Women Talking Part 1: A Discussion on the Book by Miriam Toews

This week, the MennoBrarians discuss Women Talking, a book by Canadian Mennonite author Miriam Toews that tells a fictional story based on true events that took place in the Old Colony Mennonite colony in Bolivia. 

We will cover the movie in our next episode, which will be out the first week of April. We had not yet seen the movie when we recorded this episode on the book. Tune in for discussions on Canadian authors, depictions of Mennonites, theological dilemmas, and more.

Content warning: Women Talking, while fiction, is based on true stories of sexual assault and rape perpetrated against members (primarily women & children) of the Manitoba Mennonite Old Colony community. While not discussed graphically, references to rape, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation are made throughout this episode. 

Other Reviews of Women Talking (book & movie)
Women Talking: A Displaced Act of Female Imagination, Rebecca Janzen
Women Talking: Review, William Loewen
What the film Women Talking loses (and preserves) from the 2018 novel, Alissa Wilkinson (Vox)

For more information about the true story Women Talking is based on: 

• The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia (Vice) 
• A Time follow up piece to the Vice article.  
• Bolivian Mennonite rape victims update (from a Canadian Mennonite pastor/former Bolivian Mennonite Central Committee worker)  
• The Mennonite Rapes: A trial Tears apart a religious community (WWRN)

For more information, and first-hand accounts from sexual assault survivors in Mennonite, Amish, and Anabaptist communities and contexts: 

• The Plain People’s Podcast https://theplainpeoplespodcast.libsyn.com/ 
• Plain Rainbows / the Misfit Amish: https://www.themisfitamish.com/plain-rainbows 
• Into Account: https://intoaccount.org/ 
• Our Stories Untold https://www.ourstoriesuntold.com/about/ 

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