Girlcrush: The #1 Sunday Times Bestseller

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The only part of this book that felt genuine was Eartha's experiences with the darker side of social media. The pain that Florence clearly went through at the hands of theslumflower's followers was awful to read through Eartha's experience (let's all agree not to comment/message people on social media and tell them to k*** themselves? maybe?).

But still] anything I do is about bringing women together. I want to write books for the rest of my life – it gives me so much joy, even pain sometimes, but in a way that helps me grow and learn more.” Eartha finds fame online on Wonder Land, a social media app where users can create an online persona that represents their dream self, but she soon realises that being a viral sensation isn't as glamorous and exciting as it first seems. This steers our chat onto the standards we all face every single day and how they can push us into building a ‘close to perfect’ facade online (or at least try to, as after all there’s no such thing as ‘perfect’). “You create a standard for yourself on social media that's above the standards we already have from the patriarchy, and trying to be beautiful to get by in this world,” Florence says thoughtfully. “More people are living this split life [between who you want to be and who you currently are] to the point we don't even question it anymore, we just know that that's the way it is. And still we feel shit about it. We know everything is curated, but it still hurts to see people doing better than us, or who are happier in areas that we aren't.” In another screenshot that has since been deleted, The Slumflower suggested Florence write her “a fat cheque” because her name was helping boost sales, as Women Don’t Owe You Pretty appeared in all of her searches. Hey, for clarity I gave Floss' book a front cover endorsement quote before I saw the published product. We have spoken and she's aware of my feelings towards her book looking and sounding a lot like my already published works. I do wish her the best and hope we can use this-

Lucy Cocoran

In diesem Roman geht es um Eartha. Sie ist eine bisexuelle Künstlerin, wohnt in einer grottigen Wohnung und hat gerade ihren Freund rausgeschmissen, weil er sie mit einer anderen Frau betrogen hat und dieser Frau auch noch ihr Lieblingsshirt geschenkt hat, das sie selbst designt hat. Jetzt, wo er endlich weg ist (die Trennung war lange überfällig, da sind Eartha und ich uns einig) schafft Eartha es, sich endlich als bi zu outen - und ihr Outing geht viral. Ganz Wonderland (DIE Social-Media-Seite in Earthas Welt) hat dieses Video gesehen und plötzlich wird Eartha als die Stimme ihrer Generation gesehen. Alle kennen sie, alle lieben sie, alle beobachten sie. Und Eartha muss am eigenen Leib erfahren, wie schnell sich Liebe in Hass und positiver Zuspruch in einen Shitstorm verwandeln kann. Wray, Rebecca (18 December 2020). "From The Slumflower to Florence Given: why influencer books about feminism seem so similar". The Conversation . Retrieved 20 December 2020. Erst im Juni habe ich mein erstes Buch der Autorin gelesen, die dafür ja auch sehr gehyped wurde: "Frauen schulden dir gar nichts." "Girlcrush" wiederum hat online weniger Aufmerksamkeit bekommen. Das hängt wahrscheinlich unter anderem mit dem Genrewechsel zusammen, zumindest ist das meine Theorie. "Girlcrush" ist nämlich kein Sachbuch bzw. Ratgeber, sondern ein Roman. Und noch dazu nicht unbedingt der einfachste Roman, den ich je gelesen habe. Was jetzt für mich nicht unbedingt etwas Negatives ist, ist halt einfach nicht mehr für alle Menschen einfach so zugänglich. 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 I’ve always been a little confused by how ‘Generation Z’ gets talked about nowadays, particularly since I am, apparently, one of them. (The cutoff seems to be somewhere between 1995 and 1997, which puts me, a 25-year-old PhD student, and my partner, a 27-year-old lecturer, in perplexing adjacency to the term ‘TikTok teen’.) But there’s clearly a thriving market for people who purport to be a voice for Gen Z, both for the sake of Zoomers who want guidance and relatable media, and for the sake of non-Zoomers who want to understand what interests and concerns young people.

Hampson, Laura (3 August 2019). "Meet Florence Given: the influencer telling women to dump their boyfriends". Evening Standard. 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. 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.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. As a queer woman in the public eye, dating has evolved and changed with her success too. But how much of her own dating experience is mirrored in her new book? “I've had many women ghost me before,” she admits. “You start to protect your ego and identity. For a while I'd almost projected my past onto people that were completely innocent and assumed they were going to do what all of the others did. But I’ve learned to treat people as an individual.” The distance between her online and offline self grows further and further apart until something dark happens that leads her into total self-destruction, forcing Eartha to make a choice; which version of herself should she kill off? She also advises “taking everything with a pinch of salt” when it comes to consuming content and realising it’s not a case of ‘one size fits all’. A few years ago, Florence adopted the catchphrase “It’s a wonderful day to dump him” to remind people that life is too short to stay in toxic relationships that don’t make you happy. But, as she points out, not everyone took it well. “I know I used to shout ‘dump him’ on the internet but what really annoys me about the perception of that is people thought I meant ‘everyone should dump your boyfriend’ – but really it was about saying it so women who stumble across it take it as a sign if they were already thinking about it.”

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.

a b Clark, Alex (7 August 2022). "Florence Given: 'People don't want you to break the mould... I needed to". The Observer . Retrieved 19 December 2022. Her podcast Exactly launched in January 2022. With guests including Munroe Bergdorf, Sofie Hagen and Jameela Jamil, Given discusses sex, relationships and social media. [10] [11] [12] It won the gold award for Best Marketing Campaign at the 2022 British Podcast Awards. [13] Influences [ edit ] Geall, Lauren (January 2022). "Celebrity podcasts: 24 of the best series to listen to in 2022, from Meghan Markle to Dua Lipa". Stylist . Retrieved 19 December 2022. My pussy opens up like a rosebud at the sensation of her touch.” Sorry, but this is a REAL line from the book. It sounds like a 30-year-old man trying to sext like a poet. If you follow florence online, it just sounds like a fictional version of her life and friends and experiences - maybe it was a cathartic exercise for FG. Would have liked something more imaginative / completely new as a piece of fiction! This could have been intentional but I am not sure it worked for me.

My friends have never spoken to me about their weight. We openly talk about sex we have, we openly talk about masturbation, and we’re very honest about our feelings with one another. We say no when we want to. But it is also because my friends are queer or they’re bisexual. Journalist Moya Lothian-McClean said: “I’m still thinking about Florence Given’s prose… Once again, publishers and editors involved in that… have a word with yourselves.” And I couldn’t have put it better myself, really. Related stories recommended by this writer: At the age of just 21, Florence was praised for spreading relatable words of wisdom in her first non-fiction book Women Don’t Owe You Pretty – a manifesto covering the key pillars of feminism – from toxic body and beauty standards, to identity and sexism. Earlier this year, she also started a podcast, Exactly, discussing sex, social media and relationships. More than 100,000 signatures on petition to cancel Netflix show Insatiable". Ilkley Gazette. 24 July 2018 . Retrieved 28 January 2020.

She reflects on how same-sex dating can easily become blurred too. “As women, you're almost expected to be okay with being friends, but actually you're getting your heart broken. If someone asks 'do you want to be friends?' and you know you don't because you know deep down you secretly hope to sleep together again, don’t do that and maintain that boundary.” This author has tried to do something pretty wonderful; use their voice to promote feminism, queerness, bisexuality and show us that social media is detrimental to our health and well-being… and that the world is still controlled by men.