Over the years, British feminist Caitlin Moran (How to Be Famous; Moranifesto; How to Be a Woman) dodged requests for her thoughts on the state of men. But in 2019, a comment during a Zoom call from her teenage daughter's male classmate--"It's harder to be a boy than a girl now"--convinced her of the advisability of asking, "Hey, literal dudes--what's going on here?" What About Men?: A Feminist Answers the Question is a serious inquiry festooned with pop-culture references and Moran's trademark wit, self-deprecation, and ribaldry.
For her investigation, Moran turned to scholarly sources; dissected the book 12 Rules for Life by scourge of feminists Jordan B. Peterson; and conducted interviews, often via "the Twenty-First-Century Saloon bar that is Twitter." Readers familiar with Moran's style will be unsurprised that some of her findings appear as Moran's Rules, starting with "50 percent of all straight men's biggest problems come down to a fear of being called 'gay.' "
What About Men? may not be trailblazing (e.g., it's long been understood that men suffer by not talking about their feelings), but because Moran's writing conjures the snappy jabber of a close friend, her points seem fresh. Although she ultimately doesn't allow that boys have it harder than girls, she cops to 10 advantages to being female. Among them: "At no point in our teenage years do women have to attempt a) parkour or b) freestyle rapping--two things which seem to be a necessary, and often very humiliating, part of being a young man." --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer