Some inspirational words from the 2013 Feminism in London Conference, the speaker was Finn Mackay – see the whole speech here.
Let us be clear. It is not feminism that turns women into victims. It is the men who choose to abuse women, who choose to violate women, who presume a right to buy women. It is those men who make women into victims; not feminism. Feminism is here to stop that process, to end the violence of male domination. We respond to individual experiences with the aim of collective change for all. That is what empowerment looks like.
It is not pessimistic or negative to name our oppression. It is liberating. Ours is a movement of billions of women, which says: no, it wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t because of what you were wearing, it wasn’t because of who you dated, it wasn’t because of how much you had been drinking, it wasn’t because of how late you walked home. Ours is also a movement which feels every loss, we feel every indignity, we feel every assault – because this is about you, and also because this goes beyond you; because this is about all of us. It is about every woman made to feel that she wasn’t worth as much as a man; every woman made to hate her body; every woman made to question and judge herself simply due to her sex alone; every woman denied opportunities or directed away from them; every woman made to feel she was lesser, second class.
What we all share as women, despite our vast diversity is our experiences of sexism in a world of male supremacy. What we should also share, but too often don’t, is our involvement in a collective movement of resistance to that oppression.
Homophobia, misogyny and a lack of faith are what hold women back from identifying with one of the oldest and most powerful social movements the world has ever known – their own. It is up to all of us to challenge that misogyny, to restore the faith in our personhood, our own potential, our own humanity.
For what is shameful about social justice, what is embarrassing about dignity and worth, what is wrong with demanding a stake in the world we have built? Feminism is only frightening to those who gain the most from oppression, to those who would stifle the human spirit and hold the world in stasis. The rest of us really do have nothing to lose and everything to gain; a revolution still to finish, and a world to win.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
6 comments
November 21, 2013 at 10:06 am
syrbal-labrys
Abusers, of whatever sort, are always invested in denial of that role. To be fair, in some cases it is not because of any special payback they get out of it — but because to admit to being abusive in some fashion would require self-examination. And that would reveal fears, flaws and other nasty human traits they would like to keep ignoring since they have been raised by a society that basically denies humanity to ALL in one fashion or another.
The hidden battle beneath all the obvious ones that feminists fight is to help raise/mother a new generation NOT programmed to fear being human, being vulnerable, being needy, being flawed — regardless of gender.
My biggest fear is that the earth itself does not have enough time left for this war to be won.
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November 21, 2013 at 10:30 am
syrbal-labrys
Oh, and on that subject…of men. Music is so helpful at times.
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November 23, 2013 at 7:52 am
The Arbourist
@Srybal
Well said. I think I’ve consigned the future mostly to the bin making the decision with Intransigentia not to have children. We live in this peak golden time when the scales are tipped heavily in our favour allowing us to consume so much more than we need and live so very, very comfortably. This particular state, cannot go on indefinitely, and until an energy source is found that isn’t the same as ecologically slitting our own throat the outlook for us is pretty dim.
I’m 39 and think that things shouldn’t go Higgldy-pigildy till I’m done with my life. I won’t abdicate my post and stop teaching others about being decent human beings, but I cannot, in good faith bring more people into a crisis situation that they did not create.
The Earth will carry on with out without us, it is just a shame that we’ll take so many other innocent species along with us once we do go.
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November 23, 2013 at 7:52 am
The Arbourist
@Srybal
Woo! Great song! :)
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November 23, 2013 at 9:21 am
syrbal-labrys
My single regret in life is that I did have children; it was in a period where temporarily things looked like they were getting better. But then the slide downhill began before they were even all grown. So I certainly understand your choice!
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November 25, 2013 at 12:23 pm
itisnotpessismisticornegativetonameouroppression. | iamthepink.
[…] reblog from Dead Wild Roses. a wonderful excerpt from finn mackay’s speech at the 2013 feminism in london […]
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