Bel Olid - Böcker

Razors, tweezers, wax and hair removal creams: these are the tools for the initiation rites that signal the passage from girl to woman. Today the only acceptable places for a woman to have hair are on her head (preferably long), her eyebrows (not too wild) and eyelashes (not too sparse). All kinds of cosmetics are sold to achieve the desired effect of localized luxuriance. At the same time, the industry of removing hair everywhere else on the body advances relentlessly. Hair is no longer a sign of joy but a battleground of cosmetic surgery.In this short book, the Catalan writer Bel Olid draws on personal experience to dismantle preconceived ideas about the supposed benefits of waxing and shaving, and to lay bare the social penalties that are meted out to any woman who allows their body hair to grow.  With clarity and courage, Bel Olid exposes the contradictions and hidden costs of hair removal, and issues a rousing call to women everywhere to set themselves free from the urge to please everyone else and to focus, instead, on what pleases them.

Razors, tweezers, wax and hair removal creams: these are the tools for the initiation rites that signal the passage from girl to woman. Today the only acceptable places for a woman to have hair are on her head (preferably long), her eyebrows (not too wild) and eyelashes (not too sparse). All kinds of cosmetics are sold to achieve the desired effect of localized luxuriance. At the same time, the industry of removing hair everywhere else on the body advances relentlessly. Hair is no longer a sign of joy but a battleground of cosmetic surgery.In this short book, the Catalan writer Bel Olid draws on personal experience to dismantle preconceived ideas about the supposed benefits of waxing and shaving, and to lay bare the social penalties that are meted out to any woman who allows their body hair to grow.  With clarity and courage, Bel Olid exposes the contradictions and hidden costs of hair removal, and issues a rousing call to women everywhere to set themselves free from the urge to please everyone else and to focus, instead, on what pleases them.

A woman’s life is different. This is clear when a stranger’s catcall makes her feel targeted in the street. When politicians make off-the-cuff sexist remarks. When media commentators wade in with their condemnation of free, unrestricted abortion. When a father is praised to the skies for attending parents’ evening while the mother’s attendance is taken for granted. When they fire her because she’s pregnant. When they dismiss her medical symptoms as anxiety. To counter sexism today, we need to learn the art of self-defence.  Today, feminism is more alive and more necessary than ever because discrimination against women has become more subtle and difficult to detect, yet it retains its paralysing power. With combative energy and acerbic wit, Bel Olid explains the key concepts of the current feminist struggle in a smart, radical and often counterintuitive way.

A woman’s life is different. This is clear when a stranger’s catcall makes her feel targeted in the street. When politicians make off-the-cuff sexist remarks. When media commentators wade in with their condemnation of free, unrestricted abortion. When a father is praised to the skies for attending parents’ evening while the mother’s attendance is taken for granted. When they fire her because she’s pregnant. When they dismiss her medical symptoms as anxiety. To counter sexism today, we need to learn the art of self-defence.  Today, feminism is more alive and more necessary than ever because discrimination against women has become more subtle and difficult to detect, yet it retains its paralysing power. With combative energy and acerbic wit, Bel Olid explains the key concepts of the current feminist struggle in a smart, radical and often counterintuitive way.

Following our desires, sharing pleasure: sounds easy, right? And yet our sexualities are conditioned by expectations, prejudices and taboos that make it difficult to listen to our own bodies, let alone anyone else’s. Bel Olid clears away the taboos and invites readers to explore pathways to more connected sexualities and more pleasurable relationships. Because perhaps the first thing we need to learn about sex is to unlearn. Unlearn the desire we’ve been taught we must feel, unlearn the shame. Forget the bodies that we’ve been obliged to like, forget the behaviour presented as the only type possible. And then, with fresh eyes, look deep inside and ask ourselves what we want, what we like, what we feel like discovering. Listening to our desire, and listening to the other person too. Daring ourselves to doubt, explore, make mistakes, stop at any time. Let’s step into the ocean of possibilities.

Following our desires, sharing pleasure: sounds easy, right? And yet our sexualities are conditioned by expectations, prejudices and taboos that make it difficult to listen to our own bodies, let alone anyone else’s. Bel Olid clears away the taboos and invites readers to explore pathways to more connected sexualities and more pleasurable relationships. Because perhaps the first thing we need to learn about sex is to unlearn. Unlearn the desire we’ve been taught we must feel, unlearn the shame. Forget the bodies that we’ve been obliged to like, forget the behaviour presented as the only type possible. And then, with fresh eyes, look deep inside and ask ourselves what we want, what we like, what we feel like discovering. Listening to our desire, and listening to the other person too. Daring ourselves to doubt, explore, make mistakes, stop at any time. Let’s step into the ocean of possibilities.

In Wilder Winds, Bel Olid presents a stunning collection of short stories that draw on notions of individual freedom, abuses of power, ingrained social violence, life on the outskirts of society, and inevitable differences. Alongside these are small acts of kindness capable of changing the world and making it a better place. Like flowers stubbornly growing and blooming in the cracks of a pavement, Olid’s work seeks out beauty without renouncing truth, and never avoids conflict or intimacy. Wilder Winds creates scenes and fragile, yet hardy characters that will stay with the reader for years to come.