Bitch Doctrine

Essays for Dissenting Adults

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Pub Date 14 Jun 2018 | Archive Date 10 Jun 2019

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Description

LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018

'A blast, in all senses' Financial Times


Smart and provocative, this collection of Laurie Penny’s writing establishes her as one of the most urgent and vibrant feminist voices of our time. From the shock of Donald Trump’s election and the victories of the far right, to online harassment and the transgender rights movement, these darkly humorous articles provoke challenging conversations about the definitive social issues of today.

Featuring a new preface and nine new revelatory, revolutionary essays, Bitch Doctrine will give readers tools for change from one of today's boldest commentators.

LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018

'A blast, in all senses' Financial Times


Smart and provocative, this collection of Laurie Penny’s writing establishes her as one of the most urgent and...


Advance Praise

Bitch Doctrine by Laurie Penny, one of the most accomplished and acerbic of the new, young journalists emerging from the protest movements of the 2010s, takes you to the front trench of the gender war and keeps you there longer than anyone should really stay’ - Paul Mason, Guardian

‘Laurie Penny is a polemicist – and her book is a largely data-free stream of consciousness – but she writes with verve and humour. It is a blast, in all senses’ - Financial Times

‘The feminist writer Laurie Penny gives us short essays on everything from the trials of being trolled to why exactly she calls herself polyamorous and genderqueer ... Precise and rational ... Provocative’ - Vogue

‘It’s spiky, but that’s no bad thing. She’s angry, she won’t spare your feelings and cripes, she’s clever. Dig out your dictionary, a reference book on identity politics and concentrate’ - Stylist

‘A provocative rallying cry, she confronts social issues from love, gender and violence, pitching them against a backdrop of Trump and the rise of the right’ – Red

‘A writer and polemicist, a bad-ass, contrary, angry, bisexual troublemaker who is never happier than when she’s upsetting someone, or preferably everyone … We need her’  - The Times

‘An insightful, provocative and bold commentator. She is always relevant without slavishly following a supposedly 'topical' agenda set by others. Most importantly, she never compromises her compassion and humanity’ - Irvine Welsh

‘Sometimes enraging, sometimes enchanting, often both at once … A raw, bright, urgent voice … Like Caitlin Moran, another compulsive and essentially self-taught writer, she went to places others didn’t and brought back things they had missed’ - Guardian

‘Forget Sex and the City, Penny doesn’t give a damn about the politics of waxing or how small your pants are. She’s more interested in analysing the battles we face around gender under late capitalism ... We are dealing with a new world order’ – Observer

‘Funny, angry, clear and true. Laurie Penny takes no prisoners – she'd rather free 'em’ - Joss Whedon

‘Penny is one of the first feminist writers to grow up within, and so instinctively understand, both the possibilities and the dangers of this relatively new cyber world’ - New Statesman

Bitch Doctrine by Laurie Penny, one of the most accomplished and acerbic of the new, young journalists emerging from the protest movements of the 2010s, takes you to the front trench of the...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781408881583
PRICE £9.99 (GBP)

Average rating from 23 members


Featured Reviews

This was a really interesting collection of essays by Penny. I really enjoyed the mix of topics that Laurie covered. I must admit I did skip the two or three that focused solely on Trump. This is a really well-written collection and I would recommend this for anyone interested in feminism. Laurie Penny provides the reader with her opinion clearly and intelligently.

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Gosh, I love Laurie Penny! She's bold and brash and rude and uncompromising and passionate - and just so, ya know, *sensible*. Collecting together essays and articles from about 2013-17, this sees her exploring all manner of identity politics from an activist's standpoint: she really, genuinely, wants to change the world and for the better.

Her range of topics stretches from the expected feminism, racism, homophobia, rape culture to James Bond, the new Barbies ('so Barbie has curves now. Sort of.... four new body shapes: skeletal, tall and skeletal, short and skeletal, and slightly less skeletal')., Trump (of course!) and general deconstructions of patriarchal capitalism.

She's funny (look out for Little Kettle Man which had me snorting out loud with laughter) and snarky ('But that would be too cynical; the global fashion industry really cares about young women's health now. That's why model agencies were recently discovered recruiting outside Swedish eating disorder clinics.') and inclusive in the widest, best tradition of the Left. What a shame, then, she's probably preaching to the converted...

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Funny stories and real opinion. Being honest in the whole book and tells stories and experiences, which could be eye opening. I really enjoyed the book

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"I have learned through years of writing in public that if you are a woman and political, they will come for you whatever you say - so you may as well say what you really feel. If that makes me a bitch, I can live with that."

Bitch Doctrine by Laurie Penny is a collection of essays on everything from love, resistance and violence to culture, gender and mental health. I'd read Unspeakable Things by the author before, and I always love that she packs a massive punch in her writing. Reading this book, there's so many moments of realisation where Penny sums up perfectly what you think or feel about a certain topic, or portrays an argument that just suddenly seems to totally make sense. I loved this book!

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Very engaging because it is so forthright. These essays fit into the whole #me too, misogyny debate of our time and do give food for thought. I do think it is worth remembering that there are differences between the UK and USA though. I'd use it to give students of gender studies food for thought and it's also useful in the debate about feminism in the 21st century.

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A collection of essays from Laurie Penny, Bitch Doctrine for me is a collection of her highlights that I have through reading this googled and sent to people, thinking this is very relevant.

Penny’s writing style is one of my favourites, a sharp wit that delivers hard truths and pauses for thought, Bitch Doctrine for me brings together some of the best of those moments where the author shares personal moments with her politics - The personal is political, and books such as this highlight that.

A breadth of topics are covered from agency to culture, that make poignant and important reads. A book that relishes in it’s fury at how the world works, it attacks these issues in the right ways - particularly American Politics which Laurie Penny is immersed in during this book.

A great and comprehensive collection of essays from a perspective on the left that is difficult to stop reading.

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Hm, OK, this is a little difficult to review, because… I pretty much agree with Laurie Penny in general in this series of essays (I can’t tell about their other writrings, as I haven’t read them at present). Most of what I’ve just read here, are things I was already thinking on my own anyway.

Maybe I also feel this hits closer to home because of Laurie’s gender identity. I, too, was born sexually female, but I don’t identify as a woman (nor as a man)… yet society insists on treating me like a woman nonetheless, so no matter what, whatever women in general have to face, I have to face it, too, with the ‘bonus’ of not even fitting in properly.

Political essays notwithstanding, Laurie makes fair points about quite a few things that may not be so apparent at first, but do make sense. For instance, the fact that Siri & al. are given female voices, making them closer to the stereotypical ‘female customer service rep (preferably with low wages, yes I’ve worked that job, too, can you tell?’). I don’t recall ever having heard a male voice used in that context. Except on my GPS. But then, I’ve uploaded Darth Vader’s voice to my GPS for the lulz.

While I usually tend to be moderate, or try to be, all the more on internet where just about anything can degenerate into flame wars… Well, I do understand anger. I do understand calling a spade a spade, because subtlety can only take you so far. Subtlety is also the perfect excuse we can serve to people who don’t want to acknowledge what we have to say, and can then easily pretend that they didn’t get the point, that we weren’t ‘clear enough’, that we ‘can’t express ourselves.’
(Note: I mean ‘we’ as in ‘people’, not necessarily women.)

So, at times, enough with subtlety. Enough with double standards and with a good deal of human beings having to shut up because otherwise they’d be threatening the ‘current order’. If people behave like turds and then feel offended to be called up on that, maybe they shouldn’t behave like turds for starters.

Perhaps it’s even more valid now, being angry and refusing to shut up: because we’re in 2018, and perhaps feeling that our Western societies have progressed much (I can’t speak for other societies, I’ve only lived in Western Europe so far). And there comes the false, lulling sense of safety: ‘surely things have changed by now?’ Yes, they’ve changed, but they could revert back insidiously if enough people start shutting up and be content with the status quo, which in itself is not equal (I completely agree that, once you’ve scratched the layer of varnish, it’s still about white men, most often older men, who keep hoarding power).

The essays here aren’t perfect; they won’t bring you that many new things if you’ve already read a lot on the topics they deal with; and sometimes, I felt like they were dragging in circles. Nevertheless, Laurie’s writing is powerful, and deserves to be read.

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Before reading this I actually watched a lot of Laurie Penny's talks on YouTube, essentially everything that is on YouTube to watch. It made me incredibly excited to read Bitch Doctrine, it seems like this book has been popping up everywhere.

Penny writes about so many issues within society including gender, identity, and sexism. They were all written about with such a strong voice that demanded my attention. I was a sociology student in university and this book would have helped me so much throughout my studies.

This book of essays should be used as a guide to understanding how powerful feminism is.

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Laurie Penny had not previously crossed my radar but, having seen good reviews, I leapt at the chance to read this collection of her writing from the last 5 years or so and am so pleased I did. She writes cogently, eloquently and with terrific energy about the state of the world as she sees it, through 30-ish year old eyes. I am at least twice her age, was involved in feminist arguments at a similar age in the 1970s (and since), so the appeal of this collection for me was its modern take on the question of equality, not least the many cultural references that were entirely new to me. I most enjoyed the latter articles - the more personal, conversational ones - and have come away from this book thinking not only that I’ve learned a few things but that I’ll be looking out for Laurie’s future articles wherever they are published.

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