So, speaking the truth isn’t always easy but I believe it’s worth it. And I want you to believe it too. The truth can be empowering, the truth can lead to greater equality, and the world would be incredibly boring if we let all of those people who allegedly know everything, say everything.

Jess Phillips and I probably agree on about 95% of the issues. It certainly raises my estimation of her when the worst people on the internet despise her as much as they do. The book is interesting, readable, sometimes funny, and usually pretty well informed. Jess Phillips is refreshing, her no-nonsense, straight-forward approach aims to open politics up to all and that can only be a good thing. The UK political system continues to be dominated by upper-class, privately-educated men when surely it is in the interests of the country if the political system is representative of the people that it aims to represent; otherwise it is only beneficial to very few people. Jess is a state-educated, working class woman and also the current MP for Birmingham Yardley, she is often criticised in the media for being loud, outspoken and opinionated – all traits that if spoken about a man would be viewed positively. Where were we? Oh yeah, Jess Phillips is awesome and Kier Starmer should not be in the position he is in. Because every time he has been across the Prime Minister at the weekly questions, he has massively failed and come up short. I mean, how ineffective do you have to be to follow Jeremy Corbyn and still look shit? This woman is nothing short of a hero. I love the fact that she has a potty mouth and is also very brazen and open about her reservations about her life as an MP. So, speaking the truth isn't always easy but I believe it's worth it. And I want you to believe it too. The truth can be empowering, the truth can lead to greater equality, and the world would be incredibly boring if we let all of those people who allegedly know everything, say everything.

Retailers:

I loved this book and I greatly admire Jess Phillips. This is a plain speaking guide on how she got into politics and how she handles all the shit now she is there. Written shortly after Jo Cox’s death, she examines how the stakes are set for women in positions of power and how to deal with attempts to silence women’s voices. It was pretty hard to deal with some of the sections, like when she talks about some of the horrific trolling that she has had to encounter. It’s hard to relate to that as someone who has never gone through it, but it’s not something that anyone should have to cope with. If you're thinking, 'Jess, who?' then I'm glad that there was something about 'Everywoman' and 'truth' that caught your eye. The problems with this book, again, start with the title: "Everywoman". I assume that instead of suggesting this is about "every woman" she means "Everywoman" in the sense of being just like you and me, salt of the earth, representative of this here gender that we have. Like Moran's book, Phillips has written a book that is really mostly about herself. It's fine to write a memoir or autobiography. It's more of a problem when you don't seem to know if you're writing a book about yourself or about all women. I do not want any particular woman to set herself up as Everywoman, because firstly it's impossible for one individual to represent the huge diversity that exists within this gender, and secondly every time someone tries it is without fail a white, middle class (which she is, whatever people may say about her accent) professional, able-bodied, cisgender, heterosexual woman.

It's semi-autobiographical, and we learn a lot about Jess' teenage self, her siblings, family etc. Particularly uplifting was a chapter on sisterhood, where Jess relays stories of her mother and mother-in-law, and stories her friends have shared about women helping other women. I also liked the chapter where Jess covers self promotion and how we need to do it more, noting the fine line.Partly her life story, partly her opinions on key issues such as abuse against women, the book was compelling throughout. You could feel the raw emotion that she was pouring into this book, you know that she truly cares. This is part-memoir, part-reflection on womanhood. Jess Phillips doesn’t actually discuss her political views to any great extent in this book, she primarily focuses on women’s issues, such as domestic violence, rape, the gender pay gap, and the ways that women are silenced in the work place. Her views on the importance of feminism and equality are explained clearly and powerfully. Although this may sound heavy going, the book is actually quite light hearted in general, and I laughed out loud at some parts. This is a plain-talking, no-nonsense account of Jess Phillips' life, how she got into politics, and her opinions on certain key issues, such as abuse against women. I LOVE the strength of her voice throughout - it really does make you think no, we shouldn't put up with this nonsense, and that's great.

The book is an easy read, Jess writes in a conversational style as though you were chatting with her personally, as with her other books she doesn’t use jargon so don’t worry if you have no knowledge of how politics works as this book will still be accessible.So why only three stars? Well... I have a deeper unease about this book which I can't put out of my mind. If I start with the Caitlin Moran quote that's prominently displayed, it may become clearer. Caitlin Moran wrote a book entitled "How To Be A Woman" which was also interesting, readable, funny, etc. But it wasn't a book about how to be a woman; it was a book about how to be Caitlin Moran. Huge swathes of women's experiences were not considered in Moran's book, because they weren't important to Moran personally.