tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post4392549280321871700..comments2024-03-27T20:34:09.464+01:00Comments on zmkc: Book Listzmkchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-19887740890819202202010-12-23T21:50:07.001+01:002010-12-23T21:50:07.001+01:00But who are you aiming to be equal with? Once you ...But who are you aiming to be equal with? Once you have the legislative changes in place, are you still framing everything within how you want to be viewed by men and whether men see you as equal? That is their problem, it seems to me. Provided there are no legislative obstacles placed in front of me by men, they can think what they like about me, just as I think what I like about them. Nothing will change the fact that men and women are different. <br /><br />There is, of course, the whole question of the pervasive push to look beautiful, but, having worked in glossy magazines, I know that a lot of the images we are hit with are created by women - and, of course, it is women who buy magazines and swallow the rubbish, and it tends to be women who look at each other's appearances most critically (and I do know that there are theories that argue that this kind of rivalry is only a by-product of our subjugation by men, our lack of power leading us to turn against each other et cetera et cetera, but I don't buy that, I'm afraid and I resent the implication that we are that stupid and helpless.)zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-61899349660629050312010-12-22T18:45:16.224+01:002010-12-22T18:45:16.224+01:00But, zmkc, the way I see it is that it's more ...But, zmkc, the way I see it is that it's more than these legal rights, and more than the work-mother stuff. It's about equality in its very fundamental meaning - it's about deserving equal rights and equal respect, it's about have equal power. These are abstract concepts as much as anything, and they get translated into specifics, such as the legislation you mention. The trouble begins when people start to define it by these specifics rather than by the fundamental principle. And I am a principle kinda gal - I always try to go back to the principles and not get distracted by the details. (The details are important, of course, but they are not what it's about). <br /><br />Does this make sense?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-56178216253424682092010-12-21T02:30:10.191+01:002010-12-21T02:30:10.191+01:00I never understood what exactly the goals of femin...I never understood what exactly the goals of feminism were. Clearly, women needed to obtain the right to sign a mortgage or hire purchase agreement without the help of a supportive man and also the right to work after they married. Achieving those legislative changes were not enough to sustain a whole global movement though.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-89631504140741826972010-12-21T01:19:25.726+01:002010-12-21T01:19:25.726+01:00I'm with whisperinggums on feminism. I didn...I'm with whisperinggums on feminism. I didn't return to work until my kids were at school, and then only part-time for years. But I devoured the 'feminist bibles' and eventually did a masters in womens studies. I certainly called myself a feminist, and continue to do so. <br /><br />My daughter's daughters are ten and twelve and she is studying part-time and has no plans to return to full-time work - she does huge amounts of work at home and in her garden to ensure they can afford this choice they have made. <br /><br />I do get terribly frustrated at the young women who seem to feel that 'feminism failed' because it didn't solved the problems of 'the working mother. I have seen articles in which young women claim they were told (by whom?) they could 'have it all.' As if anyone could!M-Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18409916623998907121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-81112228657833994772010-12-20T23:07:28.189+01:002010-12-20T23:07:28.189+01:00I do know what you mean and I do love a few bracke...I do know what you mean and I do love a few brackets, misplaced or otherwise.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-45402670250455791452010-12-20T11:59:16.263+01:002010-12-20T11:59:16.263+01:00Excuse the misplaced parenthesis in the first sent...Excuse the misplaced parenthesis in the first sentence. Hate it when I do that but I think you know what I mean?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-66969718745561144932010-12-20T11:57:10.761+01:002010-12-20T11:57:10.761+01:00zmkc, I do take your point about how feminism may ...zmkc, I do take your point about how feminism may have come across but we don't (and didn't have to buy into it). I call(ed) myself a feminist but I did it my way. I reached a middle management level in my career before I had children, and from the moment I had children (early 30s) until I retired I worked part-time and refused all suggestions of promotion. I knew what I wanted in my life and what I could comfortably manage. For me feminism is, and always has been, about equality (not same-ness) and choice (for both genders). We need(ed) more feminists who believe and act upon this. As you can see I am somewhat passionate about this ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-76492710079654605022010-12-20T11:43:30.104+01:002010-12-20T11:43:30.104+01:00a) I should have known.
b) I am pathetically igno...a) I should have known. <br />b) I am pathetically ignorant of ecology and ostrich like in my attitude to climate change, (although I refuse plastic bags at every available opportunity and bicycle a lot [she said in a desperate attempt to appease]), so cannot help you on publications of that ilk.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-45032141287424769322010-12-20T07:41:33.082+01:002010-12-20T07:41:33.082+01:00They're ethnic Hungarian colleagues.
What...They're ethnic Hungarian colleagues. <br /><br />What's the ecologists' equivalent of a holy book? I'd like to think that that has a chance of being in the list.Gadjo Dilohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08998278830936531990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-36621441543541078842010-12-20T03:38:28.238+01:002010-12-20T03:38:28.238+01:00Whispering - I never took to feminism as it was pr...Whispering - I never took to feminism as it was practised in my youth, because it always seemed to me that it was about being allowed to live the life men are expected to live. A feminism that did not aim to join men in corporate pursuits, which seemed to me what the movement was doing, would have interested me more. As it is, women are supposed to dump children in child care and leap back into their suits and rush off to chair meetings again et cetera, despite what their instincts may be telling them. That doesn't seem a huge advance to me. I remember seeing a departmental flier go around after the death of someone I knew who had several young children. The flier talked about how much her service on the this that and the other committee was appreciated and the long hours she had put in getting through some policy or other (subsequently dumped by the government). Maybe she was fine with all that but I couldn't help wondering whether towards the end she didn't wish those long afternoons in meeting rooms hadn't been spent sitting on the floor with some Lego and the kids.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-20333900436686714582010-12-19T13:03:40.439+01:002010-12-19T13:03:40.439+01:00That list seems pretty good to me --- though I do ...That list seems pretty good to me --- though I do take your point about De Beauvoir and Greer. Greer was in fact hugely influential for me but my thoughts run a bit like yours in relation to narrowness of her (their) sphere which is, as far as I can tell, essentially western. But, I'm not sure that I'd call them to task for not altering women's essential condition. Also, is managing children and a career women's central conundrum? I'm not sure that it is (albeit that it's a really important practical issue in women's lives)?<br /><br />(BTW, the Greer is the only one of these I've read in its entirety, though I've dipped into pretty well all of the others).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-90828634613329024392010-12-19T10:42:53.735+01:002010-12-19T10:42:53.735+01:00Perhaps the Romanian translation is particularly g...Perhaps the Romanian translation is particularly good.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-68645500793534546722010-12-17T05:58:48.520+01:002010-12-17T05:58:48.520+01:00I wonder if R. Dawkins' anti-God books will st...I wonder if R. Dawkins' anti-God books will stand the test of time. Depressingly, I have colleagues who've read Mein Kampf, and enjoyed it.Gadjo Dilohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08998278830936531990noreply@blogger.com