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Girlcrush: The #1 Sunday Times Bestseller

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This is not the queer affirming book it claims to be. This is a book doused in queer stereotypes and harmful language. As a bisexual woman I found it littered with biphobia and severe problems around identity, femininity, masculinity and many issues catered towards our non binary siblings too. Is there really anything else to say? Florence Given introduced Florence Given into Florence Given’s literary universe. The final act of girlbossification. AND SHE CALLED HERSELF “COOL”. Ongoing Covid restrictions, reduced air and freight capacity, high volumes and winter weather conditions are all impacting transportation and local delivery across the globe. However, I’d say this book was a bit confused about what it wanted to do. It was almost like two books in one: the first book describing Eartha’s sexual awakening as a bisexual woman, breaking the cycle of abusive relationships in her family; while the second narrative focuses on her journey on social media and the perils of the internet. There were also these parts called the “director’s notes” where the narrator panned out a camera on Eartha, or the situation unfolding, which I didn’t think worked that well. This is the perfect example of someone who is successful in one area believing that that success and skill will translate into others…… and it did not.

Kleine Anmerkung gleich zu Beginn: Vielleicht wäre es hier angebracht gewesen, Triggerwarnungen im Buch zu platzieren. Das hier ist keine einfache, keine lustige Lektüre, zumindest über weite Teile nicht. Es geht hier um Gewalt in der Beziehung, um Depressionen und Missbrauch und Biphobie bzw. Bi-erasure und Queerphobia generell. Bi-erasure bezeichnet die Tendenz von Menschen und Medien, Bisexualität zu verdrängen und als nicht-existent darzustellen. Hier geschieht das zum Beispiel, wenn Eartha es wagt, einen Mann zu küssen. Denn wenn sie einen Mann küsst, dann bezeichnet sie sich offensichtlich ja nur als bi, um Aufmerksamkeit zu bekommen, oder? Also hat sie dafür wohl einen ordentlichen Shitstorm verdient, oder? Nein, Leute, deswegen hier ein kleiner Reminder, auch wenn ich nicht glaube, dass jemand von euch den wirklich braucht: Bisexuell bedeutet, dass eine Person nicht nur ein Geschlecht anziehend findet. Es bedeutet nicht, dass eine Person nie in einer Beziehung sein wird, die hetero auf die Außenwelt wirkt. Eine bi-Person kann daten, wen er:sie:they will und diese Person wird trotzdem bi bleiben. Außer, wenn diese Person entscheidet, dass sie sich nicht mehr als bi bezeichnen möchte. Sexuality is fluid und für manche Menschen ändert sich das im Laufe ihres Lebens. Das bedeutet dann aber nicht unbedingt, dass das vorherige Label falsch oder nur ein Übergangslabel war, sondern nur, dass dieses Label in dem Lebensabschnitt, in dem sich diese Person befindet, grade nicht mehr passt. Even with a two dimensional non-binary-who-was-clearly-written-as-a-butch-lesbian-and-changed-at-the-last-minute best friend Eartha is completely naïve to everything queer (I'm guessing she hasn't listened to Rose speak for their entire friendship). For example, after coming out Eartha learns that scissoring isn't a thing, why people who sleep with women cut their nails short and what a gender neutral bathroom is. At 25!!! In 2030!!!

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Florence Given won a legion of fans with her debut book, Women Don't Owe You Pretty, thanks to its unique illustrations and empowering message, encouraging women across the world, of all generations, to recognise their worth.

Florence was handed the keys to the kingdom here and yet, this book was undoubtedly one of the worst things I’ve ever read. If Florence wasn’t Florence, this manuscript wouldn’t even have made it past the assistant’s desk at the publishing firm let alone onto bookshelves globally. As an out bisexual woman myself, and as someone who has a podcast with an advice section, I get hundreds of questions from women every day. Most of them are: “Am I bisexual? I don’t know if I am.” And I can’t tell people! I’m not you. I don’t have the answers. I don’t know your life. What I wanted to do in this novel is say that it’s OK not to know. And it’s OK to be confused.In Given's debut novel, we follow Eartha on a wild, weird and seductive modern-day exploration as she commences life as an openly bisexual woman whilst also becoming a viral sensation on Wonderland, a social media app where people project their dream selves online."

I understand that some books include the above references to prove a point. To show that these words, phrases and stereotypes are wrong. This book has not done that. And for that I will never forgive it. However, the writing was choppy and hard to read. The plot holes and pacing were all over the place, like I get that Eartha went viral but then the amount of followers she was gaining and/or losing per week and the "perks of influencer life" she was receiving in the amount of time that seemed to pass made no sense. And I couldn't tell if Given was meant to be poking fun at the "all men are trash" feminists or what, but man vs. woman language made me really uncomfortable and it sort of felt like Rose using they/them pronouns was just thrown in to soften the "all men are trash, women are best" language. Like people perform gender in all sorts of ways but Rose very much felt written as a butch lesbian who's pronouns got changed at the last minute. Seriously, Florence should have just written about her own life and I would have respected it a lot more. There was no need for this Eartha rubbish. No one wants to read about a selfish girl going insane and taking no responsibility. In 2018, she launched a petition to cancel Netflix's controversial fat-shaming series 'Insatiable', it gained over 300,000 signatures in a matter of days. The story became global news and she appeared on many news networks across the US and UK, as well as being interviewed for various publications including Huffington Post and Grazia.

Just the general writing and how the words are formed on the page, basically

Spannend fand ich die Entscheidung des Verlags, hier tatsächlich alles strikt durchzugendern. Machte für mich auch voll Sinn und passte zu Eartha, aus deren Sicht wir die Geschichte erzählt bekamen. Es passte so gut, dass mir erst im Nachhinein auffiel, dass das nicht so im englischen Original stehen kann. Die meisten Bezeichnungen sind im Englischen auch so schon genderneutral (zumindest meines Wissens nach), deswegen muss während der Übersetzung diese Entscheidung gefallen sein. Wie gesagt, ich fand das super spannend. Und es machte mir auch Lust, mal das Original in die Hand zu nehmen, um zu sehen, wie das denn dort geschrieben wurde und ob mir dort überhaupt irgendwas auffällt. The main character Eartha is in her mid 20s in 2030 and somehow a VOICE OF A GENERATION for drunkenly announcing that she is bisexual on social media (wow?). She's been friends with Rose (a non binary lesbian who has slept with every woman in the city) since high school. They didn't even need to come out as gay or non-binary because "the way they would recline into chairs with their legs wide open did that for them". I actually don't have words for how much I hate this line and how detrimental it is for non-binary people who aren't androgynous looking people who take up space like men so I'm just going to leave it there for you to reflect on. Interessant finde ich auch den Wechsel zwischen den verschiedenen Stilarten, wie er hier stattfand. Manche Stellen sind wie ein normaler Roman geschrieben, manche wie ein Drehbuch, vieles auch in Form von Postings mit den entsprechenden Kommentaren oder Chatverläufe. Ich mochte das, ist aber sicher nicht für alle was. So it's no surprise there's plenty of hype around her debut novel Girlcrush, published on the 9 August and set to be one of the best books of 2022. Girlcrush tells the story of Eartha, who embarks on a journey of sexual exploration as an openly bisexual woman who becomes embroiled in a dangerous online world.

So, it’s time to embrace the cringe and confront our fears. Here’s a rundown of why people are absolutely trashing Girl Crush: For a seemingly sex-positive book, it’s FILLED with innuendos

She SELF-REFERENCES!!!

yes, i read the notorious livetweet thread instead of reading the actual book (if you can call it that) itself. i am absolutely fine with that. in fact, i think i could have gone my entire life without being aware of this book's existence and been fine with it. alas, i decided not to know peace. I’m grateful to Eli for this thread… and I hate it. Really, really, really hate the way that Given (a bisexual woman) writes about lesbianism What the author has succeeded to do is write a book of two halves. The second half succeeds in the message….. but you have to get through a very problematic, nay HARMFUL first half to get the message. And by then it’s lost. Basically, Florence uses the “F” slur far too comfortably throughout the novel, when it wasn’t ever a word for queer women to reclaim. Phrases like “d**e daddy” and “a random butch in leather” have pissed people off, too. The general consensus seems to be that Florence – a bisexual woman – has massively reduced her lesbian characters down to stereotypes. I know this is meant to be a story about a messy character, but you're given no reason at all to care about this selfish, awful woman from the start of the novel.

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