On the 25th of November we "celebrate" the day against all violence towards women. From the movement I've founded on 2011, we will campaign like every year against obstetric violence around the world. After all these years campaigning I'm reflecting more and more about the various issues surrounding these apparently complex matters. Also in the process, in my personal life my kids are growing older and I have had a daughter. So now more than ever, the personal is political as my dear Sheila Kitzinger used to say.
But one thing that is starting to bother me is the way the issues of my gender are relegated to a corner in society. On the 7th of this month I went to a demonstration in the Spanish consulate in London, in solidarity with a march of thousands in Madrid demonstrating about the fact that around 70 women per year in Spain are killed at the hands of their partners. The issue is massive, the demonstration was massive...48 hours later we had 6 new victims, nothing has been done...And so we carry on. And these are "gender issues" and if we talk about obstetric violence we even have to argue with fellow feminists if this is really a gender issue, the cornered further from the already cornered...And meanwhile we women are still treated like second class, children or simply individuals who are simply not relevant enough.
I'm amazed that we have bought this idea of the women sections, when they are yet another form of discrimination and even worse since they are meant to be "empowering" . These women sections do two things, 1) separate our issue from being dealt with and from being considered as important as any human issues by the decision makers, in their majority men, and 2) separate us from the rest, can you picture Huffington Post for persons of colour? We really have to start avoiding these traps.
"Picture of women at TED women talking to women about women's problems"
Gender violence is also human violence. So it doesnt mean that because we women are victims we should be the ones resolving this issue!!
And obstetric violence is the one pretty much all the existing generations have been victims of, as they have suffered it arriving into this world, it is the violence that is ruling the world is the violence that is raising angry men, is the violence that broke the primal bond, that prevented love happening, and it is the violence that has left abuse, rejection and mistreat to rule our hearts and brains in many situations.
I'm pretty resolved to start talking about human violence, to start talking about society's problems.
Because my gender doesn't matter to the world. Because all I feel since 2011 is invisibility. All I feel is that they have shown me a playpen where to go with my mates and make as much mayhem as I want and feel better, while the "grown ups" make the decisions for my own good on my behalf. And I'm fed up beyond belief.
Because my gender doesn't matter to the world. Because all I feel since 2011 is invisibility. All I feel is that they have shown me a playpen where to go with my mates and make as much mayhem as I want and feel better, while the "grown ups" make the decisions for my own good on my behalf. And I'm fed up beyond belief.
Bottom line is women are hurt, suffering and dying purely for being women, their children are collateral damage and that my friends should be an international priority on every political agenda and it is not! And that is because the world is machist and dominated by male, regardless of how much pink and purple and women labels you want to put to it.
But please do not forget what you do to women, you do to society, what you do to mothers you do to the future of humanity, so good luck with it all!
We are all going to need it.