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

MeerderWörter’s comments from the Our Shared Shelf group.

Keith wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "In historic vote, House abolishes controversial Article 308:
http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local...

It's about sexual p..."

Uh, the US is not as nice as they themselves make us believe they are. Just look at how they treat Native Americans for example...

In historic vote, House abolishes controversial Article 308:
http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local...

It's about sexual perpetrators getting away with it when they marry their victim. It's good that it's been abolished, isn't it?

Ross wrote: "Any oppression of women is a feminist issue, The plight of indigenous population should important to feminist everywhere."

Intersectional feminism rules!

UNDRIP - the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
https://twitter.com/MattSBritton/stat...
He has written all rights out, so I thought I link him.
Here's something about it from the UN themselves:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp...

It's not really a surprise that the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand voted against it, for me.
Now, I believe, that we as feminists need to work for the liberation of all our sisters, and that includes Indigenous sisters.
There is a petition on change.org which aims to remind Justin Trudeau of his promises, and I will link that here:
https://www.change.org/p/justin-trude...

How much do you think this is a feminist issue? I know some might say that this is not a feminist issue, I'm just curious about your views on that.

@Mods: I didn't really know where to put this topic, if you deem it necessary to put it elsewhere, feel free to do so.

santerro wrote: "The picture is called the sabine women, and in the margin is scrawled: pim pis pit, pimus pistis pants"

Nice, some Latin. At least the endings are Latin, don't know about the word;)

The quotes in here are awesome, they give me the chills.

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin, because it introduces the reader to intersex, it's a wonderful coming-of-age story and it's so realistic. I read that book as fast as I did no book before, and after it yet.

Then of course Harry Potter, need I say anything more?

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem, because it's a really good book of what a feminist looks like and then it's really good edited and I read that in ten days although I had twelve-hour-shifts and I just gulped it down and it was my proper introduction to feminism and it taught me so much about US-American politics and so on and so forth.

I need to edit this to add one more great book:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
They are all great books;)

Pam wrote: "It's a complex issue. and one that I only know the barest on. But in very base language it comes down to the business: the patient size (how many people will purchase) and that patients risk factor..."

Osteoporosis sucks tho, I'd rather have that later in life than say in 10 years. Osteopenia is also not really something I look forward to.
And hot flushes as well, I'm not really looking forward to them.

Just because something doesn't kill you, doesn't mean you don't need treatment for it.

Emma wrote: "Ross wrote: "The London Sunday Times has couple of articles on HRT (Hormone replacement therapy).

One links the work of leading menopause charities with links to Drug company which makes UK bigges..."

Not just men, Emma, not just men.
HRT is so complicated, they better put a lot of research into it. Not only menopausal women need hormones, others need to, like me. (Reading the package insert might freak one out a little bit)
It's the unknown that makes us uncomfortable, and since men are in power, we are in a bad place considering everything female.

Since intersectional feminism looks at a subject/topic/issue from various points of views, in my opinion, it is less likely to be stereotyping than other forms of feminism. Let's look at it jigsaw-wise:
For radical feminists, the issue is rather obvious: men are the problem and men are bad and so on and so forth. They see just a picture. Intersectional feminism tho takes into account race, class, financial situation, gender, and many more, and therefore there's a jigsaw that needs to be put together first. Is it more work? Yes, definitely. Is it more rewarding? I think so. Is it needed? I think it is the only real way to achieve equality, because we as humans are oppressed by intersecting issues, not just one. (Sorry radical feminists, but I don't see gender as the only problem in the fight for equality, many more issues are at stake)

Now, I don't think that boxing per se is bad. I don't have a problem with the boxes male and female, boy and girl. My problem with these boxes are the expectations we have, when we put a human in them. In my country these expectations are not as harsh anymore as they were, say, a hundred years ago, but they're pretty much there (boys and skirts is still seen as laughable, my god, women wear trousers, people have problems, I'd like to have their problems sometimes).
It's difficult to live in a society that does have only certain boxes, and you cannot claim one of them for you (believe me, it sometimes sucks more and sometimes less, but it sucks). The thing is, I believe it is one thing to have stereotypes and then it is another thing to act according to them. If we recall that not all people of a certain group are the same, then we don't act on the prejudices and stereotypes that we might have towards this group of people (whatever group that might be)

Keith, I think Ross meant that sexism is based on stereotypes, and not that stereotypes only consist of sexism. One thing I'd like to say about non-binary life forms, whether now in sex or gender is the following: the people who give us resistance might need to think about it twice:
We don't want to tear down their existence, we just want our existence to be valued by society, to be recognized by society, to be seen, to be taken seriously, as much as the already established ones. We only want to diversify, not simplify, for lack of a better word.

Denise wrote: "A strength of this group is the respect we pay to each other. I have just popped into and out of twitter and all I almost need to wash my brain to clean all the bickering and rants.

We are all di..."

Your last sentence is so beautiful. And yes, Twitter can be like this, I'm glad the people I follow don't behave like this.

Alana wrote: "It reminded me a great deal of the true life stories in Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and other books about female oppression around the world..."

Didn't Gloria Steinem talk about that in My Life on the Road? That we perpetuate what we learn in childhood? It's definitely a very scary thought, but I guess it makes sense. We live what we are taught, mostly, and it's hard to break out of it. Oh, as a student studying sociology, I think that is so interesting.

As for the question of the topic:
I'd say women are a part of the oppression, I mean, they are somewhat teachers in Gilead, if they believe in the dogma or not is another question.
And as Keith has provided (and I have learned yet another thing), women were totally complicit in the Nazi terror, and they knew what was happening and did act on their own. In my opinion, this also applies to Gilead, the women (tho not all, as some aunts I assume, were really not into the dogma, but complied, because the other options were a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea), were complicit and knew what they did. I mean, they could have started a revolution, all revolutions start small, think of the solidarnosc in poland for example.

Humans are power-hungry, and they are so power-hungry that they even go to lengths that harm other women hugely.

Emma wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "I do find that I agree she has a target audience for this book. I see that she repeats herself with the message of society is trying to bring us down. There is things like body sh..."

Make-up can be a very positive thing, I mean, it is a bit of a stereotype, but think about queer people. Many of them use make-up, and in a way that definitely doesn't bring them down.

Keith wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "Another poem, nothing less dramatic in its content than the above one:

Ode to a Life (Poem)

Heidi Walcutt

A little child was born today,
whether it’s a boy or a girl was ha..."

The poem that you linked is on point for so many of us, it makes me shiver reading it. Human, doctors, please, stop butchering with our bodies. It's not like that since 1996 we say this shit needs to end, it still happens. Makes me sick.

Ana wrote: "Still, I wanted to say that as a mod but also just as a longtime OSS member, this thread makes me happy"

It warms my heart that you like this thread. It just makes me happy.

The only thing I can say is, I am humbled that you deemed OSS safe enough of a place to share something as private as you did
I got to know my best friends on here, I see the OSS members as family, and some of them have helped me through my worst times.
OSS is a safe space, and it will continue to be, if we care about that. Another thing:
Sometimes, one just has to be daring, and brave. Even if I didn't see it really as brave, but just something that needed to be said off my chest, to a lot more people than the few who already knew. Believe me tho, it wasn't easy.

My only spot of inequality comes from being a woman -the rest of my experience is largely marked by privilege.
I am not as privileged as you, but then I'm still pretty privileged, and I can say the same, I have learned very much in this place (because for me OSS is more of a real place than a virtual one, it's the Room of Requirements of some sorts, you will find the right topic here, or you create it and people reply).

Don't worry about questions - I've had three years to come up with questions now, you'll come up with some of your own.

Debbie wrote: "Hi all,

Many thanks for your support and comments, it keeps me going !

Especially after the response I had from The Library of Congress in the U.S. I had submitted the project to their publishin..."

That's so great to hear, that you're going to take the next step! If you want to try some German publishing houses:
Carlsen
https://www.carlsen.de/kontakt
PIPER:
https://www.piper.de/service
Arena:
https://www.arena-verlag.de/arena-ver...

I remember that they do books for children and I think they might be interested.
Also a very good idea to contact, since they make games for children, such as jigsaws and board games:
https://www.ravensburger.de/service/k...

If I can help you more, just drop me a message, I'll see what I can.

I really hope someone is interested enough in it to produce it.

We're videoskyping now, you folks can still join.

Another poem, nothing less dramatic in its content than the above one:

Ode to a Life (Poem)

Heidi Walcutt

A little child was born today,
whether it’s a boy or a girl was hard to say.
The poor, innocent mother they quickly sedated,
While the doctors and nurses stood around and debated.

One doctor said “The penis is too small,
this will never, never do at all.”
Another spoke up “No, the clit is too large,
we need a specialist who can come in and take charge.”

So the call went out across the land,
and when a group of specialists was at hand,
A series of tests was the first thing they did,
the result of these, from the parents they hid.

When all of the testing and probing was done,
the doctors said “We can never tell them of their son.”
So the parents were never told of their little boy child,
who by a miracle of nature was born to be wild.

So they sliced and they diced, a new woman to make.
“To hell with the consequences, we’ll fix Nature’s mistake!”

Counseling next became their obsession,
they hounded and pounded into the child their lesson.
“You are a girl, there’s no doubt of that,
trust what we tell you, a fact is a fact.”

So she lived in the shadows, without any life,
she was constantly battered by emotional strife.
Never voicing her fears, her hopes or her doubts,
until she found ISNA and let it all out.

Source:
http://www.isna.org/books/chrysalis/w...

Nothing takes away that Kind of Pain, or that Kind of Loss


You broke my heart
Raising me a Girl
Why is it my voice was unheard?
You broke my soul
Telling me I was no good
I can still hear you saying I would amount to nothing
You needed me the black sheep of the family
A scape goat of your own inner sickness
So you could hide behind my mutations, and my illness
You broke my heart
Raising me a Girl
My voice was not heard, because you are deaf
You broke my soul
Because they taught you it was ok to do that
How could a man be like me?
Nothing takes away that kind of pain, or that kind of loss

By Anunnaki Ray

I will never get over the anger of being robbed my true gender. Robbed my life as a little boy. Never! Thank God they did not mutilate my genitals with their knives. They did it instead with hormones, and psychiatric ploys, which was bad enough. I am coping by being a Gender/Intersex activist now. I cope by trying to change this world so that harm is not brought to one more child. When I visit that place of my violation, nothing takes away the pain, or loss.

So I give that little boy, I could have been, a voice now.
I dedicate this poem to: MAD WORLD By Tears for Fears

Source:
https://anunnakiray.com/2015/12/13/po...

I've never seen that symbol as a flag, Sascha, but it can definitely be seen as one. Awesome, that they are getting more intersectional.

Over here in Austria/Germany one of the faces of feminism is definitely Alice Schwarzer, whether we agree with her viewpoints or not.

Follow Native Americans/First Nations people on Twitter (or Facebook I suppose), and you'll get the news.