Hannah Ferguson is talking about the things she’s been too scared to talk about; her feelings around masturbation, the reason for her parents’ divorce, and why feminism is still important. She wants us to talk about our taboos as well.
Hannah speaks her mind on the taboos regarding motherhood, bodies, sex, relationships, careers, and friendship. Each section provided me with facts and information I wasn’t previously aware of. The pill can dry out the skin at the opening of the vagina, making it susceptible to tears, if taken for more than a year. Only 4% of women credit penetration as their most reliable route to orgasm. Statistically, the happiest women are both single and child-free. Like most women, Hannah has a personal anecdote to accompany each theme, from her dad expressing guilt for not being able to pay for her nose job at 13-years-old, her encounters with sexual assault, and why her grandmothers were her best friends. All of her stories are real and relatable, even if they are too close for comfort.
It’s clear from the extensive quotes, statistics, and references in this book that she has done her research and knows what she’s talking about. These are the words of a woman who lives, breathes, and podcasts feminism, politics, and the importance of a good sex toy.
I often found Hannah’s writing style over-explanatory, self-indulgent, and a little cringe-inducing, with admissions like “It confirmed my long-standing belief that I would slay at being pansexual.” This thought was in reaction to Hannah getting 17 Instagram DM’s from women hoping to ‘turn her’ after she took to her Instagram stories to find a last-minute date.
The number of typos in this short 250-page, large typeface book, was enough to make this writer shudder at the state of the publishing industry, with abominations like ‘fillms’, and ‘we’ instead of ‘were’ managing to fall through the editorial gaps. I’m being nit-picky, I know. Her heart is in the right place. We don’t come to Hannah Ferguson for her flawless grammar and spelling, but instead for stellar insights and witty explanations of complex issues.
I usually rank my feminist manifestos on a scale of Florence Given (light and fluffy “level one” feminism) to bell hooks (deep explorations of patriarchal society and intersectional feminism). ‘Taboo’ falls somewhere comfortably between the two, landing at a level of feminism that conveys support, education, and inspiration in an easily digestible and succinct way.
