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This Week in Ferrante

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This week in Ferrante, all men should stop talking forever. Or, at least for this week. Stop talking for a week, all men. This week, do not talk. Whatever you have to say, wait until next week. If it still seems important after being quiet about it for a week, next week we will listen to you.

Perhaps you would like to talk this week about Ferrante. No! Especially, men, do not talk about Ferrante. Perhaps there are some other men who would like to hear what you have to say about Ferrante. Do not tell them, though. This week, men have said all they get to say about Ferrante. Men are done now. We cannot listen to any more men say anything else about Ferrante, forever. Or definitely not for this week.

We see from your silent expression that you are concerned that, if you do not talk, about Ferrante, no one will understand how wrong it is for other people to talk about Ferrante, or her identity. Don’t worry. Everyone actually understands exactly how wrong it is, without you saying anything.

You can look at each other mutely, but ask yourself: is my mute expression, the aggressive twitching of my eyebrows, in fact a form of talking? Men: bring your faces down like 30%. Eyebrows: shhh.

Isn’t it, you ask, okay to talk, or at least talk about Ferrante, if you are saying nice things about Ferrante? Aren’t men supposed to be allies, especially about Ferrante? Aren’t men supposed to amplify women, like Ferrante? These are reasonable questions and we would like to discuss them with you. Next week.

Next week is also a good time to discuss any other reasonable questions about gender, anonymity, and the print public sphere. Not this week, though.

Remember that if you retweet a woman talking about Ferrante, but in fact you quote tweet adding your opinion or endorsement, that is in fact talking, and also talking about Ferrante. Remember that this week in Ferrante, no men are allowed to talk, at all.

You may not know what to do with all this time you would otherwise have spent talking, especially about Ferrante. Here, we have compiled some suggestions for you.

Perhaps you feel that we are being defensive and ideological on this topic. It really is too bad that you should be required to not talk this whole week in Ferrante, when it’s not your fault that that one asshole and the NYRB just went and fucked it up for everyone, especially men who want to talk about Ferrante, everywhere.

Sorry!

We look forward, next week, to hearing all your thoughts about Ferrante.

 

Avidly: Team SHHH

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4 COMMENTS

  1. One thing to talk about is the Sundance show Gomorrah. Season one just ended, but Season two has shown in England, and Season three is under production in Italy. It short, it’s Ferrante without the women.

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