Ana’s Comments (group member since Jan 08, 2016)

Ana’s comments from the Our Shared Shelf group.

Hey! :)

Chiming in here to join to those of you who tend to use the guys irregardless of whether I'm addressing men or women, just out of habit. As a non-native speaker, I do assign a (masculine) gender to the word, but then again it truly is a roll of the tongue. 'Hey, guys' - so easy. I've been changing it lately, though. I still don't see it as necessarily offensive (I would immediately change the word if someone did take it like that)...but, well, it really isn't that much more difficult to say 'ladies' if you're talking to other women, right? Words that I'm careful to say, at least in certain places? 'Girls', for example. I know that I can get away with it as a woman myself, and I certainly don't mind to be called that by the right person (aka friends and family) but to me it feels more belittling than 'guys'. Funnily enough, I know!
On the other hand, we have our own word for 'guys' in Spanish, which is 'tíos' - but there's no conflict because for the female version it's as easy as writing an a instead of an o. :)
Now that you mention this topic, I remember a funny moment I had with English a year ago or something. I had met this really nice and easy-going Aussie guy who was really easy to make friends with, and each time I found him in our campus he would stop and we'd chat a bit. So after a while I would just consider him a pal and waved him goodbye with a See ya later, dude! He sort of giggled and when I asked him why, he said that it was no big deal, but that girls normally don't use 'dude'. I laughed and thought it was funny, so I kept using it. Native speakers, was that true? Language is a funny, complex thing indeed.

I always keep forgetting to share some of my very favourite podcasts with you guys. I discovered them a couple years ago (I know, so edgy, right, wow LOL) and have been obsessed ever since. I will listen to some of these gems on my way to school, on a break from work, at the treadmill on the gym, everywhere.

It's very late for me and I should really go to be because I'm going on a trip awfully early in the morning, but here is one of those women related podcasts that I've been meaning to share here. The Salon, part of the BBC World Service 'Documentaries' series.

What about yours? :D

Hey, hey, everybody! What better way of coming back after another forced leave ('real' life, looking at *you*, you party pooper) than bringing a new topic for all of us to chat on! Actually, make it a couple, there are some pretty interesting podcasts that I always forget to share with you guys.

Soooo, the title of this thread speaks for itself but still, a little intro never hurt anybody, right? Post away your fav feminist media accounts here for the rest of us to discover and possibly, hopefully, follow. ;) Instagram! Twitter! Facebook! Snapchat? (I don't do Snapchat and I don't really think you'll find a lot of feminism there, but oh well, maybe?) Mind you, we're not only talking about the superfamous / celebs / etc. accounts, but also and mostly, really, about those everyday / scholarly / underground / not so well known accounts that you bumped into and loved. Parody accounts, people from academia, teenagers, sex workers, WOC, everybody is welcome! As you know, we like it diverse and intersectional here. ;)

I'll have to check out for this weekend (ughh, pretty important exam in Madrid!) but I really hope to be back and wayyyy more active in Monday. In the meantime, I'll start this thread myself with two recs and a question - does anybody know accounts by queer / LGBTI Muslims? I've read a bit on that lately and found it immensely interesting.

My recs:

[ES] La Tribu de Frida I'm afraid this one is for Spanish speakers only, but for those of you who can read along, it's a really nice blog / community focused on feminism through literature. They're starting to get more active, particularly with some events in Madrid and sometimes Andalusia, so worth following. :)

Assigned Male Comics While feminism is not the main topic of these comics, as you may have guessed, it is definitely there. Where? In this brilliant web comic on Stephie, a trans girl created by Sophie Labelle, a very talented artist who will make you think hard about trans issues and much-deserved recognition...even if you think you had it figured out already! I know I have laughed with all of the comics but also blushed with others, the kind that comes when you learn some much-needed basics. ;)

What about yours? :D

You've all raised great points here, I think!
I will freely admit I used to be one of those people who thought that comics and graphic novels were not really worth of being considered substantial reading and/or masterpieces...even when I started to read the former in my teens! As many of you probably did as well, I started with Japanese manga, whichever I could get on my hands but most of them targeted for girls. I think this is part of the reason I did not appreciate these genres so much. Having been a huge book reader all of my life, and also being exposed to some really light manga in those first years of comic-reading, the latter paled in comparison to books, period. Sure, I enjoyed them and liked the pictures and the style, but...yeah, if I was looking for substance, then it was books.
Luckily my own judgement started to change when I found the right manga and also, when I started to explore new comics and, finally, graphic novels, the first one actually being Persepolis! Satrapi has a most unique style and story-telling, so for those of you eager readers, I definitely recommend you to continue reading her other graphic novels, such as Chicken with Plums (looked that one for the English translation and found out that there is a film based upon the book, yay!)
I haven't read as many as I would like because they are sort of expensive and I still largely choose only-text books (old habits, you know!) but I've read a few more that I would like to recommend here. Perhaps I have already! Some of these are manga, some of these are graphic novels, all of them are worth your time depending on what you're looking for, story and style- wise. :)

Manga
'Sunadokei' by Hinako Ashihara -> One of the reasons I stopped reading 'girls manga' in my late teens was that I really was tired of unrealistic, crazy first love high school stories that also felt really, um...basic to me. Well, with this series I broke the spell. Each and every event in 'Sunadokei' (which means 'The Hourglass) could really happen...has likely happened to you. The series follows a group of friends through their late childhood, teens and early adult years - their friendship, their families, their daily life dreams, disappointments and trials, their first love, too, but all in a very realistic, mature way. The characters are not pink-haired, doe-eyed, long limbs creatures either, and they certainly are not extravagant, crazy personalities. They really are normal everyday people, with their strenghts and shortcomings.
Barefoot Gen, by Keiji Nakazawa. This one I would consider a graphic novel, and somewhere I read that it's a compulsory reading in Japanese schools as a pretty good, autobiographical account of the Hiroshima tragedy. It is very graphic, but if you can stomach it, I would say it is worth.
Western Graphic Novels
'Habibi' by Craig Thompson -> OMG. I read this one earlier this year and, let me tell you, it's a must. Period. Gorgeous art, including Arabic calligraphy, and incredibly touching story about a female main character who is tough as nails and her only love on this earth. It is not cheap, at least in Spain, but really, if you can find it in your library, borrow it from a friend, find a good offer, go.for.it. It's that good.
'Strangers in Paradise', by Terry Moore -> Well, this one I actually go back to every now and then. To me, it's like...I dunno, kind of like Friends, but with action. Loads of action, and humour, and a cast mainly composed by the most badass females ever, including but nowhere near limiting to the two main characters, Francine and Katchoo. Besties from high-school, they now live together in a flat while starting their early adult lives. It's just that, you see, Katchoo is a wild little thing who is not-so-secretly-crazy about Francine (well, and art as a second), who in turn...well, she in turn...loves her back? But not really, because would she otherwise always find the nastiest guys out in town to play the role of Mr Perfect Husband Material? Well, time will tell. Or maybe not. Maybe it won't, because we all have a past, but some of us had it more dangerous that others...like Katchoo did, although people back then used to call her Baby June...oh, and there's also poor silly David, the Japanese guy who appeared out of nowhere and seems to be very much into Katchoo.


...That's it for now, I have to start my morning now that it seems that I might not have a fever today, hehe. I'm just that excited about our June book. :)

Yuqi wrote: "Ready for a new book"

Hey, Yuqi! So are we. However, it's best to share your impressions and thoughts about the book in its main thread or in any of the topics created for it, instead of opening new chat-like style ones.

I'm locking and archiving this one for organisational purposes. Welcome and hope to see you around a lot! :)

Locked and archived

Yuqi wrote: "Ready for a new book"

Hey, Yuqi! So are we. However, it's best to share your impressions and thoughts about the book in its main thread or in any of the topics created for it, instead of opening new chat-like style ones.

I'm locking and archiving this one for organisational purposes. Welcome and hope to see you around a lot! :)

Locked and archived

Jessica wrote: "I think that all of that is very closed minded. I'm a lesbian, and I can say for the entire community that we are all the same as everyone else, and we just want to be treated like equals. We are c..."

I don't know if this was also a reply to my original comment or an observation to the answer it got? Either way, this is exactly what I was thinking. It feels so weird to me that you can feel embarrassed about someone for being straight / gay / queer / whatever else sexual orientation. Obviously, if you go to the right place (well, the wrong place actually, haha) and profess your embarrassment about queer people, you are going to get some headpats and applauses, but yeah, try to do that out in public today, at least in Western societies, and you will most likely get rightly called out. You avoid the things you are embarrassed about and likely end up judging them and detaching yourself from them, so that embarrassment is going to do more harm than good in the end, no matter who does it come from and who gets to be the target of it.

Helen wrote: "Danny wrote: "Helen wrote: "It's just for the US which is utterly disappointing."
hmm, need extended publishing rights for your country?"

The giveaway is solely for the US, and that is up to the f..."

Uh-oh! Hehe, it does feel like a bit of a whomp-whomp when that happens. 'US readers only.' Heyyy! >.< :'D

Rose wrote: "In what ways are the queer gaze's embarrassment and the privileged gaze's shame the same?"

The exact reason I said 'it works the other way around as well' was precisely to make clear that I know that many heterosexual folks do feel embarrassed about queerness and/or homosexuality, and that it baffles me as well, no matter how firmly rooted has it been in society since, well, forever, and still is. Take it as a sort of disclaimer against the 'privileged gaze' you have just mentioned.

That being said, mine was an honest question. Why should you feel embarrassed about heterosexuality? I feel like the explanation behind it may be better described with words other than 'embarrassment' to me, but I was genuinely curious about it. The question was for Melle as well, since she did provide a bit more of an explanation. :)

Nobody should feel embarrassed about others' sexual orientation. That's my only thought on that, but I'm willing to listen more on your thoughts about it.

Hmmm. Why would heterosexuality 'embarrass' anybody? Don't get me wrong, it works the other way around as well. I just don't see how that would be a good/acceptable thing, either way!

Right? Haha, video games sadly not so much now, as I don't have as much free time and what little I have goes to going out and reading, but still a fan. Also comics. I've only set to explore outside of the manga genre these years and man oh man, am I finding stuff.

I think role models are this useful but tricky notion. ;)
I don't know, I've always found it hard to hold some person onto this high, often lonely and unattainable marble tower. The closest I've been to that, also, it's almost always been with people I actually know in my daily life.
I reckon you both had a point, Katelyn and Lynn. The way I see it, we all have responsibilities and we all screw things over from time to time. Including those we adopt, either consciously or unconsciously, as our role models. That's cool, I would say, because life is a never-ending learning process, as it should. :)

I would so love to play The Last of Us (was that the title? I always get it wrong, haha...) Sadly I don't have a PS4 and so I had to settle for the story videos on YouTube. I fully agree with whomever who mentioned the game, it was brilliant of the writers to create their characters like that.
I also fully endorse most of you views here! Women in video games are always shown in skimpy clothes and were supposed to not think twice about it! Really? Like, I remember playing Tekken in my early years and noticing that there were two kinds of girls there - either characters like Asuka, who looked a bit more childish and/or silly and were a bit more covered, or total mega babes who could have performed a couple of deadly combos just with their barely covered knockers. Ugh.
Also, women not so much into comic? Hah. Yeah, maybe in the past. In the long ago outdated past.

We would not have come this far if our members were poor, kool-aid drinking sheepies, wouldn't we? Oh, well. Always a pity when someone cannot really adjust to the maturity level required to function here. ^^

I LOVE THIS BOOK.

So much so, that I blatantly disregarded the netiquette and wrote all caps, hehe. That's how you know!

No, but really. It's a good excuse to re-read it and enjoy again. :D Thanks, Emma! :)

Pepe wrote: "Willing to see in which way she's going to grovel this time so that her herd doesn't lose all faith in her. Nevermind if they are the reason she had to do it.

Thank God we've convinced shepherds t..."

In case you were talking about OSS, I see no herds in these pastures, Pepe. Informed media consumers know how to read the information, seek for a variety of sources, follow up said information and, in due time, draw their own conclusions. Based on the outstanding level of the discussions here, one would be hard pressed to find sheepies in OSS. But I am sure you have noticed that already. :)

Oh, we very much do need men's voices to have a lasting, effective movement, I believe. :) Now, their voices cannot, and should not, make ours go unnoticed, mind you. But we do need them indeed. Once I saw a post from a Facebook friend who is greatly involved with feminism through literature about an event in those fields. Most of the attendees were sadly women, and when I noticed that, her friends jumped in to say that while men were 'welcome,' they 'did not care much that they were not there, either.' Well, ladies, yeah, that's cool, but we're looking for an all-inclusive movement and we are trying to change people's minds, so even if it's not your fault, and I do not think it was, your event was lacking and we should care, and we should be sad about it.

Hey, Hañs! I'm afraid the epub thing is out of the question around here. :) We encourage our members to look for the books at libraries, second-hand shops and stuff like that, which is why we created the 'Pay It Forward' thread.

B wrote: "Well, there is an argument that because intersectionality was founded by WoC white women who refer to themselves as intersectional are appropriating someone else's movement. I think Emma Watson doe..."

If I have to be perfectly honest, I was hesitant to step into the conversation going on in this thread because I was afraid that some might interpret my doing so as an 'official' statement coming a mod. I am relieved that other members share my opinion! :) I have little else to add to your words, as I fully agree with you, but would still like to note that out of the very first three books chosen by Emma to read along OSS, two of them came from WOC who also happened to be deservingly reputed feminist activists. I am sure there are more to come, but I also believe it is quite telling that she chose two WOC in the very first trimester of this book club. Telling as in, such a choice has a significance - at least it has to me. Moreover, while the January book came from a white author, Steinem has been actively involved with WOC and/or other ethnicities such as Wilma Mankiller, whom Steinem admired and considered a role model, a reference for us all. The message is clear to me - WOC, or should I say POC, are just as important as we are, and their voices have to be listened to just as much as ours. Is such a message coming from a place of constant learning, caution and also the limits of an 'official' background (UN Women)? Most definitely. But it's there. That's what matters to me. :)

I would say "My Life On The Road." Because of the book, of course - so many inspiring memories. Then there's also the sense of beginning linked to that very first book. It was the beginning of OSS, it was also probably my first decidedly feminist reading. So yeah, that's my fav. :)