Feminism chat thread II

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

Since it looks like the first chat thread is about to fill up, here's the next one all ready and waiting.

Think of it as the gated commune with babysitting on demand and gorgeous poolboys serving the drinks :o

Didn't Faludi say in Backlash that before the Victorians abortion was widely accepted as a form of family control too? It was the Victorians that changed that view over here and in the US. Interesting about Japan's views Sakura. It seems that people are allowed to grieve for their aborted foetuses too unlike here where it is all a bit hush hush. Least said soonest mended and all that!

I think a spiritual place to grieve for an aborted foetus reflects the truth of women's reality and worldview quite well.

Or not so much a place to grieve per se, but more of a nod, or a space to contemplate, or whatever you want it to be

Margaret Atwood is going to be at the Southbank following MWR. She will be reading extracts and copies of her book The Blind Assasin are being handed out there as part of World Book Day.

more here

Ooh that's exciting Starsandplanets (are you coming by the way?)

We have just had a completely grim journey home from London because we missed our fast train and so got home over an hour later than we were supposed to.

I must not do this on Saturday!

How exciting about Cordelia Fine! I am getting on fairly well with Villette now after a slow start and realised I listened to at least two episodes of an adaptation on Radio 4 last year some time.

Sorry, this post is all over the place but I'm too knackered to post on the right threads

Yes. I am coming! Really excited about the whole day.

1. Lottery funding meeting sign off in morning (approval of grants)
2. MWR - get to meet some lovely new Mumsnetters and say hello to those met previously on FIL.
3. Margaret Atwood reading with Q&As and free books.

:)

yes Engle, I added my disclaimer because obviously all women feel differently after abortion. I can imagine for many the main emotion is relief. But it is complex and women should be allowed to express their truth, whatever that may be.

Hi all,
I wanted to ask Sakura another Japan orientated question. We are Studio Ghibli fans, and dh and I watched the Cat Returns the other day, which is about being true to yourself. dh was reflecting that most of the films have young girls as their main characters, and that they are generally independent feisty characters. Whereas in most of the Japanese video games that dh plays the girls are pretty weak and feeble (hangers on, girls back home or damsels in distress). I wondered which was more typical? Somehow the feisty girls learning to be true to themselves didn't seem to go with my image of Japanese being quite conformist, but perhaps that's very out of date or just a Western stereotype?

Kids products are a competitive market. Japan's got one of the lowest fertility rates in the world so there are a lot of families with only one child- a daughter, or maybe two daughters. Girls want to watch feisty girls doing things and the marketeers get this. DD'S favourite animation is two superhero girls who regularly save the world together.
Stuff that's marketed to boys will need to have weak feeble characters "to reflect males to twice their size" [Virginia WOolf )
I don't remember watching such strong female cartoon characters as a child.It will be interesting to see how this affects the girls' egos in the future.

There's lots of good mainstream stuff too, but you do get the odd disaster that has me rushing to switch off the TV , usually on the government channel.

hiya.. can I join the chat? I heard a rumour, that this was a place where issues were discussed without random shoutiness.

I may disappear (lurk), quite a lot though...

Sakura can I mail you re Japan/Tokyo - dp giving a paper in Osaka in the summer and we (me and ds) are thinking of tagging along - would be great to have some insider info on what to do, where to go, and, most importantly, where to eat!!

'course you can Black duck!!!

Oh definitely Engelbert. The premature sexualization of girls is a MASSIVE problem here. What is more weirdy is that a lot of men marry women older than them. A wife who is one year older than the man is considered to be auspicious. I think it's weird because it's almost as though they want a mother-wife.

Oh and LMFAO at that site you linked to Englebert. "Feminism increases ?paedophilia?" LMFAO

sorry, obviously paedophilia is more weirdy than marrying a woman older than you (which is not weird at all in the right context)
Girls don't dress older, but youth and "cuteness" are fetishized. Having said that there are some dodgy clothes available for girls here, well mainly little skirts and pop socks but that creates a sort of prostitute look doesn't it.