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

Ana’s comments from the Our Shared Shelf group.

TakashiYuasa wrote: "Ana,
long time to see you, if I'm not wrong.
I'm glad you are as super-energetic as used be somewhere in Spain?, if my memory be correct.
Since I remember your old notice long time ago, I dared to ..."

はい、おいさしぶりですね！

I am actually way closer to Japan now! Let's say we are most likely distant neighbors now...

...Please don't take me wrong, Takashi. You are still more than welcome, as any and all members, to post and comment with us. It's just that 1) multiposting is against the rules of the forum, mostly for management and clarity sake; 2) we would really like to see you interact in other threads and books other than our very first author. There are so many other conversations and books in our official list for you to engage with! Why limit yourself to one? :D

I totally appreciate that you share with us info from Japan. However, it's also always the same couple of facts. So, yeah, we totally would like you to stay around, just differently. :)

It's a particularly fit day for finishing The Handmaid's Tale, may I add? ;) Those of you who are also reading might now why already...

...It had been a while since I read a book in 2-3 days (reminiscing my old golden days here, haha!). I absolutely loved the novel. Without going into spoilers for now, I will say that my favorite aspect was the beauty of the language, so vivid at times, one could easily picture many parts of the book instead of just reading an account. A language that conveyed an inexplicable beauty amidst all the brutality, repression and violence. Sometimes it felt slightly outdated, so much so that at the beginning I sort of assumed the plot was set in a much earlier time...

...And that takes us to the terrifying side of this book. Is it all that hard to imagine that a society such as Gilead could emerge from the wreck of ours? In some aspects it is, however...it didn't feel that surreal. I think it offers the reader some solid food for thought. This book was written in 1987, if I recall correctly, yet the excuse that leads to the slow-but-steady foundation of Gilead is a fairly actual one. Just think of it, y'all.

Finished the book today. Everyone go read this novel. Once you start it, you just can't drop it. Looking forward to all the discussions!!!

TakashiYuasa wrote: "In my view, one of the best phrases, if I may quote from Gloria Steinem: My Life on the Road⇒Altogether, if I'd been looking at nothing but the media all these years, I would be a much more discour..."

Takashi, last warning here. No more multi-posting.

Maria wrote: "Ana, I just checked it's also on YouTube in its entirety. I think. If.you want to see a different perspective, I highly recommend it. Although I was skeptical prior to watching it, it completely ch..."

I will totally watch this documentary! :) Information can never hurt you and I am always up for different perspectives. By the time I have watched it I am sure this page will be long ago buried under new answers to your OP, however I will still try my best to come back with my impressions. :) I hope I did not come across as dismissive of your own opinion and/or background...it's 2:20 here and I am very tired (yet OSS never fails to keep me glued to the laptop haha).

Maria wrote: "Also, Ana, most midwives are in touch with the hospital and can transfer the pt immediately to hospital. Basically, I think it's important to inform yourself before knocking something down. The bus..."

Not all of us have Netflix! ;)

No, but seriously now. I started my message by readily acknowledging that I am very reluctant re: homebirth...because I have also read quite a few articles and pieces of writing that support this argument.

This article I found informative while neither overtly nor stubbornly opposed to homebirth: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/op...

There is also the sad case of Caroline Lovell, homebirth advocate who died in childbirth. Granted there was mispractice from the midwife in her case, yet the fact is, her death was preventable.

While I am by no means an expert, I am not exactly uninformed, either.

Hey hey, people!

Thanks a lot for taking part, enthusiastically so, in our latest giveaway! I am closing this thread now. Winners shall be contacted soon. As for those who weren't lucky this time...it's because next time it may very well be yours! :)

Granted I am childless as well and nowhere even near considering to change that anytime soon, yet it's the kind of topic that will occasionally cross your mind, so...

...I will readily acknowledge I am not a great fan of homebirth. While I am sure the awkwardness and unpleasant experience that you go through in a hospital are not a walk in the park either, I don't really understand why anybody would choose to run the risk of things going south and exposing mother and/or baby to a danger that could easily be fatal. There are so many unexpected little things that can dial the danger from zero to 100 in a split second. Not that it cannot happen in a hospital -but at least there you are right where you should be if something happens. At home, though, one problem and you may easily regret it for the rest of your days.

Medicine is there for a reason. No midwife, doula or spiritual, intimate experience is going to save the day if, God forbid, things don't go as planned.

That being said, it is true that while I think many hospitals are probably improving to meet the needs and awareness of expectant mothers and newborn babies, there are lots of room for improvement. Of course, having access to all the information is as much of a right as it is a duty, too. Overall, however, I would say I would still opt for the safeness of a hospital.

Just got myself a copy of this book! Excited to see whether I can jump back into reading shape with y'all lovely people! :D

I agree that generally speaking, the idea of working to live and not living to work would be enough to boost togetherness, family time and other lovely concepts. Sunday having to be that day, hmmm. Not necessarily. As some mentioned above, it's not really feasible for many. Plus it has quite a bit of a religious meaning -the Sabbath,

But yeah, often we forget how trapped we've become in this whole notion of our society being a giant, sophisticated mechanism in which sometimes we are not even a cog, but the oil that helps it move smoothly. :(

Y'all can kill me but yours truly still has to go watch it in Beijing, haha. I've got every intention to do it, though. Cannot wait to join the squeeing here. :D

Hello everybody!

I haven't seen anyone sharing this link so I thought I might as well do it myself. Let me introduce you to Mona Haydar's Hijabi, which I am sure will be food for thought for many of us, as well as just a rather badass clip.

Actually, while talking about this clip with some friends of mine, one of them kindly pointed out to me that there's so much more about Haydar. Namely, her own website, where she's even had an Ask A Muslim feature http://www.monahaydar.com/ask-a-muslim/.

All in all, I think she deserves for her work to be spread in the right circles...such as ours. ;) Enjoy the clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOX9O...

Helloooo, everybody!

While we all share the enthusiasm for the Boss' latest film, may I remind you to place each thread in its place? ;) The Special Announcements folder is intended for...well, special announcements. :D

Now carry on! (In the right place!) :)

Moved to Miscellanea

I am using a few free minutes at work to type this comment so I can't extend myself much, but I would just like to say that, the older I get (which is luckily not much yet, haha, Peter Pan syndrome here)...the older I get, the more OK I am with realising that I don't know everything. That I actually barely manage to grasp a tiny percentage of said 'everything', and that while this is fine because I am human and there's only so much I can truly get to be knowledgeable about, my not knowing/understanding everything does not render other people's experiences and stories invalid.

It is not easy to dismantle the set of rigid, one-size-fits-all Unquestionable Truths that we have been given. And that's fine, we are all in this together. But it's just like Indigo said -when somebody else's story is out of our own realm, it's OK to be humble, to listen rather than to talk. It's actually empowering to walk out of an interaction with another person feeling like you've learned something new and your views are now more ample, even if that leaves place for a healthy degree of questioning. I think we tend to overvalue the concept of Truth. Truth might make us feel safer, but it won't necessarily make us happier, more compassionate or wiser.

Philip Pullman said it much better than I have, anyway:

We don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence.

To which I'd like to add that we need people, too. :)

Indigo wrote: "Michael wrote: "The tl;dr version is basically there are four separate things that make up us as humans in how it relates to gender and sexuality:

There is sexuality "heterosexual, homosexual, an..."

I think I might actually save your whole comment so that I can throw it around to people when I am trying to dismantle their bs. Not even kidding.

The presence and degree of involvement of men in feminism seems to be a difficult topic to debate, right?

Hmmm. Patriarchy isthe problem, I would say. In a way, of course, this involves acknowledging that men as a group throughout history are, indeed, the problem -they created, developed and constantly reinforced this system. Put it into present tense, actually -for some of our societies it shows through very subtle schemes and power mechanisms, for others it is much more obvious, but you'd be hard pressed to find a society free from the burden imposed by patriarchy.

However, patriarchy has and is (and will be, sadly) supported by women, too. Be it because they were inadvertently trying to survive in a mainly masculine world, due to religious reasons, ways of thinking reinforced by generations that came before them or simply because they truly are content with their traditional role, we have also contributed to this system. There are varying degrees of responsibility, blame and involvement, but we have all played a part in perpetuating the patriarchy.

And that's what is all about, honestly. The power structures that rule our societies. Because at the end of the day, an individual exists within a framework, a context -a rather rigid one, for that matter, onefor which change does not come easily, and certainly not quickly. This is the reason why it just isn't enough with our fathers, husbands, brothers, boyfriends, male friends not being overtly sexist and passively supporting gender equality. The same remains valid for us women. We have to actively endorse our belief. By actively I don't necessarily mean becoming activists who are involved in every single event and very conscious about all feminist theories - this might not work for each of us in our countries, we simply might not be that interested in delving real deep into gender studies, etc. What I mean is that we should turn to ourselves to check our actions, our thoughts, our words. We should be honest and brave and open-minded enough to ceaselessly question ourselves and the world we live in, so that by doing so we can awake our consciences and instil this spirit in our children, our friends, our acquaintances. If people change, when they reach the spheres of power, slowly but surely our society will change as well.
In my honest opinion men should be more than welcome into feminism, as long as they come into it with humbleness, openmindedness and curiosity. Feminism is deeply linked to social justice, as well as a challenge to the traditional notions of gender. We fight for women to be equal to men, but this goal will not be attainable if we don't manage to put an end to the toxic, traditional idea of masculinity. This is, most likely, an utopia...but utopias are necessary for a society to move forward. We are unlikely to reach perfection, neither as individuals nor as a people, but we can certainly strive for it - be as imperfectly close to this beautiful idea as we possibly can.
This has been sort of a stream of words post, haha. Hope you all managed to make sense of it!

I am glad to see a decent amounts of answers here! :)

I am also happy to see that I am not alone in many of my thoughts. As I mentioned at the beginning, reading about demisexuality helped me find answers to many of my feelings that did not feel valid. I still think it's very unfortunate to identify as demi in a society such as ours, because it's hard enough already to try and find someone to make it more difficult to yourself due to not being able to take things 'lightly'...and also because most people still will not understand. But I am learning to be OK with that.

Yasssss, time for a new book. Hoping to read along with all of you this time!!

Calvyn wrote: "Salutations all. I was wondering if there might be a way that I could get in touch with Ms Watson herself. I've a letter written for her that I humbly wish to email, regarding her activism. Rest as..."

Hey, Calvyn! :) Always nice to see new people around. Hmmm, unfortunately this group won't be of any particular help with regards to getting in touch with Emma. Our interaction with her is pretty much contained within the virtual walls of this platform! :D

I would suggest just checking whether there's a general email that you could send your letter to in her official website and/or any other channels. Oh, and just stay around here with us and take part in the many interesting conversations that take place in the threads. It may not be the direct contact that you were initially looking for, but it'll still be very rewarding.

I'm closing this thread for the sake of management. Thanks for your understanding!

Closed and archived.

We have our 25 lucky ducks conveniently noted down already! Thanks a lot, my mind was spinning and I didn't even have time to see the notifications, messages just flowed in, haha.

:)