I’m in a book! Geef haar eens ongelijk

Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t end up in books very often. In fact, this is the first time I’m mentioned by name in a real book. The kind you can flip through. Something tangible. Something that lasts.

And that idea… it does something to me.

Because imagine this: hundreds of years from now, some beings are doing an excavation and they come across the book “Geef haar eens ongelijk”. And they say, “Ah, what a beautiful find. This shows how people lived in the 21st century.” And then they read about Christina Oud. That I had quite an eventful life, but also did some pretty strange things from time to time. That’s what they’ll say, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years later.

And the best part is: they’ll be able to see us too. The cover has a fold-out with photos of a group of women, together with Marcel Musters, who interviewed us all. So those highly evolved beings will look at us and think: this is what they looked like.

It makes me laugh.

Maybe it comes from that documentary about Neanderthals. Back then, those people could never have imagined, “Wow, 170,000 years from now someone will be brushing my bones with a little paintbrush and be delighted that I’m still here.” No, they didn’t think that.

But I do.

I think: one day I won’t be here anymore. My cloud will disappear. My socials will be gone. No one will visit my website anymore. But this book… it might still be there.

A small piece of me that remains.

There. That’s actually quite a comforting feeling.

Foto door Michæl Habraken

On March 1st, there was the book launch. I was there as an officially invited guest by Meulenhoff Publishing. Many of the women who were interviewed were there too. And you feel it immediately: a kind of connection. A bond. That moment where you think, hey, this is nice - shall we create something together?

And yet, I didn’t do it at first.

Fear of coming across as needy. Fear of taking up time from people who might be more well-known. More important.

Funny, really, how quickly you make yourself smaller.

And still, afterwards, I invited a few women to join my podcast STEAM. Not everyone felt called to it "sex in the broadest sense of the word” isn’t exactly a comfortable topic for everyone. But some women were interested. 

And in the end, besides a wonderful afternoon with my date Hans at Tolhuistuin, that was what mattered most: connection.

Pablo Cabenda wrote in my book:

Hey, you beautiful, crazy, sweet woman. I really enjoyed you. x Pablo”

Well, assuming this book still exists, those intergalactic beings in the future will be able to do a full analysis of 21st-century social interactions based on that sentence alone.

Marcel Musters wrote:

“Dear Christina, you helped me so much to come back into myself. I love you. xx Marcel”

Just to be safe, I’ll add a little note explaining he meant Yin yoga. Otherwise, those future beings might get very confused. You don’t want to lead them down the wrong historical path. 

I’m helping future history here.

The book is available at all (online) bookstores and can be ordered here.

Dear people, go and buy that book. Not just for my story, but for those of 24 other women. Because all of us, in our own way, leave something behind.

And sometimes… it’s simply very comforting to know you don’t completely disappear.

Love,

Christina