Review Detail

What I Loved:

It takes serious mental preparation to even read the first chapter as we meet Pen and the abominable creatures she classifies as her friends: Colby the pickup artist, Garrett the outright offensive, and Tristan the actually-okay-but-a-major-pushover. We talk about how women who say things like “I’m not friends with girls, they’re too much drama” reek of internalized misogyny, but Pen’s problem is very different: she has to endure constant casual misogyny from her friends just because she can have friends. Her masculine presentation presumably made forming friendships with girls difficult.

Once Colby forces Pen to be his wingman and Garrett starts calling Pen “Steve” after she cuts her hair, we start to wonder how she can tolerate them. Sadly, the desire to have friends at all can outweigh the desire to have good friends and she’ll excuse longtime toxic friend Colby because he’s “not as bad” as Garrett. It’s not a healthy approach to friendship, but many will recognize the experience if they’ve had toxic friends before.

Girl Mans Up excels because Pen and the rest of the cast never feel like characters in a fictional novel. Every word on the page is a breath from Pen’s mouth and you might forget she’s not a real person. When she starts living her truth and is able to cultivate healthy friendships as well as get into a sweetheart romance with another girl named Blake, your relief will be as powerful as if you knew Pen personally. Hopefully, she’ll make people step up for the butch girls in their community. If I were still in school and knew a girl like her, I’d do my best to be a good friend to her.

Pen’s broken-English-speaking parents will be just as recognizable as Pen herself. It’s understandable they want the best for their two children as Portuguese immigrants to Canada, but the pushy ways implied to be part of their culture and their lack of regard for their children is infuriating. For instance, they’ve already decided Pen will be a nurse no matter what she wants. Parents like these are why QUILTBAG kids might remain closeted to their parents or outright cut them out of their lives once they’re old enough. Thank goodness Pen had her brother Johnny growing up or she’d be in an even worse place.

I also want to say that I appreciate how sensitive and positive Girl Mans Up is in regards to abortion. One character decides to have one and the discussions she and Pen have about it are very healthy. It made me wonder about the differences between getting/having one in Canada versus the United States as well.

What Left Me Wanting:

I’m still baffled by Canadian architecture, though. An above-ground basement? What?

Final Verdict:

Most likely, Girl Mans Up will make you a better human being for having read it. I consider myself a good, intersectional feminist, but I had no idea what butch girls like Pen faced before now and I hope to incorporate what I’ve learned from her into my activism. That’s how to keep your feminism relevant and helpful. If there’s any justice in the world, Girl Mans Up will become a YA classic and a major example of great QUILTBAG YA.