Girlhood by Melissa Febos. No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
I finished reading Girlhood by Melissa Febos and immediately wanted to discuss it at a feminist book club. I am not a member of a feminist book club — maybe this will finally spur me on to start one! — so this review will have to do.
Honestly, though, this is a book better suited to discussion than a written review
Blending memoir with reportage, academic research, and cultural criticism, the essays in this collection examine the many ways girls realise that their bodies are not their own. And explores the impact these experiences have on the women those girls become.
Febos writes about her early adolescent sexual experiences and the reputation she garnered as a result, her time as a dominatrix, being a heroin addict and getting sober, her relationship with her mother, and the man who stood outside her bedroom window and catcalled her from the street.
This is a book about girlhood, but it is also a book about queer girlhood.
While the girl who told Febos when they were both nine years old, "Your ring finger is longer than your pointer finger. That means you are a lesbian." was, obviously, repeating one of the many myths about lesbians that young girls often share; Febos is queer.
Queerness permeates the text, in the best possible way, from her first girlfriend to the decentring of men in her personal life and her relationship with her current partner, Donika. It is part of the narrative because queerness is part of Febos' life, but this isn't a coming out story. Her queerness just is. Which is refreshing, still. It shouldn't be, it's 2021 after all, but it is.
Girlhood is confronting, dark, twisty, and visceral. It is also considered and full of nuance.
The standout essays for me are Intrusions, Wild America, Thesmophoria, and Thank You for Taking Care of Yourself.
Girlhood by Melissa Febos is published by Bloomsbury and is available in hardback, ebook and audiobook format.