The march backwards: Women’s sexual & reproductive rights at risk
Thilde Knudsen is head of Marie Stopes International’s Europe office.
Spain is about to criminalise abortion; politicians in the UK repeatedly attempt to reduce the 24-week limit; and last week in Brussels, a Parliamentary hearing discussed a European Citizens’ initiative that, if successful, would block European Commission (EC) development funding for maternal health.Continue reading “The march backwards: Defend Womens reproductive rights.”
Wolf-whistles, “hey baby” and “keep smiling honey!” are the types of things you’d expect to hear directed at a woman walking down the street. But what would the world look like if gender roles were reversed? A new short film seeks to answer that question — and the result is chilling.
On what seems to be just another ordinary day, a man is exposed to sexism and sexual violence in a society ruled by women… (10 minutes watch below)
Below I reproduce an unattributed translation from the French anarchist publication,Le Monde Libertaire, of an interview with the Tunisian anarchist feminist group, Feminism Attack! I follow that with an earlier report about the Tunisian feminist activist, Amina Sboui, leaving the Femen group and declaring herself an anarchist. Femen is a radical feminist group founded in Ukraine which has captured some media attention through its topless protests where Femen activists paint various political slogans across their chests.
enjoyable sex, chosen motherhood, I CHOOSE, where, how and when!!
Last Monday a feminist picket was called at the Health Ministry in Madrid to protest exclusion of single women and lesbians from health benefits, the latest neo-fascist law, as well as new restrictions on abortion rights, ,exclusion of violence victims with less than 24 hrs in hospital from statistics, closure of hospirals, etc etc. Men were invited.
Well over 500 people showed up, to a festive atmosphere, but the pòlice aggressively identified people, harrassing old people and then attacked without warning, causing many injuries. The press were attacked first, so there are few images of the violence. Continue reading “Lesbians/singles excluded from Health Benefits, police attack demo”
latest 31 May:, Tunisia — A court convicted Amina (Sboui) , for carrying an “incendiary object” and fined her $182. She remains in custody pending more serious charges.The 3 Femen supporters arrested still remain in custody and will appear before a judge today, Friday, when they may be charged.
Femen women attacked and held for
Free Amina protest
Standing on a wall in front of the railings outside the courthouse, the women, two French and the other German, shouted: “Free Amina,” in support of a young Tunisian woman detained while protesting against hardline Islamists and awaiting trial on Thursday.
note.this photo was deleted from Facebook on 30th May for ‘breaking Community Guidelines’. The 3 are still in prison.
“Breast Feed Revolution” read graffiti on the women, who wore only denim micro shorts and black shoes, and “Femen Extremist” was daubed on their backs.
The Free Pussy riot campaign has gone global, hitting at the heart of oppression, semi slavery and open violence against women, in the sexist macho State and the medieval inquisitorial evil church.
Yana Zhadanova of the Femen movement charged the Russian Patriarch yelling Free Pussy Riot, but it was she who got beaten up and sentenced to 15 days prison.
Free Yana Zhdanova ..
“Kirill had just stepped out from a plane when our activist Yana Zhdanova performed her ‘sex attack,'” FEMEN‘s Inna Shevchenko tells ANIMAL over Skype. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill the First was about to launch into a press conference at a Ukrainian airport, but, as Inna says, “We don’t need his shit.”
On their LiveJournal, FEMEN clarifies: “Ukrainian women are proud and free and will never kiss a copper’s boot, even if it is hidden under the stinking Pope cassock.” The quote reads like an homage to the classic Voina action when a performance artist, dressed in a priest cassock and a cop uniform, robbed a supermarket to point out the hypocrisy of Russia’s incestuous relationship of church and state.
FEMEN have written that the action Kill Kirill was in support of “arrested activists.” The Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Russia has recently condemned “devious” activist rockers Pussy Riot to hell and his influence allegedly resulted in Pussy Riot facing seven years in prison for the blasphemy of a protest song in a Moscow church. Meanwhile, Kirill was caught in a scandal when his $30,000 designer watch was Photoshopped out of a church press photo. They forgot about the shadow.
Three members of Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist punk-rock band, began a hunger strike after a Moscow court suddenly told them they must prepare their defense for tria in 4 days. Maria Alyokhina, Yakaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were taken into custody in March, after the group’s February performance of “Virgin Mary Put Putin Away,” an anti-Putin song, inside the Russian Orthodox Church‘s main cathedral, asking the Virgin Mary to chase President Vladimir Putin out of power. The three women were arrested over four months ago and have been held without bail on charges of criminal hooliganism — which carry a possible seven-year prison sentence. Two other female members of the band have avoided arrest thus far. The Church has called for heavy sentences and the case goes to the heart of the open anti women bigotry built into the State and Church.
And so, Yana, brandishing only the provocative slogan of “Kill Kirill” on her chest, rushed the Patriarch. She was grabbed, imprisoned and sentenced to 15 days in prison. The courts refuse to see her action as a protest and instead are charging her with hooliganism. Inna tells us that while Yana was in custody, she was roughly interrogated as the cops are confounded about how she snuck her way into this exclusive, televised, heavily guarded event. After the “sex attack,” Kirill continued, routinely mumbling out a blessing.
And so, FEMEN continue to resist Russian political influence and orthodoxy with their signature tactic–their bare breasts as weapons of shock and awe. They write that they want to keep Kirill “far from political and social life of Ukraine” and are “against such visits of Kiril brotherhood to Ukraine that [brings its] Russian shit to sick Ukrainian society.” Something tells us this visit will be quite memorable.
How Frightened Patriarchal Men Have Tried to Repress Women’s Sexuality Through History
Nasty conservative attacks on women would have been well received in the Roman senate, the Greek agora or most halls of religious power in early Europe
The sexual revolution was not sparked by a single incident and no particular group can claim credit (or blame) for carrying it forward. But all of us agree that it has indeed taken place and that American society has been transformed. A good gauge of the scope of the sexual revolution comes from its opponents. If it’s not Rick Santorum, it’s another conservative leader decrying the threat to our way of life posed by the loosening of traditional codes of sexual behavior.
The Free 