THE arts industry has felt the full effects of the pandemic over the last 16 months, so when the Anvil opened its doors on Wednesday night - and this time not as a testing centre - it was a joyous occasion.
Caitlin Moran took to the stage in front of hundreds of feminists just half an hour before the Euro semi-final kick-off, as part of her More Than A Woman book tour.
As a bestselling, award-winning feminist writer, columnist and social commentator, Caitlin Moran is known for her candid outpourings of the agony and the ecstasy of motherhood, being a woman and other contemporary issues.
I was not quite sure what to expect on the evening, would it be a feminist discussion, a question-and-answer session or a stand-up routine?
In actual fact, it combined everything and more.
The hilarious and thought-provoking evening was filled with uplifting tales of mothers, daughters, female friendship, and life in and beyond your thirties.
It's pub day for the paperback of More Than A Woman! YAY! Just did an interview with Chris Evans who praised the cover's "Woman's Own in the 60's" vibe, which I found very pleasing. Alas, there's no recipes - but a LOT about the joy/pain/WTF of middle-age. https://t.co/tcn7KbjfbC pic.twitter.com/RIxOH8Ta0e
— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) July 8, 2021
The show lasted for one hour and 15 minutes went by in a flash as Caitlin encapsulated the audience with raw, emotive, and personal stories of life as a woman.
From side-splitting laughing as she confessed bringing up feisty feminine daughters is harder than it seems, to poignant words of advice given to a mother who’s daughter is battling an eating disorder - they covered a range of topics.
Whilst the comical evening lifted your spirits and soul, it also left the audience with an insight into how much further feminism has left to go.
In a raw account Caitlin revealed a night where she was walking home alone when a noise behind her sparked a thought that, sadly, most women have had at some point in their life- the “is this going to be my rape?” thought.
But the mood was soon upbeat as she explained the key to keeping her sex life with her husband alive and answering questions from the in-awe audience.
Her new book More Than A Woman has been described as “a hymn to the women in their 30s and 40s” as it delves into women’s supernatural ability to deal with grey hair, hangovers that last for days, aging parents, and much more.
Overall, it was an excellent evening of unpolished life anecdotes, wisdom, comedy, and eye-opening realities of being a feminist in the modern world.
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