Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood

Trixie Mattel and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood

You will enjoy Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood best if you are a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race and like parody. Or am I being redundant?

Anyway, you also need a strong knowledge of pop culture. Take this test:

“I believe it was the great prophet Britney Jean Spears who said, ‘There’s only two types of people in the world; the ones that entertain and the ones that observe.’”

The question is not, “can you recognize which prophet she is quoting?” It’s not even “do you know the name of the song the quote is from?” It’s obviously Circus by Britney Spears. No, to truly enjoy this book you must be incapable of reading the quote without hearing Britney singing it in your head. Even when I was typing it, I still hit the beats with my fingers.

Still even without the pop culture knowledge of The Rachel (a haircut from Friends, a 1990’s TV show for those born on Mars), you can still learn from this book. Who knew they had clip-on bangs (except possibly everyone but me)? In addition, you can learn theater school 101 lessons like “I was taught that makeup is a way of characterizing yourself before you even speak.” Plus, Trixie will actually tell you the brand names of the makeup she uses both on and off stage.

There are chapters on shoes, style, hygiene, alcohol, drugs, loving yourself, money, digital life, interior design, food, travel, decluttering, and relationships. However, my favorite parts are the shade thrown at other, generally RuPaul alumni, queens.

As long as you are fine with two drag queens talking bluntly about their lives both in and out of drag—usually quite graphically—Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood is a look behind the curtain of both drag queens and modern gay men. I liked it but it’s probably mostly going to appeal to drag queen fans. 4 stars!

Thanks to Plume Books and Edelweiss+ for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

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