Group wants to ban feminist books from a women's library - WTF?

[Bambambini]

Who on earth would want to ban feminist books from a Women's Library? Hope that the Vancouver Women's Library stands firm and doesn't bow to this women hating group. Hope the library get's lots if support - this attempt to bully and censor seems to be becoming much more common, unfortunately.

m.facebook.com/notes/gag-gays-against-gentrification/response-to-vancouver-womens-library/379623995740078

I am just wondering how this next generation will feel when women are still the default carers for children, I mean because they carry them for nine months and birth and breastfeed them, still do the majority of the domestic work, emotional labour and nurture, still get paid less than men, find themselves possibly stuck in abusive marriages as they earn less and do more for the children, and all those things which feminists spent time fighting against - but are so not the issue now.

In fact mentioning pesky biological difference is hate-speech and bigoted, let alone that it is the source of women's inequality across time and place. And still will be, because today's young women are rushing to support an ideology which erases their biology and needs AS WOMEN.

Wake up.

And 'cis' isn't a derogatory term at all, it simply refers to the people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Cis is a vile term that I reject.

am just wondering how this next generation will feel when women are still the default carers for children, I mean because they carry them for nine months and birth and breastfeed them

But men can do all that too...

www.thesun.co.uk/news/2567386/who-is-hayden-cross-uks-first-pregnant-man-undergoing-gender-realignment-treatment

Here's a blog which outlines the vandalism and violence against the Women's Library

Queer Fascists Attempt to ban Feminist Books

The list of books they want remove is utterly utterly ludicrous.

If it were reported in the DM the comments lot wouldn't know which side to support and which to give a kicking to.

"Transweirdos" or "feminazis"
"Feminazis" or "Transweirdos"

Their heads will be spinning and their feet all a twitching.

Indeed Bam. Perhaps they would implode.

And those young women will look to the feminism in mainstream spaces and seek help and support. But there won't be any. First world problem. Get to the back of the intersectional queue, behind the male women. It doesn't matter if women's rights to maternity protection have been erased out of all existence.

When I was a teenager, I refused to vote for the Women's Officer at university, preferring to spoil my ballot paper by scrawling words to the effect that this was unnecessary sexist crap.

For quite some time, probably until I had DC1, I genuinely didn't feel particualarly hard done by as a woman. I had gone through school, got good grades, gone to university, got a good job etc etc etc. No direct discrimination, no men getting opportunities that I didn't - I thought the battle had been won!

And then... Slowly, and rather invidiously, I began to see the female penalty being applied around me - more and more bright, talented women had babies and never really came back to work. More and more so-so men began to be promoted, leapfrogging these women into sought after positions. Looking back, the incidents I had experienced when younger (sexual harassment, sexual assault, boys at school getting opportunities that the girls didn't....) seemed more than "just some things that sometimes happen". I could see what the patriarchy looks like in our lived lives, how it impacts almost all women and how there is still so much to be done before we can declare that we have achieved equality.

I genuinely fear for what the world will look like in ten or so years when my DD is PillyPolly's age. We are going backwards so fast, that unless there is a movement akin to that of the 1960s, she won't be able to take anything for granted that teenagers today currently do. And I find that scary in the extreme.

So, in short PillyPolly, you might want to listen to those of us on here who are twice your age (or more!). We might have some rationale for our beliefs beyond being nasty transphobes. Honestly, we really might

I really find the idea of banning books worrying. Even if you disagree with something, you need to be able to access it, read it, and understand it if you're studying it. A library is a place supporting study.

It is worrying. A group turning up at the library to harrass and intimidate the women, to try and destroy books and damage the library is shocking. What the hell is going on with the liberal left. This is more like fascism.

Or at least - " these" liberal left bullies.

To be fair to pillypolly, she at least understands that burning books and closing down libraries is rarely a positive thing for society.

ItsAll - i know, I know. In fact I have missed a trick here. Instead of being a stigmatised single mum, I will cut my hair and call myself Clarence. I will get kudos for being a single dad. It will all be good.

I mean, I don't have much in the chest department anyway and I have been rubbish at the womanly wife kind of stuff. Clearly, despite bearing and birthing and breastfeeding children, I am actually a man! How odd to not have realised.

This whole thing makes me utterly uncomfortable. I am not being un-wommaned when everything I have experienced, all the things which have shaped my life significantly, have been because I am a biological female human being. It does not matter a flying fuck how I self-identity. I could self-identity as a giraffe, my life is still shaped by the fact that I was born female.

What the hell is going on with the liberal left

I think.people sometimes forget that there are extremists at both ends of the spectrum, and extremism is always unpleasant.

Totally side-stepping the debate and apologies for the intrusion - LRD I've sent you a pm.

Good god, Pilly, go back to tumblr!

That's not fair. Pilly has been polite and put her view across. She is young and her stance is fairly common and understandable with young folk who are passionate and want to be tolerant and accepting. I used think similarly till read up in different views. I change my mind all the time about things.

What a load of shit.

Don't like a book? Don't borrow the fucking thing then.

Surely it is as simple as that?

The simple truth is that they want to silence women.

😂 CocoaX or should I say "Clarence/Giraffe. 👏👏

And midnightscribbler you're right! If you don't like it, don't read it!

OlennasWimple that was absolutely my experience too. I didn't understand the need for feminism when I was young, thought the fight was won. Oh how wrong!

Pilly, if you want to read books by lesbian women and can't find them in your local library (and school? Are you still at school) then you should ask about inter-library loans. Pretty much all libraries will have some Sarah Waters, Ali Smith and Emma Donoghue as they are well accepted mainstream authors who are also lesbians
You could also look for books by Clare Ashton

As for the books on the list, it's absolutely ridiculous to ban them. They are books by, for and about women, whilst some may be dated (9 Parts of Desire definitely will be out of date as it was published in the 90s and things have changed a lot in many of the countries and Wahaabism is far more influential now) they form such an important part of feminist thought, resulted in works being written in response. They also absolutely highlight how women are controlled by the patriarchy and how "choices" are not free and can be harmful on an individual and societal level. No wonder certain groups want to stop women reading them!

I saw Julie Bindle speak yesterday and it was an amazing talk. Left me feeling both heartened that so many women will fight for justice and to end oppression, and also dismayed that we are still having to fight.

Pilly
If you allow gender to define what it means to be female then that means that there must be an accepted set of characteristics, behaviours and feelings that signify female and a separate set that define male. I have spent much of my working life battling stereotypes and I am certainly not going to willingly allow any group to try and reframe what it means to be a woman to suit their interests.

Oops! Thanks emotions.

Back on topic - I really wish people would apply some common sense to terminology.

'Cis' is an offensive term to some, and one that doesn't sum up their experience. Likewise 'queer'.

What worries me a lot is that this attitude to books makes it is almost impossible for people to learn why terms like 'queer' might be offensive. It makes it hard for them or to understand why feminists might - while including sex workers - agree with said sex workers that sex work is exploitative and damaging. Because if you ban the testimonies of sex workers speaking out against sex work, and only allow the words of people who support it, naturally you will end up with a skewed picture. If you ban the historical stages of feminist thought, you will end up with a skewed picture and a shallow understanding of your own privilege.