ARC was provided in exchange of an honest review**

While Ms Petersen did an excellent job of analyzing how women are held to different standard then their male counterparts, I also feel there some presumptions made that were a bit far reaching. I loved that experts from different fields of study were included. A very interesting read, especially for those interested in gender studies.

If you are less than perfect- less than what society thinks you should be- this is your book. It's a book written for all of us. The real "us", not the photo-shopped versions or the idealized versions publicists pimp out. Pick up this book if you need a reminder that no woman is perfect, except for the ones who have learned to love themsevles exactly as they are.

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman by Anne Helen Petersen is a series of essays on various “non-conforming” female public figures from Serena Williams to Caitlyn Jenner. Each essay shows how perceptions of their public personas interact with American cultural norms and the backlash than ensues. I liked that each chapter focused on a different type of non-conformity. It was a fast, entertaining read.

This book was great and something I think every woman should read. Each chapter is labeled as “Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, Too…” etc, and chooses a famous woman to talk about and how they fell under this label. Kim Kardashian, the girls from Broad City, Hillary Clinton, etc. I found it fascinating and while some chapters held me better than others, it was still a really informative read and a deeper look into how women are unfairly labeled, especially those in the media.

I've long-since looked forward to Anne Helen Peterson's work on Buzzfeed. She's so good at not just really looking under the surface of our cultural climate, especially in how we perceive and treat women, and explaining it in a compelling, understandable way. If you haven't read her Cool Girl essay, go read it right now because it's phenomenal. And so of course I was psyched when I found out she was writing a book, Too Fat Too Slutty Too Loud, about women who transgress norms. Who among us hasn't stepped outside the lines, peeked out from inside the box and felt blowback for it? Who hasn't looked at the women who do get out there and live out there and regarded them with a curious mixture of revulsion and envy? Petersen highlights nine (well, ten technically) "unruly" women, focusing on how each in turn has challenged the social expectations we place on lady people. Many of these challenges focus on the body, from Serena Williams' "too strong" frame to Madonna's refusal to cover up because she's "too old" to Caitlyn Jenner's "too queer" changing of her body entirely to match her gender. There are also women who just are things that they're not supposed to be, too: Hilary Clinton might be smart and ambitious, but she's "too shrill", and Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer (the Broad City team) make us uncomfortable because they're "too gross".

I wanted this book to be amazing and mind-blowing and incredible. And it was good! Petersen's writing is lively and insightful and serious without being ponderous. But I think maybe it would have worked better if it had been split into two volumes, one focusing on body and one focusing on personality. The essays felt like they skimmed the surface, taking a shallow dive into concepts that deserve deeper thought and analysis that I would have loved to read Petersen's take on. In writing about how Nicki Minaj is "too slutty", for example, Petersen refers to and gives some brief background on how black female bodies are sexualized and fetishized. But there's so much there that because the book needed to be a reasonable length and there are eight other subjects, she doesn't really have space to really give it the full context it deserves. I felt the same way, perhaps even more strongly, about the chapter on Jenner and trans issues. It would have felt problematic to leave the gender binary untouched entirely, but to only briefly interact with it doesn't feel quite right either.

One essay, though, that really made me think was the piece about "too loud" Jennifer Weiner, who won't just quietly accept her writing about women and their lives (which, to be perfectly honest, I don't personally much care for) as mere "chick lit" not to be taken seriously. I know I fall into that trap with my own reading, disdaining titles with pastel covers or shoes and shopping bags prominently displayed. It's snobbish, but if I'm being transparent here, I will say that it takes a lot to get me to take a second look at a title deemed "women's fiction". Which is actually pretty bullshit of me. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is just as good as Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, so why is the former a "girl book" and the latter a book for everyone? There's not a good reason why we treat stories about women's lives and problems, written by women, as lesser than books written by and about men. I love Nick Hornby, but he writes lighter fare that would probably be shrugged off if he and his protagonists were ladies. I need to do some work to think about my own internalized misogyny, especially when it comes to my reading choices.

"Which is precisely why I wanted to write this book: these unruly women are so magnetic but that magnetism is countered, at every point, by ideologies that train both men and women to distance themselves from those behaviors in our own lives. Put differently, it’s one thing to admire such abrasiveness and disrespect for the status quo in someone else; it’s quite another to take that risk in one’s own life."


This book is an important feminist manifesto that takes a look at "unruly" women in pop culture who are too (fill in the blank). We explore the various roles of icons like Serena Williams, Caitlyn Jenner, Hillary Clinton and others in these ten inspiring chapter. Not only is the author woke, and trying to write this book in an intersectional and inclusive way, I feel like I got so much education and information from this. This is a must-read for anyone who considers themselves a "newer" feminist.

The author writes so intelligently and profoundly on the various topics covered, from being fat, slutty, loud, strong, unruly, nasty,etc. I could see her writing struck a balance between passionate and factual, activist and intellectual.

Given, I can never give a nonfiction book the full 5 stars, because it took me more than two week to complete, which can be frustrating when you read an average of a book a day. But on the other hand, I like the quality content sink into my brain a bit.

Peterson does acknowledge that there are many women that she doesn’t mention, and that people of color are rare on these types of lists is also it’s own form of oppression, which is something differently itself. In this excerpt she says:

“There are hundreds of women in the public sphere who don’t exercise such careful modulation--women who are relegated to nice corners of pop culture because they’ve been figured as too big, queer, loud, smart, sexual, or otherwise abject for mainstream audiences."


“It’s tempting to think of unruly women as radicals transgressing and usurping societal norms--and while they do make rebellion and disobedience imaginable or palatable, their actions can also serve to fortify dominant norms.”


I particularly enjoyed the passages where she talks about internalized "normal" feminine behaviors and how these females step out, put themselves out there, and won't shut up about why they do what they do. If you feel like me, like you lost a lot of faith and hope during the 2016 election cycle, this is one of those that you need to read. It will make you believe in the power of nasty, unruly women again.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

“Ladylike.” A word that I heard growing up but never had a great feeling about. “Be more ladylike.” What? I AM a “lady” (well, female) so isn’t whatever I’m doing “ladylike?” But, of course, if someone said it, whatever I was doing clearly wasn’t sufficiently ladylike, feminine, girly, or whatever was sought at the moment.

Many woman have chafed at this word bondage throughout their lives, a subject tackled (“tackled?” Women shouldn’t tackle!) by Anne Helen Petersen in her eagerly awaited “Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman. Petersen examines the emergence, the successes and the foibles of so-called “unruly” women. She was moved to do so when she awoke on November 8, 2016, thrilled that she would be casting her vote for the first female who would be President of the United States. Cut to twelve hours later as she and her co-workers at a news organization “panic” as they watch Donald Trump emerge victorious. Petersen had felt sure that the female Trump supporters she had interviewed at rallies, who “overflowed with hate for Clinton” were anomalies so how could this be happening?

While Petersen was still in the newsroom her editor called and asked her to write something and she ended up with an article titled, “This Is How Much America Hates Women.” But not ALL women,

“just women like Fox anchor Megyn Kelly who’d questioned Trump about his history with women during the primary debates. Women like former Miss Universe Alicia Machado who’d dared to gain weight. Women like Elizabeth Warren who won’t shut up, or Rosie O’Donnell with whom Trump had feuded for years. Women like the dozen who’ve accused him of sexual impropriety and/or assault, and Clinton herself, whom he’d referred to as a ‘nasty woman.’ In other words unruly women – the type who incite Trump’s ire, and whom millions of voters have decided they can degrade and dismiss simply because they question, interrogate or otherwise challenge the status quo.”

Of course, these types of women, who have operated outside the bounds of what is considered proper, ladylike behavior have existed since the beginning of time (hello, Eve!). “Good” women aren’t too fat, too slutty, too abrasive, too whatever characteristic females should control lest they be considered manly. To expose the fallacies of these thoughts Petersen looks at various public figures who have been widely regarded as too strong or old or shrill (and for a great autobiography of another woman who has been considered “too much” try the recently-published “Shrill” by Lindy West, Hachette, 2017) and examines each seemingly pejorative term, showing both the positive and negative effects of each label, both for the woman profiled and for society at large. And while the author focuses on visible women it’s mainly to provide common ground through which readers can explore the expectations around the behaviors of all women, and why being too smart, talking too loud or exposing too much skin are so threatening to some portions of society.

For example, Serena Williams, classified as “too strong.” Petersen notes that for Williams, while strength might be her primary “problem,” society also sees her as “too masculine, too rude, too fashionable, too black,” each of which moves her further away from the feminine ideal. Petersen posits that part of the fear of Williams is that she will turn tennis into a “black” sport (did we see this backlash with Tiger Woods? I just remember a billion dollar “I am Tiger Woods” campaign by Nike.) Yes, she’s battled with officials; John McEnroe did the same and is a beloved figure in the sport. Oh and she is, quite simply, one of the best athletes…not best FEMALE athletes, but best ATHLETES of our time. Few have dominated their sport as Williams has hers. And yet. In 2015 Sports Illustrated named her “Sportsperson of the Year” – and plenty of backlash from those who felt a horse was more worthy. An animal, which obviously is “unable to speak, or challenge the norms of the sport in which it excelled.”

Ultimately, though, the force of Williams’s excellence has made a place for all who will follow her and when she hears complaints that she’s “’too strong’ then ‘she’s too sexy’ then again ‘she’s too strong,’” her response? “’Well, can you choose one? But either way, I don’t care which one they choose. I’m me and I’ve never changed who I am.’”

Melissa McCarthy is one of the surest box office draws in America today. And in 2013 movie reviewer Rex Reed described her as “a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success,” going on to call her “a female hippo” and “tractor-sized.” This was not the first time McCarthy’s appearance rather than her work had been reviewed, and yet her success cannot be denied. Why?

Well, like Roseanne before her much of her comedy actually revels in her less-than-perfect physique, “her most popular characters are some intersection of low class, sexually dominant, profane and generally negligent of their place in the social hierarchy.” She does things that most women do not, cannot do on screen and the public loves her for it.

Petersen notes that in Western society being fat is considered a failure of will and studies show that the overweight are less likely to be admitted to selective colleges, get jobs and so on. So fat women are decidedly not part of any standard of perfect femininity. Therefore it was not surprising that the announcement of the premise of the show “Mike & Molly” (two fat people fall in love) was met with distaste (yet “Roseanne” was a number one show for years).

McCarthy professes she is bored by conversations about her weight and notes that her focus on her characters has nothing to do with their size, but rather the idea that they are women who can be shown in an unflattering light, which is typically not permitted for women in comedy. “’Without the mess you’ve got nothing,’” she says. And when McCarthy couldn’t find any designer willing to dress her when she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (designers are usually falling all over themselves to dress nominees) rather than complain she started her own clothing company which goes up to size 28. She even refused to go publicly negative during the Rex Reed debacle, other than openly questioning what type of message coverage like his sent to young girls and Petersen notes that open anger makes fans angry and McCarthy is savvy enough to know that she still has brand McCarthy to sell. However, her success suggests that the public likes unruliness, at least a tempered unruliness, on the screen.

Petersen goes on to talk about those who are too sexy, too old, too pregnant, too queer and further notes that each of the celebrities she covers have made concessions so that their work will be accepted by mainstream society. Is there still a “firm line of acceptable female behavior?” Petersen says yes and notes that some celebrities who toe it (she calls out Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Alba and Gwyneth Paltrow) make the conscious choice to be less threatening

So despite Clinton’s loss, unruly women persist, although Petersen believes they are “threatened” in the current political climate, she still notes that Clinton won the popular vote by over two million votes. In addition, the very threat that she speaks of makes unruliness feel even more urgent. So, here are to the women who shun the norms, who see those glass ceilings and laugh. Brave, unruly women, may we be them, may we raise them; they will show us the way forward.

This was a really enjoyable collection of enlightening essays about female celebrities in film, television and music that have crossed the boundaries for acceptable female behavior. Each of the essays are short enough to not bore and yet long enough to get the point across. The author, Petersen, does a great job of exploring how the celebrities, such as Madonna and Jennifer Weiner, present themselves and also how the media describe and criticize their actions or style within a feminist framework without excessive use of jargon. I believe the book would benefited with a wider range of artists presented.

I love the premise and found some of the chapters and women featured really interesting... however, a lot of the chapters seemed too long, with Anne repeating certain points over and over.

This is a fantastic look at how women are held to a double standard when it comes to their behavior. The author uses several examples (famous women) and expounds how each of them are considered to be "acting against the standard" set for women and how they should behave. The women include: Serena Williams, Nicki Minaj, the co-creators of Broad City, Lena Dunham, and others. Petersen believes that Minaj and Williams receive the most angry vitriol because they are also black. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will recommend it to anyone seeking this perspective.

Perfect title, great array of topics. I can’t stand Lena Dunham so admittedly I skipped the essay on her but the rest were well written and researched, confronting the racism and sexism faced by Serena Williams, the way that Melissa McCarthy is a reliable box office draw but is still given roles were her weight is the only punchline, and many more, ten in total. This book even made me feel sorry for a pregnant Kim Kardashian. No one was more surprised at that than me.
It subtly takes on themes of white feminism, girl-on-girl hate and more in a way that won’t put people off (because nothing is more precious than white feminism to some people. This is where I roll my eyes.) and sometimes calls it right out, which is good and necessary. Overall, I thought it’s a great feminist essay collection that calls out the problems faced by many modern women and showcases how much more work we still have to do.

In Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, Anne Petersen profiles ten celebrity women in order to highlight certain hardships women face. Each chapter features one celebrity whose life or work has been criticized for a specific reason. So, for example, Melissa McCarthy is often told she's too fat, and her chapter discusses the impossible physical standards placed on women. Kim Kardashian was told she was an ugly pregnant woman, so her chapter discusses society's obsession with sweet and neat pregnancies and thin post-baby bodies. The full list of celebrities profiled are:

Serena Williams: too strong
Melissa McCarthy: too fat
Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer: too gross
Nicki Minaj: too slutty
Madonna: too old
Kim Kardashian: too pregnant
Hillary Clinton: too shrill
Caitlyn Jenner: too queer
Jennfier Weiner: too loud
Lena Dunham: too naked

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I did end up enjoying it. The first three chapters (on Serena Williams, Melissa McCarthy, and Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer) were the best--though I also appreciated Madonna's chapter on aging. The other chapters were just okay, in my opinion. I found that Anderson's arguments became repetitive and a little less compelling as the book went on. But I also started getting bored with the premise and began caring less around the halfway point, which obviously didn't help...

At the end of the day, it's hard for me to look to these celebrities for life lessons. I understand the arguments Andersen is making about the hard road we females have to travel just to be taken seriously. And I agree with them. I'm also appreciative that there is such a diverse group of women in the world working hard to do their own thing on their own terms. But I couldn't help thinking that this book is still a form of weird celebrity worship (a topic that, ironically, is never discussed) and doesn't have as much application to my everyday life as it could have.

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen PetersenI didn't even read the description of this book; I loved the title so much I requested it from NetGalley. And really, really enjoyed it. Petersen takes aspects of what women aren't supposed to be in today's culture and applies it to famous women. Melissa McCarthy is too fat, Nicky Minaj is too slutty, etc. Then she dissects why these women (and their adjectives) are so divisive. Is it the women themselves or the norms that they're bucking?
A highly enjoyable book and a fast read.

This book came out June 20
Four stars