If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?
Questions and Thoughts for Loud, Smart Women in Turbulent Times

Is your bikini bridge the Verrazano? Do you think it’s better to stand up than to lean in? Syndicated columnist and best-selling expert on women’s humor, Gina Barreca, writes about about getting loud, getting love, getting ahead and getting the first draw (or the last shot). She offers tips, lessons and bold confessions about bad boyfriends at any age, about friends we love and ones we can’t stand anymore, about waist size and wasted time, about panic, placebos and certain kinds of not-so adorable paternalism. The world is kept lively by loud women talking and “‘If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?’” cheers and challenges those voices to come together and speak up. You think she’s kidding? Oh, boy, do you have another thing coming.

From the original description:

Gina Barreca is fed up with women who lean in, but don’t open their mouths. In her latest collection of essays, she turns her attention to subjects like bondage which she notes now seems to come in fifty shades of grey and has been renamed Spanx. She muses on those lessons learned in Kindergarten that every woman must unlearn like not having to hold the hand of the person you’re waking next to (especially if he’s a bad boyfriend) or needing to have milk, cookies and a nap every day at 3:00 PM (which tends to sap one’s energy not to mention what it does to one’s waistline). She sounds off about all those things a woman hates to hear from a man like “Calm down” or “Next time, try buying shoes that fit”. “‘If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?’” is about getting loud, getting love, getting ahead and getting the first draw (or the last shot). Here are tips, lessons and bold confessions about bad boyfriends at any age, about friends we love and ones we can’t stand anymore, about waist size and wasted time, about panic, placebos, placentas and certain kinds of not-so adorable paternalism attached to certain kinds of politicians. The world is kept lively by loud women talking and “‘If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?’” cheers and challenges those voices to come together and speak up.

Buy the Book

If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse? Gina Barreca

Publication Information

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: March 29, 2016
ISBN-10: 1250060745
ISBN-13: 978-1250060747

Praise

“Gina Barreca’s essays are like dispatches from a dear friend: Wonderful, witty, heartfelt and wise – with many memorable zingers and tear inducing stingers. Her gift is one of connection and her work is relatable and true. Share this book with your sisters and your BFF (Brainy Friends and Feminists) book group.” -Amy Dickinson, author of the nationally syndicated column “Ask Amy”

“If you ever find that your best gal pal isn’t available, you need look no further than Barreca’s book. It contains everything a good friend would provide: honesty, insight, female camaraderie, and a lot of laughs.” -Rachel Dratch