A review by chlonline
You Play the Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed Messages by Carina Chocano

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

“The girl” doesn’t act, though — she behaves. She has no cause, but a plight. She doesn’t want anything, she is wanted. She isn’t a winner, she’s won. She doesn’t self-actualize but aids the hero in self-actualization.

even with outdated references, — the earliest ones being frozen, ghostbusters (2016), and the unbreakable kimmy schmidt, which honestly says a lot — carina chocano provides a good cultural analysis of feminism and how women are portrayed in the media.

some essays are either a hit or miss or maybe just a total miss, but a few favorites are: what a feeling, the ingenue chooses marriage or death, and big mouth strikes again. the introductory essay was also very good. maybe even better than the other essays in the book. 

something i wish chocano had talked about in the book was race. there had been several fitting instances where she could’ve brought it up, or at least explored it more, but she didn’t. also, in one of the chapters, she mentions a guy named craig who she had never mentioned before. apparently, craig is her husband. however, she only referred to him as “my husband” in the previous chapters.