You Play The Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed Messages

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR CRITICISM.

In this smart, funny, impassioned call to arms, a pop culture critic merges memoir and commentary to explore how our culture shapes ideas about who women are, what they are meant to be, and where they belong.

As a kid in the 1970s and '80s, Carina Chocano was confused by the mixed messages all around her: messages that told her who she could be—and who she couldn’t. She grappled with sexed-up sidekicks, princesses waiting to be ...