 |
Need a good laugh?
Click here to view
Gina Videos
E-mail Gina:
gb@ginabarreca.com
Regina Barreca, Ph.D. is a professor of English and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut. Her books include They Used to Call Me Snow White, but I Drifted; Perfect Husbands and Other Fairy Tales; Babes in Boyland; and, with Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post, I'm With Stupid. She's written or edited other books on vice, Victorians and sex, American humor, the erotics of instruction, The Sopranos, women's humor, and Italian-American literature. She blogs about teaching, sex, humor, money, publishing, ambition, books, marriage, envy (professional and personal), politics (professional and personal), aging, and cartoons.
Gina is a proud member of the
National Speakers
Association
 |
Gina's New Book |
 |
|
or |
|
How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered The World |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Gina discusses It's Not That I'm Bitter The Faith Middleton Show WNPR Radio 90.5 FM Aired: May 11, 2009 |
|
Gina talks to Dave The Dave Elliot Show WGUF 98.9 FM Naples, Florida |
|
 Louise Crawford loves IT'S NOT THAT I'M BITTER! Smartmom says "In her sharp essays, she shows that maybe the grass is green enough no matter what choice you make because it’s how you think about things and laugh about them that matters." |
|
 |
|
Advance Reviews! |
|
Ms. Magazine praises IT’S NOT THAT I’M BITTER in the Spring Issue: “ University of Connecticut English Professor Barreca offers feminism for the everywoman in these humorous essays. Expect poignant insights tucked between the laugh lines.” Publishers Weekly - ReviewFans of Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman will find humor along with serious insights about women and aging in Barreca's latest challenge to women to “stop obsessing over hymens, husbands, and hangnails and once again direct our attention outward to the larger issues of... the creation of genuinely significant opportunities for women in all workplaces.” But Barreca (Perfect Husbands & Other Fairy Tales) is more about laughs than lecturing, as she addresses the mysteries of finding the perfect bra, the indignities of bathing suit shopping at TJ Maxx, her relationship with her hair and the “Fifty-two Things I Learned by Fifty-one.” Along the way, she points out what she considers to be the insipid concerns of holiday preparations or what exactly women may consider to be a waste of time (“Why, oh why, didn't I organize my closet according to color and texture of garment?”). Between the snappy observations, Barreca takes an opportunity to liken the progression of contemporary feminist thought to a car accident—“it's not so much that we're in a backlash as we're in a whiplash.” (May) Booklist - ReviewWhile some may debate whether Barreca’s collection of short essays are painfully funny or humorously painful, many will agree these eminently readable pieces will have people laughing out loud, then sighing thoughtfully. Her observations as a 50-ish woman focus on life’s sexual inequities: “If women had tufts growing from our noses and ears, men would bring exorcists to the house. . . . Professionals to drive the evil spirits from our bodies.” And on the subject of age: “Once we hit forty, women have only about four taste buds left: one for vodka, one for wine, one for cheese, and one for chocolate.” Using the first-person plural, she chronicles all-too-common collective foolishness: “Almost no woman would treat any of her acquaintances as poorly as she treats herself.” Many readers, especially women, will enjoy, discuss, and reread this quick, breezy work of commentary, a book that stirs up dust long after its covers are closed. — Whitney Scott |
|
|
|
|
|
Catch Gina's Blogs! |
Read Gina's latest contribution to Psychology Today's Blog. |
Gina is now contributing to The Chronicle of Higher
Education's Brainstorm blog. |
Browse Gina's Books
|
Education World archive
National columnist Regina Barreca brings her
timely,
insightful humor to Education World.
|
|
| To see the way wit functions for all of us--men and women alike--is to see a map of our culture: to focus on things we've seen but not necessarily processed or analyzed; explaining what we've sensed but not yet bothered to define. Humor may have been ignored or challenged, but it has always been a secretly potent, delightfully dangerous, wonderfully seductive and, most importantly, powerful way to make a statement, to tell our stories, to make sure everyone's voice is heard. ~ Gina Barreca, Who's Laughing Now? |
Another of Gina's fabulous essays appears in the Winter 2009 edition of Check this out! |
 |
by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist
Gene Weingarten and Gina Barreca One man. One woman. 10,000 years of misunderstanding between the sexes cleared right up. Purchase at Amazon.com. |