Kadınların Nesi Var?

by Jacky Fleming, Mavisu Kahya (Translator)

Nesi var sahi bu kadınların?
Kolları mı kısa, kafaları mı küçük, sakalları mı az?
Saçları şöyle fazla kısa, böyle de çok mu uzun?
Neden okullarda yalnızca iki ya da üç kadının adını duyuyoruz?
Peki, bunca zamandır diğer kadınlar ne yapmaktaydı?

Şimdi derin bir nefes alın ve unutulmuş kadınlarla dolu tarihin tozlu çöp kovasına balıklama dalın!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Feminism, Nonfiction, Humor, History, Comics, Womens

124 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2016

About the author

Jacky Fleming went to a suffragette school in London. She emerged awesomely uneducated because of the teachers' inexplicable preference for Latin as a first language. A year at Chelsea School of Art and a degree in fine art at Leeds University greatly improved her table-football technique. Other qualifications include A— for posture and a silver medal in Latin-American dancing. A brief stint in the art department of a London periodical was followed by eleven years teaching art as a foreign language. Jacky lives in Yorkshire and hates cooking. (from Be a Bloody Train Driver)

Jacky Fleming was born in London in 1955. In her art studies at Leeds University, she began to deal with feminism. Her first comic strips appeared in 1978 and since then she has been drawing for newspapers, among others. for The Guardian, The Observer, The Big Issue and for various publishers.

Reviews

[Alienor ✘ French Frowner ✘ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now available EN FRANÇAIS here :)

I don't know what's the most horrifying really : the narrow-minded and downright stupid misconceptions all these so-called geniuses spread about women through History, or the fact that many people *cough* politicians! *cough* still perpetuate parts of these offensive stereotypes.



Jacky Fleming both quotes some *delightful* opinions from our much-beloved geniuses, like Charles Darwin...



or Jean-Jacques Rousseau (because I'm not chauvinistic) ... I mean, have you read Émile ou de l'éducation? I did, and really, with all due respect to my teaching professors who urged me to read it at the time, not only this is painfully boring, but his "views" on women's education are plain sexist.



... and she introduces several women whose apparitions in History books stay awfully rare (trust me, I'm a teacher - women are definitely NOT present in History texbooks, if you except Marie Curie). They're trying, though, and the textbooks - thankfully - evolved during the last 20 years. Yet they only offer "generic chapters" for now (more like 2 pages really), as "women during WW2" or "women during French Revolution" - better than nothing, but definitely not enough. Or, their love affairs are the only aspects that are mentioned, like Aliénor d'Aquitaine's (which is a shame really, given how interesting she was).

Needless to say, every idiotic remark is confronted to the reality in order to show - if needed - how ridiculous it is. Romanes thought that women's minds tended to wander and waver all the time?



Although it was a little too short for my liking, the sarcastic voice still makes for an interesting and thought-provoking read.

For more of my reviews, please visit:

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, we have the depressingly realistic Handmaid’s Tale to satisfy our need for dystopian feminist horror, but once in a while we need to laugh at these related issues, even in these #metoo times (I say, speaking for myself, now, in the third person, and FOR you, in the male way). This is a very funny illustrated book documenting how stupid the male establishment has been throughout history in disrespecting the potential and achievements of girls and women.

[Inspirational story at the end of this review!]

Now, we all know this, but sometimes it is still shocking to realize that millions of people still think this way about women.

“Inside the (Domestic) Sphere women did things which weren't too demanding like childcare, scrubbing the floor, washing the sheets and curtains, sewing on buttons, and coalmining.”

And Fleming makes a point that these opinions about the inferiority of women have been asserted by Men whom (Men) have decided were Geniuses (which a woman could plainly not be):

“Schopenhauer said only men had the total objectivity necessary for genius, and that you only had to look at a woman’s shape to see that she wasn’t intended for much mental or physical work.”

“As Darwin said, by keeping women at home their achievements were paltry compared to men's, which proved women were biologically inferior. And he should know because he was a Genius. You probably learned about him at school.”

“Dr. Edward Clarke, a Harvard professor, said it was possible for a girl to study hard and do well in everything, but it would damage her health for the rest of her life, and her children would be shriveled.”

Oh, Fleming has dozens of such statements to enrage and delight you. I highly recommend this book!

I have a story, if you have read this far, since this book reminded me of the experience. In the late eighties I helped develop a community-based, oral history writing project in northern Michigan, specifically Rogers City, Michigan, a town of then fewer than 2,000 people. In preparation for the summer, we went, in February 1986, to the Presque Isle County Historical Museum with prospective area students, to explore possible summer research projects.

After one hour of looking through the archives of the area paper, The Presque Isle County Advance, focusing on the earliest issues in the late nineteenth century when the town was being settled, two girls, juniors, came to me and asked me the million dollar question. Now let me inform you that northern Michigan may not have then been your bastion of feminism. Strong farming and lake (connected to shipping and fishing) women for sure, but by and large traditional German Lutheran stock. None of the students we worked with that weekend had ever been as far as Detroit (maybe five hours away) from their home in Rogers City.

"Why in all these papers do they never mention what women did?" one girl asked.

"Yeah, it's almost like they didn't have any women at all!"

I said, "True, that's disturbing, right? Well, if you wanted to know what the experience of women was 100 years ago, what would you do?"

"Well, we'd have to talk to really old women, I guess, and ask them."

Here was a moment in the shaping of the lives of these two girls, and indeed, the whole project. They contacted 100-year old Alma Grambau, who had never lived outside of the area, and--this was key--was lucid, with a memory of her growing up in the--get this--late nineteenth century!! These girls possibly didn't even know what the word feminism meant, but they had mothers and grandmothers, and they knew that women did important work in their little town, and to this day oral history projects involve interviewing women in this region, to preserve their experiences.

To be clear: This story is not about ignoring the history of sexism and misigyny and just "moving on." And this is not about how cool I was in running a project that fostered this kind of work. The Alma Grambau project would not have occurred to me at the time, though it didn't surprise me that the local newspapers mentioned few women in it. This is about two girls who saw the need to valorize and memorilaize women's experiences and then did it, and for a number of years, others joined them in documenting this research in student/locally-shared publications that became part of local libraries and yes, The Presque Isle County Historical Museum.

[Fátima Linhares · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Scarlet Cameo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is so...sad...and accurate..and sad...ugly sad. If you're a person who think the most probable is that you know that, in the human kind history, women were relegate to minnor roles because the believe that they were incapable of think or doing things. Even the greatest minds of every generation (or something like that) believed that women don't have the brain to do something more than clean and mostly educate children.

But...why this book like me so much? I mean, there's a lot of book that tell all the misconceptions about females, but this one have a great detail: sarcarsm! Everything is better why sacarms, even present this awful, horrible things is better when the sacarms show you how ridiculous they are. Don't get me wrogn, I hate the facts presented, but love how Fleming did it, is one of those "jokes" that actually let you thinking so...great, i don't mind take things in a relaxed side, especially when the point is create concience.

Here some pictures:













A digital copy of this book was provided by NetGalley

[Susanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Trouble with Women by Jacky Fleming is supposed to be a funny, sarcastic, take on the reasons why women don't appear in history books. Unfortunately, while the author might have written the truth about why women were not written about in history, the book wasn't funny, sarcastic, or tongue-in-cheek and I have a hard time believing that anyone else could possibly think so. I found the writing to be boring and stupid and the drawings to be plain silly.

Thankfully the book was extremely short and the pictures took up most of the page so there wasn't much to actually read. The book was provided as a protected PDF and was viewable in Adobe Digital Editions only, therefore the pages also took a very long time to load, which made reading it a hassle.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 8/25/16.

**Will be published on Amazon on 9/20/16.

[Mitticus · Rating 4 out of 5]

+Digital copy gently provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review+

My feeble tiny spongy brain feel like fainting and a bit histerical after reading this enlightening book about the historical vision of women from many ejem 'well knowing' men.



The sad issue here, people, is that women keep getting the worst deal: minor wages, pricey medical insurances, and others. And face it, women are STILL seen as odd because we are single.


And yes, many awesome women do amazing things everyday. But we almost don't know about them.


(si para todo hay solucion, digo yo:


For me, the book was not laughing out loud, but rather snorts, many snorts.

Very interesting.

[Melina Souza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma leitura rápida e cheia de sarcasmo sobre o motivo de não encontrarmos muitos nomes de mulheres quando estudamos a história da humanidade.

[Anusha Narasimhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique tongue-in-cheek take on the history of women. I loved the sarcasm. Here are some of my favourite lines:

In the Older Days there were no women which is why you don't come across them in history lessons at school.

In the 700 years between Hildegard of Bingen and Jane Austen women writing was frowned upon, because it required thought, which interfered with childbirth.

Women found lifting a pen very tiring as it caused chlorosis which disrupted blood flow and in some cases led to uterine prolapse. Or was that the corset?

Some art by women has accidentally been considered great, a mistake easily rectified by placing it in the dustbin of history.

Girls weren’t allowed to study science because their reproductive organs made them irrational, and abstract thought doesn’t get the curtains hung.

Would highly recommend it. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of the book. This review is my personal opinion and has not been influenced in any way by anyone.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought for my daughter, but I couldn't resist a quick peek.

Very funny exploration of why women are inferior in all respects to men, and have been recognised as such throughout history. It seems that it is all to do with their small brains, weak bodies and inability to think proper.

I may have detected a hint of sarcasm now and then.

[Katya]

In the older days there were no women which is why you don't come across them in history lessons at school. There were men and quite a few of them were geniuses.

Conseguir fazer rir da misoginia é um feito histórico, e um feito que Jacky Fleming conseguiu logo na primeira página deste The trouble with women.
Escolher o que destacar daqui é, por isso, uma tarefa inglória: mostrar de menos não fará justiça à autora, demais não fará justiça aos leitores.
Talvez, então, baste dar um lamiré do que para aqui vai, começando pela abordagem aos usos e costumes...

Women weren't allowed out at night because of their poor night vision. They were also too emotional to take anywhere so mostly they stayed in and wept, sometimes hysterically.

...fazendo um pequeno desvio para passar pela história...

For a long time there were no black women. Everyone was white.

...e, finalmente, acabar no beco sem saída da ciência vitoriana:

Some women who had not been sufficiently thwarted escaped the domestic sphere on horseback, camel, and bicycle.
They had to sit sidesaddle to avoid a sexual awakening....which would ruin their prospects.
Women were more concerned about their skirts getting caught up in the wheels, and sat astride wearing bloomers which turned them into lesbians.

Só fica mesmo a faltar dar um gostinho daquilo que é o conjunto de textos e imagens nesta pequenina pérola de humor (feminista e britânico).

Escolho as categorias de lavores...



...e artes.



Se depois disto ainda não foram a correr para ler sobre o tempo em que não existiam mulheres e o tempo em que, depois disso, existiam algumas mulheres, mas que, mesmo assim, não faziam nada digno de nota, não sei de que estão à espera!

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love my history with a snide of snark. And does author Jacky Fleming ever deliver in The Trouble With Women. In this season of unbridled misogyny on display on the campaign trail, Fleming’s book provides the perfect antidote.

This book, illustrated with winsome cartoons, recounts how “genius” after “genius” — Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher Immanuel Kant, critic John Ruskin; Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, and so many more — employed pretty much the same circular logic to defend keeping women down:



Fleming turns this all on its head with her cartoons and her insightful, satiric prose: “Schopenhauer said only men had the total objectivity necessary for genius, and that you only had to look at a woman’s shape to see that she wasn’t intended for much mental or physical work” (illustrated with a cartoon of the great genius philosopher pontificating while a woman carries an overflowing, capacious coal bucket by him.) Or “When African slave Phillis Wheatley wrote poetry, 18 men came to assess whether that was possible.”

But with The Trouble With Women, seeing Fleming’s work is believing:





A hilarious, if bittersweet, look at hundreds of years of rationalizing the subjugation of women. Highly, highly, highly recommended. And a special shout-out to Alienor, who introduced me to this fantastic book!

[Ylenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

★ 2016 AtY Reading Challenge ★: A book with a great opening line .

"In the Older Days there were no women which is why you don't come across them in history lessons at school. There were men and quite a few of them were Geniuses.
Then there were a few women but their heads were very small so they were rubbish at everything apart from needlework and croquet."

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this! Funny and scathing. Buying this for all my female friends immediately.

One of my favourites of 2016, in the category 'Best Funny Feminism':
http://www.kirstylogan.com/best-books...

[Kitty G Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel was on my most-anticipated list and although it's very small format and has only 128pgs I am so happy I bought and read this. This is a humorous and eye-opening take on the history of women, or rather the way history has blocked out women. Every page has a small story, quote or point its making, and each one is satirical, funny or engaging in some way. One of the first we hear about, for example, is that Darwin thought women to be feeble and have smaller heads so they couldn't have brains big enough to be as good as men. From this point onwards all the females within the book who actually act like the 'male-perceived-version-of-women' have tiny heads.

My favourite page within this is probably where Jacky mentions the Dustbin of History and how women are constantly having to 'rescue' other women from within it. This is a concept I hadn't really thought about before, but with more consideration and with reading this I think it's almost certainly a very true statement and it's something which I'm glad I'm now aware of.

I will admit that a lot of the 'great' women that Fleming references within this I have never heard of. I think that this is exactly the point that Fleming is trying to make becuase she mentions how it's an ongoing problem on an interview here (about 32mins in). I am going to, however, look into the women that she mentioned and that I hadn't heard of becuase I would like to know just how unique and influential/interesting they were.

I really enjoyed not only reading the witty comments and twists that Fleming gave to history, but also looking at the imagery she designed to accompany it. Her style is not something I would consider beautiful or lovely to look at, but it's perfect for this book becuase it brings across exactly what she's trying to say.

Overall a really entertaining, yet thought-provoking book with some real funny gems. I would highly recommend this if you want an easy route into a feminist work, becuase it reads more as humour than 'angry-feminists' (which isn't the general opinion but is how some perceive the idea of feminism) and it gets the points across in a blunt but clever way. 4*s

[Evelina | AvalinahsBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update: several photos added to review

This is a really fun illustrated book (or should I say book of illustrations?). For anyone who likes sarcasm - you should love this book. A really fast read with way over the top sarcastic humour about how women were treated and thought of before the 20th century. Fun quick read!

I got this book free on Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review. This was definitely worth my time!

P.S. Some time after reviewing I received a lovely gift from the publishers, I'll post the pictures on the review. Thank you, Andrews McMeel Publishing!

[Rosemary Standeven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, I know where I went wrong: “You see how pretty Emmy Noether was before she damaged her prospects with too much algebra”. So, it is not too much good food, lack of exercise, disability or approaching old age that has destroyed my youthful good looks – it is studying mathematics! Also, “The Marquise du Châtelet put herself at serious risk of growing a beard and ruining her reproductive system by dividing 9 figures by 9 other figures entirely in her head”. Fortunately, I have never been able to do mental arithmetic with numbers over about 20, so remain beardless.
This wonderful little book arrived in the mail today. I was just going to look at the first page or so … but got hooked and read the whole thing (in between reading bits out to my husband – who has now begun reading it for himself. As a man he is able to do this).
It is a very well observed comment on the place of women in history, recent history that is, because “in the Olden Days there were no women which is why you don’t come across them in history lessons at school”. The illustrations are superb. I particularly liked the embroidery samplers (Help Me”, “So Bored”); the fallen women (causes include “not remaining a virgin after giving birth”); the corset-less women collapsing; the male “Genius Hair” and “Naturally Selected Beards”. Speaking of beards – one of my favourite role models – Mary Beard – is missing from this book.
The book is at least one laugh a page – but only because most of us now live in much more enlightened times, and no longer have to put up with such stupidity and chauvinism from men (or other women). I am so, so grateful that I grew up in New Zealand (first country to give all women the vote – 1893), in a family that believed in education for all regardless of gender, and went to a school whose six houses were named after world-famous New Zealand women: Mansfield (author); Gordon (doctor); Traill (naturalist); Williams (athlete), McStay (musician) and Batten (aviatrix), so we were educated to believe that there was nothing we couldn’t do as females (Non scolae sed vitae discamus).
‘The Trouble with Women’ show us how far we have come, how much attitudes have changed. There is still a lot that needs changing, but hopefully books like this will continue to underline how unproductive, anti-social and damaging sexism is. I would recommend this book to humans of all genders.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever spluttered so much at a graphic novel. This was tongue-in-cheek hilarious.

A few personal favourites of mine:
- 'Women weren't allowed out at night because of their poor night vision. They were also too emotional to take anywhere so mostly they stayed in and wept, sometimes hysterically.'
- 'Women were more concerned about their skirts getting caught up in the wheels [of bicycles], and sat astride wearing Bloomers which turned them into lesbians.'
- 'One girls had learned sixty different embroidery stitches there was no room to learn anything else.'
- 'In the 700 years between Hildegard of Binden and Jane Austen, women writing was frowned upon because it required Thought which interfered with childbirth.'
- 'There were other obstacles to women studying science such as the diameter of their big frocks.'
- 'A few hysterical women even wanted to become doctors, when what they clearly needed was treatment for penis envy, but Freud, genius, hadn't invented it yet.'

[Burkem Cevher · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Madem kadınlarla erkekler eşit, neden kadın bilim insanı bu kadar az?” türünden soruların yanıtını, yazar Jacky Fleming ironi ve mizahla harmanlayarak veriyor. Tarihin Tozlu Çöplüğüne atılan ve gün yüzüne çıkmak için bekleyen başarılı kızkardeşlerimizden bir kısmının sesini duymamızı sağlıyor ve tüm kız çocuklarına cesaret veriyor. Feminist, anti-feminist herkesin okumasını dilerim. Kim bilir belki paragrafın başında yer alan anlamsız sorulara daha az maruz kalırız.

[Demeter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Výborné. Totálna satira! Nahnevá všetkých. Poteší všetkých! Rýchle. A ešte raz: výborné!!

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley. I should also note that I read this via Adobe Digital Editions, and for some reason each page took quite a bit of time of load. This no doubt explains some of my frustration.

On the one hand, this is a funny book about why women get written out of history. On the other hand, it is a joke that goes on for too long. I don’t usually say this, but if this book had been saying half its length, it would have been funnier.

Flemings tongue in cheek look at how men and society viewed women and why women were considered less than human is rather funny. This is true at the beginning of the book, and when she references famous figures, such as Darwin. However, in some ways once the joke has happened, there is really no reason to use it again. But it gets used again. At times the book is brilliant – in particular when Fleming is referencing a woman such as Phillis Wheatley and the reaction of male (and white) society to her. More than once I found myself wishing this had been done more often. There is plenty of material to find the stories of such woman, the work of Vicki Leon being only one starting place.

Still, I am glad I read this. It is worth reading even if the humor wears a little thin. The dust bin illustrations are worth the time it takes to read.

[Wojciech Szot · Rating 5 out of 5]

To ilustrowana opowieść o tym dlaczego przez setki lat kobiety nie miały szans na równe szanse. Wyjątkowo złośliwa, rechotliwie zabawna a jednocześnie mądra i wciągająca historyjka, której nie możecie przegapić. Świat urządzony przez geniuszy, którzy mają włosy geniusza, w którym głównym zadaniem kobiety jest pilnowanie dziewictwa i niepocenie się, dzisiaj wydaje się być groteską, ale wcale nie jest to jakaś bardzo odległa przeszłość. Bonus dla wszystkich cyklistek - jak myślicie, że wasze pomykanie na rowerkach nie jest polityczną i genderową deklaracją, to jesteście w błędzie. Zerknijcie do książki Flemming, by dowiedzieć się dlaczego powinnyście natychmiast porzucić welocyped i wrócić do tamburków.

[Hana Zet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parádna jednohubka, ktorá nám pripomína, že nie tak dávno bolo vnímanie a postavenie ženy obmedzené len na jej maternicu a prípadne ešte tlieskajúce ruky (a dobre, aj ďalšie časti tela slúžiace pre potešenie pánov tvorstva).

Karikaturistka Jacky Fleming má výborný zmysel pre humor a iróniu a vytvorila knižku o ženách rozhodne nielen pre ženy, ktorá vás v prvom pláne rozosmeje, v druhom naštve, v treťom si poviete, že chvalabohu sme ďalej a vo štvrtom si uvedomíte, že žiaľbohu vlastne ani nie. Túto knihu potrebujete a keď sme pri tom dni matiek, dajte ju raz svojim dcéram a synom a učte ich, že niekoľkogramový rozdiel v hmotnosti mozgov neznamená vôbec nič. A že možno byť múdry aj bez brady a so svalmi na lýtkach.

[Maťa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Táto mini knižka po svojom vydaní ovládla bookstagram. Všetci potom dávali na stories ukážky, hovorili aké je to úžasné, vtipné, výstižné a tak. A ja som pozerala na tie ukážky a vravela si, že kde je ten humor? Takže som sa do nej pustila naladená veľmi skepticky.

Ukázalo sa, že náhodné ukážky na mňa nijako nezaberali, lebo boli vytiahnuté z kontextu. Skrátka celistvá kniha mala úplne iný vibe ako mali tie ukážky. Bolo to krásne sarkastické, vtipné a neskutočne trefné.
Odporúčam.

[Alisea Thenea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aká šmakuláda!
Vážna téma ale písana vtipne, svižne, pomocou irónie, sarkazmu a skvelých ilustrácii.
Milý a dôležitý počin na jedno zakusnutie.

Lebo ženy si nezaslúžia byť vyhodené na smetisko dejín!:)

[Eva Piarová · Rating 5 out of 5]

Výborná satirická kniha o tom, ako boli ženy počas histórie opomínané a prečo sa to dialo. Zasmejete sa, tak správne sa vytočíte a dozviete sa pikošky z histórie. A teraz sa vráťte k vyšívaniu, šup, šup.

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kate Beaton read-alike.

[Δανάη Ιμπραχήμ · Rating 5 out of 5]

«Γιατί δε μάθαμε για γυναίκες στο σχολείο;»
Γιατί η έρευνα είναι λειψή λόγω σεξισμού.

[Saboteadora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buenísimo, me ha encantado la ironía con la que se va explicando todo. Creo que es una buena muestra de la forma absurda en la que se ha tratado a las mujeres a lo largo de la historia, con esos argumentos de "si una mujer piensa demasiado tendrá hijos raquíticos" o "estudiar hace que a las mujeres pierdan el pecho". Sé que eran otros tiempos pero no sé cómo alguien podía creerse algo así (seguramente ni el que lo decía se lo creía...). Me gusta cómo va haciendo referencia a cosas cotidianas que no se suelen nombrar, como el miriñaque o el corsé y cómo afectaban a la mujer que los llevaba.
MUY recomendado.

[Megalion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous mockery (and educational) of history's intense misogyny.

A best of 2016 for me. Much more than a mere comic strip. In fact, it's a rather cohesive theme all the way through. Jumps around in timeline but easily read as a continuous strip from start to finish.

Jacky Fleming is a genius! I'd recommend for junior high or high school history classes. A fun changeup from dull textbook reading.

Thank you to the publisher for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[melike · Rating 5 out of 5]

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