As Ms. Muscio would say, "fucken rad." I got this book for my birthday one week ago today and I just finished it last night. Even though I'm working overtime on a big project right now and even though most of my free time is spent planning my wedding in 6 weeks (eek!), I couldn't put this book down. I carried it with me everywhere -- to the grocery store, to work, to a local coffeeshop. And if I had to go in somewhere and leave the book behind, I left it on my dashboard so passersby could plainly see the title. Heehee.

I can't say I'm going to go out and start doing everything Ms. Muscio suggests, but she's certainly planted some seeds. I do wish I had a young niece so I could throw her a menarche party; all my nieces are past that stage now.

Here's my advice to you about this book: Yes, the name is shocking and might even be offensive to you. Before I read this book, I was offended when I heard that word too. But it's just a word. A benign combination of 4 little letters to which humans have added meaning. If a few humans gave it a specific meaning, then other humans can certainly give it a new meaning.

And yes, some of the items Ms. Muscio suggests in this book might seem bonkers to you. I know I can't see myself ever doing some of the things she suggests. But that's not the point. Take a step back and look at the big picture of what she's saying. Our bodies are nothing to be ashamed of. Our bodies deserve to be respected and loved. Respect, love, and protect yourself. Respect, love, and protect your fellow womankind. Rid your life of purposeless jealousy, cattiness, and suckass vibes towards other women. Invest in the women in your community -- spend your time to help single moms learn to read or find a job (and thus daycare); spend your time to teach young girls in your community that their bodies are nothing to be ashamed of; spend your money supporting local woman-owned and woman-positive businesses; give your money to organizations that teach girls self-esteem.

You might feel as if what you're doing is pointless and isn't making a dent in the overpowering sadness in the world. You're right that you're probably not making a huge dent. One person rarely does. But you are changing the world, if only in a small way. Join up with your friends, family, and others and put your heads together and make an even bigger dent. And besides -- how could you live with yourself if you just sat back and watched all this sadness and did nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop it?

p.s. This book also has the distinction of being my 700th registered book on bookcrossing.com!

This book will be traveling on a bookray. Send me a private message if you're interested in participating.

Tips for successful participation in a bookray or ring:

• As soon as you receive the book, add a journal entry so the sender knows it wasn't lost in transit.
• Try to read the book within 1-3 months so those after you in the shipping order don't have to wait too long.
• When you mail the book, add a journal entry with the date you mailed it. This will help me track it down with the postal service if it gets lost in transit.

Here are the BookCrossers who have expressed an interest in this bookray. We'll try to stick to this order if at all possible. When you're done, send a private message to the next person on the list and arrange to mail it to him or her. The last person on the list can pass it on to whomever they want. Enjoy!

cougmax
mysteryfan03
buffra
Joanthro
mrsordonez
lunabjp (skipped)
Lorelei03 (skipped)
piggydiva (skipped)
dospescados (skipped)
sarradee
jaglvr (received)
Rossella05
Pookledo
SudoKris
FiBe
RoryG
fio-dagua
theadi
Merriec
catsalive
LizzieM
froggirlwendy
nzgoddess

I'll be sending this via media mail to cougmax tonight. Enjoy!

Arrived safely. I just read the foreward and this looks like an amazing book! Will read next and get it back on the road!

An amazing read. I will give her credit for being different and unashamed. I bet it was hard as hell to get published. You can feel her anger in reading the words. I don't think I can smash the tv today, the husband would be just a tad freaked out!
I am glad I read it, but it left me a bit sad too. Don't get me wrong, but sometimes her choices, that must have been life changing and gut wrenching, were written so matter-of-fact. I am a huge supporter of women having complete control over their bodies, but 3X is not birth control that is more like being out of control.
I found all the references to Seattle interesting having grown up here at the same time. I never knew about Home Alive, but I do remember the murder of the singer, Mia Zapata, being a big deal in the city. (Just an fyi, they recently caught the guy that killed her with dna, he was in prison on another charge. It was a stranger murder, he followed her once she left the club.)
All that said I have read her reference list in the back and jotted down several other books to look up.
fucken rad!

will pm mysterfan03 now

sent on to mysterfan03 Tues, Jan 3

Got this in the mail yesterday! It looks interesting! I have a couple of rings to read first and then will read this one! Thanks for sharing it with us, veruca!!

Overall, this was a fascinating and infomational book. It reminds me of some that I was required to read in sociology about women's issues. I found it really hard to get into at first, but it got better. Occasionally, it was hard to read. The author had SO much rage that I think at times, it hindered her message. (I am also furious at how women are treated, but I am not bitter and furious at men in general, at least not most of the time ) Muscio talks about a very important subject that I have read a lot about. However, I have always been sad to see how women stab each other in the back so easily rather than support each other. Muscio bought out the fact that women who are very suppressed, don't do this to each other.
I work a lot with school girls (age 8 to 14)because they are so spiteful and cruel to each other. I see 50 girls in 2 schools, all in small groups of 6, because the teachers requested that something be done. It is really sad that our society and parents encourage even young girls to be the prettiest, most popular, snob the poorer classmates, and/or wear the best clothes.
There are lots of interesting web sites in the back. I checked out the Guerrilla Girls last night.
I am going to write down a few more sites and then will get this in the mail in a few days. Thanks for sharing this important book.

BTW- "Breasts" by Meema Spadola just arrived in the mail today:+)

I'd almost forgotten about this one, but I'm very excited to see it.

Thanks!
***

I think I love this book.

Well, not completely. It's both too intellectual -- too many polysyllabic, specialized words to be totally accessible, I think -- AND simultaneously too informal and trendy, for lack of a better word -- using things like "'n" instead of "and"; "fucken" as a verb, adjective, or adverb; "aggro" for aggressive.

Both those qualities limit its appeal and readership. Of course, it is also titled Cunt, so one might wonder what I expected!

It captures the spirit of the women and thoughts I experienced when I was living in "intentional community" in Tacoma, eating vegetarian food, reading Utne Reader and Mother Jones, working for social justice, and ordering Glad Rags (which cost more than an entire month's stipend!! but they've lasted 8 years....). Not to say that I've completely rejected those ideas or ideals.

I have definitely moved away from a place with that many "women supporting women" and that much emphasis on solidarity, consensus-building, and pushing for political and social change and justice. Nice to have recovered some of that recently!! Partly it has been a physical move into a different demographic, a different level of education, and different extent of outward (social) interest. But it probably is also a move into complancency.

I DO really love some of the ideas within it. The idea of forming a C.P.R. group -- women who publicly gather to protest sexual offenders and predators, redirecting the Shame of our sexual "victimization" back onto the perpetrator of the violence. The idea of teaching girls to celebrate and understand the wonder and goodness of menstruation -- not making that shameful too. The voices of women speaking out against a culture of violence and stereotypes perpetrated to keep women in positions of powerlessness. The inclusion of actual, realistic (relatively) things people can do to counteract the "inferiority" of women on their own.

The book clearly states that it has an agenda. It also makes it clear that this agenda isn't anti-male but IS opposed to the accepted social conventions that cater to the "male" experience and deny, vilify, or disregard the female experience as equally valid. It is also opposed to divisive experiences of the female.

Though it states that it isn't anti-male, one of my biggest criticisms is the nonsense about having a female gynecologist. I'm not saying that the idea doesn't have some merit, but I prefer to choose my doctors based on compatibility and comfort level rather than gender -- in either direction. Perhaps I feel this way since I have left 2 female doctors to return to my beloved (male) GP. He is one of those rare doctors that takes time to answer questions, he is thorough, and I am comfortable with him. I don't care if he doesn't HAVE a vagina, as long as he knows what to look for with mine.

As I said, the book isn't perfect. Far from it. But it's definitely interesting. I can see using it as a resource. It's one of the few bookring books I might buy for myself (and a friend or two, just because!), partly to support it financially (one of the big methods of creating social change -- watching where your money goes) and partly because I do think there is enough of value there to be worth it.

It also has lots of websites listed that are interesting. I've been checking out the Guerrilla News Network and have perused Responsible Shopper.

Arrived in Denver safely today! Will read right away!

This book was amazing! I chuckled through the whole book. For me, Muscio didn't really say anything new (well OK, the whole sea sponge thing was new to me!) but the WAY she said it was often so elegant and profound. There were certain sentences and paragraphs that just blew me away. At first, I thought this was an update on Mary Daly's Gyn/Ecology, but when I read the afterward, I realized that Muscio has become more sophisticated in her arguments and I respected that she didn't rewrite her book, but let it stand. I will be buying my own copy of this book to reread and mark up to my heart's content. Thanks so much veruca, for making this book available!

Loved her webpage as well: http://www.ingalagringa.com/

I mailed this to mrsordonez earlier today.

Arrived safe and sound, thanks! Will journal more upon reading.

lunabjp has asked to be skipped. Trying next in line.

ETA: 7/16/06. No response from Lorelei03, trying next in line...
ETA: 7/31/06. I can't find my copy of the email to piggydiva, so I'm trying again...
ETA: 8/16/06. No response from piggydiva, trying dospescados. (Why is this so hard?!)
ETA: 8/20/06. Have dospescados' email address, will try that.
ETA: 8/28/06. No response from dospescados, trying next in line.
ETA: 9/1/06. Got addy from sarradee, will send out on next trip to post office. Finally!

I will continue to journal my efforts to contact the next bcer in the previous journal entry. I thought I was going to like this more than I actually did. I found the book very angry and somewhat man-hating, even though the author doesn't specifically lash out against men, I found it a strong undercurrent. I felt she was a bit extremist, and though some of her suggestions are valid (where to find a sea sponge?!) others are almost impossible when one lives and is almost entreanched in today's society. The author's multiple abortions, as by her own admission, are what allow her to live the way that she does. I don't feel that is quite justification for her actions. Don't mean to get too political, but I also had 3 unplanned pregnancies, and all to term. My life is changed because of my children, and perhaps I would have gone on to become someone great had I not become a parent, but at what cost? In the afterword, the author does admit her own bias, but offers no solutions to overcome her personal objective.

Sadly, I found the best part of the book on p 294, with her description of dazzle camouflage, where she tells the phone solicitor, in English, that she doesn't speak English. A valid tactic to distract/deflect and obtain what you really want.

Another connundrum the author brought up was her lack of personal safety while out at night. She mentions this several times in the book, and seems to blame it all on her gender. Putting rocks in her pocket was her solution to getting raped? With all of her call to action throughout the rest of the book, I'm surprised that this is the best she could come up with...

Arrived safely today, will get it read and moving on ASAP.

So immediately after I pm jaglvr and tell her I'm almost done with the book, I realize that I actually am done with the book, since the last section is a resource guide which only requires browsing not indepth reading.

This was quite an interesting read, and very informative. I've never really thought about some of the things the author postulates, and certainly not in the way she postulates. I've never really read very much in the woman's studies genre because I've never pictured myself as "one of those types of people", without really thinking that I'm a woman so I am one of those people. :)

I've jotted down some of the referenced books and websites and plan to try and be more pro-active in the future. I have to say I wish I'd had a menarche party, instead my mother told my dad, and he embarrassed the hell out of me, but neither one of them really told me anything important. I had to learn that myself from reading and friends.

Mailing to jaglvr in the morning. Delivery confirmation #9102010521297177634863

9/26/06: just received! hope to read it in the next few weeks to get it on is way again! thanks!

book was ok...not my normal cup of tea. i didn't agree with a lot of the author's ramblings, but everyone has their own views and i respect her for that.
mailing off to piggydiva (she was skipped and didn't know why so i'm backtracking on the list!) this afternoon...11/15/06

I received it today and will read it within the next two weeks or so!

When I first began the book, I didn't care for it. Muscio was too aggressive, I felt she was "smirking" at me, and her writing voice is incredibly unprofessional (and irritating to boot!) I could see her point, though I didn't agree with everything she said. As I read the book, I warmed up to Muscio's message, or perhaps because my emotions had been raw when I started (as I was about to go in for an unwanted hysterectomy). In fact, I ended up liking her message so much (though she is still too far left for my taste--let's just say I couldn't see us getting together for tea and cookies) that I am going to buy a copy to have my 14 and 11 year old daughters read. Yup, I think it's that important. Sending off to Pookledo tomorrow.

yay! This one just arrived. Cheers!

Oh dear. I failed miseraby to read this book which was mainly due to it being mislaid for a good two months.

It was placed out of the way when the letting agents came round to go an inspection of the house and then couldn't rememeber the "safe place" where it was put.

i was on the verge of buying a new copy to carry on the ring when it turned up again. Phew!

PMing SudoKris so i can pass this book along.

SudoKris wants to be skipped. PMing FiBe.

Book received. Will read as soon as I can. Thanks for letting me take part.

Eeek!!! I too mislaid this book, I was halfway through it when I had to go away for a few days for work so tidied up a little too well and forgot where I'd put it. Anyhoo, now I have relocated this book I will finish it and get it sent on to the next person!!!

In fact I will pm them for their address now before I forget!!!

Sooooooooooo sorry!!!!

RoryG has asked to be skipped so have pm'd fio-dagua for their details.

fio-dagua has asked to be skipped. Pm'd theadi

RELEASE NOTES:

This book is now continuing its journey after a long delay, I'm so sorry it took so long. Thanks for letting me take part x