tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post3519345095996134864..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: ON EQUALITY AND THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST – Elizabeth FremantleMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-61031146629556469642015-12-23T06:22:47.216+00:002015-12-23T06:22:47.216+00:00.I really like the content in this website, are al....I really like the content in this website, are all new things and new lesson for us this very increase knowledge becomes more widely,<br /><a href="http://is.gd/fa7AUd" rel="nofollow">pengobatan untuk sembuhkan mata glaukoma</a>Obiuserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938735174176879718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-86950576060300311272015-11-15T17:20:09.563+00:002015-11-15T17:20:09.563+00:00I totally agree with everything you say, Elizabeth...I totally agree with everything you say, Elizabeth. And those men who say women are already 'having it all' are referring to those women lucky enough to have beautiful faces and bodies. We only have to think of women who do not think only of their appearance, clothes or hairstyles and clothes as necessary to what they have to say or write- like Mary Beard. Do men comment on the physical attributes of David Starkey? No. It's irrelevant. It's their mind and opinions we listen to or disagree with. Why can't it be the same for women? We are better than that.<br /><br />Sally Zigmondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07520579251842006765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-9556915465669339812015-11-14T09:28:41.430+00:002015-11-14T09:28:41.430+00:00Well said, Elizabeth. I've been counting the m...Well said, Elizabeth. I've been counting the male protagonists rather than authors on shortlists for some years now and it is very revealing. And while the mobilisation against feminism is very real (to address Janey's point) and perhaps most clearly shows its ugly, naked self in social media trolling, it's nothing new, merely a continuation of what has always been there. Our own battle is put so beautifully into perspective by the film.<br />Growing up as a political girl, I was constantly talked down to and patronised by men who couldn't stand me having opinions and felt threatened by them - and said things like "Look, dear..." as a clincher. Anti-feminism didn't ever go away and I don't think it ever will. Just at the moment, with this government, things are really bad for many women. As the child bearers, women will always be vulnerable to oppression and require on-going battle and vigilance to gain/protect our rights.Marie-Louise Jensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18006940874591015786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-79357371703439996422015-11-13T19:04:16.079+00:002015-11-13T19:04:16.079+00:00Well, yes obviously, but a major problem is the ma...Well, yes obviously, but a major problem is the many who simply don't believe us. They assert we are already equal or more privileged than men, and if you point out something like the pay gap or awards or reviews being mainly of and by men, they will deny it exists (pay gap, despite the vivid demonstration of it in Hollywood) or will explain how that is women's own fault really and aren't we sorry we went on about feminism because look what we have wrought: the awards are proof that men really are better, because sexism no longer exists.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03930414385910852982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-33076784277447231302015-11-13T11:15:45.417+00:002015-11-13T11:15:45.417+00:00The problem for historical novelists is that it...The problem for historical novelists is that it's often harder to get at the reality of women's lives, particularly those who were illiterate. But this is not necessarily an insuperable obstacle, as there are dull things like wills and court statistics that can tell us quite a lot, as I found when I was researching 'Malefice'. I have just finished reading Amanda Vickery's 'The Gentleman's Daughter' - closely researched and fascinating.It knocks on the head, incidentally, the prized delusion that people didn't love their children so deeply when they might die in infancy; the diaries and letters she has scrutinised show that they did.<br />When I was at school, we were told that the history worth studying was that of politics, which excludes a lot of women, though some women were involved in politics, something, incidentally, which 'Wolf Hall' does portray. If Cromwell is the main character, Anne Boleyn is vitally important, and also closely observed, though through his eyes. One can't accuse Mantel of neglecting the female characters at all, in fact. There's a whole cast of fascinating and brilliantly realised women in the novel.<br />However, my father gave me a corrective to this idea of political history being the only important one, by presenting me with Trevelyan's 'Social History of England.' I learned from this that history is the story of ordinary unglamorous people and this has stayed with me ever since.<br />I do agree about the sidelining of woman writers, and even worse is the way in which looksism has crept in nowadays. I wish we could get away from this, as a book is a good book regardless of the looks of the author. George Eliot might well have been downgraded nowadays, since she was so ugly. <br />Thanks for this!Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-40695083119620447062015-11-13T09:55:33.480+00:002015-11-13T09:55:33.480+00:00Thought-provoking. As you say - can there really h...Thought-provoking. As you say - can there really have been only one book with female protagonists worthy of inclusion in the shortlist? Thanks, Elizabeth.Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.com