You Play the Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed Messages Chocano CarinaPaperback

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR CRITICISMA FINALIST FOR THE PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY "If Hollywood's treatment of women leaves you wanting, you'll find good, heady company in You Play the Girl."--ELLEAs a kid in the 1970s and 80s, Carina Chocano was confused by the mixed messages all around her; messages that told her who she could be--and who she couldn't. She learned that "the girl" is not a person, but a man's idea of what a woman should be--she's whatever the hero needs her to be in order to become himself. Dutifully absorbing all the conflicting information the culture has to offer on how to be a woman, Chocano grappled with sexed up sidekicks, princesses waiting to be saved, and morally infallible angels who seemed to have no opinions of their own.

It wasn't until she spent five years as a