She comes to see her body as a tool for political change.Īfter graduation, Lindy lands a job at Seattle’s alternative weekly newspaper The Stranger.Summary: "Coming of age in a culture that demands women be as small, quiet, and compliant as possible-like a porcelain dove that will also have sex with you-writer and humorist Lindy West quickly discovered that she was anything but. Lindy begins looking at overweight bodies on the computer until she feels comfortable with them, leading to acceptance of her own self. Lindy’s college roommate is a beauty with superhuman sex appeal. Soon Lindy learns to cope with her humiliations using humor, compassion, and practical wisdom. If that wasn’t enough, her menstrual cycle thrusts her into a state of social anxiety. Puberty is particularly awkward, especially since Lindy’s friends are growing tall and slender while she remains squat and hefty. The message is loud and clear: fat is ugly.
Living in a culture that rewards slinky, demure girls and silences ones with big bodies and the personalities to match, Lindy makes herself small and undetectable. Growing up shy and pudgy, Lindy West had few positive role models (but several negative ones, including Ursula the Sea Witch and the Queen of Hearts). A contemporary anthem for anyone who’s been silenced for being opinionated, ambitious, and/or a woman (especially a fat, funny one), Shrill is teeming with wit and charm, but it’s also a cold slap in the face-a call to action against misogyny, rape injustice, abortion stigmatization, and fat discrimination. Using her pen like a bullhorn, West points to hot-button issues such as body shaming, male supremacy in standup comedy, and the slow mainstreaming of rape culture that buried the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby for decades. The results of the election lent further credence to the book’s premise that our culture doesn’t believe, trust, take seriously, or even much like women.
Colliding with history, Shrill was published in 2016 during a presidential campaign that saw Hillary Clinton, a qualified and experienced candidate, lose to Donald Trump, who had been recorded openly talking about sexually assaulting women. Hailed for its witty, raucous, and unapologetic views on abortion, feminism, and body image, Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman contains essays of keen observation and analysis drawn from the author’s own personal life.
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