Vanessa Sielmann - "Been there, felt that". Lesung

“I’m different from other women.” Standing out from the crowd, being better, prettier, slimmer, less bitchy, funnier, happier. This idea isn’t just one of the many beliefs that girls and young women grow up with in our society. Perhaps it’s the core problem. The first domino.

When we finally understand that we’re all the same—equally angry, equally sad, equally awkward, clueless, and complicated—that’s exactly where we can draw strength from. Vanessa Sielmann is a political scientist, content creator, and self-proclaimed “girl’s girl.” In “Been there, felt that,” she explores collective female experiences: sexual self-determination and the pressure to orgasm, PMS and toxic niceness, Friday nights on the couch and nights spent dancing until dawn, the desire to find a sense of belonging, and the fear of missing out.

Vanessa writes so insightfully about the spirit of our 20s and our invisible commonalities that it alternately makes you angry and amuses you—but always offers hope. A book about the feeling of having to be different—and the freedom to no longer want to be.

Vanessa Sielmann, born in 1996, is a political scientist and a professional overthinker. She and her work navigate the space between feminist rage, living with ADHD, perfectly ordinary everyday life, and the chaos of self-discovery. Vanessa lives in Hamburg, often daydreams about Scotland, and believes that good books can be like friends: honest, funny, and sometimes uncomfortable.