Caitlin Moran: “I Thought My Brain Had Broken” Becoming Hopeful After A Life Of Anxiety
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I went out to interview Lady Gargar. Twenty minutes into the interview she went, Hey, do you wanna go and hang out at a club? Yes, like to do that, Lady Gargar. And we entered this full on bourbon sex club. And then about two in the morning she goes Today
Today I am joined by the incredible Catelyn Moran. Katlin's got such a profound way of putting words to things that so many women feel, but we don't always know how to say out loud. You are the most amazing author. How to be a woman was a breath of fresh air. When the book came out, there
was a pap shot of Kate Moss lying on the beach completely naked with a glass of champagne and reading How to Be a Woman, and I was like, yeah, it's that kind of feminism. When I was 13 I had that first burst of anxiety and I felt like I can do anything. Nine books in ten years and a sitcom and a film. I believe that was all because I was as anxious. And then I got to forty-nine and I realised that I'm going to have to break up with anxiety.
How did you fight that? Um But through it all we talk about hope because you might not be able to change the world overnight, but you can change your days. Find one thing that you make better in your life and that that's the meaning of life. And sometimes that's all you need to do to really begin again. Hi.
What is Caitlin Moran’s new book about and why does it matter?
Hi I mean it's so great to have you here 'cause I've had a massive like crush on you forever. And we we talked about that on X. Yes. Twitter. X is so weird. I can't I'm sorry, I'm just not getting used to it. It's like it's government now. Um and Twitter and tweeting. Tweeting was so We still say tweets. We don't say Xing. No, Xing. Sounds like you're breaking up with someone. Exactly. I'm Xing you. Which I have done with Twitter. I have now X'd X. Yeah. I think thanks.
When the n when actual Nazis turn up, you like this party's not for me.
No, I'm I'm gone.
Yeah.
So this
Yes.
Can I just say you are just the most amazing author, but the way that you can write about s stuff that's quite complicated, quite difficult. Out in the world, lots of people might be um have very strong opinions about something. But you write with such skill. Oh thank god. And um in a way that is completely acceptable for everybody.
Yes. That's what I try and do. That's the that's what takes the energy. That's really brilliant. Thank you. Thank you. Well, I really believe that like like I mean, every every writer's got different ideas about what they want to do, but the two things I want to do is one be useful. So I only ever write a book, and you the books are usually something bad has happened to me. And instead of writing a book about something bad has happened to me, which would be a Missouri memoir, I wait until I've worked out a solution to it, and then that's when I write the book. So here's here's the bad stuff that happened and here's the solution. I came up with because I want to be useful. And then the second thing is that I want to be useful and entertaining because I really strongly believe if you look at so much like academic texts on subjects like feminism or masculinity or mental health, um, any of the subjects that I've written about, they tend to be in quite dry academic books or quite serious books.
And but that to me feels like that's limiting that information because most of us don't have time to read. It could be a really clever and brilliant book, but if it's really dry and upsetting and technical, most people aren't gonna want to read that. And I think as a courtesy to the reader, if you've come up with a clever idea, then you should put in the second load of uh effort into it, which is to try and make it as light and as fun and enjoyable and gossipy and kind of just that it's part of the cure that you actually enjoy reading the book and learning the information in it. So I'm so glad you said that.
How did ‘How To Be A Woman’ change feminist conversation?
That's literally my favourite review ever. Thank you.
Well, I mean, I feel like that about all of your books. I think How to Be a Woman w for me was um such a breath of fresh air because I am a feminist. Yes. But I was surrounded by literature around angry feminism and fury, and yours was the first book that spoke my language of like, oh, there are some really funny bits to being a feminist.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:12
2
What is Caitlin Moran’s new book about and why does it matter?
1:12–3:19
3
How did ‘How To Be A Woman’ change feminist conversation?
3:19–6:10
4
Why does Caitlin say there’s a looming masculinity crisis?
6:10–19:49
5
How did her first panic attack at 13 shape her life?
19:49–31:28
6
What was the journey from writing her first novel to landing a publishing deal?
31:28–1:02:36
7
How did growing up in poverty influence her class identity?
1:02:36–1:08:16
8
What steps did she take to break up with anxiety?
1:08:16–1:11:22
Speakers
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