A Mumsnet thread about a book about a Mumsnet thread “Under the Duvet of Darkness” written by the women of Mumsnet THREAD 2

[Boiledbeetle]

Thread 1:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4776556-a-mumsnet-thread-about-a-book-about-a-mumsnet-thread-under-the-duvet-of-darkness-written-by-the-women-of-mumsnet?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

You do not need to have read thread 1 – this is not that sort of thread.

But to recap… Over Christmas and New Year after the passing of the GRR (Scotland) Bill a thread was started with a poem about Nicola Sturgeon. Eventually on that thread (and a couple of other threads) over 80 poems were written.

“Under the Duvet of Darkness: Poems written by angry women for angry women because WOMEN WON’T WHEESHT” was published as a paperback on 31st March 2023.

Available on Amazon only: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C129WKDD

In a rather bizarre turn of events at one point it reached No 2 in poetry best sellers and No 5 in Feminist Criticism best sellers. No one will be surprised to discover that a book that is in the main about people, especially men, claiming to be something they are not was kept off the No1 spot in poetry best sellers by a crime novel, identifying as poetry, written by a man ;-)

E-BOOK:

Some people wanted an e-book rather than a paperback, but for that we needed someone who could actually make an e-book and some extra poems.

FairyKindleMother came to the rescue with regards the e-book and posters wrote enough poems that we could add 20 more poems into the e-book.

I pressed publish on the e-book a few hours ago. It can take usually up to 3 days to appear and populate all the info etc on the various sites, and there is always the chance they knock it back for some reason. But I've done all I can do at this point. We just have to wait and see who spots it on sale first! It will appear on the Amazon link above hopefully soon, (or I'll get an email asking me to change something).

MONEY FROM SALES OF ALL FORMATS:

In honour of Magdalen Berns, who co-founded the Scottish campaign group For Women Scotland, 100% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to For Women Scotland.

“It’s not hate to defend your rights, and it’s not hate to speak the truth.”
Magdalen Berns (1983 – 2019)

As I started work on the e-book posters continued to write poems. So we had a choice: leave them there, languishing on the thread, unloved, forgotten, never to have their words uttered again OR we could just do volume 2.

Posters voted for Volume 2 but we still need more poems!

And that’s the gist of thread 1.

murky buckets! Cervix.

I have finally gone through all the poems once! (there is a LOT of poems - many more than last time. many many more!)

Im going to celebrate with a cup of tea and Tunnocks!

But whilst volume two is created buy volume one (again - go on you know you want to)

Available on Amazon only: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C129WKDD?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

I have one brewing about Alice Cooper and his no nonsense take on gender woo. I Jane the day off tomorrow, well 5 hours of free time, so I might put it together then over a cup of tea and a Tunnocks. Alice Cooper's Poison was the song of ds's dad and me back in the day (1990) and I've always loved Alice.

What amazing poems! Too many to choose from but Billy the dog/cat/goat/girl is a standout 👏

Here's my entry @Boiledbeetle

You told me you were trans

You told me you were trans,
I said, that's OK.
What's the big deal?
It's just like being gay.

You told me you need blockers,
My gut said, just wait.
There's something deeper here;
The script then starts to play.

You're not sure you're a girl,
Your body needs to change.
You're young but you're sure,
And it's not like being gay.

I listen and I learn,
I'm lost for what to say.
We find our path together, but
The world pulls us both one way.

The wrench you feel is real,
The boards you tread bring pain.
The more I learn, the more
I find a twisted modern game.

You're broken and you're hurting,
There's so much more in play.
The answer calls, with kindness
An answer to your pain.

I won't hold you back, but
I won't let you be swayed
By the wave of love which pulls you in,
That's more than just a craze.

It's compelling and it's trying,
To get you in its gaze.
To tell you that the answer is
To trans the pain away

We work through this together,
But I can never say
What I feel is right. If I push too hard
I'll push you far away

Your path through life is yours alone,
But I'm here all the way
To help you find your own true self
It's more than just a game

You told me you were trans,
But now you feel a change.
You don't know, what comes next
Have you found the strength to wait?

@BonfireLady Thank you 💐 it can't have been an easy one to write. I hope she comes out the other end soon x

@Piccalillipromises did Billy Goats Bluff, it's great isn't it! (Which has also just proved to me my current chapter headings, whilst needing some tweaking actually work as I was able to go straight to it! Yay!!!!)

@CervixSampler I shall wait with baited breath for your completed homework

Thank you 🙏 Me too but I'm aware it's a marathon and not a sprint. Being on MN has been a huge help in both informing myself (such a knowledgeable bunch of posters) and hearing from others who are going through similar things.

Sounds like everything is going well with pulling it all together. I remember seeing the first thread but was still emerging from my lurking and didn't really understand what was going on! It's such a great thing that you're doing - to Let Women Speak through the medium of the spoken word - and so lovely to be a part of it now. Thank you xx

You've just got to keep pushing through the insanity @BonfireLady

These poems are definitely the book version of let women speak I feel!

💪💪💪💪💪

BonfireLady that's very emotional and speaks volumes of your pain 

Boiledbeetle how did you go about getting the book published?

Amazon self publishing. The wonders of modern technology. The e-book nearly scuppered me as i tried to do that first!!!!! gave up on that and published the book and then @FairyKindleMother came to the rescue! and did the e-book fur volume 1. She's FAB!! She's doing the e-book for volume 2 as well! I love her soooooooo much!

so, I'm having a brief break from the poems and starting on the wordy bits. Assistance, of any kind would be gratefully accepted. (And if no one responds I may fall into a deep sulk and your book will never get published. Not that I'm trying to emotionally blackmail any of you or anything.)

I'll even ease you in with a nice easy one

as with the first one I want a couple of Magdalen Berns quotes.
last time had : “It’s not hate to defend your rights,and it’s not hate to speak the truth.” and “I’d rather be rude than a fucking liar.” Suggestions of some of her wonderful pronouncements welcome (note: the lesbians don't have a penis line is used in one of the poems)* *

I googled 'gender critical quote' and got a bunch of Kathleen Stock from Goodreads. I think they're probably what readers of her books highlight. Some of them are long but have good snippets in them. Hope the link works

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/gender-critical

Obviously, I don't know if you need to get permission from author and/or publisher to use excerpts.

thanks Cake, sorry if I wasn't clear I was looking for MB ones.

but im off to read the link anyway x

Some of my favourite MB quotes -

Oh fuck off, you wanker

Of course it terrifies you Alex, they chop your cock off

How much longer are women going to stand for this insult?

Fuck this shit

Oh no! Another 'problematic' and 'hateful' term. Do tell me more.

Men don't have a vagina mate. This is primary school stuff.

Julie....Bindel(?) started a tweet thread of favourite MB quotes, I (not being on X) can only see the first but it might turn up some nuggets. Though I dread to think what tras might have posted. Good luck 👍

https://x.com/bindelj/status/1165963006599147520?s=20

Thank you Wait and Cake (better than Wait for Cake!). I shall choose some suitable ones!

Next....

Looks at the Nicola chapter. How does one summarise the fuckwittery that has gone on in her life these past few months without running up against contempt laws? I might just go through the relevant thread and list all the newspaper headers!!

Poem transfer from Tunnock's thread

IcakethereforeIam · Yesterday 08:25

Okay, 3rd draft

Daisy, Daisy give me your reality
I'm half crazy all for the love of me
It's going to be a shock
You'll lose to a bloke in a frock
I'll win the race, I'll take first place
Due to male puberty

Just don't forget to mention she was caught imitating Nessie.

😮

I missed that one I think!

Luckily that's tomorrow's job!

Here, though I only glanced at it. Just need to click to see the full headline.

oh God yes! I'd forgotten about that! There have so many funny headlines through all this!

Fantastic poems by women of Mumsnet! 😁

And no, I've done nothing on volume two today! I'm recovering from a rather taxing day of dealing with bureaucratic nonsense yesterday!

No matter how many times the fish (was it a sturgeon?) says it, it will never be Nessie, no matter how much it identifies as her.

#onlybumpsinthewatter
#bumpsnothumps
#awawiye

A poem you've not seen on here yet, (in a book I didn't have to put together!)