Been reading a lot of contemporary romance lately, which I kind of drifted into by way of Sophie Kinsella type “chick lit.” I’ve discovered that Goodreads Listopia is a godsend when I’m looking for what to read next. Looking for interracial historical romance? There’s a list for that. Enemies to lovers? Surprise…

I don’t how to explain how reading and romance novels affected my life. Reading them changed the course of my life, I think. I’m the daughter of an immigrant and was in ESL classes most of my time in school. Reading them awakened my love of history (lover of Regency Period novels), it also provided goals and context…

I love romance novels. I haven’t been into them in a few years but every once in a while I get my favorites out to read again. They catch a lot of shit, but back in the day it was the only genre dominated by women, written BY women FOR women, and for all the 2 pages of sex you got, you often got 350 pages of…

Kelly,

Kelly, this series is amazing! Thanks so much for diving into this much maligned, much misunderstood genre.

I’ve been reading romance novels for twenty years now. The first one was pretty old school - I think it was published in the 1980's and I thought I was being all naughty reading it. I went on to study English literature at uni and read and studied the classics, but always on the side I had a romance novel on the go.…

It’s just like manga. There are boy’s love stories for women/girls and for men/boys. Nevertheless most of them are written by women.

Depilation and the burqa both arise from the same patriarchally-enforced ideology that the female body (unlike the male body!) is sinful and dangerous when it is not subjected to minute and conscious control.

I feel like a problem people are having in terms of parsing this issue is looking at it as if the intent of these laws, even a misguided stated intent, is the liberation of women wearing these garments. Really, these laws are just cultural protectionism.

Yeah, uh, there’s a ton of churches in militantly secular France. That is to say, yes, they are militantly secular, but only one group is forced to completely reject the faith of their families.

I saw a pair of women walking arm-in-arm in Paris years ago, before this panic over headscarves and burqas began. The neighborhood we were in is densely populated with ethnic Chinese and Muslim Parisians. The women were clearly very close, and from their comfort walking together, I assumed they were related. One was…

Exactly. It is not “unfeminist” to choose to do old fashioned things for personal reasons. When I got married, I kept my name. But when I had children, I changed my name so that we would all have the same last name. That wasn’t something I was forced to do. It was something I chose to do. And when people try to imply…

There has never been any lack of persecution of women in any society. For the State to apply one standard to those of one faith, and apply different standards to all others is wrong on its face. About like when the US gave blacks the legal right to vote, but in practice looked the other way when southern states…

This is what I’d really like more info on. At least one argument seems to be it’s a safety concern because you can’t tell what people are carrying or who they are or something...but that seems to be about as legit as allowing trans people to use the bathroom they identify with means men will go rape your daughters in…

Except for when burqas are worn by women to reclaim them in order to express both pride in being a feminist AND a Muslim.

I don’t agree with what you choose to wear, but I’ll defend to the death your right to wear it. Even a douchey hipster hat.

Along that logic, and genuinely asking without trying to attack you, how does then telling women they can’t wear burqas amount to anything different? It’s still one group forcing women to do something?

I don’t like to speak in absolutes. Sure there are people being made to do a lot of things, but overcorrecting and banning things isn’t going to help

This is basically my stance. I am uncomfortable with the reasons for the burka, but I don’t think I should go around policing religions in a way that only further punishes women or makes them the focus of negative activism.

Let’s say I agree everything you said is right. If a woman is being forced to wear a burqa, then banning a burqa won’t mean the men in her life have changed their mind. It would mean she’d be drawn further into repression, and might not be able to leave her home. Banning it would make her world smaller, and keep her…