LIESBETH’S RARITIES CABINET
the suffering that is called the viva forum
But actually that title is somewhat misleading because it is not suffering, it is pure pleasure. During sleepless nights, I can entertain myself for hours scrolling through feed after feed after feed full of desperate life questions from women across the country. But for those who are not familiar with the phenomenon of the Viva forum, let me start at the beginning.
The Viva forum is the forum of the magazine Viva, and just like with ELLE Girl, that forum has managed to establish its own existence completely separate from the whole magazine. On this forum, thousands of women gather who all have big and small problems of life and for completely unclear reasons discuss them on this forum instead of consulting their real-life friends. It could be that those real-life friends are not there, which could immediately explain the often completely outlandish questions. This varies from very innocent “I was in the bath with my boyfriend and am I now pregnant?” to “I looked in the phone of my new fling and it turned out he is actually married omg what should I do now.”
Again, why are you asking these questions to a group of total strangers on THE INTERNET?! It is also clear that the sexual education of many women has not gone well. I mention the bath question from earlier, but also people who ask seriously about the “pee-pee-hatsjoe” of their boyfriend. It took me a while to figure it out, but she means sperm. Women who accidentally cheated and now are not sure if the unborn baby in their belly is from them or one of the 38485094 extramarital lovers they shared the bed with also come up a lot and often.
People who ask seriously about the “pee-pee-hatsjoe” of their boyfriend
The idiocy of these questions has not gone unnoticed and the most idiotic topics have already been shared by others on Twitter with the hashtag #Meanwhileontheviva forum. Rianne Meijer, ‘creator’ of that hashtag, has since turned that hashtag into a real tumblr, where she summarizes the Life problems with sharp and deliciously cynical commentary along with a link to the original topic. Really, I wish I had started that tumblr because it would then be at the top of my CV.
Look, I do understand that in the case of very embarrassing questions it feels safer to address a group of IP addresses, but some issues are so intense that you can wonder why the person does not dare to turn to another real person. Adulterous men, seriously ill children, double lives, and so on, it’s all there. So if you have nothing to do tonight, do yourself a favor and be amazed together with me about the suffering and pleasure that is called the Viva forum.
