Vested Interests
if you are a consumer of pornography, you have a vested interest in it, you benefit from it, and therefore your word on how wonderful and harmless it is is seriously compromised.
And:
Survivors of sexual violence have a vested interest in opposing pornography. Without it, they would benefit from not having their abuse shown over and over and over again for the joy of the self-obsessed. They would not be humiliated. They would see their rights and integrity as individuals respected. They would not be made to relive their abuse by outside agents who get off on it.
So, those who have one kind of real life experience must be completely ignored, and those with another kind of real life experience must be praised as purveyors of all things truthful.
I don’t think anyone’s claiming that people or organisations in the sex work businesses are never harmful to anyone, I’ve seen several people claim that it’s claimed that porn is harmless, but I’ve never actually seen that claim made by halfways enlightened people. You see, making that claim would be denying the experiences of the many trafficked women and children, it would be denying the experiences of those who were forced into prostitution. Porn CAN be harmful, yes, I don’t think anyone’s really denying that. But it isn’t always.
By saying that it’s always harmful, we’re denying the experiences of people who are willing and even enthusiastic participants and workers in that line of work – sex work that is.
I find it interesting that Laurelin feels the need to juxtapose consumers of porn with unwilling participants in porn, when the fair thing to do would be to compare willing participants with unwilling participants. Consumers of porn have no first hand experience, and so, indeed, they are not the ones to ask. After all, would you ask a restaurant customer, how the pineapple he’s eating was grown? How the heck would he know if the farmers were treated right and were paid fairly? That’s right. How about we ask the farmers, or in the case of porn, ask the actors and actresses? No, according to Laurelin we should be comparing the people (apparently defined as thoroughly unreliable) who like to watch porn, with those who hated to be in it, and with that Laurelin is trying to silence the voices of the voluntary sex workers.
If vested interests exclude people from having an opinion, then survivors of sexual violence shouldn’t be heard either.That’s only fair.
Of course, anyone who has unwillingly ’starred’ in porn should have the right to demand the film/clip/something off the shelves and offline, and it should be upheld by the law. Their vested interest in having revenge should not take away someone else’s livelihood, however. Let’s have the criminals prosecuted, because whether or not porn is legal, it ALWAYS illegal to force another person into sexual situations, however far they go. Rape is always illegal, but it’s not porn doing the raping, it’s sleazy scumbags who happen to be affiliated with the sex work industry somehow.
Just because we’ve had several cases of pedophiles working in day care centres, we’re not attempting to close all day care centres because clearly they’re dangerous for the children. NO, we’re trying to root out the bad apples from the centres so our children may once again be safe, and that’s exactly what we ought to be doing with the sex industry. Get rid of the bad apples and let the rest of the business go along legally on its merry way. Safer for women that way.
Boobies! Hur hur!
Sometimes I just want to cry: Boobie Burglary
Police are interested in anyone who may have recently increased their cup size after a pair of implants was stolen
Police responded to an unusual theft at a hospital in Grindsted, mid-Jutland, recently, after it was reported that a pair of silicone breasts had been stolen from an operating theatre, according to public broadcaster DR.
The hooter heist occurred sometime between Thursday 4 June and last Monday. No information has been released about the size of the stolen implants, so it is not known what cup size police are looking for.
However, police in Billund are eager to speak with anyone who may know something about the theft or who have seen the unusual haul.
You know, stealing a pair of implants won’t increase anyone’s cup size. They’re implants, they need to be IMPLANTED first. Surgically, that is.
Boobie burglary, hooter heist. That’s real mature reporting, fellas. Also, implants don’t come in cup-sizes, you dolts, they come in milli-litres. You can’t tell an implant’s cupsize as an implant that’d give a petite woman F-cup breasts might give a larger woman C-cup breasts. Police won’t be looking for a cup size, they’ll be looking for two more or less shapeless silicone waterbaloons, not a pair of tits. There’s a difference.
Women’s ideal looks are by now so artificial that the artificial means of acquiring said looks are described just as if they were the real thing.
ARGH!
Accessibility
Inspired by this post over at Renee’s I felt the need to brag a little.
Not about anything I’ve accomplished, but about how my city has handled accessibility problems downtown. The “city centre” consists of some 6 streets that are only open to pedestrians and motorized vehicles are only allowed for PWD. Naturally, cars do go there at night to deliver goods to the shops while they’re closed to customers. But in opening hours it’s pedestrian only zone. That makes for a nice and quiet city centre, but most of the buildings there are more than 50 years old, probably also more than a 100 years old, and this unfortunately means that ground floor is not at street level, so there are steps and what have you. There was also some issues with the surface, as gutters were basically small canals made in cobblestone on either side of the tiled streets, canals which you had to cross to get to any of the shops. It was not at all disability friendly. Some shops had ramps made to help people on wheels up their steps, but it wasn’t all of them. And for some who are able to walk albeit not so well, the choice between a ramp and very high uneven granite steps is like having to choose between plague and cholera. Good times! Not so.
And so a few years ago the city council in co-operation with the united shop-owners of the city centre (most shops are members of this organisation) decided to do something about it. It resulted in major road works lasting for quite some time, but at the end of it, street levels had been evened out, so more shops had a level entrance, and for those shops that were higher up, good, broad, low steps (and railings!) were made as well as ramps for every shop that needed them. The streets are now even, and at the town square where the cobblestone patterns have remained, there are smooth, tiled paths criss-crossing the place, so those who need their wheels can get a smooth ride. It looks nice, and it’s become incredibly disability friendly. So while my city council does fuck up on a lot of things, I’m rather proud of them for this.
For comparison: a neighboring city (my boyfriend’s home-town) has the same issue of older buildings in their city centre. For instance: where his bank is located there are 4 steps up. No elevator, no ramp, no nothing. The bank has requested permission from the city to build one of those mini-elevators that fold down from the wall and carry a passanger up along the stairs. That’s all there’s room for. But alas, the building is historical and it’s outside appearance cannot be modified for any reason. My sister-in-law, who uses that bank, was greatly frustrated by this while she transported her girls around in strollers/baby carriages. There was no way that bank was accessible on wheels – and that’s even for a woman, who can walk and lift and manipulate her wheeled contraption. It’s only worse for those who cannot just get up. My sis-in-law’s girls are now walking on their own and thus the problem is no more – for her, that is. There are SO many people whose mobility problems are not just a phase or a passing issue.
The bank is fighting the city over this, of course, they’re losing their disabled customers through no fault of their own, and that must really be annoying when you’re a manager trying to run a business. And while I do agree that historical buildings should be kept intact for the benefit of preserving an important bit of history, it should not be at the expense of disabled people. The lives of people living in the present must surely come before the architecture of generations past.
Then again, as Renee said with poignant sarcasm: “after all life is for “normal” people isn’t it?”
Intimidation 101
If the situation is in no other way threatening to anyone, then, telling a person that you will not do X, will make that person think that X is exactly, what you’re planning to do.
Example from the other day: Early in the morning I drive my boyfriend to work, ’cause I need to car myself later on. When I return – still early in the morning – I often cross paths with the man who cleans the entrance-way and staircase where I enter from the parking lot. I’ve seen him often; sometimes we take the elevator together. We seldom say anything but “Good morning.” or “Time for another day’s work, eh?” We don’t know each other’s names, we just know that the other belongs there at that time of day.
And this other day was different. It didn’t start out as such, mind you. I came back from dropping off my boyfriend, I noticed the cleaner’s car parked where it usually is, I went inside. I waited for the elevator (sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t – depends on my laziness or the condition of my knees that day), and when it arrived, I went in. He went in as well with his bucket, mop etc etc. Nothing unusual about it except he started talking to me. “Hope you don’t mind me riding with you.” He said, to which I responded. “Not at all, happens so often, there’s room for both of us.” There could easily be five people in that elevator, so him and me and a bucket is hardly a crowd. But then he said: “No worries, I won’t harm you.”
That sent every single one of my alarm bells into overdrive. Why the hell does he feel the need to say that? Is it because he wants me to feel safe around him? Why does he want me to feel safe around him? What does he want? What does he want with me? What’s he trying to say? I think I managed to stutter out something like “I think I could handle it should you try.” In my language, what I said clearly communicated that I’ll defend myself fang, beak and claw, though I suspect my voice might not have been terribly impressive. I spent the entire walk from the elevator down the walkway to my door listening intently for the door behind me. It never did open and close a second time. He didn’t follow me or anything.
Up until that day it had never occured to me to fear that man. He seems a rather shy and awkward fellow. Slight of build, though on his face that fact is hidden by a beard. He seems quiet and calm, and since I still remember the most efficient self-defence moves from my Kung Fu classes many years ago, it has never occured to me that he might pose a threat. Rationally, I still don’t think he does.
But the mere fact that he suggested to me that he might be a threat makes my skin crawl. “Huh?” you might say, “but he just assured you that he wouldn’t try anything.” Yes, indeed. But it works like this, you see: If I tell you: Do NOT think about blue elephants! What’s the first think you’re gonna think about? Blue elephants. Because in actively not thinking about them, you’ll first have to think about them. Makes sense, yes? So if he tells me he won’t try anything, then, first of all, it’ll make me think about all the things he might/could do if he did try something, and what with all the terrible news stories we hear, women don’t even need that much of an imagination to imagine all sorts of horrors. Second, if he finds it necessary, to reassure me that he won’t try anything, it indicates that he has actually considered trying something. And that’s probably what creeps me out the most. Third, convincing your chosen victim that you can be trusted is the most efficient strategy used by predators everywhere, so even if that’s not what he intended, that’s still the message he’s sending. Especially since gaining someone’s trust is something honest people do with actions and behaviour and something dishonest people do by telling people to trust them.
Who would you trust? The one who says: “Trust me.” or the one who just behaves decently and backs off when you tell them?
Suffice to say, I’ll be using another entrance to the building for a while.
Lesson: If you want people to feel safe around you, never, ever, EVER tell them what you’re NOT going to do. There’s a pretty good chance it’ll freak them out, and even if it doesn’t, it might still make you look/sound very, very weird. This especially goes if you’re in a position of privilege ie white, male, cis, het, able-bodied, member of biggest religion in your community etc etc. and if you’re a combination of several of these: be extra careful because you most likely cannot fathom just how threatened under-privileged people can feel just from your presence, not to mention your words.
Rape wasn’t really rape, but was rape, anyway
From the Copenhagen Post:
A Jutland couple who made money from allowing men to have sex with two foreign teens living with them had their sentence extended
The Western High Court in Århus today upheld the guilty sentence of a man and woman sentenced to prison for keeping two teenage Slovakian girls in their house as sex slaves. Both sentences were increased from two and a half to three years and the male defendant is to be deported.
The case began in March 2008, when a 17-year-old Slovakian girl went to the police and accused the couple – Said Fraira and his then girlfriend Iveta Andersen – of keeping her in their apartment where men paid the couple to have sex with her.
When police raided the address in Viby, near Århus, they found another Slovakian girl aged 19 in similar circumstances. The two teens had been promised a good job and better life in Denmark when they willingly came here with the couple.
Instead they were subjected to having sex with up to eight men a day and earned at least 200,000 kroner for the Århus couple, reports B.T. newspaper. The 17-year-old became pregnant as a result.
The couple pleaded guilty to human trafficking during the district court case and were sentenced accordingly.
On hearing of his increased sentence and deportation today, 40-year-old Fraira verbally lashed out at the judge. Fraira has two children aged seven and 14, and accused the court of destroying all their lives.
‘What right have you to separate me from my children – are they animals? You’re destroying not just my life, but my children’s. What will I tell them when they are grown up? I have lived in Denmark for 18 years, my life stops here,’ shouted Fraira, who also said he feared his ex-girlfriend as she had practised ‘voodoo’ on him.
It was not clear at the time of going to print to which country Fraira will be deported.
Public prosecutor Michael Møller Hansen said there was no doubt the two had committed a serious crime, especially due to the age of one of the girls.
‘Technically this was not a case of rape, but it really is. The girls were forced to go with men to please the accused, who were only thinking of maximising profits,’ said Hansen.
Emphasis mine.
The last one first: Tecgnically yes, this bloody well is rape. The case wasn’t about the rapes, as the couple who enslaved the girls were not the rapists (at least not according to Danish law) they were enablers of the rapists, none of whom have been caught. But yes, technicaly it is rape. In the Danish law rape is defined as the action of forcibly acquiring coitus (vaginally, orally OR anally – they all count) by violence, the threat of violence or by rendering the victim unable to resist by for instance drugs or psychological torture. So yes, this was an instance of rape, technically as well as really. Rape is rape. Also technically. And this is a public prosecutor – so glad he knows the law. *sigh*
And then the previous highlighted parts: What right does the court have to seperate Fraira from his children? EVERY right, dumbass. You’ve shown yourself to be a danger to other teenage girls, and for that fact alone they have the right to remove your own children for their own safety. If you think the court is treating your children as animals, perhaps you ought to have given that some thought, before you treated two young Slovakian women as animals. What will you tell them when you grow up? That’s not for the court to decide, that’s your own business, but generally a good piece of advice is: if you don’t want to have to tell your kids about a sentence you got, then don’t do anything that would warrant a sentence. Yes? And the voodoo part? Sorry, that’s just laughable.
Yeah, the man’s children will probably suffer some stress over this, but really, I doubt it’ll be any worse than living with this asshat. They’ll be free to visit him in whichever country he gets deported to anyway. It’s disturbingly clear that while he rages about his children being treated like animals, he clearly believes it’s his right to treat women like that and suffer no consequences for it. Scary, scary mind on that one.
Uganda to outlaw circumcision
From News24.com
Uganda will pass a law banning female genital mutilation, which is rampant among pastoralist tribes in the country’s eastern region, the president said in a statement on Friday.
“The way God made it, there is no part of a human body that is useless,” President Yoweri Museveni told a gathering in the eastern Karamoja district.
“Now you people interfere with God’s work. Some say it is culture. Yes, I support culture but you must support culture that is useful and based on scientific information,” he added.
Last year, the United Nations passed a resolution that called female genital mutilation a violation of the rights of women and said it constituted “irreparable, irreversible abuse”.
The resolution also said female circumcision increases the risk of HIV transmission, as well as maternal and infant mortality. The UN estimates that between 100 million to 140 million worldwide have undergone the practice.
It sounds fine and good, but how the hell will they enforce it? Ah well, it’s a start, I suppose.
One wonders…
…what’s the matter with our justice system when two young men get 1½ year in jail each for a shooting in the streets, where no one was hurt (thankfully), and two parents get one year each for having abused their daughter consistently over the course of four years with beatings, broken bones, hard labour and psychological torture. And that one year was after the appeal. Originally they’d only gotten 6 months each. Apparently, shooting in the street without hitting anyone is worse than repeatedly beating the living daylights out of a 14 year old girl.
*sigh*
If you ask me, the criminal justice system here in Denmark needs a serious overhaul.
Irregular Blogging
I don’t know if I have any regular readers. It’d be nice, but I doubt I’m that special compared to so many other, more well-informed, bloggers out there. Also, my updates are irregular. Very much so. I try to post as often as I can, and today I finally finished my first review, posted below this post. However, due to my situation IRL, right now my daily amount of spoons fluctuates immensely.
I am unemployed – still. The authorities force me to work in order to receive my unemployment benefits. Mind, it can hardly be called real work, because the companies that take in unemployed people like me, do so because they can get free labour. They wouldn’t actually hire anyone to do the job, becaus ethe job’s not worth that much to them. This explains why most of the jobs unemployed people like me get to do are boring, unnecessary, inconsequential and sometimes outright demeaning. I wrote my BA project in Systemic Functional Linguistics, and the first place I was sent they had me sorting invoices for two weeks. For someone with low self-worth that’s not incredibly fantastic. Way to go telling people they’re worthless, way to go telling someone suffering from depression that that’s all she’s worth. Gee thanks.
The second place I ended up was better. Unfortunately an ignorant manager decided he knew more about how to handle people with a mental disorder than I do about handling myself. I left in tears, haven’t been back. Right now a friend of mine, who has her own business, has set up a position for me, and we signed all the necessary papers with the authorities. So now that’s where I am. That means my environment is safe. There won’t be people abusing me for not being neuro-typical, there won’t be people ordering me to do things I’m incapable of due to said non-neurotypicalness. The environment is safe, which is a great relief. That’s one less thing to worry about. The tasks I do are still more or less inconsequential – that why there’s not a hired employee doing the job, but my counsellor with the authorities have decided that this should be sort of a testing ground, to see what sorts of things I can handle. She wants to map my capabilities so they won’t be sending me into jobs that will harm me. She’s really nice about it, and though she has to uphold a system that frequently poops all over the mentally ill, she’s being humane and finding loop-holes and all that. I believe she really does want what’s best for me.
At the same time I’ve stopped therapy sessions with my shrink. Having proved that she’s completely inapable of listening to anything I say, I decided, I needed to speak with someone else. Unfortunately she couldn’t find anyone who could take me – and I have to go through the system, because otherwise I’ll have to pay for it myself, which is impossible as I can’t even afford the rent right now. I haven’t even had a friggin haircut in months – I’m going insane, my hair’s too damn long and annoying. So I’ve been referred to a counsellor, who’s now trying to find me a new psychologist. I’ve asked that we look for someone who knows something about Asperger’s Syndrome as that’s my problem – I just don’t have a professional’s word for it yet. But that’s still such a new and unknown thing in this nation that no one seems to have run into it before. If I am to be diagnosed at the hospital in my town, it’ll be by someone, who’s never done it before.
I don’t so much mind that they don’t all know everything about everything. That’s really quite okay. I’m just very worried, because being rather intelligent myself, I can tell what they’re trying to diagnose and rule in/out by the questions they ask. I answered a questionnaire and I could place all the questions in little groups of those that point towards narcissism and megalomania, those that point towards depressions, those that point towards eating disorders, those that point towards bi-polar, etc etc and I’m actuall afraid that I might sabotage my own answers unwittingly, because I’ve decided I’m definitely not narcissistic or whatever.
And all the while I’m getting no therapy and no cognitive behaviour training to give me tools to handle a life that my brain just doesn’t seem suited for. I’m using all my spoons on doing the job I’ve been set to. And that means I have no spoons left for anything else. I haven’t role-played in a month. I’ve spoken to a friend once in the last month. I took a day off (well, we moved some hours around and rescheduled the work) to go pick up my brother at the airport, and due to some unfortunate remarks, that day meant I needed a sick day afterwards because I’d used up my spoons for the following day as well. I frequently have spontaneous bouts of crying, because right now, with no job, no therapy and thus no moving forward I feel like I have no future at all. I feel like nothing’s changing, however hard I try, nothing’s improving and if it continues for much longer like that, I can’t hold it together anymore.
I haven’t even had spoons to post to this blog. I haven’t had the spoons to read much, heck, I frequently have too few spoons to watch tv. I work, eat and sleep. Quite a fulfilling life, there.
I have scheduled watches at the women’s shelter, and I go there and have nice chats with the women staying there. But I am not completely happy with all the other volunteers there. Some of them are very closed to new-comers like myself. I’ve been directly asked to speak less at group meetings, even though commentary and questions were invited. Nevermind that some of the older women spent time reminiscing the days of yore, that I was far from the most vocal. But I am the youngest, and I suspect that’s what gets stuck in the craw of some of those older women. And then they wonder why so many of their new volunteers never stay for long.
Keeping a relatively low profile is probably a wise thing to do. I did, as I promised people over on Cara’s The Curvature, ask if they take in trans women at our shelter. The one I asked didn’t know. But she said she’d find out. She’s the liaison between our volunteer group (which covers Mondays and a fourth of the weekend watches) and the management, so she was the one to ask. I hope she does actually pass the question along, I also hope the answer is yes, we do take in trans women. But considering that the shelter was established many years ago by second-wavers and radical feminists and that the basic tenets haven’t changed (probably because new people are scared off by the attitudes I described above) since then, I rather doubt it.
I always seem to be able to dig out a few more spoons, when dealing with things that don’t have anything to do with me and my life. So while friends and relations are just too much for me, I might be able to mount a minor crusade and advocate for some changes at the shelter. We’ll see what happens, I’ll have to be careful not to step on too many toes, if my own group is any indication then the volunteer groups have a tendency to be clique-ish. So, first of all I need to get to know a few more people there a little better.
Anyway. My lack of spoons is the reason for the lack of posts. It annoys me to no end, but that’s the way things are right now.
And with that: consider yourselves informed. Sort of.
Ismist Review: The Lions of Al-Rassan
I often happen into situations, where I argue that a book lacks in this or that department; mostly race and gender equity. This often results in other readers, mostly white and male, telling me that it’s just not possible to keep everyone happy. It’s just not possible to write a book that hands a fair deal to everyone. It’s just not possible to make a medieval Europe-inspired world, where women and non-whites are represented fairly. These arguments piss me off every time (yes, really), because when we’re talking fantasy worlds, the creation of that world is entirely and without exception up to the author. Leaving out substance in female and non-white characters is a conscious choice an author can make, and it is not the only available choice, nor does it have anything to do with the setting – enslaved POC and oppressed women still have personalities, ya know.
The whole point of fantasy is to move away from reality, yes? I know non-whites and women had hard times in medieval Europe, but last I checked, the wars in medieval Europe didn’t happen quite the way they do in fantasy books. Oh, and Europe has never really been half as inundated with magic as fantasy worlds usually are. And that’s not to speak of dragons and other mythical creatures, and the sentient races known as elves and dwarves in the fantasy realms? Yeah, not really all that plentiful in Europe either. I usually argue that you can have realism and still have a magical fantasy world. Realism in fantasy is about populating the world with people, who react and function like people normally do, realism in fantasy is about making the world internally consistent and realistic – you make the laws of nature for that world and then you stick to them. For instance, you don’t make a medieval city with thousands of citizens and clean streets. It just doesn’t happen – unless the streets are magically dirt-rejecting, of course, but that’s a trait I’ve never come across. Also, you don’t make a naïve scullery boy, 14 years of age, into an accomplished swordsman in a month, it just doesn’t happen, there’s no way a human body could build up that kind of strength in that time; medieval swords aren’t made of plastic and they weigh considerably more than a rapier; swinging them is hard work.
But the argument is always that when it comes to respect for women (and other marginalised groups) it just can’t be done because we need to stick to realistic stuff. They all seem to think that respect for women means a world where women are liberated. It doesn’t. It can be a world in which horrors occur every day, but if the female characters are described and personalised with sense and respect, then it’s okay in my book. But no, it just can’t be done. Well, doubters, I bring to you: proof. Guy Gavriel Kay has written what is perhaps one of the most realistic fantasy novels, I have ever laid eyes upon. The Lions of Al-Rassan has it all – except magic. There are no flamboyant wizards in pointy hats, there are no dragons, there are no elves. What there is, is a profoundly well-thought-out book, with deep, non-stereotyped characters, who, though they live in a strictly kyriarchal world, are still portrayed as fully human with complex emotional lives, thoughts and opinions. See? Was that so hard?
What The Lions of Al-Rassan does have is realism. Its kings, thrones, war, love, hate, friendship and more make it an epic tale, and Kay keeps it realistic and human. I think this book might well end up in the top 10 of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read. But enough of my rambling, let’s get some facts on the table.
The book’s Acknowledgements include these words from Guy Gavriel Kay: “It is appropriate that I pay tribute here to the art of Mu’tamid, ar-Rundi, ibn ‘Ammar and ibn Bassam, among others.” What he refers to is the use of poetry in the book, something that takes quite a different turn than the shanties and ballads we know from Tolkien’s works. They are not songs, they are poetry – and there’s a big difference. The locale of the novel is set in what could have been medieval/Moorish Spain. The map at the front of the book is strikingly similar to the Iberian peninsula, the narrow strait to the African continent, the Mediterranean and the Italian peninsula. The countries are named with words equally similar to how the world looked back then. The Southern half of the Iberian peninsula, Al-Rassan, is in the power of the Asharites (a religion). It used to be a Khalifate, but since the last Khalif was assassinated it has fragmented into smaller units. The Northern half, Esperaña (not at all sounding like España, no?), is also fragmented into three kingdoms ruled by three kings of the Jaddite persuasion. South of the Strait that looks suspiciously like Gibraltar is the Majriti Desert. Where France would be is Ferrieres, North of that is Karch and Waleska, names clearly resembling German and Wallonian. The land is an only slightly altered version of the Mediterranean nations in the Middle Ages.
And then there are the peoples. The Jaddites follow their one sun god, they worship saints as well, most notably a sainted queen of old, who is much revered among them and much hated by the Asharites, because she was very fervent in torturing and killing the perceived unbelievers. The Jaddites are unofficially divided between those who believe and those who are Jaddite by birth and name only. The Asharites on the other hand follow the stars and the prophet, Ashar, who came from the desert to preach about them. The Asharites are split into two groups, one which is highly cultured, values poetry, carnivals, song and dance and decadence, and one which is the “back-to-basics” nomadic and ascetic people of the Majriti desert. Lastly there are the Kindath, the people with no land. The only home the Kindath can claim is the city Sorenica in the land Batiara (Italy), granted to them by a Jaddite king long ago. The Kindath are wanderers, they worship the two moons. Among the Jaddites and Asharites both, they are shunned and mistrusted, but they are always needed, because the Kindath are physicians. They set bones, alleviate and cure diseases, make anti-dotes for toxins, perform surgery, assist at child-birth, etc etc. Mistrusted always, but tolerated out of need, the Kindath often live hard and thankless lives, except in Sorenica, where Kindath run a university for physicians.
In outlook (at least the way it was in medieval times) these three faiths bear striking similarities to the three biggest monotheistic faiths of that time. The Jaddites are clearly based upon the Catholics complete with centralized church fathers, dogmas, crusades and all. The Asharites bear similarity to the Muslims complete with the split between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and the Kindath are similar to the Jews; hated, feared and mistrusted but tolerated out of a need for skills/professions that are outlawed by the other faiths. There are differences of course. In places the Asharites have traits that are more reminiscent of Catholics, and the other way round. I suppose this is to avoid too precise similarity, but it’s still quite obvious what Kay intended.
Starting with the plot of this novel – well, there’s not much new to it. It is an epic tale of love and friendship amidst warring nations and people with motives and motivations that are not always noble and caring. The backdrop is the political situation between Al-Rassan and the Esperañan kings. Religious fundamentalism is stirring and on both sides more people are calling for eradication of the infidels. Kings are murdered, thrones usurped and conflicts are brewing all over the place. The two major political/religious powers are represented by our two male protagonists. Neither of them are deeply religious, their faith is mostly nominal, but they both hold a deep love for their respective nations, and thus when fundamentalism surges and relations are strained, they find themselves in a situation, where they must decide, whether it is right to fight against your friends for the sake of your country, when your country is becoming more and more extremist and violent in its ways.
Caught in between the two major powers are the Kindath, represented by Jehane, our not at all motherly female protagonist with a brilliant mind and a strong sense of justice. She would never refuse to help a sick child just because the parents couldn’t pay her – this is in fact the first scene in which we find her. However, while being fair to those who have very little, she must also navigate diplomatically the Asharite overlords, where she lives. Being Kindath is not an easy thing in this world. With both major nations stirring for conflict we follow the characters through minor altercations at first, showing how going to war with another nation will also mean the oppression and suppression of certain groups within the nation. The Asharite king traumatizes his son, by slaughtering every single noble (except one who got away) in front of him, in the throne room from whence the prince governed the city he was steward of. The Prince takes revenge by having his father assassinated and usurping the throne. Jaddite nobles find sport in razing villages, murdering innocents and raping women – yes, there is an almost-rape-scene in the book. Not an almost-rape, mind you, the rape and subsequent murder of the victim is bestial and there’s nothing ‘almost’ about it. But it is described in a way that doesn’t make the rape a vauable, almost fetishized scene (like I’m used to in fantasy books), but rather makes it what it is – a part of a cruel mindset and behaviour among the perpetrators.
This occurs some way into the book, when Jehane has fled her home-town (where the nobles were decapitated and dumped in the moat) and joined company with Captain Belmonte and his company of Jaddite soldiers. They descend upon the raiders as they’re busy razing the afore-mentioned village. A woman calls to Jehane that her sister has been terribly wounded. Understatement of the year. What we get is not a rape scene, but the results thereof. I shall not repeat the possibly triggering description in the book. Suffice it to say that the woman and her unborn child are quite thoroughly dead. Jehane is outraged and reports the atrocity to Captain Belmonte, who lets the dead woman’s eldest son execute her rapist and murderer – because yes, the younger children saw it happen. Jehane voices concerns about speaking of it in front of the children, but Belmonte says: “No one here is a child after tonight”. A grim, stark realism that shows the reality of war without turning the horrors into a fetish-show as so often happens – especially with rape. Jehane describes the atrocity that has been done to the woman and her unborn child and Belmonte reacts by announcing: “This we will not accept. Not in a village Valledans are bound to defend!” And with that he orders the execution while Jehane bitterly reflects: Where would you accept it?
All the way through the book such reflections follow our journey. Medieval-ish worlds are often romanticized, and while I do enjoy a hearty helping of high fantasy escapism, this gritty realism where war is war, and war is bloody, painful, horrific and has no true victors is much more to my taste. Not because I like such terrors, but because I have a hard time reading of war and battle and of how glorious the victory was and how eminent the victorious king/emperor/khalif/warlord is and not think of all those tragic fates, that are not only not told, but completely ignored as if they never mattered anyway. We get enough of that in our real world. Fantasy isn’t supposed to be pretty, epic battles are almost necessary, but if there are no victims in a war, those epic battles feel all the more faked and unrealistic. Here’s with all my realism. In every conflict there will be losers, in every war there will be atrocities, and while in most fantasy novels, the reader follows and sides with the party the author has chosen to be the ‘good guys’, Kay has decided to reflect in Lions of Al-Rassan that in war there are no good guys. I commend him for this. In war, even those fighting a righteous fight will commit atrocities, and a war that has a righteous side in the first place is a rarity anyway. The sacking of the village mentioned above was a raid by Esperañans on people on Esperañan land brought to a halt by other Esperañans. That’s what medieval war is, it’s about nobles (kings) taking what they want from other nobles(kings), and woe betide the commoner who has the misfortune to cross their paths, even just by living where they pass along.
It is not pretty, and Kay does nothing to prettify it. If he had, I’d be disappointed. This is how it goes all the way through the book. The main characters are continuously shocked, disappointed and frightened by the violence and cruelty exacted upon others by their own people. Even Jehane, whose people hold no real power, runs into some stark realisations, about how members of her own people have risen to power in other places. And they don’t always use that power for noble purposes such as peace-keeping diplomacy and a physician’s practice. That is pretty much what this book is about, actually; How the country/culture/nation you love so much can become a place/thing run by petty, vengeful brutes, and how you deal with that realisation. Uncomfortable truths galore.
There is much political intrigue and with all the ties to the religious history of Europe it is not a book for those who solely want action and adventure, though there is plenty of that as well. There is no final goal of the characters, there is no ultimate villain to be vanquished, there is no prize at the end – except maybe survival. There are only the realistic struggles of a select few persons in a war-torn land, and their efforts to find out what to do with their lives and how to stay alive. Not all of them succeed.
The story, or rather the journey itself, ends with a fight between two of the main characters. One of them dies, but it is not the fight we read about. The people, over whose shoulders the reader is looking, are the people, who love the fighters; the ones who have to live with the loss; the ones who will be dealing with what is left afterwards; the ones who will have to pick up the pieces and move on. And with that Kay sets the final dot by focusing not on those epic heroes, but on the reality that behind every dead person is a whole host of people, who knew and loved them – and that’s no matter which side they fought for. Kay does include an epilogue that explains, what has become of the main characters, quite some time after the story ends. And the ending and epilogue together makes for a profoundly tear-provoking read, which is consistent with the rest of the book.
Kay has written an epic and empathetic account of regular humans caught up in events far beyond their control. I emphasize the empathetic part, because it is my experience that empathy in (fantasy) novels are often reserved for those with whom we’re supposed to cheer. In Lions of Al-Rassan it is entirely up to the reader to decide who they prefer.
The major religions in the book all have cruel and calculating as well as benevolent representatives. The Asharites have Ammar ibn-Khairan, who, despite his sometime occupation as assassin, is a kind and just man, they have poets and highly cultured cities and they also have the cruel and barbaric Muwardis from the Majriti desert. The Jaddites have people who are regular ranchers just making a living, they have priests who mean well but are manipulated(to their great despair) by dogmatic orders from the clergy, they have deeply fundamentalist believers who manipulate those in power. The Kindath religion is the only of the three that does not have outright evil representatives. This goes very well in tune with how it is impossible to oppress others if you yourself is at the bottom rung, and that’s where the Kindath are. I did at first have some issues with the descriptions of the nomadic people of the Majriti, they seemed to me unduly barbaric, but Kay stays true to his analogy of European history all the while depicting the characters with complete loyalty to their motivations. Both of the powerful religions have bad apples, who are in it for the power or the violence exacted against the ‘unbelievers’, and both have honest, honourable persons of integrity, who truly mean well. Kay passes no judgement on the religions themselves, but does very much pass judgement on unfair treatment of others. For instance how the Jaddites are described, when the news arrive that a crusade has been mounted against the Asharites in their homeland and also burned the Kindath city, Sorenica. The same goes for the cruel executions at the hands of the Muwardis. The inhuman attitude that lies at the basis of such actions is clearly disapproved of in Kay’s writing.
Kay draws a clear distinction between religious tenets/dogmas defined by people in power and the people professing a given belief without judging those who differ from themselves in nothing more than name.
There are no specifically outlined racial distinctions between the peoples, only between their style of dress. They all have olive complexions, dark hair, most have dark eyes, except for the Kindath, many of whom have blue eyes. The only ones specifically described as having blonde or red hair and lighter complexions are those coming from the North, and thus not really consequential to any racial profiling. Basically, Kay stays loyal to the looks of the inhabitants of those parts of the European and African continents, without casting any of them in unfair roles – at least as far as I can tell. If I’ve missed something please feel free to point it out.
Women’s situation, too, in this world is described with great loyalty. It is medieval-ish, so in this society women enjoy considerably less freedom than the men. Again, I’ll accept that premise because Kay’s outset seems to be a high degree of loyalty to historic Europe. But at the same time he describes female characters as resourceful, strong and independent within the framework in which they live, and that’s far more than can be said of many other authors. Jehane does encounter much sexism on her way, but nowhere is it endorsed by any of the ‘good guys’. Rodrigo Belmonte is married to a formidable woman, Miranda, who fights with the best of them to defend their ranch, when vengeful brigands seek to kill her, because Rodrigo had the audacity to uphold the king’s law. A dead king’s courtesan, Zabira, who works the best she can to save her sons from the new king’s murderous intent. Queen Ines, married to King Ramiro pretty much to establish a fundy Jaddite foothold in the royal house, but who turns out to be more just than her religious mentors had hoped. Though the women of this world are forced to live less public lives than the men, strong female characters continuously show up throughout the book. Oppression does not make people stupid and anonymous, it makes them resourceful and resilient, and Kay shows this to great extent. An interesting thing I noted was this: the women keep their last names. Jehane’s mother has not taken her husband’s name, and Miranda Belmonte has kept the name d’Alveda because that is her name. Mind, they’re all the names of their patriarchal origins, but still – they get to keep them, which is something that isn’t even a given in our time. Funny how sometimes it’s the little things that can give a positive impression.
Our main characters come from each of the three religions. Ammar ibn Khairan, Asharite, poet, King Almalik’s advisor, assassin of the last Khalif and during the course of the book driven into exile by treachery and deceit (that of others, mind you). Rodrigo Belmonte, Jaddite, soldier, rancher, father, and once and future constable of Valledo, one of the Esperañan kingdoms. And last but most definitely not least, Jehane bet Ishak, Kindath, physician, and she’s our true main character, the one this book is really about, the one the other main characters come together behind.
The main characters are not young. Ammar ibn Khairan is already battle-seasoned and an experienced diplomat, as is Captain Belmonte. Jehane is around 30 if I recall correctly, and it is mentioned a couple of times that she’s been propositioned several times and has rejected the suitors. Her parents have respected her wish to carry on her father’s work as a physician rather than settling into marriage. It is a rather enlightened vision of a medieval-ish heroine and family. There are no children born with supreme swordsman-skills, nor children born to heroic fates, there are only people, who work hard for what they want and need.
I can’t really say much of the main characters’ personalities and motivations, as I’ll be bound to give examples, and that’d really be a shame, as I think this book is a must read. But I can say this: we do see a classic love triangle between Jehane, Ammar and Rodrigo, that was sort of expected. It takes a long while to really pick up, though, much longer than expected, because these are adults, who have priorities that are more important than quick flings. Perhaps one might even call it a quadrangle because there is a fourth main character, who also falls in love with Jehane, he is considerably younger than Jehane, though, and the love isn’t mutual as she views him mostly as still a boy, so they remain close friends and nothing more throughout the book.
All the characters who show up in the book, not just the main characters, are characterized well. Not necesarily with many words on many pages – you can’t dedicate that much space to the supporting cast, after all, otherwise you’d have a 10 book series before you’d know it – but Kay has chosen his words with great care, and even those characters we don’t meet very long or very often seem like real people to me. Time and again I was sure that we’d ‘meet’ this or that character again, because the author had clearly made an effort to give them a personality, and time and again I was wrong. Kay makes every character a person, and every person is relevant, even if only for backstory, causing problems, making excuses or giving another character an excuse. Naturally the main characters are the ones we get to know best, because we spend more time with them, but that’s only natural. Kay seems to have a very egalitarian view, since even those people who show up in only brief flashes have been given as much personality and internal consistency as everyone else. I must say, I’m deeply impressed.
And now for the final verdict.
The general story/setting: Ø Ø Ø Ø O
Kay gets 4 out of 5 because the plot is not original at all. We’ve seen it before and plot-wise Kay hasn’t added anything to it. What pulls him up to 4 is his prose. Well thought-out, carefully employed language and imagery that makes an unoriginal setting come alive and become exciting. Nowhere does Kay pull divine intervention out to save someone from an impossible situation. If need be, characters die. And even if the setting and plot isn’t terribly original this is still an absolutely must read, because once you’re into the story you really don’t notice.
Isms: Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø
Well, I can’t think of anything he did wrong. Naturally, including people from every single marginalised group out there would be unrealistic and nigh impossible, so judging from those that are represented I’ll say: Kay did a perfect job. Here’s a book that treats everyone in it with respect, and to the best of my judging ability, no reader of any group would feel alienated while reading this. Top marks.
Characters: Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø
Like I said in the review above: Even the supporting cast are whole three-dimensional people. Deciding to put an effort into them, and also doing such a fine job of it is commendable. Top marks again.
Whoah that was longer than I’d anticipated. I suppose it shines through that I’m really stoked about this book. So many times have I had a book recommende to me as ” the best fantasy you’ll ever read” and been really disappointed, when it turned out rape scenes were fetishized and female characters were either Xena or Miss Ditz. This time the recommendations held true. I owe a thanks to the woman who recommended it to me, because it has been one of the best reading experiences, I’ve ever had in the fantasy genre. Also, now I’ve started the series with a positive review – to put it mildly. Partly to show that I won’t just use the series to trash my beloved fantasy genre, but also to show that I do consider success in the isms department possible, and Lions of Al-Rassan proves it. It is not impossible to treat your readers with respect by respecting the characters in your book – even if the other characters don’t (which is perfectly fine; a fantasy book without strife and conflict would probably be boring). Look to Kay for the evidence, ’cause he gets it.
Also: I apologize for any run-on sentences. I have a tendency to write those. I’ve tried to catch them all, but I’m pretty sure I won’t have succeeded, I usually don’t, unfortunately.
Psychiatry and power
As I’ve previously shared on here, I’ve been in touch with the public health care system for over a year now. I’ve been diagnosed with depression – and no one ever thought to find out if possibly there might be something more that might have caused the depression. Not until I found out myself, at least. That meant I needed to be diagnosed all over again, and this time the question is not: Does this woman suffer from depression? Yes or no? This time the question is: What’s up with this woman? That’s okay with me, I need to know whats up with my head, so I can take that into account when making plans for the future. It sure would be nice to not run myself into the ground constantly.
I blogged for BADD and wrote about how my psychologist had handled my request for another psych, and my suspicion that I might have Asperger’s.
In that latter post I explained how I automatically bow to authority without a thought, and what kind of power people in autority unknowingly wield. Last year I knew, I did not need to go on sick leave from my job. I knew it’d do me no good. But my psych recommended it and repeatedly suggested it, and I did as I was told. And the results: I became more miserable and lost my job as a direct consequence. The result of that is that I’m currently even more miserable, because I don’t know what will happen to me when the bank will no longer have mercy on us with regards to paying the rent, and I’m not gonna get a job in the condition I’m in right now. No employer in his right mind would hire me.
As I wrote in that latter post I would take my friend with me to a therapy session. She came with me and gave me the strength I needed to tell my psych that I need to see someone else. I told her that I’ve lost trust in her. Her every single advice for me in the past year has backfired and made me more miserable, and now I feel, she’s let me down, by not acting on her suspicion that I suffer from more than ‘just’ depression. And I cannot trust that her care is the best for me, when she herself has told me I’ll be her guinea pig if/when diagnosing me with Asperger’s. It seems she took it in, and on my request she would look into who she could refer me to, who knew something about Asperger’s.
Three weeks later I came in for the appointment in which she’d inform me about what she’d found for me.
I didn’t bring my friend, because to me this would just be an informative appointment. Turns out I should have. I came in, and pleasantries aside I asked her what she’d found for me. She avoided the question. I first assumed she wanted to wait till we were seated and such. She grabbed her notepad, and I figured she had info on there that she needed it for. That’s until we sat down, and she asked me how I’d been. I told her the truth: miserable, but with hope now that there seemed to be a diagnosis in my immediate future.
And then I asked again what she’d found for me. Nothing. Then I snuck a peak at her notepad – she was taking notes as if this was a regular therapy session. She hadn’t found me a goddamn thing. She told me that no one could take me. (could or wanted to, I wonder… I don’t know how she presented the case to her colleagues, and by now I’m having my doubts as to her honesty) She’d talked to everyone at the hospital and no one could take me. Maybe she doesn’t know(yeah right!) but here in Denmark patients actually have the right to change doctors or psychologists. But apparently this does not apply to psychiatric patients.
She honestly thought I’d just settle for her when she told me this. She was completely ready to just set off to another therapy session, and she actually sounded surprised, when I told her that this was no help for me. I can’t even ask a counsellor (with regards to the system) what my options are, because this bitch of a psychologist has taken her time referring me to one. It’s taken her 6 (SIX!!!) weeks to let a counsellor know that I need an appointment. I had to ask for it 3 frigging times, before she actually managed to do it right. By now I’ve received a letter with an appointment for next week – there was a two week wait, they’re busy an that’s okay, but I could’ve had that legal and systemic counsel when I needed it and not delayed with several weeks. If only she’d actually done her job.
She even suggested to me that I go back on the meds. That pissed me off. I started crying from sheer frustration and asked her if she’d take chemotherapy for stomach cancer every time she had a stomach ache? Then how the about we find the fuck out what’s wrong with me before we medicate me? Especially since last time I was on meds it was hardly a success. “But you said you got better,” she pointed out. No, I did not. I said I was no longer getting those deep dark pits in my mood, but I wasn’t able to feel any happiness either, I wasn’t able to feel good about having accomplished something, I became apathetic and indifferent, and I became physically ill and needed to sleep 20 hours a day to the point of falling asleep behind the wheel. I did not get better. But she only heard that I didn’t have those dark moody black holes anymore, and that must mean it helped me.
Bloody hell, woman, are you deaf?!?!? I refrained from screaming this at her, even though I wanted to.
After this I got up and said “I think we’re done here. I need to talk to someone else, and if you won’t help me, I’ll find someone who will.” And all the time I had this sickening feeling that she wasn’t taking me seriously at all. She just radiated this overbearing “Suuuuure, deary” attitude and I’m so pissed off.
My appointment with that counsellor is next week. I’ll ask her what my options are. I need public health care, ’cause I can’t afford to see a private practice. I can’t even afford the rent right now.
So once again I’ve been fucked over by the system that’s supposed to help everyone. To all of you Americans chastising Europeans for not appreciating our socialized medicine. What exactly have I got to appreciate? If that shrink was on my payroll, she’d have had a heck of lot more interest in actually doing her job and give a shit. As it is, she gets paid just as well even though she’s made things worse for me for over a year. For this to have any consequence (possibly) for her I need to file a complaint, and my reservoir of spoons isn’t exactly so full that I have enough for such excesses. I have just enough to get through the day if nothing unforeseen happens. This past 1½ week has been death to me because my cat’s been very sick, and that hasn’t exactly given me leftover spoons to spend on filing complaints about crappy shrinks. (he’s all right now) I’d prefer some mixture of the two systems, where everyone is ensured treatment by the state, paid with tax money the way it is now. But with an additional level where doctors, psychologists, therapists etc only get paid if they actually deserve it. When everything is paid through the taxes, there’s too little quality control especially in psychiatry, where the patients routinely have far fewer resources to demand proper treatment and to stand up for their rights.
The psychiatric system is a loody danger to everyone these days.
Check this out: Patients illegally restrained at psychiatric hospitals
Despite almost 170 cases of illegal restraining the health minister believes that figures for restraining patients at psychiatric institutions should be viewed positively
How so, I wonder? Is it a good thing that doctors are routinely infringing upon patients’ rights? The chairman of the parliament’s health committee disagrees:
‘This is something we simply cannot accept,’ he said.
Restraint includes putting a patient in restraining belts, locking them in solitary confinement or injecting them with medication. Hospital figures indicate that one in five mentally ill patients have been restrained at some point while in state care.
However, Rudiengaard also believes that the figures are not representative, because many patients are either too afraid or mentally ill to come forward with a complaint.
Exactly. 170 cases can be seen as a low number, and the minister clearly does so and pats the collective backs of the system for being so good. But Rudiengaard is right, by far most patients who are so ill that anyone would even think of restraining them, will not have the resources to complain. They have better things to do and more pressing concerns for instance getting better.
1 in 5, people, 1 in 5. That’s a lot.
Bent Hansen, head of the Association for Danish Regions, which manages the nation’s hospitals, said that when doctors are faced with an uncooperative or violent mentally ill patient they need to make a difficult decision about what action to take.
‘There’s no clear guideline,’ said Hansen. ‘It’s the doctor’s call, and I have great confidence in the abilities of our hospital personnel and their work on the psychiatric units.’
But let’s face it. People aren’t just restrained when they’re violent. They’re also restrained when they’re uncooperative. For instance if someone has my current distrust of doctors only worse and refuses to speak to them, they could well be locked in a room with no stimuli. Is that cool?
My friend’s autist son spends 50% of his time in an institution for kids with autism and additional diagnoses. In that place they have a policy of having as few stimuli as possible in the kids’ rooms, so as not to trigger any outbursts. Well, newsflash, people, many autists are actually highly intelligent, and how many highly intelligent people do you know who’d be content staring into a white wall several hours a day. I went with my friend to check up on the institution the other day. A favour in return for her coming with me to the shrink. I spotted several things in the guide to personnel about how to treat the child, things that would specifically trigger him rather than calm him down. See, he has OCD, and the personnel is told to try and meet him halfways about the things he’s OC about.
Full stop. Back up.
There’s no meeting OCD halfways. You can’t rationalise with an obsessive compulsive individual. If they need to touch every door handle they pass that’s what they need to do. Period. You can’t make an agreement to only touch half the door handles. It’s OCD, you don’t negotiate with a disorder. Seriously, these are supposedly professional people. That example is not his compulsion btw, I respect his privacy by not telling anything specific to him.I also noted how his daily schedule included a LOT of time spent in his room which he may not leave unless given permission. And at the same page it says that he very much enjoys being outside. Hello, people, have you read what you’ve written? You’re confining the child for no apparent reason other than your own convenience.
The child has a specific piece of clothing that he wears at all times. It’s another part of his OCD. On that guide it says that the piece of clothing must come off before bedtime. Why can’t he sleep with it on? I wonder. Why is it so important that this kid sleeps dressed like someone else has decided he should? Has anyone noticed how there are pjs and nightgowns and birthday suits among the preferred methods of sleeping attire? Everyone else are free to choose, but this child is not allowed to sleep the way he’d be most comfortable.You can’t raise an autist to be normal. We’re strange people and we can’t be changed. If we’re high functioning we might be able to pretend a level of normalcy, but if we’re not you can’t teach us to be normal, so fucking stop trying. You’ll end up traumatizing the poor kid and every other peson treated this way.
My friend hadn’t noticed these things, so she was very grateful how I could point them out. What can I say? Insider knowledge is useful.
I’ll continue this topic in another post later on.
