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

We are quite lucky near here with second hand furniture shops. In particular there's a council-funded organisation who used to operate from the local tip and anything still useable you could donate there instead of dumping. The shop was like a treasure trove of assorted toys, books, saucepans, garden tools, baby things, small furniture, mirrors etc... They also had a big warehouse which was less known about, on a local industrial estate which they sold all their furniture from. And a little computer workshop where they take people's old computers, put together all the working (if outdated) parts and sell them cheaply to help people get online etc who wouldn't otherwise. This is staffed by people with learning/social disabilities who have good computer skills. Recently they've been publicising in the local paper that they are recycling/fixing up bicycles to encourage more people to cycle.

Unfortunately though the funding has been cut and they've recently been forced out of the tiny shop at the tip which was where they got 75% of their custom from, they told me the other day. 11 staff have to reapply for 4 jobs :( oh and they now have no delivery driver, and they can't hold items, so they can no longer reach those who are most vulnerable (ie are unlikely to have a car or be able to hire a van). It's really sad. The guy working there looked really dispirited when he was telling me.

That Han Chinese Man thing is interesting - did you watch the video? It says men outnumber women but only slightly.

They've basically just taken the biggest group of everything, so ethnic group, sex, etc. Except for age, which they have taken the median of for some reason.

Oh and NOW I remember what I came on here to post. Sorry for the triple-post.

Have had daytime TV on a lot over the past week as DS has been ill and it seemed to help him sleep. Couldn't be bothered to turn it over when the Vanessa Show came on, and one of the discussion topics was "Why are women attracted to bad boys?" - okay, fair enough, I've often wondered this myself.

However the entire "discussion" was an "expert" who had written a book and he kept spouting several times that "All bad boys settle down when they find the right woman to love them. Bad boys are just enjoying their youth, they don't know what they want."

I was just and that this stupid, dangerous myth was being so casually distributed.

maybe i am just too laid back. I really don't mind it if i get wolf whistled in the street. Two days ago a builder shouted to me "Alright love, fancy a drink?" I shouted back "SUre, my house is round the corner. Let's go."
That shut him up. I don't see why people get so offended about a bit of harmless banter?

well they don't have my attention most of the time. I just ignore them.I only answered this one because he was standing on the pavement i was walking on and i thought he needed taking down a peg or two.

he better not aggressive with me. I am Karate Brown Belt, and not afraid to use it, especially not if confronted with a vile , sweaty, pot bellied labourer. He sounded like a eunuch too.

You've all inspired me to update my feminist library. The postman has just delivered The Equality Illusion, Delusions of Gender and Living Dolls. I'm very excited :)

everything, I would have thought whistlers were more likely to get aggressive if you answer back? Surely most people ignore them?

I can't work out whether it's better to ignore them and let their behaviour go unchallenged, or to answer back and risk them getting angry?

Christine I am very envious. As soon as I can join my local library I'm going to go and order a big pile of feminist literature. I've only read Living Dolls out of your list (took it on holiday last year, it was my beach read!) and really enjoyed that. It definitely made me think. I really want to read the Equality Illusion now after seeing Kat Banyard at the WOW festival.

I was staying in a youth hostel the other week and I was thinking I should make a habit of buying any cheap copies of feminist books that I can find and sneaking them into the book exchanges.

can anyone think of anywhere else one could leave feminist books lying around?

I think I'm going to start with Delusions of Gender, inspired by Friday's webchat. That's a really good idea seth - you could leave them on buses, in restaurants, anywhere and register them on Book Crossing then you'd get feedback and reviews hopefully!

tell us more.
I read a bit once (something to do with woman is two sets of lips speaking) and it seemed a bit essentialist to me but my friend who had read more swore it wasn't essentialist so I probably just didn't get it.
come to think of it people often think feminism they don't get is essentialist - it's what people say about Andrea Dworkin who is probably at the opposite end of the spectrum from Irigaray (or is she?)

I'd forgotten about the Sokal thing. it was hilarious.

I am currently reading a book on queer theory and there was a very annoying bit about Dworkin being an essentialist; it makes me wonder if queer theory only works by misrepresenting the Second Wave.
if Dworkin believed all the stuff they say she believed she would have been wasting her time on feminism because she would have believed that men were never going to change. I suppose some radical separatists might think that but she was married to a man who was writing about masculinity fgs.

poetic is exactly what my friend said about Irigaray.
I like to be able to work through and actually be able to work out whether or not an argument actually makes sense so the obscurity bugs the hell out of me.