Friday, October 30, 2009

Women Unbound Reading Challenge



Well, I'm definitely late to the game in posting this.  Or at least, I feel late to the game in posting, even though this whole challenge only came about yesterday.  On Twitter (it's a whole new world on there, I tell ya), Eva mentioned that she would like someone to host a Women's Studies Challenge.  Care said she thought that sounded like a good idea, I mentioned that Rosie the Riveter would be proud of all participants, and somehow the three of us ended up co-hosting this challenge.

Whatever it means to host a challenge (I don't know; I never have and yet am planning on doing another one in addition to this.  Go big or go home, I say), this was a huge community effort.  So many people contributed to making the Women Unbound challenge what it is, between coming up with the name (I had no part in that), the buttons (I had no part in that), the time frame (I had no part in that), the commitment levels (I had no part in that), the website (I had no part in that), suggested reading lists (guess what part I had in that), etc., etc.

So really, everyone else did all the work and I'm just taking the credit :-)  Works for me!

Anyway, the Women Unbound Challenge goes from November 1, 2009 - November 30, 2010.  That gives you 13 months to read books that center around "the multidisciplinary study of the social status and societal contributions of women and the relationship between power and gender."  This is a fairly broad definition and encompasses both  fiction and non-fiction books.  The three levels are:
  • Philogynist: read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction one.
  • Bluestocking: read at least five books, including at least two nonfiction ones.
  • Suffragette: read at least eight books, including at least three nonfiction ones.
Generally, my approach to challenges is to bite off more than I can chew and then fail miserably to meet my goals.  As I am a creature of habit, I will be sticking with this somewhat misguided system and am signing up to be a Suffragette!  I have so many history books on women on my shelves that it's time to get them down and get them read.  I will post my reading list once I determine which of those books interest me the most at the moment, and then after posting that list, I'm sure I'll promptly lose all interest in reading any of them.  But at least I'll have shown initiative!

In any case, if you are interested in participating in the Women Unbound challenge, please go to our challenge website here and sign up!  You don't need to have a blog- you can sign up and just challenge yourself to do the reading and then send any reactions you might have to me and I will ensure that they are posted on our website.  The site also gives suggested women's studies reading, and Eva has a great list up at her website here, too.  Hope you all participate- it will be fun and feminine and awesome :-)

10 comments:

  1. You're definitely not the last. :) I'm planning to participate but I'm not going to post about it until after the craziness of Halloween is over at our house.

    ReplyDelete
  2. lol @ you! Seriously, this post had me laughing so hard. :p But don't feel late to the game-most people who said they liked it on Twitter haven't signed up yet! :)

    And yay sister suffragette! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You're not too late in the game! I haven't finished going over my stuff yet and probably won't post about it until the end of the week...

    ReplyDelete
  4. This was a hoot to read. and you DID do a lot just by getting the ball rolling in that comment response to Eva's first idea. :) I am so looking forward to working with you on this and getting to know you. and good idea - I think I will go look at my bookshelves to see if any of my in house books will qualify before I commit to any list. Yea Suffragettes!

    ReplyDelete
  5. you gals birthed a beautiful challenge. i'm preparing my acceptance post. and btw i love your rosie posts. great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeah, I haven't signed up yet, but I am going to!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I saw part of this discussion twitter, I'm still thinking about doing it, so I will really be a latecomer. Your post is hilarious! Here's to setting goals high and then failing,lol. I'm sure you will make it as a suffragette. Good Luck

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm very excited! I'm even trying to recruit my sister, who doesn't have a book blog. =)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think this is a wonderful idea; I don't know if I will participate but I really look forward to reading the reviews for this Challenge. It is a great complement the the Riveter's series too, which I have been enjoying immensely even though I never have anything halfway intelligent to add to the discussions! But I am here reading them nevertheless! :--)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, what a great idea! I have a slew of books that would fit this nicely. Not that any other incentive has gotten me to pull them off my shelves for long, alas. But I so want to be a Suffragette......

    ReplyDelete

I read every comment posted on this blog, even if it sometimes takes me a while to respond. Thank you for taking the time and effort to comment here! Unless you are spamming me, in which case, thanks for nothing.