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Deemed a “feminist humor maven” by Ms. Magazine and “Very, very funny. For a woman” by Dave Barry, Gina Barreca is most recently the author of It's Not That I'm Bitter: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World (St. Martin’s, 2009/ppb. 2010). She has appeared on 20/20, 48 Hours, NPR, the BBC, The Today Show, CNN, Joy Behar, and Oprah to discuss gender, power, politics, and humor. Her earlier books, include the bestselling They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor, as well as Perfect Husband and Other Fairy Tales: Demystifying Men, Marriage and Romance, Sweet Revenge: The Wicked Delights of Getting Even, and Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League; her books have been translated into several languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and German. She’s the editor of seventeen books, including The Signet Book of American Humor and The Penguin Book of Women’s Humor as well as The Erotics of Instruction and A Sit-Down With the Sopranos. She writes for the "Brainstorm" section of The Chronicle of Higher Education and blogs for Psychology Today, does a weekly column for The Hartford Courant, a monthly column for Principal Leadership, and occasionally spars with her former co-author (of I'm With Stupid: One Man. One Woman. 10,000 Years of Misunderstandings Between the Sexes Cleared Right Up) Gene Weingarten in his "Below the Beltway" column in The Washington Post. With degrees from Dartmouth College, Cambridge University, and the City University of New York, Barreca is Professor of English and Feminist Theory at the University of Connecticut.
Rita Ciresi says "Barreca is probably the funniest woman writer in America."
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How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered The World |
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Catch Gina's Blogs! |
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Read Gina's latest contribution to Psychology Today's Blog. |
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Gina is now contributing to The Chronicle of Higher Education's Brainstorm blog. |
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Gina discusses Lucille Ball's legacy with John Hockenberry on "The TAKE AWAY" radio program. August 5, 2011 |
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Check out Gina's newest collaboration with Gene Weingarten in The Washington Post. |
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 Gina has announced the new "Gina's Friends" partnership with Windham Hospital - this is a great way to celebrate and thank the women in your life, and will give a gift to the women's community in a tangible and thoughtful way.
http://www.windhamhospital.org/wh.nsf/View/GinasFriends
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Listen to Faith Middleton's Book Show: October 29, 2010Guests: Gina Barreca, Roxanne Coady, Lee Jacobus and Rose Quielo |
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 Louise Crawford loves IT'S NOT THAT I'M BITTER! Smartmom says "In her sharp essays, she shows that maybe the grass is green enough no matter what choice you make because it’s how you think about things and laugh about them that matters." |
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Advance Reviews! |
Ms. Magazine praises IT’S NOT THAT I’M BITTER in the Spring Issue: “ University of Connecticut English Professor Barreca offers feminism for the everywoman in these humorous essays. Expect poignant insights tucked between the laugh lines.” Publishers Weekly - ReviewFans of Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman will find humor along with serious insights about women and aging in Barreca's latest challenge to women to “stop obsessing over hymens, husbands, and hangnails and once again direct our attention outward to the larger issues of... the creation of genuinely significant opportunities for women in all workplaces.” But Barreca (Perfect Husbands & Other Fairy Tales) is more about laughs than lecturing, as she addresses the mysteries of finding the perfect bra, the indignities of bathing suit shopping at TJ Maxx, her relationship with her hair and the “Fifty-two Things I Learned by Fifty-one.” Along the way, she points out what she considers to be the insipid concerns of holiday preparations or what exactly women may consider to be a waste of time (“Why, oh why, didn't I organize my closet according to color and texture of garment?”). Between the snappy observations, Barreca takes an opportunity to liken the progression of contemporary feminist thought to a car accident—“it's not so much that we're in a backlash as we're in a whiplash.” (May) Booklist - ReviewWhile some may debate whether Barreca’s collection of short essays are painfully funny or humorously painful, many will agree these eminently readable pieces will have people laughing out loud, then sighing thoughtfully. Her observations as a 50-ish woman focus on life’s sexual inequities: “If women had tufts growing from our noses and ears, men would bring exorcists to the house. . . . Professionals to drive the evil spirits from our bodies.” And on the subject of age: “Once we hit forty, women have only about four taste buds left: one for vodka, one for wine, one for cheese, and one for chocolate.” Using the first-person plural, she chronicles all-too-common collective foolishness: “Almost no woman would treat any of her acquaintances as poorly as she treats herself.” Many readers, especially women, will enjoy, discuss, and reread this quick, breezy work of commentary, a book that stirs up dust long after its covers are closed. — Whitney Scott |
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Browse Gina's Books
To see the way wit functions for all of us--men and women alike--is to see a map of our culture: to focus on things we've seen but not necessarily processed or analyzed; explaining what we've sensed but not yet bothered to define. Humor may have been ignored or challenged, but it has always been a secretly potent, delightfully dangerous, wonderfully seductive and, most importantly, powerful way to make a statement, to tell our stories, to make sure everyone's voice is heard. ~ Gina Barreca, Who's Laughing Now? |
Check this out! |
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by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist
Gene Weingarten and Gina Barreca One man. One woman. 10,000 years of misunderstanding between the sexes cleared right up. Purchase at Amazon.com. |