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You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

by Phoebe Robinson

Personal essays on race, gender, and the everyday politics of belonging

Regular price $15.24 USD
Regular price $25.40 USD Sale price $15.24 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Bestseller

    A New York Times bestseller

  • Editorial selection

    One of Glamour's Top 10 Books of 2016

    Selected for Glamour's Top 10 Books of 2016.

  • Critical praise

    Praised as “a must-read” by Ilana Glazer

    Ilana Glazer, co-creator and co-star of Broad City, calls the book a must-read and praises Robinson's discussion...

AlbakiReads Editorial

Personal essays on race, gender, and the everyday politics of belonging

Phoebe Robinson’s essay collection uses personal experience and pop-culture touchstones to examine the assumptions directed at Black women in the United States. The pieces move between encounters with racial stereotyping—from intrusive questions about hair to being cast as an all-purpose authority on race—and wider discussions of sexism, workplace bias, entertainment-industry casting, and professional sports. Robinson also brings her interests in music and celebrity into the conversation, connecting seemingly casual cultural judgments to larger expectations about identity. Humor is central to the book’s approach, while the subject matter remains grounded in the social pressures and double standards its essays address.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in humorous personal essays about race and gender
  • Fans of pop-culture commentary with a feminist perspective
  • Listeners familiar with Phoebe Robinson’s 2 Dope Queens work

Themes

Race and identityGender and feminismEveryday biasPop cultureWorkplace discrimination

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - "A must-read...Phoebe Robinson discusses race and feminism in such a funny, real, and specific way, it penetrates your brain and stays with you."--Ilana Glazer, co-creator and co-star of Broad City

A hilarious and timely essay collection about race, gender, and pop culture from comedy superstar and 2 Dope Queens podcaster Phoebe Robinson

Being a black woman in America means contending with old prejudices and fresh absurdities every day. Comedian Phoebe Robinson has experienced her fair share over the years: she's been unceremoniously relegated to the role of "the black friend," as if she is somehow the authority on all things racial; she's been questioned about her love of U2 and Billy Joel ("isn't that...white people music?"); she's been called "uppity" for having an opinion in the workplace; she's been followed around stores by security guards; and yes, people do ask her whether they can touch her hair all. the. time. Now, she's ready to take these topics to the page--and she's going to make you laugh as she's doing it.

Using her trademark wit alongside pop-culture references galore, Robinson explores everything from why Lisa Bonet is "Queen. Bae. Jesus," to breaking down the terrible nature of casting calls, to giving her less-than-traditional advice to the future female president, and demanding that the NFL clean up its act, all told in the same conversational voice that launched her podcast, 2 Dope Queens, to the top spot on iTunes. As personal as it is political, You Can't Touch My Hair examines our cultural climate and skewers our biases with humor and heart, announcing Robinson as a writer on the rise.

One of Glamour's "Top 10 Books of 2016"

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