Because you're still objectifying me

I am a woman of 168 centimeters in height, and approximently 70 kilos. I have a round face, small jaw, crooked teeth, bad hearing, glasses and hearing aids. I have got a lot of scars and bruises, on the inside and outside.

I have arthritis in my left collarbone, and the sole of my left foot is afflicted with another illness. I've been told my kind of arthritic disease could affect my other joints, causing loss of function. My spine could get affected. I am constantly tired.

I've always been an independent person. I moved away from my childhood hometown the week I graduated from high school, in 2003. I was 19. I got my drivers licence that same week.

I studied for four years in a university, got a magister degree in political science 2007 when I was 23. I then packed my bags and moved 1600 kilometers to the south. I left my whole family and all my friends and started a new life.

I got a job in a government agency at 24, and I've been working for seven years within a very complex system in a position that's kind of tough. I am being told I am an exceptional administrator. I own an apartment. I have two cats. I am turning 32 years old this year, and am thinking about starting an pension savings account. But the pension agency thinks I don't need to yet. I'm thinking of joining a car pool company.

I am a capable, independent woman who knows her own mind. I have opinions on all kinds of matters. My parents call me for advice on all sorts of things, I sometimes feel like I am taking care of them, instead of the other way around. I almost never ask anyone for help, I always try to do things on my own. I like it that way.

Suffice to say, I'm an adult.

Personalitywise, I am a down-to-earth, pragmatical person. I like the quiet life. I don't care for late night parties, make up and I hate skirts and dresses. I am probably one of the least glamorous person you'll ever meet. I'm not really concerned with my appearance and most of the time I'm direct and to-the-point.

I have ambitions.

In my spare time I run an association with some friends, that I started in 2012. I'm currently chairing my second con in Skåne, while simulaniously working on another committée in Uppsala. I'm travelling a lot, Japan, Barcelona, Finland, England, Scotland, Gran Canaria. I'd like to go to the US, and to Scotland, again. I like castles and being out in the nature.

My goal in life is to read as many books as I can, watch great movies and shows, hang out with my friends and have great convention adventures. I'm not in a relationship, and I don't like to date. I love my life and am happy alone.

Why am I telling you this?

Because, all my experiences in life tell me that most guys never seem to care about what kind of person I am.

I am constantly being told I look pretty. I am being told I should be flattered. I am being catcalled. I am being told I should smile more. I am being told I too will meet a nice guy some day. I am being told I would look good in a flowery dress that billows around me. I am being told by strangers that "I have that certain something".

If I meet a guy and am nice to him, he will in most cases take this as encouragement to pursue a relationship (because why else would one want to spend time with me?).

Because, as long as you think I am beautiful, I am worthy of your attention.

Being judged by your looks is degrading. Being an object instead of a person makes one feel slightly unimportant in this world.

And I am important.

Zen Cho - Sorcerer To The Crown

Zacharias Whyte, the Sorcerer Royal of Great Britain, is having a difficult time. Not only is he a freed slave, adopted by the last Sorcerer Royal, and disliked by the very same Society of the Unnatural Philosophers he now leads, but Englands magical stocks are ebbing and everybody blames him for it.

As a way to leave town for a bit, he goes to a school of gentlewitches to give a speech about magic. There he cross paths with Prunella Gentleman, a chockingly pragmatic and forward young lady with a certain talent for casting spells and hexed. She was brought by her father to England from India as a young child. Shortly thereafter, her father died and left her in the care of mrs Dauberney, the owner and headmaster of the school. Prunella one day discovers a family secret, and is at the same time made aware of her caretakers disinterest in her. She decides to make a better life for herself, and turns to Zacharias for help.

This book is a great victorian fantasy-adventure, in the style of Jane Austen, but with dragons and other magical creatures in the style of Naomi Novik. It is a great read, fast paced and witty, full of vivid characters, women with agency, people of different colour. She's lending her voice to the people who were enslaved or colonized by Britain in the 18h century, giving us a side of the story we've never heard before.

She even uses magical abilities as a metaphor for women's issues, when the white men state that "women's bodies are to fragile for magic, that they are too nonsensical to learn thamaturgy", ecchoing the words of that time used in other contexts, when women was told it was unnatural for them to aspire to learn skills and do things on their own.

And then she proves them wrong.

I truly loved this book, and you should all read it!

If my review is not enough to persuade you, here's Anna Bark Perssons review too. Listen to Anna.

Den sista tematisdagen: Könsroller inom Steampunk

Denna omgångs sista tematisdag handlar om könsroller inom steampunk. Efter detta tar tematisdag semester och återkommer kanske (beroende på intresse) senare i höst.

Så, så här efter Steampunkfestivalen så känmer jag att jag inte kunde dragit ett bättre tema att avsluta med. Inspirationen torde flöda. Men just nu verkar min hjärna ha gått på semester (precis som jag) och därför blir detta inlägg mest of the top of my head. Here it goes!

Eftersom Steampunk friskt lånar element från den viktorianska eran förekommer krinoliner, höga hattar, korsetter och andra detaljer så som tropikhjälm och militära uniformer från den tid då det brittiska imperiumet sträckte sig ut över Asien, främst då Indien, samt delar av Afrikas kontinent.

Det säger sig självt att man influeras av element från en tid då kvinnans plats var i hemmet, hon skulle vara en kysk och gudfruktig varelse, kuvad vid sin man.

Steampunk hämtar även element från industrialismens ångteknologi tongivande här är ju "The difference engine" med sin analytiska apparat. Här har vi Lady Ada Byron, en vetenskapskvinna som förstås bygger på den verkliga Ada Lovelace som kan titulera sig som den första programmeraren. Hon porträtteras dock i boken som en fin dam som har fallit ned i ett spelberoende, och som dessutom har frigjorda sexuella vanor (gud förbjude att en kvinna skulle ha det!), vilket gör att hon sjunker i protagonistens avseende och gör att hon porträtteras ojämställt.

Så, begreppet steampunk är löst sammansatt av dessa influenser och mer (gruvarbetarstilen, flygarstilen, galna vetenskapsmanstilen). Men! Även om steampunk influeras av eror där kvinnans roll är undergiven mannen, förpliktar det inte författare att hålla sig dessa könsroller. Trots detta så gör många det.

En del böcker klassas mer som alternativhistoria än steampunk, och här känner man sig kanske nödgad att måla ett något så när tidstypiskt patriarkat, men jag kan tycka att det borde vara en roligare utmaning att måla upp en mer feministisk era för att lyfta fram de historiskt framstående kvinnorna, så som Mary Woolstonecraft, Mary Shelley, Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace, Amelia Earhart, etc.

Jag tror att dessa feministiska steampunkverk finns, och tar gärna emot exempel för vidare studier! 

Tack för mig och ha en trevlig sommar alla bloggtweeps!