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About The Book

Already an international bestseller, this empowering survival guide provides no-nonsense advice on sex, social media, mental health, and sexism that young women face in their everyday life—from one of the emerging leaders in the feminist movement.

They told you that you need to be thin and beautiful.

They told you to wear longer skirts, avoid going out late at night, and move in groups—never accept drinks from a stranger, and wear shoes you can run in more easily than heels.

They told you to wear just enough make-up to look presentable but not enough to be a slut; to dress to flatter your apple, pear, hourglass figure, but not to reveal too much.

They warned you that if you try to be strong, or take control, you’ll be shrill, bossy, a ballbreaker. Of course it’s fine for the boys, but you should know your place.

They told you “that’s not for girls”—“take it as a compliment”—“don’t rock the boat”—“that’ll go straight to your hips.”

They told you “beauty is on the inside,” but you knew they didn’t really mean it.

Well, screw that. Laura Bates is here to tell you something else.

Hilarious, bold, and unapologetic, Girl Up exposes the truth about the pressures surrounding body image, the false representations in media, the complexities of sex and relationships, the trials of social media, and all the other lies society has told us.

Praise for Girl Up

“In Girl Up, Laura Bates has given women of every age a fast, frank, seductively readable guide to surviving in the time of social media, impossible body images, feminist hopes, internalizing fault, standing up for ourselves and each other, and yes, confronting Donald Trump. She leaves no doubt about what consent is, where the clitoris is, what our rights are, and what our hopes could be. This is an owner’s guide to our world and our bodies. It will definitely save sanity, and might save lives.” —Gloria Steinem

Girl Up is an essential compendium of wit, wisdom, advice, and straight-talk. They should give out copies in the delivery room every time another girl enters the world. Or a boy, for that matter—they ought to be reading Girl Up too.” —Sarah Knight, bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck

"This is the book young women need—one that teaches them about the anatomy of their vulva instead of how to impress their crush. While many of the topics covered are still relevant to me now, I really wish I'd had this book as a young adult.” —Beth Newell, editor/cofounder of Reductress

About The Author

Photograph © Siggi Holm

Laura Bates is a Sunday Times bestselling author and the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, a collection of over 200,000 testimonies of gender inequality. Her non-fiction books include Everyday Sexism, Girl UpMisogynation, Men Who Hate Women and Fix the System, Not the Women. She writes regularly for The Guardian and the Telegraph, among other publications, and won a British Press Award in 2015.

Laura works closely with organisations from the Council of Europe to the United Nations to tackle gender inequality. She was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to gender equality and has been named a woman of the year by Cosmopolitan, Red and The Sunday Times. 

Product Details

  • Publisher: Touchstone (July 11, 2017)
  • Length: 336 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781501169991

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Raves and Reviews

"In Girl Up, Laura Bates has given women of every age a fast, frank, seductively readable guide to surviving in the time of social media, impossible body images, feminist hopes, internalizing fault, standing up for ourselves and each other, and yes, confronting Donald Trump. She leaves no doubt about what consent is, where the clitoris is, what our rights are, and what our hopes could be. This is an owner's guide to our world and our bodies. It will definitely save sanity, and might save lives."–Gloria Steinem

"Laura Bates has written the book that you should give your teenage daughter this Christmas--or your teenage son, for that matter... All of us, and young women especially, need to maintain our humanity and kindness while not giving a hoot what other people think, as long as we're not hurting anyone. And that's what makes this book special. Well, that and the tap-dancing vaginas."The New York Times Book Review

“A bracing antidote to self-consciousness—Bates reminds us that no one is scrutinizing us a tenth as much as we scrutinize ourselves—Girl Up offers practical steps to overcoming stereotypes; she preaches in favor of defining yourself, and not letting the world define you.”—The New York Times Book Review

It's easy to tell girls to that they can be anything they want to be. It's much harder to tell them how in a world that is constantly trying to put them down, box them in and limit their rights. Girl Up is that manifesto. While it's funny and highly readable, make no mistake that the hard hitting advice is perfectly suited for girls and frankly for all women today. We all need the words to challenge all of the factors that girls face today. Bates gives you these words--and gives you the added benefit of leaving the people behind you speechless.“--Rosalind Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of Queen Bees and Wannabes

“Bates is the wickedly funny and exceptionally smart founder of Everyday Sexism, a feminist website and empire that infiltrated all corners of the Internet and became the title of her first book (2016). This is her latest gift to the movement: a collection of essays that reads like a love letter to one of the strongest and most resilient populations on Earth: teenage girls. Bates clearly warns readers from the get-go that her book is not abstinent, self-hating, nor polite. She is honest about the difficulties of growing up under the patriarchy, especially the one that exists online. She offers advice on how to safely navigate social media, how to start an intersectional feminist society at school, and how to love your body for all that it can do. She riffs on unrealistic standards and double-standards. Bates begs readers to remember that there is no such thing as “normal” when it comes to sexual development and appetite and also to remember that feminism is just a fun word for the unequivocal belief that all humans have equal value. Girl Up is an intimate, laugh-out-loud funny, and adorably illustrated call to arms for the next generation of warrior women.”--Starred Booklist review

Girl Up is an essential compendium of wit, wisdom, advice, and straight-talk. They should give out copies in the delivery room every time another girl enters the world. Or a boy, for that matter—they ought to be reading Girl Up too.” —Sarah Knight, bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck

"This is the book young women need—one that teaches them about the anatomy of their vulva instead of how to impress their crush. While many of the topics covered are still relevant to me now, I really wish I'd had this book as a young adult." –Beth Newell, editor/cofounder of Reductress

“I wish I had Girl Up when I was a teen trying to navigate the world. This book is transparent, easy to digest, and a perfect intro to learning how to stand up against everyday sexism.” –Loryn Brantz, best-selling author of Feminist Baby

ONE OF BUSTLE.COM’S MOST IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS OF 2016: “Intelligent, sassy, and funny, Laura Bates’s Girl Up adds another much-needed voice to the conversation about female body image, highlighting the false portrayals of female bodies in the media (and the way social media has increased this ten-fold,) the double standards that are enforced upon the female body and sexuality that men are not subject to, and the ways sexual education classes are failing to address the needs of young women.”–Bustle.com

“Following [Everyday Sexism] will make most women feel oddly saner.” —Caitlin Moran

“We owe Bates a great debt of gratitude for her Everyday Sexism Project, even if it’s the sort of thing that’s hard to visit daily.”—LA Times

“Laura was one of the first women to harness the power of social media to fight sexism and misogyny and give millions of young women a voice.” —Grazia

“Bates takes a myth-busting approach to body image, food, sex and advertising and is particularly good at boiling down feminist language into a snappy, everyday vernacular without diluting its power."—Metro

“For any woman who is sick of being told how to act, how to dress, or how to ward off unwanted advances, this book could be for you.” —Independent

“Another hard-hitting book which exposes the truth surrounding pressures on body image, false representations in the media, and lots of issues very relevant to girls today. This no-nonsense guide to being a girl in 2016 is one all teen girls should read.”—Red

“Bates is funny, piercingly astute, and will have you furious and politicized over the impact social media, pornography, and advertising have on our bodies.” —Stylist

“Funny and clever.” —Telegraph

“If you have a daughter or a niece or a younger sister or a goddaughter, buy it for them now.” —The Pool

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