I published this post first in September 2015 but am re-posting it edited at the old date:

What on earth is a “not exactly Teaser Tuesday”?

Well, in my blogging free weeks I have been pondering how I want to go about my writing life in the near future. I have come to realise that I would love to read more but also maybe start my own online business. What that might be, has to remain a secret for now because I need to let that idea germinate properly.

I have come to realise that philosophy is a topic I want to know more about and that I want to learn more languages. So far I have managed to start with refreshing my French with the great Duolingo app on my phone. 22 days in a row a little French at a time. Am quite proud of that.

Another topic that occupies me a lot lately is the question of why women have come into this inferior situation in many societies. It has been raised for me again while watching a BBC program called “The Ascent of Woman“. Dr Amanda Foreman has given in this series an enlightening overview on how the situation of women has changed throughout the centuries and in different societies.

However, I felt there is one thing missing. An answer to the question “Why?”

Why have women put up with being marginalised in public life and why do we still put up with it?

What is it that societies are afraid of in women?

And I have decided to follow Kant’s philosophy and dare to think for myself.

I have heard many feminist explanations over the years which in my opinion mainly boil down to “men are aggressive and women are victims unless we fight against it”. For me, though that feels more and more like just the same reasons and excuses that men use against women just the other way round. And that in my opinion can’t be right.

There are a lot of men out there who are treating women with all the respect they deserve and there are men out there who have been marginalised and abused too. There might not be as many as there are women but in the end, it comes down to accepting violence and disrespect toward fellow humans. Gender shouldn’t make a difference. It’s the act that’s the problem, not the gender as I see it.

How can women expect to find supportive men when they view men as aggressive usurpers who do not care about their counterparts? That is as much a simplification as seeing women as weak and stupid. And I am determined to ponder these questions and maybe find some answers that seem logical to me.

But what on earth does this have to do with “Teaser Tuesdays”?

Well, I have started to read the great “A Game of Thrones” series and I am mightily impressed with the strong female characters George R.R. Martin has created. They have their own voices and their point of view is equally spread over the book.

For all those who do not know the books: Martin writes the whole story from different points of view. Every chapter is seen through the eyes of another character which makes the book so fascinating.

He also incorporates marginalised male characters in his books which makes it very realistic for me.

In my opinion, everyone should read the “A Game of Thrones” series by George R. R. Martin. And to give you an incentive here some lines from one of my favourited Characters in the book: Catelyn Stark (quite funny that “Stark” means “strong” in German):

“Listen to yourselves. If you were sons of mine, I would knock your heads together and lock you in a bedchamber until you remembered that you were brothers.”

This is a quote a little further down the line in a later book. I am reading “A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow“