This Week in Ferrante

From Avidly:

FerranteThis 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.

More here.