Phil Mitchell's fidgety sausage

I can never again look at Eastenders's Phil Mitchell's bald head without thinking about a fidgety sausage.

Caitlin Moran takes us through her personal discovery of what it means to be a woman and a feminist. She traces her development from puberty to motherhood, and comments on how women are still being repressed by society's idealistic views of femininity.

I laughed out loud reading the chapter I Become Furry, but the cultural references (the Mitchell brother as mentioned above) won't be obvious to many outside the UK. The style of writing probably won't be to everyone's taste either; Moran doesn't shy away from graphical descriptions, nor using the sort of vocabulary that would have caused my own mother to put the book aside before the end of the first chapter. Indeed, if you're easily shocked by tales of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, perhaps you should avoid How To Be A Woman.

Although I found the style of writing somewhat excessive, by the time I'd finished, Moran had raised my interest. I'm now reading a more academic book about being a feminist, something I've always professed to be, without really thinking too hard about what it means.