# Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification - Hardcover

by **Melissa Petro** (Author)

**In the spirit of Rebecca Traister's _Good and Mad_ and Roxane Gay's _Bad Feminist_ comes a courageous, in-depth investigation into the modern epidemic of shame in our society--what it is, why women are uniquely susceptible, and how we can shift the shame off our plates and live our best lives in an over-exposed, image-obsessed world.**

For millions of women, shame is a vicious predator. It tells us we are _less than_, that we are _unworthy_. We try everything to escape shame--ignoring it, intellectualizing it, and even, ironically, shaming _ourselves_ for feeling it. The reality is that women experience shame more frequently and more intensely than men--a direct result, as acclaimed journalist Melissa Petro explains, of a patriarchal culture that "urges women to feel bad about themselves, and then punishes them when they do." Why can't we figure out how to break the shame cycle once and for all?

In _Shame on You,_ Petro takes on the issue of women's shame directly with an unflinching look at the social systems that encourage women to believe we are deeply inadequate. From shame's beginnings ( _Maybe she's born with it? Nope, it's misogyny._) to its effect on our lives as adults (_How the humiliation of "bad women" affects us all._), shame poisons our friendships, romantic relationships, and work lives. But it doesn't have to be that way. Blending investigative reporting, science, literature, and hundreds of women's personal stories--including her own shameful account of winding up as an unwitting _New York Post_ cover girl--Petro offers us a new way forward. No matter what you do, she explains, there is no escaping being judged. And yet, the women we can become--sometimes as a consequence of shame, rather than in spite of it--are powerful indeed. And maybe that's what others are afraid of.

### Author Biography

**Melissa Petro** is a journalist whose writing has been featured in _The Washington Post_, _Allure, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping, The Guardian, InStyle,_ and many other national publications. She was a finalist for the PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize, and she holds a bachelor in Women's Studies from Antioch and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from The New School. She lives with her husband and two young children in Upstate New York.

**Number of Pages:** 288

**Dimensions:** 0.96 x 8.18 x 6.25 IN

**Publication Date:** September 10, 2024

## Details

- **Price:** 29.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 29.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification - Hardcover

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