The author of the acclaimed, bestselling In Praise of Difficult
Women delivers a hilarious feminist manifesto that encourages us to
reject "self-improvement" and instead learn to appreciate and flaunt our
complex, and flawed, human selves.
Why are we so obsessed with being our so-called best selves? Because our
modern culture force feeds women lies designed to heighten their
insecurities: "You can do it all--crush it at work, at home, in the
bedroom, at PTA and at Pilates--and because you can, you should. We can
show you how!"
Karen Karbo has had enough. She's taking a stand against the cultural
and societal pressures, marketing, and media influences that push us to
spend endless time, energy and money trying to "fix" ourselves--a race
that has no finish line and only further increases our send of
self-dissatisfaction and loathing. "Yeah, no, not happening," is her
battle cry.
In this wickedly smart and entertaining book, Karbo explores how
"self-improvery" evolved from the provenance of men to women. Recast as
"consumers" in the 1920s, women, it turned out, could be seduced into
buying anything that might improve not just their lives, but their sense
of self-worth. Today, we smirk at Mad Men-era ads targeting 1950s
housewives--even while savvy marketers, aided and abetted by social
media "influencers," peddle skin care "systems," skinny tea, and
regimens that promise to deliver endless happiness. We're not simply
seduced into dropping precious disposable income on empty promises; the
underlying message is that we can't possibly know what's good for us,
what we want, or who we should be. Calling BS, Karbo blows the lid off
of this age-old trend and asks women to start embracing their awesomely
imperfect selves.
There is no one more dangerous than a woman who doesn't care what anyone
thinks of her. Yeah, No, Not Happening is a call to arms to build a
posse of dangerous women who swear off self-improvement and its
peddlers. A welcome corrective to our inner-critic, Karbo's manifesto
will help women restore their sanity and reclaim their self-worth.
