Saudi Arabia. The only country in the world where women aren't allowed to drive. Where there is no public transport so women must rely on their partners and male family to chauffeur them, if they are granted permission in the first place. Where domestic abuse is illegal but in order to go to the police station their husband is the man they would need to ask permission from to take her there.
#thisiswhyfeminismmatters #equalrights #genderequality
quietlycuriouskate Closer to home, I looked up a book on Amazon yesterday where someone concluded their review by cautioning the reader "beware, the author is a woman...". What do you make of that? I felt like I'd been slapped round the face. The assumption that only men would be reading and that a woman's writing is by default of limited interest/relevance/value to them. Again. 7y
charissharpe @River_Voice that's pretty damn sad. It demonstrates their ignorance really though. I do wonder whether some women feel that their books will be better received under a male or sexually ambiguous name which then reinforces the belief that men are better writers? JK Rowling I'm looking at you... did you know she has published 2 other books under the name Robert Galbraith? 7y
Librarianaut I agree- anyone who would say "beware...written by a woman" is just showing their ass, and how ridiculous they are. As for publishing under a pseudonym- I can see the allure, not just to avoid the unwarranted first impression that some give female authors, but also to separate your personal and (potentially very public) professional life; at least for awhile. 7y
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charissharpe @Librarianaut I hadn't considered the personal life aspect. It still seems odd to me that Rowling would choose a male pseudonym to write books post HP rather than a female one? 7y
Librarianaut I think she did that to prove she could produce a book that got great reviews without her already-famous name attached to it. I remember seeing a review if the first one before she was outed- Gilbraith was called the next great mystery writer (or something like that). Also, her adult books have an extremely different tone and feel than her children's books- using a pseudonym is one way to hopefully keep them out of children's hands 7y
charissharpe @Librarianaut that's true - have you read either of them? 7y
Librarianaut I've read all three and I couldn't put them down. They are clever mysteries but also have some serious darkness in them. I don't gravitate to mystery or murder books very often but I love this series. 7y
charissharpe I think I'm going to have to give them a try! @Librarianaut 7y
Librarianaut 😍 7y
zsuzsanna_reads Have you seen the "women walking" videos train Saudi Arabia? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-39494354/saudi-campaigners-protes... 7y
charissharpe Thank you for sharing this @zsuzsanna_reads I hadn't seen it, how powerful. Will share on Twitter x 7y