Jessica Hopper‘s great. I was on a press trip to Israel with homegirl and the whole time we sat in this little van and leapfrogged around the dry countryside, visiting the “Israeli Georgy Clooney”, the “Israeli Steven Spielberg”, and the “Israeli-designer-who-makes-really-tacky-jewelry”. We even checked out some bands together — the “Israeli Neil Young”, the “Israeli Cult”, and the “Israeli Foo Fighers” were standouts. I gotta give it to ‘em, Israel really does a good job of coming out with half-assed imitations of American artists (yeah yeah yeah – The Cult is British I know, you get the picture). Although that kinda stuff was mildy amusing, what really made the trip for me was all the time we spent arguing — which was mostly me just poking fun at her for being a feminist. Cos I mean really, what’s the option? Take them seriously? That would be counterproductive. To her credit, she did a pretty good job of trying to ignore me.

So Hopper’s come out with this great book teaching young girls how to be real riot grrrls, not some fake-ass Ashlee Cyrus Swift bullshit sorority-girl-to-be future Hills clone. Who knew feminism could actually come in handy in the modern world? And here I was, thinking being a feminist was about as useful in contemporary  society as being a matador.  You win this round, Hopper!

As described in Paste:

Lucky for us, we have a new ally in the fight. Feminist, journalist and rock aficionado Jessica Hopper has written The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a guide for teenage girls who aren’t interested in Miley & Co. Hopper hits on everything from how to come up with a non-cliche band name to where to buy good equipment, how to sound-proof a practice space and understand the necessary legalese in the business.

Sounds handy. And given Hopper’s a helluva writer, I’ll be buying this for all teenage girls I know to save them from a life of My Sweet 16-inspired misery. Buy it HERE for under $11. Also, hit the Jump for a list of Jessica Hopper’s upcoming JULY book tour…

Jessica Hopper’s upcoming JULY book tour…

July
13 – Portland, Ore. @ Powells on Hawthorne
14 - Seattle, Wash. @ Power Chord Academy
14 - Seattle, Wash. @ The Vera Project
15 - Santa Monica, Calif. @ Public Library w/ Mika Miko
15 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Skylight Books
16 - Minneapolis, Minn. @ Magers & Quinn w/ Laurie Lindeen
20 - Philadelphia, Penn. @ TBA
21 - New York City, N.Y. @ Barnes & Noble 396 Ave of the Americas at 8th St.
22 - New York City, N.Y. @ TBA
23 - Providence, R.I. @ AS220