Caitlin Moran in the Guardian today

Didnt every girl read Judy Blume in the 70s & 80s, and she most definitely covered the subjects Moron is laying claim to.

This does not read as hyperbole.

Masturbation, pornography, pubic hair, abusive relationships, wonky tits, menstruation, eating disorders, abortion, the madness of expensive weddings, sexism in the workplace, the pressure to have children, binge-drinking, the pain of childbirth, the joy of life as a modern woman: when I wrote How To Be A Woman in 2011, these were pretty novel subjects

Julie Burchill, Rod Liddle, Giles Coren for example use hyperbole very effectively. What CM wrote here is not hyperbole.

[quote ChattyLion]Found it
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3994004-to-ask-for-your-90s-grunge-music-stories[/quote]
That's the one!

it should be perfectly possible for a good journalist to be both entertaining and truthful

Excellently put.

Or in other words,what Pelleas said.

Call me old fashioned but I do expect a columnist to, at the very least, do a bit of basic research before submitting their work, and to think it should be perfectly possible for a good journalist to be both entertaining and truthful.

It’s hyperbole but I don’t think she expects anyone to think she’s writing the gospel truth. Most columnists don’t.

Well, unless it is clearly presented as fiction or satire, I have no time for journalism that doesn't have truth at the heart of it. Fair enough, some people are happy with an 'anything goes in the name of entertainment' approach, but personally, I'm tired of fake news.

But saying that those subjects were taboo and rarely written about before 2011 is sheer, unadulterated nonsense

Exactly. As as are all the excuses being made for her that she didn't have access to feminist theory/ wide circle of contacts.

I wouldn't object to her work on its own. It's not my thing and I roll my crinkly eyes at the idea that Botox is liberating, but I can see that she can be entertaining. It's refusing to acknowledge all the women who went before her that sticks in the craw. She's old enough to know better than that.

Molly Parkin was writing proper sauce in the 70s which covered an eye opening range of sexual practices (or so it seemed to my virginal teen self anyway.)

Moran's apparent lack of knowledge is either due to stupidity, laziness or arrogance.

Again, she knows all this stuff and has written about many of the people mentioned in this thread at length.

The Miss Piggy/Thatcher line is for the purposes of that particular column.

The point of the column is not to deliver any kind of definitive message about feminism, it is to amuse and sell a book. Fundamentally Caitlin Moran is a columnist and, however irritating, that is what columnists do.

I like her work.

I don’t mistake it for serious feminist theory. It’s nice and light. Good beach holiday reading.

If it’s being taken seriously by some sections of society we’ve gone wrong.

However Caitlin m's mother did not and CM probably did not get to the feminism section of her local library despite the hours she spent there I presume so perhaps just does not know

Oh come off it (again) I've never been in the feminist section of my local library, a feminist section of any bookshop or a feminist bookshop. The stuff Moran apparently knows nothing about is basic cultural knowledge.

Moran's apparent lack of knowledge is either due to stupidity, laziness or arrogance.

I could understand, and I'd be inclined to overlook it, if Moran were 25. But I don't have a lot of time for a middle aged woman who won't acknowledge the groundwork laid by writers and performers before her.

I want to add that I am critical of the persona not the woman, herself. Don’t want to attack someone personally.

Unless they are a Coldplay fan.

Yes, same here - I read it just after it came out. I have all those various books still upstairs with the date I bought them on. However Caitlin m's mother did not and CM probably did not get to the feminism section of her local library despite the hours she spent there I presume so perhaps just does not know. At least she is putting out a feminism message for younger people. That is not a bad thing. Also most new generations think they have the new best way of being. It was always like that.

Marilyn French wrote The Woman’s room in 1977. I was sixteen and I read it.

Yes, when people write lies they should be pulled up for it as we have done here. However she can certainly write what she likes and the fact she brings feminism to a younger audience is not a bad thing at all. I support her and she has done very well after a very difficult start in life.

I think the difference is that Phoebe Waller-Bridge doesn't - from what I've seen - try and pretend that no-one ever did this stuff till she came along. In fact, as I recall, she's careful to give credit to older feminists.

@NeedToKnow101

Fizzy knickers

Couldn’t we say similar about Fleabag?

I can see you are a fan by your username!
Yy, although I always preferred Jaime's stories (the Maggie and Hope ones) to Gilbert's, which I probably didn't really understand as a teen come to think of it..

Interestingly Love and Rockets were written by two men - the Hernandez brothers - but their female characters are both iconic and somehow real and relatable.