Lockdown events

Incorporating hobbies, computer games, Verm's Interesting Links and anything else you can think of excluding football and other spectator sports because these belong in the Sport section, but allowing sports you play yourself with your own body as that counts as a pastime.
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Morganna
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Lockdown events

Post by Morganna »

Remember going out? It seems like a distant memory now, but a lot of places have opened up online, and it's giving people a chance to go to places that they might never have been able to get to in person. I thought we might like a thread with links to Zoom events and similar that we've found.
I'll start :))
A History of Feminism in 11 fights. Details on the link, but it's a free Zoom event on 12 November from 7-8pm, and discusses 'difficult women' in the feminist movement.

It's worth keeping an eye on the NCLA if you like that sort of thing, as they have some really good speakers, and it's all online now. I used to often go on Thursday nights on my way back from work. Sometimes it has seemed like a bit of a hassle to go in for an hour since I left, though, as the travel to and fro takes far longer than that, so being able to access their events online works well for me.

Anyway, if anyone has links to other ways to spend our time semi-socially, please add them here.
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FiveO'Clock
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by FiveO'Clock »

Great idea, Morgs! I'll keep an eye out for online events to share.
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Morganna
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by Morganna »

Is anyone planning to 'go' to this? It would be interesting to discuss it afterwards if so.
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Morganna
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by Morganna »

It was very good.

I almost didn't go, as I had a 2-hour Zoom class immediately before it, and I was exhausted, but I reasoned that all I had to do was stay on the sofa, so I went.

I will definitely read the book when it comes out in paperback (I hate reading hardbacks properly, as opposed to dipping in and out). She was a very good speaker, and said a lot of things that made me think, and a lot of things that perfectly articulated things that I already thought but struggled to explain to myself.

She talked about the conflict between feminism as a structural movement and as a self-help movement, in which women are encouraged to ignore the underpinning reasons for their (shared) problems in favour of 'being nice' to other women and dealing with issues on an individual basis as opposed to collectively. I can see what she means by this, but I suspect that it is part of a move away from collective politics in general, and is not specific to the feminist movement.

I found her thoughts on the role of language particularly interesting (and perhaps a bit surprising). She objects to the way in which she feels that a lot of the debate is ignored because of an insistence that everyone uses the 'correct' form of address, or pronouns, or whatever, and feels that this can alienate those who feel that they can't join in because people are waiting to pounce on them for getting something 'wrong', rather than listening to what they are saying, and engaging with their point of view. She said a lot of interesting things about social media discourse, and how that fuels a lot of this 'trashing' of other women. On one hand, she felt that social media gave busy women time to engage with feminism in a way that they previously couldn't (eg logging onto Mumsnet in the ten minutes between making the kids' tea and feeding the baby) but on the other, that there were always a few voices being heard above all the others, because they would 'trash' anyone who used the wrong vocabulary, in the way that the patriarchy always 'trashed' women by belittling their attempts to join in conversations.

She also used 'prostitution' as a good example of how language and what she called 'theological' argument could distract people away from a useful debate, talking about the efforts to wipe criminal records of women prosecuted for soliciting being derailed by arguments over the semantics. Whilst women argued over whether 'sex work' was 'empowering' or 'prostitution' was 'exploitative' the actual women who engaged in it were unable to get other jobs because of having a record that employers could see.

I have banged on lately about my own lack of confidence just now, and she summed up a lot of what I'm feeling by pointing out that men are taken seriously after the age of 20 or so until they die, whereas women have such a brief period between being seen as 'silly girls' and 'silly old trouts', and they have to cram everything into that time, which for many coincides with child-rearing and all the juggling that goes with that. She made the point that at an age when a lot of women realise that they have no more fucks to give and will say what they think, they are entering the stage of their lives where nobody is listening to them, including other women.

One more thing that chimed with me (then I'll shut up :blah:) was that women are encouraged to use biography or 'confession' to justify their feelings in a way that men are not. We are not expected to think things just because we think them, but to explain how we have the 'authority' to speak, which leads to so many women baring their souls about rape, or domestic violence, or giving anecdotes about when we were involved in x y or z . This then leaves us open to accusations of lying, or virtue-signalling, or being factually inaccurate etc, and again, shifts the debate from the subject to the semantics. I hadn't thought about that before, but now that I do, I think that there is a lot of truth in it.

There was more, but that's what I remember most, and I've wittered on enough.
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viggy
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by viggy »

Thanks for feeding back Morgs, that sounds really interesting. I'd have been tempted to attend myself but I was running training that same evening.
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absley
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by absley »

Really interesting, thanks for sharing Morgs. I have the book and am looking forward to reading it.
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Morganna
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by Morganna »

Oh, that's good Abs! Do feed back about the book? I really dislike reading hardbacks, which puts me off library books, but I think it will be a good read. I think she has chosen a 'difficult' woman to illustrate various themes of feminism, so it will be varied, and if she writes as well as she speaks it will be done well.

Vigs, I think it may have been recorded, so it's worth checking on the NCLA archive. I just did, and it's not there yet, but it may get uploaded at some point.
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Morganna
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by Morganna »

This one is a bit different, but might be of interest to romantics.

The Poetry Society is having a 'readalong' of Keats' The Eve of St Agnes on January 20th, which is St Agnes' Eve. Poets and 'a pre-invited audience' will perform the poem, stopping at various points to discuss the action.

Tickets are free from their website here.

If you don't know the poem, it is about an old tradition that on St Agnes' Eve a maiden could cast a spell and foresee her future husband. It is set in a castle with knights and ladies, and is utterly marvellous. The event is on between 7 and 9.00pm, so might be ok for older hatchlings who like that sort of thing.

The poem itself is here if you want to read it through first.
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Morganna
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by Morganna »

A quick reminder that this is on tonight at 7.00, if anyone is interested.
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Morganna
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Re: Lockdown events

Post by Morganna »

Here's one for the walkers!

Thursday 11th February
7.00pm - 8.00pm

Kerri Andrews in conversation with Joanna Taylor about ‘Wanderers: A History of Women Walking’
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