Killjoy: How a small voice made a big change

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'I was hooked from the first page' - Mel Giedroyc 'Heroic and humorous' - Independent 'Warm, wise, witty' - Laura Bates, author of Everyday Sexism The uplifting and incredible true story of the No More Page 3 campaign and the unlikely everyday women who made a generational change possible. Jo Cheetham was a long way from home, studying and working as a nanny in London, when she saw news of an upcoming protest against the Page 3 pictorial in The Sun and decided to go along. Before she could talk herself out of it, Jo officially joined the No More Page 3 campaign team. Over the course of the next three years, Jo protested up and down the country, attended parliament and made an unlikely group of friends, ranging from sixteen to sixty, that would become her closest confidants and allies. Whether it was through an impromptu flash mob or a nerve-wracking group performance on the West End stage, Jo's world started to get a lot bigger. Hilarious, brilliantly warm and moving, Killjoy is a story of everyday people doing extraordinary things, the power of a grassroots campaign and ultimately what you can achieve when you shout a little bit louder. 'Funny and inspiring' - Rachel Cooke, The Guardian 'Snappily written with humour and irreverence, it unpeels the insanity of our patriarchal society and why it can and must change. Order it now, is our advice' - Stylist

Reviews

'I want to shout about this brilliantly funny book from the rooftops! Fiercely funny, truly fascinating and inspiring and touching in equal measure, Killjoy is about the real-life story of a handful of 'small' female Davids taking on large male Goliaths. Life-affirming and brilliantly told, I was hooked from the first page . . . I loved it.' -- Mel Giedroyc
A funny and inspiring account of one postgraduate student's life-changing decision to join the No More Page 3 campaign: a first book that couldn't be more up my strasse if it tried. -- Rachel Cooke * The Guardian, 'Non-fiction to look out for in 2023' *
Funny frank and fearless, this is an inspiring read about grassroots feminist activism and how a group of determined women can change the world. Killjoy is just like its author: warm, wise, witty and wet your pants hilarious. Older activists will recognise the struggles and triumphs she describes with wry smiles and younger ones will find this book is like a pep talk from a supportive older sister telling them they can do it too! -- LauraBates, author of Everyday Sexism
I can't even begin to explain to my daughter that we grew up with naked pictures of women with massive knockers everywhere we looked, as if that was perfectly normal. This funny, frank memoir is an amazing reminder of what women went through to stop it. -- Jenny Colgan, bestselling author of Meet Me at the Cupcake Caf
Funny, warm and compelling, Jo Cheethams Killjoy is a hugely readable real-life story of friendship, solidarity and taking on the big guys even when everyone thinks youre mad. A great choice for book clubs, not least as its about a group of friends who simply refused to give up. -- AJ Pearce, bestselling author of Dear Mrs Bird
Snappily written with humour and irreverence, it unpeels the insanity of our patriarchal society and why it can and must change. Order it now, is our advice. * Stylist, 'Non-fiction books you cant miss in 2023' *
A heroic and humorous account of the woman who found herself at the head of the No More Page 3 campaign, in a group of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. * The Independent, 'Debut Authors Set to Make Their Mark This Year' *
I adored this heroic and unexpectedly humorous account of how Cheetham, then a PhD student who had never considered herself political or even assertive, was moved to join the No More Page 3 campaign . . . Hers is a fabulously uplifting story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, which shows we all have the power to stand up for what we believe in, and bring about change. -- Caroline Sanderson, 'Editor's Choice', The Bookseller
Wonderful . . . Jo Cheetham charts her journey from shy graduate student, riddled with insecurities about her working-class roots, to fearless feminist campaigner . . . Funny, relatable and heart-warming. * New Statesman *

Author Bio

Jo Cheetham became an unwitting feminist at the age of seven when she saw The Benny Hill Show and wondered why an old man was chasing women in bikinis around a yew tree while everybody laughed. She spent her childhood in a council house in Rotherham, writing upsetting poems and drawing clothes on Page Three models with a Tippex pen. As a grown-up, Jo has worked as a travel agent, a nanny, a food historian, a Christmas pudding maker and a mystery shopper on buses in Barnsley. More recently, she campaigned with No More Page Three and completed a PhD in Art History. She currently lives in the middle of nowhere in the North-East, surrounded by open fields, ground-nesting birds and cold cups of tea she has made and forgotten about. Killjoy is her first book.