Katelyn’s Comments (group member since Jan 07, 2016)

Katelyn’s comments from the Our Shared Shelf group.

Kim wrote: "I don't see a period policy becoming standard in America anytime soon though."

Considering that there still is not a standard for parental leave when a baby is born, I'm inclined to agree.

As someone who suffers from PMDD, I think this is excellent. There have been times when I've been incapacitated by cramps and related symptoms. Since treatment for the condition, I've been better, but often these kinds of complications aren't taken seriously by doctors ("everyone gets cramps, take an extra ibuprofen"). Not to mention, it took me a long time (I'd estimate over a decade) to realize that what I was going through every month was not normal. I thought I was just a wimp who couldn't handle it and all the other ladies were just stronger than I was! So we also need better education on reproductive health.

S. K. wrote: "On the question of the "big bad." I'm going to come out early and often that I'm a staunch evelutionary biology fan. I feel like the points against captialism can be countered with the ecological m..."

Patriarchy has nothing to do with the acts of individuals in their own homes, though. Sure, people might act in ways that reflect patriarchy, but you cannot deny the inherent link between patriarchy, capitalism, and the environment just because you know of a man who helped the environment and a woman who did not.

Human overpopulation is indeed a problem. And it does have to do with access to women's health care and reproductive rights. Patriarchy and capitalism are both forces that exacerbate these issues. That supports my point above!

Julia wrote: "I ordered my copy yesterday but it will only ship in about 2 weeks. Don't know if I will finish reading in time - probably not. :-("

No worries about any sort of time limit! The discussion will remain open past the end of the month. As you can see, discussion of The Color Purple is still going strong, and Emma only just posted her own discussion prompts a couple of days ago. It is our intention that, while a new book is chosen every month, the schedule is not considered strict and discussion thrives regardless of the month. Even My Life On The Road is still being actively discussed because of Emma's recent interview with Gloria Steinem! So don't worry about getting your book "late," because you don't have to miss out on discussion!

Actually, I'd say we can even leave it open in case anyone else comes along either looking for a copy or hoping to pass one on. It might be better to organize this folder with threads for specific books, as the other threads are getting very long.

This conversation is not really productive anymore. I've been following along and it seems that we've veered from a conversation about "white feminism" to a series of back-and-forths about specific people's posts, and it's not doing anything to deepen the conversation.

I don't want to close this topic just yet, because it's an important one, but if we can't get back on topic, I'm going to lock and archive, and you're free to start a new thread about the issue of white/colonialist feminism (sans the aforementioned back-and-forth). Sorry.

(wrote this before the previous two posts were added. Good to see us moving back to the topic at hand!!)

I've done some canvassing and other activism aimed at environmental causes. The greatest link between environmentalism, feminism, and other causes is that they have a common enemy: corporate greed, capitalism, and patriarchy are all tied together and are essentially, if I may use a silly fandom term, a singular "big bad." I think we should be striving to join our causes together in order to fight the powers that be in that way.

Gotta reject the associations with mother nature and whatnot. Definitely don't think that connection is productive!

It's also possible that the price hiking will calm down after a few days? I don't really know, I'm just guessing once the hype dies down and the rush to buy is over.

Also keep an eye on the "pay it forward" folder. Some speedy readers might be ready to pass on their copies soon, and some might even be willing to read faster than they would otherwise in order to help one another out! Overall, everyone here seems to be very generous.

Also, you can email support at goodreads dot com with suggestions for improving the operation of groups, or join the Goodreads Feedback Group (it's featured on the Groups homepage).

Kressel, add it to the bookshelf if it's not already there: How to Suggest a Book

Hi Parnian,

Just so you know, most of the ideas you bring up in your third paragraph are not things that the moderators of OSS can help with. Those requests would need to be directed to the Goodreads website. We don't have control over the way the board functions or what features exist or are being considered as future additions.

And in case you hadn't seen them, there are conversations happening elsewhere on OSS regarding fandoms other than HP. For example, Twilight, Disney, Game of Thrones discussion happening in this thread, and more!
In general, we try not to censor the members of OSS, so as long as posts about HP or anything else are in the correct folder, are not duplicates, remain on topic, and don't break any community rules, we cannot control the discussion topics with which members are engaging.
Not to mention, even as recently as her interview with Gloria Steinem last week, Emma admits to identifying with Hermione ;) I think there is some worthwhile discussion to be had about women, feminism, gender, sexuality, etc. with the HP series and others, but that's just my personal opinion ;)

The search feature on the right hand side of the web browser is a good feature that will help you find your way back to threads you've lost track of. I'm usually able to find what I'm looking for with a few key words despite the size of this forum.

We're always working on organization, and part of our efforts are to encourage members to be mindful themselves by searching for topics before creating duplicate threads and posting things in the correct area.

Thank you for your input, we're definitely always looking for suggestions on how to improve everyone's experience here!

Moved to Feminism in [Country Here] folder

This is horrible news :( This ties into a lot of the questions I was left with after reading My Life On The Road. To what extent is travel a privilege, and how is that privilege gendered? I wish Steinem had addressed these kinds of issues a bit more in her book. It was a memoir, so I understand that the focus was on her own experiences, but how often do we hear these accounts of terrible tragedies and scary experiences from women travelers?

Anja wrote: "I think that maybe I was misunderstood. I think Hermione is a good character, just that the writing and film does not always portray it properly.

Katelyn wrote: "It's such a stark distinction from..."

I think all criticisms of how Hermione is presented are fair game. Not everyone is going to interpret characters the same way! I really enjoyed a video someone posted in the thread about feminism at Hogwart/JKR's world about the women of the series. And one thing that she points out is when the trio are living in the tent in book 7, she tried to play around with gender roles and whatnot. Specifically she mentioned Hermione's complaint that she's always doing the cooking, and the boys' response was that it was because she was best at magic! I appreciated that a lot. And it sheds light on ways that we can understand characters like Mrs. Weasley better, as well. Perhaps distinctions between career and home are less of an issue in the magical world than in the muggle world because it is understood that magic is needed for all of these tasks. So perhaps it has less to do with the way the tasks are valued. Although the gendered division of labor is still an obstacle, at least insofar as it's represented.

Watch the interview when you get a chance! I think Emma asked some very insightful questions about the book.

I think it's perhaps an unfortunate assumption that just because Hermione is seen nineteen years later with children, she must not be doing much else. The boys are also seen there with the kids, we don't assume they haven't had careers outside the home! I don't recall anything in the epilogue being much about careers, anyway. The focus of the series is mainly on family and friendship, and the epilogue reflects that.

I thought that the interview was excellent. Between this and the Steinem interview, I've been enjoying these "conversations" between women immensely. When you have two feminists speaking with one another, it seems that the conversations remain focused and respectful. It's such a stark distinction from other interviews in which focus is pulled to appearances and drama.

I echo the comments from the other moderators. We're currently juggling so many issues, including diversifying the texts and availability of copies, and so I promise that this is all being taken into consideration. We're only three months old, we will certainly live and learn!

I'm going to move this to the Helpful Resources/Group Ideas folder, as it is more of a general request. Let's keep the monthly book folders focused on discussion of the books :)

Ah yes! Excellent. I love the headline "This is not your fault. But it is your problem."

In general, I like that what they have to say is presented in a non-confrontational, humorous, but still serious and intelligent way.

Agnes wrote: "Just posted a new one ;)"

Oh, yay! I nearly forgot: new month, new #shelfies! So exciting, can't wait to see them all! I think my book should be here in the next couple of days so I'll be tagging it all over the place!

Kressel wrote: "Someone on another thread put me onto this video of Jo, Emma, and other actresses discussing her powerful female characters. It's awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etNcs..."

And now I am reduced to tears.

Kenzie wrote: "Good point! I would think that a female politician is better equipped to speak about feminine issues/needs than a male politician, simply because she would experience it firsthand. I just hate it when her gender is overshadowed by her policies."

Then, of course, there are women politicians who are against policies that help women and for policies that hurt women. So while I definitely agree with that point, just because you're a women, doesn't mean you "get it", y'know? So many issues that disproportionately affect women are tied to socioeconomics, race, and other factors as well; being a woman might make it easier for someone to understand these issues, but not necessarily.

For example, a male candidate might have a better record on gender-related issues than a female candidate. Does her gender outweigh her voting history?

(btw, not necessarily talking about Secretary Clinton specifically, I think these distinctions are important considered in the abstract!)

Hey Kirsty!

There's already a topic about feminism blogs here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

In the interest of organization, I'm going to lock and archive this thread :)

Yes, I'd say most would agree that "the issues" are more important than gender.

I'd also point out, and I think this is an interesting and related discussion point, that female politicians face a lot of challenges with regards to their gender. So in that sense, gender does become one of the issues that might be taken into consideration. For some, that might be more important than it is for others.