Girl, Woman, Other

Penelope came to the conclusion that marrying someone when you’re in love with them was perhaps not such a good idea, better to wait a few years (ten, twenty, thirty, never?) to see if you’re still compatible after the passion has subsided and reality set in

she listened as they debated what it meant to be a black woman

what it meant to be a feminist when white feminist organizations made them feel unwelcome

how it felt when people called them nigger, or racist thugs beat them up

what it was like when white men opened doors or gave up their seats on public transport for white women (which was sexist), but not for them (which was racist)

Amma could relate to their experiences, began to join in with the refrains of, we hear you, sister, we’ve all been there, sister

very slow foreign films with no plot and lots of atmosphere because ‘the best films are about expanding our understanding of what it means to be human, they’re a journey into pushing the boundaries of form, an adventure beyond the clichés of commercial cinema, an expression of our deeper consciousness’

of course feminism isn’t about manhating! it’s about women’s liberation, equal rights and freedom from limiting expectations,

Olive Senior from Jamaica, Rosa Guy from Trinidad, Paule Marshall from Barbados, Jamaica Kincaid from Antigua, and Maryse Condé from Guadeloupe

the energy that had hitherto radiated warmth had quickly turned radioactive

she’s Mum’s emotional caretaker, always has been, always will be

it’s the burden of being an only child, especially a girl

who will naturally be more caring.

when in fact he’d done nothing wrong except fail to live up to her feminist expectations of him

every month they read a new book, started off with The Lonely Londoners by the Trini writer Selvon, about young Caribbean men in England who get up to mischief and treat women badly, women who don’t even get a chance to speak in the book
everyone agreed those fellas needed a slap upside their heads and they agreed to focus on women writers of the Caribbean, who would be more mature and responsible, and move on to the fellas later

she thanks Jesus she made new friends with women who’d also returned from America, Canada and Britain and asked her to join their reading group