The record-breaking, international bestseller accused of plagiarism
When Florence Given’s Women Don’t Owe You Pretty swept onto the shelves during the pandemic, TikTok went crazy. Branded as the answer to all the needs of “feminists,” the “novel” was an immediate bestseller and shot Given into stardom. However, we’ve quickly realised that not everything was initially as it seemed.
Back in 2022, 18-year-old me was quick to call bulls*** on Given’s so-called ‘feminist bible’. In my Goodreads review, I called it an “instruction manual on how to live your life avoiding the instructions men and the rest of our patriarchal society seems to give women.” On my re-read my opinion has yet to change. She seems so quick to critique men for telling women how to live their lives and what to do with their bodies, but does the exact same thing. Though I suppose she must think it fine, because for once this ‘bible’ has been written by a woman. I however, see it for what it is — pure unadulterated hypocrisy.
Had it been released in 2012 as the stepping stone into revolutionary work within feminism Given advertises it as, it could have been radical. But eight years later, it is wholly uninspired. It’s just a graphic designer’s nightmare and a worn out self-assertion which everyone who isn’t male has said for the past decade. If you’re impressed by this figuratively colourless, uninteresting, white girl monetising Instagram infographics and regurgitating 2013 Tumblr discourse, all with a self-congratulatory undertone, then first of all, I’m sincerely worried for you, but second of all, I think I’ve found your next Christmas present.
Despite it being her own novel, Given comes off as brass, crass, aggressive, and I’ll even say misandrist — harbouring a resentment for almost every aspect of modern life. At a time when men’s mental health struggles are at an all time high, this anti-men propaganda should have no place. But feminist influencer books such as Given’s perpetuate the same double standards she attempts to bring down, fuelling this anti-men rhetoric which is the exact reason why the feminist movement is painted negatively. Feminist literature requires well-sourced, well-written, intellectual narratives and Given fails on all counts except providing pretty pictures.
What really cements its one-star review, and should come as no surprise, is that it is accused of being completely plagiarised. Despite talking entirely too much about social injustice without saying much at all, Given perpetuates the classic “white woman, black woman” injustice. Quel surprise. Under Given’s same management, Chidera Eggerue wrote and published What a Time to be Alone — another feminist, self-help instruction manual — eighteen months prior to Given’s self-proclaimed bible. I will say, I am an avid non-fiction reader, but these self-help, do-what-I-do books are truly everything I stand against. When I sat down as a fresh-faced 18-year-old ready to give Given a chance, I wanted to persevere, but Lord did she make it difficult.
Now, I could waste words arguing that they are the same book, but I’d rather just show you:
Say it with me now: they’re exactly the same book (allegedly, I don’t want to get sued).
The end-all-be-all is that if you’re going to argue your views are radical and foundation-changing (much like Clifford Geertz and his… *cough* reinvention of armchair anthropology), for the love of god do not place them in the very oppressive structures you’re attempting to argue against. I’m not asking you to burn your copy of Women Don’t Owe You Pretty or throw it away — I’m asking you to buy Eggerue’s What a Time to Be Alive, or to only ever pick up Given’s book to make fun of it or evaluate it. Feminists deserve better, and we all deserve better than Women Don’t Owe You Pretty.