3.5? 4? enjoyed reading this but found it a bit of a slow read/struggled to get into it. it also definitely wasn't what i was expecting, but i don't t3.5? 4? enjoyed reading this but found it a bit of a slow read/struggled to get into it. it also definitely wasn't what i was expecting, but i don't think that's a bad thing - it was a lot more exploring his day-to-day while being there rather than the info dumping of history/facts/theory i was expecting! having read it, i do like that it was't just facts etc, but i with we'd gotten more of this to provide more context/knowledge. i definitely still learned a lot though and it was a great intro to this area of the world! it was eye-opening to see how people live in these areas, as i knew pretty much nothing about these areas (hadn't even heard of more than half of the countries he visited) before reading this book)
some stuff that stood out to me/were interesting to learn more about: - the presence of the US military in the marshall islands - recruiting islanders, the segregation in how the islands v americans live - the nuclear testing done in these islands - the presence of religion in these areas also e.g., at the psychiatric hospital - just how different the lives are of these people, in ways that i can't really comprehend, even though i've travelled to remote villages/slums/developing countries etc ...more
dnfed like 30 pages in - flicked through the rest but didn't seem to change in terms of what i wasn't enjoying. given the reviews/rating though i'm obdnfed like 30 pages in - flicked through the rest but didn't seem to change in terms of what i wasn't enjoying. given the reviews/rating though i'm obviously in the minority!
i was really excited to learn about the history of these countries but just found the book quite boring/idc about this greene guy lol - gonna find some other ways to learn instead ...more
continuing to love and gain so much from this series. again want to emphasise this should be essential reading for anyone living in so-called australicontinuing to love and gain so much from this series. again want to emphasise this should be essential reading for anyone living in so-called australia.
also a reminder of how much i still don’t know! i am gaining a foundational understanding, and it is being expanded the more i read/learn, but still a lot i don’t fully understand e.g., the first sentence of this book - Country being more than just land, can be thought of like the Dreaming (i think i had been confusing it with the notion of country with a lower case c, but instead need to think of Country more like nation-states?? so not just the land but with relationships, customs, cultures, languages etc?? but also extends beyond this in ways i still don’t fully understand)
this book can broadly be divided into several key themes so i’ll group my key take aways in the same way:
general advice about caring for/working with country - notion of to improve is to make worst - need to keep everything in balance p83 - language matters: speaking of land ‘management’ or ‘care’ still implies a hierarchy, where humans are above land - ‘collaboration’ is a better term - some talk of religion, especially in the intro/conclusion was a bit weird lol like was he appealing to ‘our’ Christianity? - first peoples collaborated/worked with nature, whereas colonisers worked against it, saw it as something to be conquered/tamed (the bush by don watson, which i read recently, is a great read to emphasise this) - the suggestion that perhaps we viewed the land as our enemy as a way of “unconsciously deflecting guilt” of colonisation was interesting - importance of all this work including first peoples and ensuring they benefit, their knowledge is respected etc. - our use of aboriginal knowledge/practices/foods etc cant just be tokenistic - it must be genuine, and extend beyond this knowledge to broader land and social justice - “you cant eat our food if you cant swallow our history” - “leave the world as you found it - not better or worse, for God judges that, but the same… changes are cyclic: each must and will return to the balance” - and how sometimes that meant destroying/killing/suppressing
native food and plants - there were less trees pre-colonisation! - native plants are adapted to our country (e.g., dry and poor soil) - makes sense to use them!! - we celebrate trees so much today but ignore how grasses were important for healthy country in 1788 and should be valued still today - all the examples of native foods/plants and black duck foods/how the author/others are experimenting in this area was so interesting - want to look into this more and consider how i can incorporate into my own diet also - rethinking what foods we eat and what plants we grow - again need to unpack unconscious biases eg. kangaroo, possums, birds seafoods, roadkill, honey, native grasses, yams etc. - and the ways in which this is all more environmentally friendly also! - the bread example was particularly interesting - again highlighting the importance of language - was called ‘seed cakes’ rather than ‘bread’ - thus implying first peoples were less civilised etc. - also that aboriginal people may have been the first bakers! how cool! also the fact we have artefacts of this bread?? so cool seeing the pictures of food from so long ago?? history is so cool sometimes - “they were so beautiful, so important, that i cried. i was so proud of my peoples chemistry. the breads were risen and were fitted into the curve of the coolamon they had been placed in. i was in awe of the beauty of this domestic ritual, the genius of aboriginal life”
fire - a lot of the specifics of the fire methods went over my head a bit (e.g., the effects on different plants) - but interesting seeing how many different types of fire methods were used and how much thought and knowledge they required!! and how fire was used in many ways - not just fire-stick farming - ensure predictability and abundance of plants/animals, to attract animals, promote new plant growth/food sources, clear tracks, clean camps of litter/pests, protect places, teach, signal that land is being cared for etc. - fire treated like all other knowledge (always began with a ceremony, children taught, songs and stories etc to help learn knowledge): “fire was planned. guided by experts, ancestors, and neighbours, elders would discuss what, when, and how to burn. ‘what must be made absolutely clear is that the rules for fire and fire use are many and varied, and are dependent upon an intimate knowledge of the physical and spiritual nature of each portion of the land’. hard-won local expertise blended with knowing fire as a living part of the dreaming” - importantly, while there are universal general rules - fire burning requires specialised and intimate local knowledge of country (which interacts with totem knowledge - didnt realise totems included things like fire so that was also cool to learn) - so interesting learning all the different principles - and so frustrating being reminded how they were all ignored and this led to the recent black summer. i really hope our country starts listening to first peoples and starts implementing these practices - in particular, gained a greater understanding of cool burning - a sort of prevention for worse fires later on, promotes fresh grass/attracts animals, these fires are less intense/hot (versus fires that happen later in the season) and thus ensure soil/nutrients aren’t damaged etc - was interesting to find out that fuel reduction wasn’t needed pre-1788 and there wasn’t a word for this in first peoples’ languages! we only need it now because we have let fuel build up so much - but first peoples have accepted that “fuel has built up so much since 1788 that in many places cool fires are not possible, and traditional owners accept that fuel reduction will be necessary before a cool-fire regime can begin” ...more
4.5 maybe? (i definitely enjoyed the first half of the book more, the second half at times dragged a bit)
“the loss of nature as religion, as a human c4.5 maybe? (i definitely enjoyed the first half of the book more, the second half at times dragged a bit)
“the loss of nature as religion, as a human cosmos, is an expense for which there is no apparent compensation”
this book was a pleasant surprise - i thought i would enjoy it enough to pick it up, but didnt expect to love it as much as i did - or to annotate as heavily as i did. firstly, it was written so beautifully!! and made me fall in love with australia, appreciate it more. something i am finding more and more as i get older. i love seeing how australia is described, the familiarity? idk... still working out my thoughts about australia haha
“the smallest thing can excite the image of that veranda and my grandmother treading it, as inexorable as a ghost. the smell of milk, cream, meat, and pastry. cypresses and gums baking in the sun or stewing in the dump. rubber boots and dogs stained red by the soil. flyspray”
“there was the bush reality of shadowless gums and the perpetual glare from ‘dazzled and faded’ skies. as well, when the treetops let in the moon and the starlight and the clear crimson afterglow of sunset, and the trunks of the gums looked like ‘gigantic bleached bones’, there was the ‘perfection of the night’. then lucy liked to go riding in the scented air. there was ‘such delicious yellow light’ on moonlit nights, ‘and deep purple brown shadows’, quite unlike the ‘cold blue and silver of English moonlight’… mrs gray let herself be enchanted by the bush”
but also, learning more about my country and its history. for example, how our identity developed with the bush, pragmatism, squatters v settlers, politics of land, how city and country view each other, the poor/swagman and waltzing matilda, how much australia was built on industries of mining and sheep.
and helping me appreciate it more. romanticising being here. not wanting escape as much.
“in the space of half a century they wrecked it. still, when the sun is low on the green hills and the gleaming road-side gums and the grazing cattle shine and the cypress hedges throw their shadows on the grass, no one could say it is not a beautiful bit of the earth. and if you have closed your mind to what was there before, or do not know, it is no less beautiful for being made by human enterprise and for growing food and wealth”
also raising a lot of questions. making me think about our nature to the bush and our history more. how do we grapple with the beauty of what we have while recognising it is man-made, a result of destruction of our environment and the oldest living culture in the world? founded on genocide? but still valuable? we can’t get back what has been lost but we need to value what we have now. australia - a unique mix of past and present. how do we balance our need for nature - in its current state - with our need for the products/work etc it provides?? ie. how do we balance the intrinsic and extrinsic value of nature? the practical aspects of peoples livelihoods with sustainability and climate change?
i also appreciated his acknowledgement of first nations knowledge and practices, the brutal impacts of colonisation and how australia often remains silent about this past (which isn’t even the past and continues into today)
some other things i want to remember/that stood out - no real wilderness/the bush is man made - “to speak as if [nature] had been a wilderness when the aborigines were there seems to be restating the europeans’ view that the land they grabbed was as god alone had made it” - we reduce the bush to one idea - gum trees and sheep - ignore how much variety there is - we romanticise the bush, treat it as church, the goodness - but often ignore the other side. perhaps in part this distance keeps us from the guilt we should feel if we were confronted with the reality - australia is a unique mix - american and british, european and indigenous, city and country, young and old - even things like the names of places/things today come from mishearing/misunderstanding aboriginal knowledge/terms etc - malleefowl mounds are v cool - the paradox/balancing act of valuing trees/nature for both its intrinsic and utilitarian value - amount of labour for a wedding ring?!?? “18 tonnes of earth have to be dug up and 12 cubic metres of tailing dumped to make the average gold wedding ring” - how much australia owes to mining and sheep - “plants are ranked as weeds if they are contrary to human intentions” - have only identified around 40% of aussie flora (whereas 90% in uk) - “socialism is just being mates” - examples of sustainable farming and landcare were v interesting (e.g., malcolm carnegie and lake cowal conservation centre)! and made me realise that i shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss sustainable/organic farming as middle-class fads (something i am guilty of i admit for certain practices!!): “this kind of farming is often mocked for being impractical and self-indulgent, yet there never was a more padding farming ideal than closer settlement in the name of which the big scrub was destroyed. it is hard to imagine a greater self-indulgence than wiping out an entire ecosystem for the presumed benefit of a few thousand people. the kernel of the pioneering dogma, that it is unconscionable to leave good land in the hands of hunter-gatherers, persists in the modern view that to extract the maximum in food and fibre from the land is an unquestionable moral good” (i definitely want to get more of an understanding of GM crops, organic foods etc - that comes from unbiased sources!) - the discussion of agriculture/eating meat etc - as with so much of aus stuff “it is difficult to measure the costs versus benefits of pastoral , the way it onlyy continues bc how tied it is with our national identity - didn’t realise first nations people, and other people of colour, were buried in different areas of the cemeteries where the graves had less protection etc. - “settlers in australia yearned for the feeling of ancestral connection… it is impossible to calculate the consequences of a lack of ancestors to worship”… where in this new place was the continuity, ritual, and tradition, the predictable patterns of the seasons, the rhythms of deep habit and belief, a civilisation to ease the days of the living?…searching for the familiar english picturesque in the australian landscape was not a casual fad, but an attempt to satisfy a psychological craving, to dull an ache” - just comforting that humans all over the world want the same things at the end of the day - we view native plants/people etc as more valuable - but how do we define what is native versus alien? who are we to say what/who belongs/belongs more? what is more valuable? as he points out with the plants, this is so subjective, there is no real answer. and, in modern-day australia, does native really even exist? - really enjoyed the photos in the middle - i always forget we have photos from so long ago and it helped add a human element to it, what the settlers went through - easy to judge their destruction of the environment and treatment of first nations people (and am not saying we shouldn't judge/critique!)but also important to remember how much hard work/difficulties they endured ig? idk ...more
4.5 this book definitely grew on me and i found the last few sections/chapters - especially part 4: history - the strongest. they definitely bumped up4.5 this book definitely grew on me and i found the last few sections/chapters - especially part 4: history - the strongest. they definitely bumped up the rating by a star. indeed, the more i think about this book the more i enjoy it, which i think is a sign of a good book (it's gone up another .5 stars just through writing this review lol)
i think the book just wasn’t what i expected. it was a lot of him thinking/documenting his changing thoughts, not necessarily coming to clear answers, his ideas change throughout the books, a lot of it feels a bit rambly/waffling on at points. i think i struggled with that while reading it, but looking back it was interesting seeing his thoughts change/evolve - i just wish it had been structured better e.g., this is what i think now - but i initially thought x because of y.
a lot of his earlier thoughts seemed to feel a bit whitewashed/to be made palatable to a white audience?? (e.g., his critiques of the angry black person - p 148 for example) which i’m hesitant to say because obviously he is entitled to those thoughts (though many of them changed)
some interesting themes/ideas: - quote from salman rushdie “those who do not have the power over the story that dominates their lives… truly are powerless because they cannot think new thoughts” - and the ideas of history keeping us trapped in a cycle, creating self-fulfilling prophecies, learned helplessness, preventing us from moving on…. how do we reconcile justice and peace, remembering and forgetting. the chapter ‘to remember to forget’ and ‘nostalgia for injustice’ (see the quotes below) - the privilege of being a middle class aboriginal, but also how that means he is denied/feels less connected to his aboriginal identity sometimes, the policing of identity, what it means to be a ‘real’ aboriginal… - “why do we imagine that Indigenous people are somehow static, unchanging? why does the arrival of the british signify an end to something and not a new beginning?” - we risk viewing aboriginals as unchanged when we put them on this pedestal where they are separate from the western world (“the dreaming and the market are mutually exclusive” - while maybe this is done with good intentions, it ends up denting them humanity/agency, their value even if changed, adapted to the west etc, perpetuates the myth of the noble savage etc - as Macdonald argues, this “underestimate[s] the desire and ability of the Aboriginal people to change and develop because [our] own beliefs blind [us] to their creativity and resilience” - “How does [aboriginal soceity] increase its participation in the mainstream and not be assimilated?… You are not more aboriginal if you are struggling. but still, suspicion remains. the members of this black middle class are just as likely to be viewed as coconuts”
A collection of quotes that show Grant’s thought process evolve, as he words it better than I could. I’m definitely still processing all of this and what I think. I understand everything he says but I don’t necessarily agree with it all. But thats also OK - these things aren’t objectively right or wrong.
“For a people shaped by the darkest forces of our world, forgetting can be a troubling idea. It can feel like betrayal. Here is the big test of forgetting: are we prepared to sacrifice justice for peace? Think about that: we can pursue justice, we can litigate the past in an endless Nuremberg trial, or we can choose peace and put the bones of our ancestors to rest and know that their struggle and their suffering released us from their burden; delivered us a new day. That was the choice facing South Africa at the end of Apartheid. Justice or peace - it was that simple. They could pursue the crimes of apartheid and prosecute the perpetrators or they could let truth set them free. Listen again to the words of Desmond Tutu: forgiveness and reconciliation are the only truly viable alternatives to revenge, retribution and reprisal'. Without forgiveness' - he said - there is no future.' Archbishop Tutu headed a 'truth and reconciliation commission' not a truth and justice commission'. Justice perhaps would have been easier and it would have electrified the blood of a people with every cause for vengeance. By choosing peace, Tutu set South African people a more Godly task. Forgiveness is not facile or cheap. It is a costly business that makes those who are willing to forgive even more extraordinary. Forgetting is essential for forgiveness, we cannot truly forgive while we hold onto the wrong; but forgetting is not getting over it. How often do we hear that: Why can't you move on? That is the demand of the politician who thinks sorry is enough; who grows impatient when the victims do not fully embrace their former tormentors. That is politics. Forgetting is not political; it is something stronger than politics: it is love.”
“Jean Amery is Friedrich Nietzsche's 'Ressentiment Man'. He is a prisoner of his past, defined by historical grievance and driven by hatred and desire for revenge. Where Hegel saw history as progress, the quest for recognition and freedom, 'Ressentiment Man' is caught in a time warp, returning always to the source of injustice that he cannot fix and does not want to fix. History, for him, is a festering wound, to be picked at over and over, never allowed to heal. His suffering is his strength; his weakness the greatest weapon he has over his oppressor. Nietzsche saw this as the morality of the slave, an inversion of power where the downtrodden emerge triumphant. But to Nietzsche 'Ressentiment Man' is a loathsome character.”
“I could never truly let go of the pain of the past, but I can forget and there is a difference: forgetting is not amnesia it is a choice to acknowledge, commemorate and put aside. Ultimately I cannot - will not - give my life to ressentiment. Brudholm's argument locks us into an endless cycle of grievance from which there is no escape: it can lead to an early death.”
“There are those who would rather I not speak of these things. There are those who accuse me of having a nostalgia for injustice. A nostalgia for injustice? As if these wounds on the body and soul of my mother and father are things of memory. As if we choose to cling to suffering, as if this injustice is a thing recalled and not a thing lived… They tell me I have a nostalgia for injustice. No, we have no nostalgia for injustice because we have not first had the chance to forget.”
“Then I knew, I knew that all of my efforts to understand this all; to rationalise it; to intellectualise it; all this talk of nation and forgetting and belonging and identity; all this talk about liberalism and Enlightenment; all of the books of philosophy I had studied; right there, right then it all felt so useless, so pointless, so inadequate because what had happened here was just so, so sad.”
really enjoyed this collection! especially loved the variety - including older stories that were republished, and a mix of island/mainland life etc. -really enjoyed this collection! especially loved the variety - including older stories that were republished, and a mix of island/mainland life etc. - really interesting to see the diversity of experiences, especially in the 'slice of life' stories. as the authors noted, i know very little about the torres strait islands/islanders and this was a great starting point to learn more
some things i really found interesting: the solidarity between MUA and first nations peoples, life on the islands, reasons so many migrated to the mainland, the food and other cultural traditions, the different ways the authors try and reconnect with culture/community ...more
3.5? mixed feelings about this one. ultimately i think it had a lot of good content but could have been condensed down a lot and lost some (or a lot l3.5? mixed feelings about this one. ultimately i think it had a lot of good content but could have been condensed down a lot and lost some (or a lot lol) of the elements metaphors and repetition.
this wasn't a book i would have reached for myself - but it was the chosen book (along with this short podcast) for a book club at work and i'm glad i read it despite giving it a rating on the lower side as i still got lots out of it and it raised a lot of interesting points. (it also did make me quite sad/send me spiralling a bit at times though lol) i appreciated the efforts at intersectionality despite being written by a white women (her insights into her experiences of disability/physical illness and how this impacts her experiences of ageing were also interesting)
some main takeaways/things i want to explore more: - a lot of discussion about women, internalised misogyny, empowerment etc. that reminded me of the panopticon/self-policing and the idea of the freedom fallacy and choice feminism. such a nuanced topic and i'm still not 100% sure where i sit but definitely think i agree with this school of thought more - especially because it's not that simple e.g., some things may be empowering to certain groups of people (e.g., talking about disabled people and selfies because they aren't usually allowed to be seen in those ways) - the midlife crisis talks sent me spiralling a bit bc i already feel like that lol - so much of the talks about menopause, midlife crises etc etc - depressing bc i feel we simultaneously get told getting older sucks but also that life gets better the older you get - her experience of not looking in the mirror for a week - and the idea that we literally see our flaws in ways people couldn't previously bc they didn't have access to mirrors, phones that make every pore visible when we take a picture of ourselves etc. - ageism and how older women are disproportionately affected; how so much of the gender inequality we experience throughout life is compounded in ways that mean older women are the fastest growing cohort for homelessness (lower super etc) - talkin’ up to the white woman - aileen moreton-robinson - "white women civilised, while white men brutalised" - how views of ageing differ in different cultures. we view ageing/older people with digust in ways that lots of cultures don't. ie it isn't inherently bad or disgusting - women and intergenerational trauma ...more
6 stars - incredible book. easy to read but full of interesting and important info. really interesting learning about race and class in the british co6 stars - incredible book. easy to read but full of interesting and important info. really interesting learning about race and class in the british context
(updated to add some of my thoughts bc was discussing this book w a friend) read a friends copy of this book so didnt annotate it but took pictures of some of the pages that stood out to me most: - learning more about the history of race in the UK - i feel most books i read focus on american history - similarly, how issues often framed as uniquely American are seen elsewhere e.g., prisons and race in the UK, school to prison pipeline - whiteness as a social construct - not always defined by colour of skin - the myth of africans selling their own people - how much of history has been destroyed - the winners really do write history: “anything that might embarrass the government, that would show religious or racial intolerance… was ordered destroyed or hidden…. hundreds of thousands of pages… dating all the way back to 1662… what this means is that it is completely impossible to write a truly accurate history of the british empire” - i certainly didnt grow up rich, but akalas childhood really opened my eyes to how vastly different lives we lived - the normalcy of seeing people be stabbed, knowing people be killed or go to prison etc. - and how, he points out, despite all his privilege, he “still bec[a]me the stereotype in many ways” (and how privileged my upbringing is in comparison, how easily youth can end up on different paths etc) - and the huge intersections between race and class more broadly were so eye opening as i often feel this is neglected in the books i read - its usually class/gender or race/gender - the way we view “rich people crime good, poor people crime bad” - we all see that ‘crime does pay” but only certain types are rewarded - the whitewashing of the end of apartheid (and the wests views of cuba), and the aftermath - a black government with debt from the apartheid regime, the way there was a lack of punishment etc - the “morphing from a system that was unapologetically racial to one that is now unapologetically economic and by inference… still racial” - understanding the “IMF/world bank neo-colonial model” and how this has impacted the global south is something i was briefly introduced to at uni and really want to learn more about - “the greatest impediment to racial justice in america was not the open bigot but the indifferent and cowardly white liberal, more concerned with a quiet life than justice” - how to maintain solidarity with a group you grow more distant from (“how will successful black westerners react…will we maintain emotional links with the interests of the global south…[when] we are just british people, how will this affect our political consciousness?” - “i often look at the world and think fuck it, why bother, but i know thats how we are supposed to feel, thats why the corruption is so naked and freely visible - to wear down people who have the conviction that things could be better” - the stats about the 2016 US election and how “the determining factor was whiteness”, not economic hardship/class: “in no state that edison polled did trump’s white supporters dip below 40 percent… if you tallied the popular vote of only white america to derive 2016 electorate votes, trump would have defeated clinton 389 to 81” - “the message is clear: white peoples hurt feelings are conceptually equivalent to black humans’ actual lives”...more
favourite chapters - cat lady!!! (so much cool history) your fathers name (choice feminism and why taking last name etc isn’t great), the price of 4.5
favourite chapters - cat lady!!! (so much cool history) your fathers name (choice feminism and why taking last name etc isn’t great), the price of entry (financial impact of marriage)
by far, the highlight of this book for me was the insight into the history of marriage/so many of the sexist traditions/beliefs that we take for granted today. appreciated the fact that these are natural were challenged and gave me a much better understanding of where so many of these come from. left me wanting a much greater understanding of all the history though haha - especially regarding the origins of sexism and witches.
as with clem’s other books, my biggest critique is this book isn’t as radical/ambitious as i would perhaps like. but i can also appreciate she chooses this level for a reason - its accessible to a much wider audience/serves as a good entry point. but i also learned a lot/it reinforced things i already knew and im glad i read it. as others have noted however, it was disappointing that at times this meant it fell flat in terms of intersectionality/was sometimes too simplistic. i appreciate she justified this approach in the intro, and tried to incorporate it at some points (e.g., a particularly important point on p. 313) but it would have been nice, for example, to have a couple of chapters specifically focussing on marriage for queer people/people of colour/disabled people etc. for example, at the book launch, clem talked about how she opposes marriage for queer people as well, and i’d like more insight into that!
ultimately this book just filled me with so! much! rage! it makes me so so mad thinking about all the women for whom this is their everyday life. even if they live in pretty normal/average marriages, don’t experience abuse etc. they still experience the daily weaponised incompetence, critiques, mocking etc etc - all of the ‘little’ things that add up that they constantly endure day in and day out and think this is as good as it gets/that this is acceptable because its not ‘actually bad’, that they think this is all they deserve/that its their fault etc. i know (or i hope!) i’ll avoid a lot of these experiences as a lesbian but knowing the constant frustration i felt when experiencing a minor version of this when living with my AMAB sibling, i can’t even begin to fathom how women cope with so much worse every day of their lives - especially when it comes from the person who is supposed to be their soulmate etc.
on the other hand, this fills me with guilt for doing this to my mum when i lived with her. i know its a different dynamic and i was a child etc, but it makes me want to be a better daughter and make sure i put more of an effort into helping out more when i visit her now, taking on more of the mental load, making sure she is appreciated for birthdays/holidays/mothers days etc etc. (also as a personal sidetone - i do find it interesting how she never gave me any sympathy for my complaining about living with my sibling - is that bc she was aware i did the same with her, or does she just see these experiences as normal/futile to fight?)
some points that stood out to me - money making always a priority for the church/they have always made things up/changed things to whatever suits them mot - so much of sexism/the patriarchy etc today is rooted in religion that im not even aware of - how many traditions are actually new/hve changed drastically/are no longer practiced - the amount of money spent on weddings is absolutely insane - my main thoughts throughout was just the rage i feel towards men and the fact that so many incredible women feel they have to settle/are stuck in awful relationships… and that they aren’t even seen as awful - just normal! just normal for men to do shit, while women take on all the mental and domestic labour - the role social media has taken on in promoting marriage - men complaining how marriage taking away their freedom, claiming how reluctant they are to get married etc - the nagging wife etc - despite how much they beg for marriage/how much they benefit from it (meanwhile women actually suffer/lose their freedom)
witches and other histories god, everything i learn about religion (or ig specifically catholicism?) just makes me hate it more and realise how much shit is bc of it!!!! i really want to learn more about the history of religion/catholicism and how many other everyday parts of todays life are because of religion.
the chapter on witches in particular blew my mind - not to be dumb on main but i never realised this was rooted in catholicism (the church/men feeling threatened/wanting more money etc), or how the legacies of witch hunts are still ongoing today. so crazy how all these different aspects of witches linked together - women brewing beer (potions) (and how this was once womens work not mens!), cats being around to keep the areas clean of rats etc, men removing women as the experts on female bodies/fertility (punishing midwives/healers), gossip and making women suspicious of each other, and just in general how much women endured during the witch hunts and how awful they were. i definitely have a much greater appreciation for how fucked up witch hunts were. also makes me realise how fucked up it is how normalised witches as symbols are now?? and how we joke about them/theyre such a casual thing? i get on some levels its not that deep/also a term being reclaimed but also imagine being one of those women and knowing in the future its just a casual fun costume etc. especially given the ways the legacies of the witch hunts continue, it just feels a bit ick idk.
[on making men the experts of women’s bodies]: “an act of both gender and class warfare… women who practiced as healers during the middle ages also posed a threat to the mobility, because they provided a service to the peasantry that was collective and community-based”
choice feminism and taking the husbands last name “i get that people make choices and want to defend them. but no choice is made in a vacuum, and its essential that we question this choice and how it operates to construct a reality for women in which we are always expected to diminish ourselves ‘for love’.”
“feminism isn’t about choice. feminism is about liberating the world from patriarchy, the primary victims of which are women. making choice the basis for a political framework is an unworkable approach to real political change, because it makes everything defensible and nothing subject to critique. ‘choice’ is a meaningful and essential goal when it comes to dismantling how women are oppressed, but not all choices are the same”
“choice alone isn’t feminist just because a woman made it”
“can choose really be choice when it isn’t provided to all genders equally?… this disparity makes it rather less of an equal choice and rather more of a gender practice”
the financial impact of marriage
“when we use the argument that marriage is ‘economically beneficial’ for women, what we really mean is ‘the system is economically punitive for women, and marriage is a means of securing superficial relief despite the long-term cost’”
“a state that cares about its citizens would provide free health care, free education, free child care, stable housing, nutritious food and so on. but the capitalist state doesn’t want to pay for these things, even though it needs to ensure an endless supply of productive citizens to maintain its function. this work is therefore outsourced to women…. women are literally building the world, but… it’s not considered to have any value whatsoever…. [and think] about the how the labour of Black and brown people has been stolen for centuries and use to prop up white economies”
“by reinforcing the ideological and moral status of a ‘successful’ marriage (or at least the appearance of one), whiteness is maintained as a gold standard of ‘family values’, with white women, in particular, heralded for the same things marginalised groups are punished for: having lots of babies, choosing to be stay at hoe mothers rather than working in paid employment, and living in siloed enclaves”
- the financial costs of becoming a mother (despite us also needing to enter marriages for financial security!) and how “the punitive cost of child-bearing is borne solely by women” - if mothers were supported/respected/valued, then marriage wouldn’t be so necessary and women would have more freedom to choose their partners/any at al - all the stats about women being happier when single etc etc - i wish she’d gone into this aspect a bit more - who is allowed to become a mother: “women must be mothers, but only if they’re the right kind of women, the white kind of women. all the others - the poor, the disabled, the sex workers, the signals, the working women, the sluts, whores, and witches - well, they just get to be the wombs”
some other quotes “im so glad that she worked her way through to becoming me”
“every woman believes they’ll be the exception to patriarchy’s grand plan”
“i am begging you to want more for yourselves than they garbage they tell us to be grateful for”
“you only get once chance so dive in, headfirst, and make the most of it because there’s no prize at the end for who suffered the most. you can have a better dream for yourself. you deserve a better dream, for you and every single version of yourself that you’ve ever been or will ever be. YOU and you alone are the longest relationship you’ll ever have” ...more
hmm idk how much of the issue with this was one was just me - maybe bc it was a new topic for me, but i“what could it mean to not need the family?”
3.5
hmm idk how much of the issue with this was one was just me - maybe bc it was a new topic for me, but i finished the booking feeling really confused, not really understanding what the alternatives were? especially where the lines are between what is a family or not - you say you want to abolish all families but where is the line e.g., queer families of choice - at what point do you count these as abolition or not because it felt she was saying these were still too close to the family - but then what does the alternative look like?
found the chapter exploring how these alternatives are still not sufficient for abolition interesting in light of having read bell hooks recently and her critiques of family abolition because family is a source of comfort for black communities etc. - i liked sophie's quote about "what would it mean to not need the black family?"
found it interesting to see the history of how long family abolition has been argued for!
key points: family as a means of privatising care, absolving state responsibility
idk i just wish we got given a vision of what sophie imagines family abolition to actually look like? ...more
"i want to tell tales of a lesbian life... i want to talk about the wonderful women i've known and i want to talk about what it's meant to be a lesbia
"i want to tell tales of a lesbian life... i want to talk about the wonderful women i've known and i want to talk about what it's meant to be a lesbian and how it was at the core of all i think that was best in me"
ngl i was first drawn to this bc of the gorgeous cover - but so glad i picked it up bc i LOVED this sm
i know people had mixed feelings about this being part history and part memoir/author commentary - but for me, anelia's commentary, humour, heart, and personal stories added such a depth and love to the story that really made this book special.
some takeaways/thoughts/feelings (i have 300 annotations in this book so this is nowhere near everything i loved/thought about this book): - my very first impression was the joy of seeing lesbians/lesbianism written about with so much love and positivity. something that continued to mean so much to me throughout the book. - so much of amelia's personal thoughts and feelings resonated so deeply with me. "i resolved to become a collector of lesbians... i had grown up without any lesbian role models and so i had gone out in search of them" - the constant desire to see yourself represented. to find others like you. the book constantly reflected amelia's desire to find herself represented in other women. throughout the book i kept feeling that joy of seeing that we had always been here. there are others like me. but god, the desire to be a part of these queer communities that she describes - both in her and these other women's lives. - trying to find your identity, how you fit as a women who doesn't fit standard expectations of femininity - but also, there was so much history - not just of these specific lesbians, but of queer history in general, which was so interesting to read and see from different perspectives. i wish i had my own physical copy to annotate bc digital just doesn't hit the same. so many more things i'd love to learn more about from this book. - "all it takes to be a lesbian is the desire. do you want to be a lesbian? then you're a lesbian" - lesbianism/queerness being a choice - not in a bad way - but a positive way - people love their identity so much they continue to choose it etc, and also recognising there is nuance in the identity (e.g., rejecting gold standard lesbian etc) "in spite of the hetersoexuality that surrounded her, she made the choice to be queer" - a concept i first encountered at uni and really want to explore more! - "isn't taking care of our friends the most radical thing we can do? isn't it only seen as less than that because it's so often been the purview of women?" - while the book did a great job of showcasing lesbians of colour and from working class backgrounds, it was very us-centric - i wish there had been some pictures throughout the book - of the lesbians she talks about, of the physical items she finds in the archives, of the places she visits etc. - it also always makes me sad reading books like this because i know i won't remember a lot of what i read/unfortunately in a few months its likely i probably wont even remember the names of these women....more
really enjoyed this!! was so interesting getting a much greater insight into not only politics, but the labour government at this time, julia’s experireally enjoyed this!! was so interesting getting a much greater insight into not only politics, but the labour government at this time, julia’s experience more specifically, and all the work involved in the politics etc. especially interesting as i was 10-13 during julia’s time as PM, so i had some vague ideas of some things she did towards the end of her time, but a lot i wasn’t super aware of. watching strong female lead last year was a great first insight into how much of my perceptions of julia was influenced by media coverage/just how awfully she was treated at the time, and this book was a great next step for understanding this. i think the documentary is more impactful in some ways though - especially in terms of how she was treated - and i definitely recommend watching if you haven't.
i definitely preferred the first half of the book - was absolutely hooked and so interesting learning more about inner politics, kevin’s leadership style and failings - all the tea basically haha. (side note: i am very intrigued as to what kevin’s response/reaction to this book was)
the second half of the book i found a lot less interesting at times. the economics stuff especially went over my head a lot and i skimmed some bits (i’m sorry but its all just made up hahah) - with that being said, it did actually make me more interested in understanding politics/economics. i did still find a lot of these parts interesting, though felt some chapters went a bit too long. i especially found interesting the chapters/parts that i already had some knowledge on - like the NBN, the controversy of the carbon tax etc.
some other thoughts: - gave me a much greater appreciation for the work skill etc involved in politics and PM - i definitely don’t agree with all of julia’s opinions/politics (which became more and more clear in the second half of the book!!) but this book really solidified a huge respect for her (she was really pushing it in the last few chapters…. but tbf this is 10 years old maybe her opinions have evolved). really interesting seeing how much of my opinion of her is influenced by the media coverage of her at the time! - some examples of policies/beliefs she has that i strongly disagree with and filled me with rage while reading: (tbf this book is 10 years old so maybe she has evolved??) - immigration (stop the boats ickkk), support for israel, justification of some of the interventions in the NT/for first nations peoples, denial of the impacts that an indigenous prime minister would face? “The paucity of the arguments is easily shown by drawing the comparison with race. If the first Indigenous prime minister of our nation objected to being called one of the many ugly racist terms that circulate, he or she would not be told to stop playing the race card, playing the victim. Rather our nation would join in condemning the racism, as we have done so well when its ugly face has been shown in elite sport.” - this book really just solidified how much tony abbott and kevin suck lmao - makes me even more shocked at how kevin continues to be portrayed as a happy go lucky bloke and julia as awful…. so many shit things about kevin i want to look into now - his temper, how shit he was as PM in many ways, the way he sought against julia, calling the Chinese ratfuckers, foulmouthed video in 2011 while trying to record in mandarin. also what the fuck is with tony abbott wanting everyone to see him eating raw food?? i knew about the onion but now raw fish?? - of course i am aware this book is julia’s perspective so biased towards her! - how well qualified/competent julia was/is and just how much policy etc she/her government got through despite all the challenges. a lot of these areas i think are quite shit still (NDIS, childcare, NBN, healthcare, mental health) but i am convinced she genuinely cares about all the areas (and first nations and education) and put a lot of effort into improving things
some quotes that stood out -“Soft bigotry of low expectations.” -“But of all the experiences I had as prime minister, gender is the hardest to explain, to catch, to quantify. If you point to specific examples, they sound trivial.” -“One is that our brains recognise gender in 200 milliseconds. In fact, research has shown the first characteristics we compute about people we meet are gender and race. If you feel like you notice people’s height or weight or clothing first, you are wrong. In this split second, our brain does not impose on us any stereotyping of what gender means. Our culture and experiences do that.”...more
i enjoyed this book, but at the same time it's quite basic/surface level and outdated. i didn't leave having learned anything, but it didn't feel likei enjoyed this book, but at the same time it's quite basic/surface level and outdated. i didn't leave having learned anything, but it didn't feel like a waste of time to read. it did reinforce a lot of what i already knew, and some of the stats were quite shocking.
however, the lack of intersectionality was incredibly disappointing. there was a chapter on 'double discrimination' which was appreciated and i enjoyed, but it was brief and while the author said she wanted it beyond that chapter, there really wasn't any at all. i guess this book was written in 2013...
not sure how i feel about the chapter on men - i think it had some good points in it (eg. ofc how feminism benefits men/patriarchy negatively affects them), but it at points felt we were also praising men for doing the bare minimum of being a decent human being and caring about women lol. i did appreciate her differentiating the impacts of sexism on men and women.
overall i think this is a good intro to the topic for people who don't know much about it, but i'm also sure there are more inclusive starting points one could read instead... ...more
"in adulthood, i continued to be drawn to a certain type of female advice-giver. i wanted women in black cashmere to tell mei! love! dolly! alderton!
"in adulthood, i continued to be drawn to a certain type of female advice-giver. i wanted women in black cashmere to tell me, in no uncertain terms, how to live my life... i want a clever, funny, no fucks-left-to-give woman to give me a list of seemingly random rules to make my life better" - dolly alderton is that woman for me
more favourite quotes: "there is something reassuring about their frequency and the fact we are all united in our own horribly unique pain"
"this struggle between wanting a rooted, domestic existence and a life of nomadic liberty is a very human insight"
"i don't like our phobia of excess and our fetish of restraint... i try to veer people away from attaching morality to things i don't deem as being achievements (e.g., being thin, rich, virginal, or sober)"
"every decade of womanhood is marked by a new self-doubt"
"it will be horrific, then it will be sad, then it will be different, then you'll be free, and then you'll be happy"
"there are antidotes to low self-esteem and changing the way you look is the least effective of all of them... the true transformation of self-esteem... comes from forming character.... these very small, very unexciting steps are what help build a sense of integrity and self-respect. they help make the mirror reflection feel a little less important... you will one day wish you could take back the time that self-hatred is currently occupying"
"there are no such things as bad thoughts, only bad actions"
"and you will have to be yourself, i'm afraid"
"the key is to externalize your spirit. think of her as a friend or a twin sister. a girl you've known your whole life who is going to be with you until your last day on earth. you do share your life with someone. she is your company forever. listen to her, nourish her, challenge her. learn together. be in conversation with her always - remove her from situations when she is unhappy and lean into pleasure when that is what she wants"...more
i enjoyed this and it provided me with a lot of really helpful context of the history/treatment of black women/black feminism/black liberation movemeni enjoyed this and it provided me with a lot of really helpful context of the history/treatment of black women/black feminism/black liberation movements in america
but as with hooks' other work, it just didn't quite meet my expectations/something stops me giving it 5 stars. which i suspect is partly because of how long ago it was written + how hyped she is. i can certainly see why this would have been a revolutionary text at the time and i definitely think it is worth reading though. i also appreciate that its generally a very accessible read. (also wasn't she like 19 when she wrote this?? insane)
there are, as usual, points she makes that i disagree with and/or lack some nuance (e.g., black male rapist myth no longer existing, issues of black feminist groups (i get the dangers of separatism but i think having safe/own spaces is still important), the idea that black people can be racist (sure they can hold prejudice etc but that's not the same as racism))
i think also a big issue for me with her work is that it feels like it could use a big edit to make it more concise/it feels she makes the same point over and over again... which i guess in some ways is good because it really drives those points home idk? but i feel it could have been a lot stronger if it was more concise/had been edited...
some key points that stood out to me: - just how awfully black women were treated during slavery (and how their femininity was denied and how this played into their later to desire to assimilate/be feminine etc) - an exploration into the myths about black women and why these are harmful (sexually immoral, aunt jemima etc) - how both womens lib and black lib movements betrayed black women for their own benefits - the increasing rights of white women were tolerated because black women could continue to be oppressed - ie. not changing the status quo - and the importance therefore of solitary/sisterhood between all women and that feminism = ending dualism of domination etc. ...more
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