Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Girls Will Be Girls

  • Dressing Up, Playing Parts and Daring to Act Differently
  • By: Emer O'Toole
  • Narrated by: Olivia Caffrey
  • Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (133 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Girls Will Be Girls cover art

Girls Will Be Girls

By: Emer O'Toole
Narrated by: Olivia Caffrey
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Brief History of Misogyny: the World's Oldest Prejudice cover art
Fight Like a Girl cover art
The Beauty Myth cover art
Down Girl cover art
Outraged cover art
Thick cover art
White Debt cover art
The Psychopath Whisperer cover art
The Self Illusion cover art
Everyday Sexism cover art
Against the Grain cover art
Life Honestly cover art
This Will Be My Undoing cover art
Beauty Sick cover art
A Book for Her cover art
What Would the Spice Girls Do? cover art

Summary

Being a woman is largely, about performance - how we dress and modify our bodies, what we say, the roles we play, and how we conform to expectations. Gender stereotypes are still deeply embedded in our society, but Emer O'Toole is on a mission to rewrite the old script and bend the rules of gender - and she shows how and why we should all be joining in.

Exploring what it means to "act like a girl", Emer takes us on a hilarious and thought-provoking journey through her life (including singing "Get Your Pits Out for the Lads" on national TV after growing out her body hair). Cross-dressing, booty shaking, sexual disasters, family dinners, and full-body waxing are all lovingly dissected in search of wisdom.

With game-changing ideas, academic intelligence, and laugh-out-loud humour, this book will open your mind and revolutionise the way that you think about gender.

©2015 Emer O'Toole (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

"A fascinating exploration of how we 'do' gender. From the early labeling of infants to the ironclad enforcement of grooming and interpersonal behavior, gender expression is neither a matter of biological mandate nor individual choice. Emer O'Toole nimbly weaves philosophy and personal experience into a vivid depiction of gender identity as performance art." (Lise Eliot, author of Pink Brain, Blue Brain)
"The blogger and columnist, who is emerging as one of the leading lights of the new feminism, uses anecdotes from her own life - from 'cross-dressing to pube-growing and full-body waxing' - to illuminate some of the the dos and don'ts for women trying to set themself free from gender stereotypes." (The Guardian, "Unmissable books for 2015")

More from the same

What listeners say about Girls Will Be Girls

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    90
  • 4 Stars
    29
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    85
  • 4 Stars
    23
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    79
  • 4 Stars
    21
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Treat for Women and a Must for Educating Men

What did you like best about this story?

Unlike many other books I've read that touch on similar subjects, this book is not ethnocentric, it's not a rant from a man-hater or spoilt girl with first world problems... Girls Will Be Girls is balanced, well researched, beautifully told, funny, thought-provoking and all-round-loveable. It's the kind of book that gives credit to feminism as a movement. The tone is refreshing (we don't have to be angry, defensive and offensive to champion equality. We can also be soft and conversational too). It's a book that men should read or hear...maybe even more than us ladies :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

As as woman- very revealing.

I'm going to have to look at many of my views, attitudes and actions through a different lens after reading this book.
Mid-life review called for.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A good companion !!

I liked chapter 11 the most because I can relate to the story narrated. I would recommend this book to feminists who feel depressed by men in their society. Good for train trips!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just great.

Of course we can find critiques in all writing, but O'Toole's way of drawing her theories from her own experiences makes this a delight to listen to /read. This is a personable and accessible place to start your ideas on your feminism.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Feminist tract entertains and gives insight too

It was good that the narrator was the author since much of the book is written in the first person

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Personal experiments in gender performance

An excellently playful investigation into our expectations of gender roles, read engagingly by the author. I loved it, and I thought it was fascinating. Definitely some ideas I'm going to have a go at.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Funny and relatable

Now I am not Irish so I can't relate in that aspect but I can fully understand the sexism and the not wanting to conform to gender stereotypes. The book is both funny because of the way its told but in that, its also tragic that female and male genders are raised and treated so differently. I will continue my journey of reading/listening to author feminist experiences to keep improving my knowledge and understanding and hopefully make differences (even if they're small) for women and girls in the future.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

I would recommend this book to just about anyone.

It is beautifully written, funny, though-provoking and very enjoyable to read.

I have learnt a lot from this book and it has changed the way I see things.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

self indulged diary of confirmation bias

definite "struggle to finish" as the author rehashed the same arguments over an over, with increasingly dull anecdotes sprinkled between.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love love love

This book is wonderful a lovely read or listen whatever you choose and let’s you think about different subjects but also as a feminist it’s fun and lol worthy often x

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!