AwA* on the worldwide women & feminist fight day.
March 8th is not a holiday, it is a day when we take space to draw attention to the social situation of women. Collectively, we stand up for a society away from patriarchal power structures. We take to the streets, organize events, write texts, and network to counteract these power structures. In 2023, we are still in a society that is characterized by violence. Not only from statistics, surveys and the many reports of all those who are affected by this violence, but also in our own practical awareness work we are constantly dealing with this violence.
It can be situations at events where especially cis men still think it’s okay to “just compliment” female perceived people, to “bottle them up”, to “hunt them down” and “make them compliant” – many women are affected by objectifying remarks to alcohol, KO drops or other substances are given to them without consent, by physical intimidation and sexual violence.
It is about sexualizing, misogynistic, heteronormative assaults in public space as well as at events and homo-, intersex- as well as transphobic violence, where boundaries and the integrity especially of FLINTA* persons are not respected.
There are “cool guys” and sometimes just as unsolidary FLINTA* people who belittle the experiences of those affected, don’t believe the experiences of those affected, and impose their own opinion à la “well, it’s just never happened to me before” or “it wasn’t that bad”. They are not supportive.
There are friends who play down the behavior of aggressors and thus deprive those affected of solidarity. With statements like “he’s just like that when he’s drunk / consumed something” or “the person is actually otherwise okay anyway” and other bullshit that we have had enough of listening to.
These four examples represent a fraction of the violence that we regularly encounter within the work that we do, due to patriarchal power relations. Awareness work also means making the many other forms of violence a subject. This concerns femicide – that is, the murder of women by men. That concerns other domestic and relationship violence. That concerns unequal and precarious working and wage conditions, representations of sex/gender stereotypes in the media, or the devaluation, violence and precarization against entire professions such as sex work. Or the violence that a normative binary gender system carries with it, the constant invisibilization and increasing attack and denial of sex/gender diversity, of non-binary, trans and agender persons, the medical and social violence that intersex persons experience, including especially in childhood. All of these experiences are based on binary attributions, exclusions, and patriarchal structures.
We stand in solidarity with all those who organize against these and many other social grievances. Awareness work is part of these struggles, and we stand organized against patriarchal violence and for a society free of it as well as other forms of oppression.
Every day March 8 – every day intersectional & queer-feminist struggle!