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

MeerderWörter’s comments from the Our Shared Shelf group.

Pam wrote: "Speaking of progress for Trans people...US elects our first Trans politician.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/lo...-..."

Woo hoo!!!

Laura wrote: "Lustig, wie der/die Journalist/in vermieden hat, Pronomen zu benutzen... Aber trotzdem ein interessanter Artikel, danke MeerderWörter!"

Ja das regt mich leicht auf - absichtlich keine Pronomen zu verwenden finde ich genauso schlimm wie die falschen zu benutzen.
Tja, ich kann ja der SZ twittern was ich nicht so toll an der ganzen Sache finde.

Malobee wrote: "Prachi wrote: "I've started reading this book on my audible during my daily walks and I have to say I'm gripped already- serves two goals- reading the book and wanting to walk longer so I can read/..."

Made me fall down the stairs once - the good news is that I didnt let the book fall and it remained unharmed and I still had the page, my hands on the other hand... hurt a lot...

Adam wrote: "Counter Punch: Why Doesn’t the Born Leader of the Feminist Movement Speak for Me Too?
by MELISSA GARRIGA

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/11/......"

I don't think anybody HAS TO speak for MeToo.
And really, Clinton is th savior of us all and the start of feminism? What about the suffragettes?

Ich bin's mal wieder:

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/leben/urte...

Ein Artikel, der, mit ein paar kleinen Fehlern, einen guten Einblick in das Leben von intergeschlechtlichen Menschen wirft.
Eine Sache die mich wohl immer aufregen wird: Wo bitte steht welche Pronomen Vanja hat? Oder war ihnen das zu heikel plötzlich?! Naja, es gibt nen Artikel, um den Rest kann man sich ja noch kümmern...

Winston wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "Winston wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "Folks, we have SOOO MUUCCCHHH work to do and you think about reading from the enemy? Really? We haven't even listened to all the people w..."

Okay, thank you now for understanding this inclusion issue.

Yes, we need to listen - but first we need to know who we are. And that is why I say we need to read feminist literature first - also in order to know what to answer to somebody who is anti-feminist.

Hannah wrote: "So upset my library doesn’t have this book :("

Try asking in the Pay-It-Forward thread... or maybe a library near-by has a copy?

Ross wrote: "recognising people's right to chose I see that as progress.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.ne......"

To have this on Intersex Awareness Day is somewhat fitting:)

Winston wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "Folks, we have SOOO MUUCCCHHH work to do and you think about reading from the enemy? Really? We haven't even listened to all the people we need to listen to and then you think..."

You can be lucky not to be in my position.


I learn about new perspectives all the time - I listen to people on the aro-ace spectrum (although I really could do better on this), listen to disabled people (and thinking about their various needs), I am listening to intersex people as well as transgender people and I am listening to minorities of orientation. I listen to elderly people in order not to be ageist and I listen to as many people as I can, but you must also understand that sometimes I am just too fed up and can't take it anymore when somebody comes with: Feminism is bad (because explaining time and time again why we need feminism is exhausting, and also, sometimes the lived experience of myself and the people I would want to listen to differs too much in order for me to totally grasp what they mean - does that mean I cannot support them? No it doesn't, because as long as I see no harm in the actions and the consequences of the actions then I can support them. (Can I truly understand somebody who needs to transition? No, I cannot, but I can try not to be mean and support them the best way I can.)
And if you say now that I only listen to people like myself - that is not true - the struggles of Native Americans and First Nations I hold very close to me.

You have to know yourself before you can lash out against others (if you deem it necessary), otherwise they will blow you to pieces.
Which is why we need to read a LOT of feminist literature first (from which I don't exclude myself, I need to read a lot as well), before we can think about reading anti-feminist literature.

And last but not least:
Do I have to include the people who willfully exclude me?
I don't have to include somebody who attacks my existence.
Inclusion is a two-way road: When people exclude me without any reason then I don't have to include them either.

Sarah wrote: "Thank you. I was violently sexually assaulted when I was 10. I can't explain the relief I feel that now it is being talked about more publicly because of books like this one, grassroots activists a..."

You are welcome in our arms!
We will bring change, one step at a time!
You don't hang in there alone, I really hope we can help you feel less alone.
Hugs

Dear Keith,
I have exactly the same issues with it. Who gives them the power over our bodies to decide as they please? Why is it that staying the way we are is never an option? And who decides what is "normal"?
Who decides anyways what is a "normal" vagina? There are closed-off vaginas out there, vaginas that are only a centimeter long, or some are 5 centimeters long... nature loves diversity, who are we to always put everything in certain criteria and then to classify everything else as "needing to be fixed"?



Dear Ester,
I'll see where I can find something in Spanish:)
There are monologues from cisgender as well as transgender people in there (as they have vaginas as well - with their very own issues to take care of).
The abbreviation MRKH comes from the doctors who first "discovered" it, I assume, as Küstner-Hauser are German surnames...
A definite sex? Well, one can argue that there is no definite sex, that male and female are just two extremes on the end of a spectrum (and that accordingly MRKH falls somewhere closer to the female extreme than the male)


Dear Emma,

I think that a new edition woud need a general revision - not that any of the monologues need to be taken out of the book, but rather that many many more need to be included. Times change and so should books that depict issues that change over time.

Megan wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "Megan wrote: "I'm waiting for a YA feminist fiction book to be announced so I can see what everyone's opinions on it are. I've read some of the biographies mentioned but I sti..."

No it wasn't. I was google searching feminist YA books and landed there.
Haha, some of our members are old enough to have children who read YA books... I would definitely say yes to a YA book. YA books are really cool, they are about a very formative time in our lives...

On another note, I am always up for reading a YA book, is there one you want to read?

Folks, we have SOOO MUUCCCHHH work to do and you think about reading from the enemy? Really? We haven't even listened to all the people we need to listen to and then you think it is wise to listen to the enemy?

I really don't think this is the way to go!

Megan wrote: "I'm waiting for a YA feminist fiction book to be announced so I can see what everyone's opinions on it are. I've read some of the biographies mentioned but I still prefer YA."

I found this list for Young Adult feminist books, and I read some of them myself, maybe that is what you are looking for?
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...

Ross wrote: "Twitter is definitely inconsistent they remove some acc that are offensive quickly but one called celebrity starlets that photoshop famous women heads on other women naked bodies has been reported ..."

I still didn't get anything back from Twitter for that particular account.
Also, right now they have blocked the picture search for "bisexual", and I really wonder why?

To come back to the question: Twitter would really need a fact-check tool, I've seen some distorted stuff being spread on there.

I haven't even started yet, don't worry, no rush needed. Everyone at their own pace.

Ester wrote: "In a week I'll have the book. Where do I start? I read this article now or I wait later?"

You can read the book first or the article first, it doesn't matter really. Just steel yourself before you do that, these articles are never easy to read.
What I see nowadays is how there is a willingness to be inclusive, but in the end you aren't really because you omit certain people altogether.

Congratulations to the winner!

Eva wrote: "When I was 12 my PE teacher said girls used our periods to skip class because we were lazy. I was so angry... But I couldn't do anything because I was "just a child" and he was a "respectable teach..."

I hope so too, that is horrible!

Periods to skip classes, my my, where are we going?!

I know, the last book of the year has already been announced, and this is about the first book of the year. But today I scrolled through my bookmarks and I came across this link:

http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/sto...

In the article the author writes how she read "Vagina Monologues" out of curiosity - because it was about vaginas and since she has MRKH, and thus wasn't born with one, she was really curious.
What saddened her was that one monologue was missing - the monologue of the missing vagina. And so she wrote this article, which is a monologue about a Missing Vagina and the story that it entails.

Read it, it's vital. It is as important as every other monologue in the book.

And then, what do you think of it? Of all that she has written?