Jo’s Comments (group member since Jan 12, 2016)

Jo’s comments from the Our Shared Shelf group.

Hi Reborn & welcome :-)
I'm sure Emma would be very grateful to the words that you wrote here. Thanks for sharing them with us!

It's not that "vagina" is a dirty word, i'm sure most would also feel uncomfortable about reading a book with "penis" in the title.
Lot's of people (I would say more the older generation) think that words and books like that should be read privately, it's not my view - but it's just the way they have been brought up not to speak about such things publicly.

Thanks MeerderWörter will give that a watch in a bit, sounds interesting :)

Hi Everyone,
Emma will be interviewing Eve Ensler later this month and would love to ask her some questions that you may have for her?
Please respond below with your question for Eve and Emma will do her best to ask as many as she can!

Many thanks,
Jo

Felicia wrote: "It's simply wrong to assume that feminists don't care about violence against males, or sexual abuse against males, or male genital cutting.."

I agree with everything you say. :)

I'm the only female in my household, and the health and happiness of my sons is my primary concern.
It is therefore wrong to assume that the woman that marched in the marches around the world are ONLY concerned with woman's rights. Ask anyone at the march an i'm sure they will tell you that they believe in EQUAL rights which includes ending sexual assault and violence towards boys and men.

But, even in the cases of sexual assault and violence in males, the abuser is more often than not - Male.
I understand that there will be exceptions, some woman do beat their husbands and boyfriends which is of course WRONG and they should be sent to prison as any man doing the same to his wife should.

I think if their was ever a 'penis march' it would just look a bit...ridiculous.

Besides you just had a penis march through the streets of Washington...his name is Donald Trump.
:-P

Following the woman only parking spaces article, an airline is now offering woman only seating after reports some women were being groped by other passengers.
While their intentions are good, i'm still not sure about this - I mean perhaps concentrate on cracking down hard on the people doing the groping rather than taking a much easier route and sitting woman elsewhere on the plane? :-\

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article...

Having parking spaces just for woman is absolutely ridiculous...and to make them pink too? *vomit*

Nice one Switzerland :)

I'm sure you will agree, the new header/banner artwork by Katie is absolutely beautiful!
You can see more of Katie's art and photo's on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everydayimd...

Thanks Katie!

As a mother, I think Paternity leave is a very positive thing. It's a great chance for a father to bond with his child and the family as a new unit together.
Especially in the case of the first child, you need the support of each other in the "I don't know what i'm doing" moments, you learn together the quickest and easiest way of dealing with an offensive nappy or how long the milk needs to warm up to get it at the perfect temperature.....silly little things.
It is also incredibly helpful to the mother if the father is around to change nappies, take turns in feeding the baby etc - especially if the birth has been difficult and she needs a rest.

Unfortunately government pay for both maternity and paternity leave in the UK is pretty awful. Unless you happen to work for a huge company where they allow 9-12 months leave at either full pay or 90% of your pay then your pretty screwed.
I had to go back to work after 10 weeks after having my first child and about 8 weeks after my second - we couldn't afford to live on the governments maternity wage. My husband took 2 weeks holiday rather take paternity leave - because it would have been a huge struggle to live on the government money - even for 2 weeks.

Please. Let's keep the thread on track without personally attacking each other.

hmmm let me try again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-...

'An Indian minister who said groping at New Year celebrations in Bangalore was caused by women dressing "like Westerners" has caused outrage.' ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-...

GGRRRRRR

@MeerderWörter that article just makes me angry! GGRRRR!!

Meelie, the programme you mentioned on BBC Radio 4 is up now: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b085882l (not sure if the audio will work outside of the UK)

My mum is the best. She would do absolutely anything for her kids or grandkids, she is very kind and loves with all of her heart.

Her downside is her worrying, she worries about everything. She even phones up to offer me a ride home once I get off of the bus at night (the bus stop is only a 5 minute walk from my house in a fully residential area!). It's nice of course that she cares - but her worrying is a bit too much!

I missed it Meelie, although i'm sure i wouldn't have been able to listen anyway! Hopefully it will be repeated.


The BBC website has a story about the death of a girl banished for menstruating. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-...

:(

Thanks for sharing Ashwin :)

New header added by the very talented Marta!
check out more artwork by Marta here: http://martamattei.blogspot.it/

Very interesting article Meelie, hard to believe that some cultures have these kind of 'rules'...periods are horrible enough as it is - without having to abide these rules too.

Thankfully, here in the UK we still have at least 1 person in politics who is decent, and that man is Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London). Here he talks to Elle about being a feminist: http://www.elleuk.com/life-and-cultur...