Women's Month - Day fifteen (belated)

Mae Whitman

This would work better if I could post a picture of her. Mae Whitman is an actress, and I just love her face, here it is. I haven't even really kept up with her work, although I've been meaning to watch Good Girls for a long time. I first discovered her on Arrested Development, when she was a child, and she played George Michael's boring/conservative girlfriend Ann. And I don't know if it's just because the show seemed to want us to root against her and for Maeby instead, but I just loved everything she said and did pretty much. Being an 'unlikeable' character made her a more interesting character in my opinion, and I loved her unapologetic Christianity and then swinging to incredibly repressed sexual tension. I don't know if that really says much about Mae Whitman as an actress, but her playing Ann as so unself-aware mader her stand out, in my opinion. All I wanted was for Maeby and Ann to run off and start a detective agency together, because Maeby was clever and Ann believed in TRUTH, and George Michael was wet. Her character didn't really go anywhere, to be fair. But then she played Roxy Richter in Scott Pilgrim, and I didn't love everything they did in that film, but I did love that she was angry about Ramona being all weird and undermining of their same-sex relationship, and that she was bi-furious. And then apparently she was an Avatar, and everyone loved her even though they couldn't see her face. So yes. I'm very fond of Mae Whitman.

Women's Month - Day sixteen

The Laugh of the Medusa by Helene Cixous

I read The Laugh of the Medusa in university, as part of the Theory part of my English course, and it honestly changed my life. It's a very short read, but so concise, and powerful. I think everyone should read it, but especially women, just in case it has something in it for you. Here it is in full, although it was originally written in French and I think that's a translation of a revised version, so I don't know if it's the text I read in university. But it reads the same.

And particularly this passage:

"To write. An act which will not only [...]; it will tear her away from the superegoized structure in which she has always occupied the place reserved for the guilty (guilty of everything, guilty at every turn: for having desires, for not having any; for being frigid, for being "too hot"; for not being both at once; for being too motherly and not enough; for having children and for not having any; for nursing and for not nursing ... )"

Made me rethink everything I thought about women and sexism and the way people thought about me, and the way I thought about myself. It is an amazing essay.

(no subject)

Addendum to Women's Month:

Hey, do you remember when women invented literature? I've been trying to order a book of those writings for about 3 months now. I ordered the book in mid-May, alongside a bunch of other books, from Waterstones, and every other book from that order has arrived but not that one. The page for the book still says they can order it in 'one week'. I know there are going to be delays, but this seems like a lot, and I haven't heard anything. I sent an email requesting an update about four weeks ago, and have also heard nothing. I'm not sure what else I can do that wouldn't be harassing struggling workers during a pandemic. I could call, but I'm not sure I would a) get through, or b) not get irritated, which no-one really deserves given the current situation.