Feminist Parenting Topics 25.07.2019
I’m a little late with this week’s links, thanks to Ruth for reminding me! Ahh, the power of Twitter. :D
As an aside, I’d love it if readers and contributors both could send me their favourite links or topics; you can email me, send me a message on Twitter, leave a comment here or send it to me via Delicious or StumbleUpon, whichever is your method of choice.
For now though, here are this month’s topcis:
Trans-friendly books for children – “There seems to be a comparatively large number of books written around the subject of gay and lesbian relationships but we could find nothing about transsexuality. It occurs that this is an area which perhaps should be given more attention by authors and publishers, given that it’s apparently quite common for trans children to know at quite an early age that they have a degree of gender dissonance. In my own case, I can remember very clearly the day when, aged five, I realised that “something wasn’t right with my body”. But I had neither the language nor the resources to say or do anything about it.”
Calpol: pain relief with a little gender role reinforcement on the side. – This advert for Calpol has been causing twenty second bursts of intense pain in my brain recently. Because for boys getting back to their ‘normal’ selves means racing around on scooters, having water fights and scaring little girls with slimy worms, while for girls it means wearing pink, playing with mummy’s make-up and screaming at said worms. Comforting stuff.
Dial A for abuse – “Me, age 11, gripping a white phone in a purple room … Three pairs of expectant eyes looked at me with astonishment, relief and fear. I turned away from them, threading the spiral cord between my knuckles, and swallowed against the lump of uncertainty in my throat. After I finished telling their story to the stranger on the other end of the line, I realised that I had been holding my breath and breathing too quickly all at once, my heart racing yet steady. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and formed a knot in my stomach. I listened the advice I was given, nodded, and gently returned the phone to its cradle. I turned and faced the six eyes again, the eyes of my sixth grade best friends, who had joined hands in silent camraderie.“They said we should tell a trusted adult,” I said in a low voice. “Who do you think that should be?” At their insistence, that person was to be my mother and the person breaking the news to her would be me.”
Because I Had The Choice – “This was the first time he had heard of such a thing but I felt that it was important to discuss this with him. Destruction can be certain of one thing, because I had a choice he is a wanted child. When I became pregnant with him 8 years ago, I sat and thought about wether or not I was capable of raising a child, what the financial liabilities would be, the ways in which my life would change and if I even wanted to be a mother. I was able to ask these questions because I live in a country where I had a choice. There was no spectre of a back alley abortion, or a coat hanger that might lead to certain death. The ability to choose meant that the decision I made all those years ago to become a mother makes Destruction a wanted child.”
What does a feminist mother look like? – “I’ve been on the hunt for other feminist parent blogs, and I found the motherlode at blue milk. I imagine I will be filling up my RSS reader with the plethora of amazing feminist parent blogs linked to from there. Finding this abundance, when I started this blog largely because I hadn’t heard this voice before, both intimidated and inspired me; it makes me want to close up shop with a redirect to blue milk and a “what she said” note, and gives me hope of finding an audience and has me thinking of a hundred new blog posts of my own.One of them (this one) you could call a cheat, or a meme, but I, like blue milk, call it: What does a feminist mother look like?”
Feminism and Motherhood – “Blue Milk has a list of 10 questions on being a feminist mother that I’ve always thought about answering but never have. I figure today’s as good as any other day, especially since I’m going to be sitting here a while comforting the boys.”
As an aside, I’d love it if readers and contributors both could send me their favourite links or topics; you can email me, send me a message on Twitter, leave a comment here or send it to me via Delicious or StumbleUpon, whichever is your method of choice.
For now though, here are this month’s topcis:
Trans-friendly books for children – “There seems to be a comparatively large number of books written around the subject of gay and lesbian relationships but we could find nothing about transsexuality. It occurs that this is an area which perhaps should be given more attention by authors and publishers, given that it’s apparently quite common for trans children to know at quite an early age that they have a degree of gender dissonance. In my own case, I can remember very clearly the day when, aged five, I realised that “something wasn’t right with my body”. But I had neither the language nor the resources to say or do anything about it.”
Calpol: pain relief with a little gender role reinforcement on the side. – This advert for Calpol has been causing twenty second bursts of intense pain in my brain recently. Because for boys getting back to their ‘normal’ selves means racing around on scooters, having water fights and scaring little girls with slimy worms, while for girls it means wearing pink, playing with mummy’s make-up and screaming at said worms. Comforting stuff.
Dial A for abuse – “Me, age 11, gripping a white phone in a purple room … Three pairs of expectant eyes looked at me with astonishment, relief and fear. I turned away from them, threading the spiral cord between my knuckles, and swallowed against the lump of uncertainty in my throat. After I finished telling their story to the stranger on the other end of the line, I realised that I had been holding my breath and breathing too quickly all at once, my heart racing yet steady. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and formed a knot in my stomach. I listened the advice I was given, nodded, and gently returned the phone to its cradle. I turned and faced the six eyes again, the eyes of my sixth grade best friends, who had joined hands in silent camraderie.“They said we should tell a trusted adult,” I said in a low voice. “Who do you think that should be?” At their insistence, that person was to be my mother and the person breaking the news to her would be me.”
Because I Had The Choice – “This was the first time he had heard of such a thing but I felt that it was important to discuss this with him. Destruction can be certain of one thing, because I had a choice he is a wanted child. When I became pregnant with him 8 years ago, I sat and thought about wether or not I was capable of raising a child, what the financial liabilities would be, the ways in which my life would change and if I even wanted to be a mother. I was able to ask these questions because I live in a country where I had a choice. There was no spectre of a back alley abortion, or a coat hanger that might lead to certain death. The ability to choose meant that the decision I made all those years ago to become a mother makes Destruction a wanted child.”
What does a feminist mother look like? – “I’ve been on the hunt for other feminist parent blogs, and I found the motherlode at blue milk. I imagine I will be filling up my RSS reader with the plethora of amazing feminist parent blogs linked to from there. Finding this abundance, when I started this blog largely because I hadn’t heard this voice before, both intimidated and inspired me; it makes me want to close up shop with a redirect to blue milk and a “what she said” note, and gives me hope of finding an audience and has me thinking of a hundred new blog posts of my own.One of them (this one) you could call a cheat, or a meme, but I, like blue milk, call it: What does a feminist mother look like?”
Feminism and Motherhood – “Blue Milk has a list of 10 questions on being a feminist mother that I’ve always thought about answering but never have. I figure today’s as good as any other day, especially since I’m going to be sitting here a while comforting the boys.”
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