The Life and Loves of a She Devil

I just found out that Fay Weldon is another TERF.

“If you have not been brought up with all the trials of being a woman, to claim you're a woman in later life is hardly fair. That seems to me to be the case. They haven't earned the right.”

I am 51. I discussed with my 27 years old niece, who doesn't understand “the trials of being a woman”, because she hasn't experienced them. Fay Weldon is almost 70. Her experience of “trials of being a woman” are VERY DIFFERENT from both mine and my niece's - and 90% of world's women. We are not a monolithic group of people who share the same experiences. I am also 100% certain of that she doesn't have the slightest idea of what it is like to be a 70 years old Black American woman. Or 50 years old Iranian woman, or 20 years old Ethiopian woman. She doesn't even have the slightest idea of what it is like to be a 50 years old British woman who lives in the next house to her. Because she isn't that woman.

Transwomen will receive the same misogyny as ciswomen. In my mind it's not fair to deny them the support all other women are given.
It's like denying someone to convert into Judaism, because they haven't “paid” by growing up as a Jew. I'm sure there are a-holes who think that, but I would hope most people see that they are a-holes for thinking like that.

————————————————————

In 1986 BBC made a tv series of The Life and Loves of a She Devil. I was in High School and I felt like Ruth. Big, fat, ugly. I wasn't, but nobody told me, so I didn't know. What I felt was the only “truth” I had.
I was enchanted.
I also fell in love with Garcia :-D

I started reading Fay Weldon. I love her books. I love her writing. It is quite simple, somewhat repetitive, but that's the magic of it. It is very easy to read. I think her sense of humor is wonderful.

They have rewritten the book somewhat for the series. I like the book better because there is nothing paranormal in it. Fay Weldon is a feminist author and she is all about empowering women. She isn't a she-devil, she is just doing her best to act like one, because that was thrown at her as something to diminish her, and she used it to enlarge her. You know, slut, bitch, nasty woman. “You ain't seen nothing yet”, she says. “Women are going to fly. If you cut our wings, we'll use the broom.”

P.S. There is a reading challenge October 2020, where one of the prompts was “Read a book with your least favorite trope”
I wrote a list of my least favorite tropes:
- prolonged misunderstanding, especially if it leads to breakup and misery
- unhappy ending
- dystopian
- “I love my abuser” (especially if it's a woman “in love” with her rapist)
- evil bitch antagonist fight about the same guy
- marysue sacrifice
- macho macho man
- absent parents, whether because they left, they died, they are horrible, or what ever reason
- being told how amazing the MC is while they don't do anything amazing. On the contrary
- “sassy” “strong” female
- Not Like Other people
- male ends up saving the female all the time, especially if the female is supposed to be this strong, savvy, smart character.
- conventionally ugly = evil.
- The female characters never need to apologize or take any responsibility of being wrong or having hurt a male character
- the solution to the problem is killing all the bad guys. Bonus points if it's done in a humiliating manner
and this book actually fits some of them :-D Yay! :-D

Book Discussion Book - didn't enjoy