Margaret Atwood defends women's right to work in strip clubs because she thinks it's 'empowering'

ShesDressedInBlackAgain I always skip the poems (unless of course I'm actually reading poetry).

Yes. I loved THT because the premise was so horribly fascinating. I didn't finish the Blind Assassin though. Must try harder.

As a male, im more than happy to admire the female form but it just would never happen for me that id pay for it. I wouldn't be seen dead in a lap dancing bar. Each to their own.

I remember enjoying Alias Grace when I read it about 15 years ago.

I think ive read another atwood book...but it obviously wasnt that good cos i cant remember the title

Something about pregnancy though...or trying to impregnate someone

And I'd agree with 'peculiar' yeah. It's like there's a barrier there.

MNHQ sorry about my post after the thread shift - I stepped away and came back to post. Guidance is noted.

Angela Carter was awesome! Now I need to dig through my bookshelf - I haven't read anything of hers in probably 10 years.

I don't remember reading anything of hers that I didn't like.

You have to work at Byatt a but. But if you got through Possession you're clearly able to do that! or did you skip the poems?

Note to self - read more Angela Carter.

Atwood's a funny (as in funny-peculiar) writer. I've tried several of her books and the Handmaid's Tale is the only one I've got all the way through. (Similarly AS Byatt - tried a few of hers, only really got Possession, which I think is absolutely brilliant).

Wise children?

Kay

ATWOOD!!!

LETS TALK SOME MORE ABOUT ATWOOD

(Before sophie comes back to tell us off again )

Sorry, didn't see the MNHQ posts there!

Thing is also, when women have more rights and more bodily autonomy in society, they tend to have fewer children. Which on a global scale would mean a huge cut in the numbers of unwanted pregnancies. Which would mean a very effective brake on human population. Which is basically the cause of global environmental degradation. So Atwood misses that aspect of things.

Yes. Read Wise Children. Because it's bloody hilarious. And then get into the heavier stuff from there.

I will answer every one of you x

Well that should take all of about 5 seconds!

Um, as I just explained. If they're incapable of understanding how our industry works, despite many of us spelling it out as simply as we possibly can, it's not too far fetched an assumption that they are not capable of any simple level of understanding on other topics.

But you said 'money laundering/tax evasion' and then went into quite a detailed description of how they might evade tax. Why did you say 'money laundering' when you weren't talking about money laundering.

Please don't leave the thread though, I'm enjoying your posts!

Thanks @SophieLMumsnet

Hopefully we can keep the discussion on Atwood.

I would never pair money laundering and tax evasion. But I have to know what those things mean and actually have to apply theoretical as well as practical analysis for forensics (to ensure no occurrences in any relevant period) tied to mergers and acquisitions.

But I just make a living doing that (et al) so what do I know?

Didn't you take elementary statistics? If you understood basic elementary statistics you wouldn't make a claim that 99.9% are happy dancing unless you conducted proper protocol to make such a claim (you know DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS).

Thanks sophie

You denied a FACT, which is in Canada, the majority of strip clubs are owned by biker gangs. Nobody mentioned tax evasion but you.

Admit the truth - you are either not an accountant, or an incompetent one, because no accountant would confuse tax evasion and money laundering. Your backtracking though, is humorous. Yes, we saggy titted women are all too stupid to know how concepts such as money laundering work. We all need to be educated by the accountant by day/stripper by night.

he heroine is, of course, an unreliable narrator. So we see the mother through her eyes as this tedious bore of a second wave feminist, still banging on about women's rights when all the battles have been won

Oh now that’s interesting...didnt get that at all

We read it for book club, (no idea why as its a very ‘lite’ bookclub...unfortunately) everyone seemed to ‘enjoy’ it

Rufus and shedressed Angela Carter was awesome. I still remember being blown away the first time I read the Bloody Chamber.

Perhaps the take-home from Atwood's car crash of an interview is a new variant on "never meet your heroes", in this case, "never listen to your literary heroes being interviewed."

The weird thing is that on re-reading the Handmaid's Tale in middle age (having first read it as a young lib fem, but then, as one of my friends puts it, having been radicalised by motherhood) one of the characters that most struck me was the off-screen character of the heroine's mother. The heroine is, of course, an unreliable narrator. So we see the mother through her eyes as this tedious bore of a second wave feminist, still banging on about women's rights when all the battles have been won... Then we realise that she's actually Cassandra, speaking to the need for eternal vigilance in the face of forces that would like to roll back the freedoms your mothers fought for.

Which I guess is why the "killing male babies" crap comes as such a kick in the guts. That she could write that nuanced an account of what is, essentially, the tension between liberal and radical feminism. Then fuck it all off with yet another cheap jibe about "extreme feminists who hate men and want to kill male babies..."

Well i just googled her and she did a company of wolves didnt she

Might have to check the library and give her a go

Any one in particular that you’d recommend?