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Not Guilty - Shannon Five war resisters acquitted on all charges 0 comments Recent Articles about Ireland / Britain GenderWSM marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Wo... Nov 26 18 8 reasons anarchists are voting Yes to Repeal the hated 8th May 25 18 Decades of organising wins new abortion referendum in Ireland Feb 02 18 Talking about Sexual Violence
ireland / britain |
gender |
news report
Thursday September 14, 2006 21:00 by Sovietpop and others - WSM - personal capacity
Report from womens dayschool in Dublin Report from a WSM member on a women's only day-school on sexual violence recently held in Ireland. In June, the women members of the WSM hosted a dayschool on Women in Revolutionary Struggle. Following on from this, RAG (Revolutionary Anarcho-Feminist Group) decided to host a women's only day-school on sexual violence. This was held in the in the new Seomra Spraoi space in Dublin. I have to be honest; I wasn’t looking forward to it. Sexual violence is a difficult, emotional and disturbing issue. Spending a Saturday talking about it just wasn’t my idea of fun. It was something important, that had to be done, but not exactly a barrel of laughs. But I was wrong, there were lots of laughs, and it was fun (who’d have thought it!). RAG are to be complimented for creating a relaxed and easy going environment in which to discuss this most difficult of issues. The first thing we did was get to know the person sitting beside us – we asked them about what they liked and didn’t like, what they were good at and what they were bad at. Then we went around in a circle, each introducing the person we had been talking to everyone else. I discovered that Clair likes Organising and that Eve likes Rossport Solidarity Camp and hates Shell. I like cats and have a bad memory. It was an easy start to the day, but things were about to get more difficult. 1. Questions We then wrote down ‘power imbalances in society’ both between men and women and the other hierarchies that exist. We discussed sexual violence as being about exerting power over others. Rape also happens because of physical imbalances between people. Rape is also an instrument of war. A woman from Italy talked about how there, a man might rape a women to get revenge on her partner. We moved on to think about the lack of sexual education that most of us received; people don’t talk about sex or about what consent means. There is often a basic mis-understanding about what is meant by yes and no. This isn’t helped by the masculine and feminine role models in society (and the media depiction of these role models, particularly in the porn industry). We talked about how there were very limited sexual role models within society – women were encouraged to be passive, men aggressive. We also thought that men were under considerable peer pressure, particularly as teenagers, to be aggressive sexually. Coercion is seen to be normal. All the other groups then discussed their questions and answers. Looking at them we thought, that perhaps we hadn’t been given the most difficult question after all. Q. Are there misconceptions about rape? Briefly, here are some of the answers people came up with. Misconceptions about rape: It’s not rape because – she kissed me; it was my boyfriend, husband; it was someone I know and not a stranger; she was a sex worker; she put her self in a dangerous position and should have known better; she dressed sexy; I was drunk or on drugs; he was drunk or on drugs; it didn’t involve genital penetration; because rape only happens to women; because he was educated, middleclass, left-wing, an activist, he couldn’t be a rapist. The final two mis-conceptions outlined were that women lie about rape to blackmail men and that rape is about sexual desire. What is rape? It’s rape if there is; emotional or physical force; intimidation; invasion; violation; when someone is unconscious or asleep; when sex hasn’t been consented to. Men can be raped too. What is sexual harassment? When someone does not respect your boundaries; inappropriate sexual behaviour; lack of sensitivity to others body language; an abuse of power; it can be subtle; it can be sitting too near person, invading their personal space, it can be making unwanted sexual comments or overtures to people. Sometimes we feel embarrassed and don’t want to make a fuss so often town don’t say anything. Sometimes sexual harassment is passed off as a joke so we don’t say anything because we don’t want to make a big deal. Sometimes it is a friend and we don’t want to upset the friendship or don’t know what to say to tell them we are unhappy with their behaviour. All agreed that sexual harassment was difficult because what is appropriate in one context for one person isn’t for another. It was important that we know ourselves what are boundaries are and are able to let people know what they are. But it isn’t easy. Why isn’t rape/sexual violence reported? Because there is a lack of faith in the justice system, there is a low conviction rate; there is fear of the police or the trial; fear of being shunned by family and community; fear of being put on trial; being intimidated by the legal system; because someone is dependant economically on the attacker, or works for them, or doesn’t want to have to leave their home. Rapes aren’t reported when people don’t have the language to express what has happened to them, or are afraid that they will be blamed; they might face homophobia; Among teenagers there is a fear of sex and of talking about it; its difficult for children to access services. 2. Self-defence 3. Consent We were all dived up into pairs, and each pair was given a particular scenario. We were also given a little information about the character we were playing. We were then asked to write down a piece of dialogue between the two and think about how they might respond to the situation they were placed in. My partner and I both hate role-playing, and although initially it was a bit weird and embarrassing, strangely enough, it actually was also a bit of a laugh. The situation I had to develop was one in which the woman in a new relationship tries to convince the bloke to have sex without a condom, though he didn’t really want to. It didn’t take long. When the group was brought back together, volunteers were asked to actually act out their scenarios. The first woman to take to the floor provided a show stopping performance as she pestered her tired and uninterested partner to have sex. Next up was a situation in which two friends are in a social situation, and one keeps coming on to the other, despite the fact that she isn’t interested. This scenario was played too ways, in the first, the woman clearly said ‘listen, I know you’re a mate, but I’m not interested, please respect my boundaries’. The second group dealing with the same scenario had a more difficult task as the character in question shy and only gave non-verbal indications that she really wasn’t interested. In another scenario, one partner in a couple had to ask the other partner to be less clinging and to allow her more independence, while the other partner had to be insecure and anxious. One of the things that came up in the discussion was that when we had given the scenarios, most of us had assumed that a one character was obviously male and the other obviously female. We found that if we thought about changing the genders, the scenarios played very differently. It also made us think about how consent operates both ways between men and women. The facilitators drew up a chart of verbal and non-verbal signals that indicated consent and non-consent. These ranged from consent doesn’t exist is someone says no, if someone is crying, if they turn their back to you, if they are asleep and unconscious. However someone commented that while these were very clear signals, the issue of consent could contain lots of grey areas. People can give out contradictory signals, particularly when there is confusion within their own head about what they want. This then lead onto a discussion about people’s own experiences. A common theme that emerged was how many of us had quite negative sexual experiences as teenagers, we done things or been is situations that we would never been in now that we are a little older and more confident. Many spoke about having sex when they were younger (or even not so young) because they felt a sense that they were ‘obliged to’ or to save a bloke from the embarrassment of being rejected. Someone asked was this ever going to change? Finally the facilitators handed us all out a piece of paper and asked us to note down what our own boundaries were, so that we were sure within ourselves what our lines were. Some people found this useful; others found it more difficult, saying that boundaries are too dependent on context (who you are with, when or where) to make it possible to decide in abstract what they were. I think it is fair to say that this session was very thought provoking. 4. Safer Spaces Policy A common problem seemed to be that while it was fairly easy to establish a positive statement such as ‘sexual harassment shall not be tolerated’, it was much more difficult to work out procedures to deal with instances of sexual harassment and accusations of sexual harassment. It was said that any policy had to be continually open to negotiation and change as over time we face new problems and learn from our experiences. It was also said that a safer space policy could only work if people agree with it and are willing to implement it. While there was a general willingness to have a policy, there wasn’t a similar willingness to go through the thought processes necessary to see how these policies are implemented in practice. We have no guidelines or agreement on how to deal with sexual abuse or assault within our community, we have no way of dealing with these types of conflicts when they emerge. This session ended with a commitment from those that attended to begin the very important process of developing our safer space policies. 5. Closing circle With that it was agreed to have a further meeting, open to all genders, on how safer sex polices might work in practice. The ladies of RAG are to be thanked for putting so much effort into the day. It was I think a very important contribution to the development of the anarchist and libertarian community in Ireland. Lunch was lovely too. |
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Contre la guerre au Kurdistan irakien, contre la traîtrise du PDK Meurtre de Clément Méric : l’enjeu politique du procès en appel Ireland / Britain | Gender | News Report | en Thu 18 Apr, 17:39 WSM marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women at their strategy gatherin... 21:12 Mon 26 Nov 0 comments The WSM took some time out from our future directions discussions session at Cloughjordan eco village over the week to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. March for Choice 2017 - report & video from Dublin 23:03 Fri 13 Oct 0 comments Saturday the 30th of September 2017 will go down as a high point in the fight for abortion rights in the Republic of Ireland, and that is a struggle that stretches back decades. Years of campaigning and maintaining a focus on the issue, saw a massive crowd of nearly 30,000 people take to the streets for the annual March for Choice as organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign [ARC]. The calls are for action, and the need for Repeal of the 8th Amendment which bans abortion in almost all circumstances. Rally 4 Choice successfully sees off annual anti-choice parade in Ireland 00:17 Fri 21 Jul 0 comments Every year in either Dublin or Belfast the pro and anti choice movements come head to head around the so called ‘Rally for Life’. This year it was Dublin’s unwilling role to play host to the bigot parade. It mattered more years than many as a referendum on the hated 8th Amendment that bans abortion is promised for next year. It could be that the next Dublin bigot parade scheduled for 2019 will come after they have suffered a major defeat. Thousands take part in pro-choice #Strike4Repeal in Ireland 18:46 Thu 30 Mar 0 comments International Womens Day in Ireland saw thousands take to the streets in a sequence of 'in work time' protests under the heading 'Strike4Repeal'. Abortion is illegal in almost all circumstances and the protests were an attempt by pro-choice activists to forced the government to stop delaying a referendum to repeal the anti-choice 8th Amendment placed in the Irish constitution in 1983. Workers Solidarity Movement members took part in organising the day and in the aftermath produced a number of articles and videos detailing what happened. Emergency protest for abortion demand held in Belfast 20:07 Wed 02 Dec 0 comments Somewhere in the region of 70 people attended an emergency protest yesterday outside Belfast City Hall. Amnesty International is holding its International Council Meeting in Dublin 18:07 Mon 10 Aug 0 comments Amnesty International is holding its International Council Meeting in Dublin this week and earlier today many of the delegate attending staged a protest at the Dail (Irish Parliament) against the criminalisation of women under Ireland's anti-choice laws. 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Migrant X is a young migrant women who it emerged was refused an abortion by the Irish state despite apparently meeting the grounds of the X-case legislation and instead forced to carry the pregnancy and agree to a C-section. The pregnanacy itself was the result of rape, Migrant X attempted suicide after being refused the abortion and later went on a hunger and thirst strike. Once what had happened to her became known there were sizeable pro-choice solidarity demonstrations called across Ireland and at Irish embassies overseas. We have been given information that the migrant woman at the centre of the current forced pregnancy was 'committed' to a psychiatric hospital following her initial request for termination. It’s already known that the initial request was made when she was 8 weeks pregnant. It was this crucial period in which she was being held incommunicado which led directly to the Caesarian option being possible to impose as an ‘alternative’ to allowing her to access the abortion she had asked for. Poor turnout in Ireland for Vigil for 'Life' despite massive spending 04:18 Wed 23 Jan 0 comments Saturday in Dublin saw another desperate attempt by the anti-choice coalition to prevent legislation coming to the Dail (Irish parliament) to allow abortion where a women's life is under threat. Despite months of preparation, a spend that must have ran close to a million euro, and the parish priest at every mass in the country telling catholics they should attend, less that 15,000 turned up. Compared to the 150,000 women who have had to travel to obtain abortions in the last ecades this amounts to almost nothing, a handful of bigots bussed in from all over the country. [Italiano] more >>Decades of organising wins new abortion referendum in Ireland Feb 02 0 comments The announcement that there will be a referendum to decriminalise abortion in Ireland is the product of decades of active campaigning. Pro-choice campaigners built for repeal ever since the hated 8th amendment was entered into the Constitution in 1983, putting a ban on abortion, which was already illegal in the country, into the constitution. If at first this seemed like a distant demand now repeal looks by far the most likely outcome in May. The story of how this happened illustrates how change comes in general. That is not through elections but through people getting organised to demand that change, regardless of which politicians happen to be running the show in any particular year. Rallying for Choice in Belfast Oct 14 0 comments On 14th October 2017, Rally for Choice will march through the streets of Belfast. - Last year saw us counter protest the Rally for Life in the North of Ireland, for the first time we marched against their lies instead of our usual static demo. Our counter protest was a huge success, despite being organised at short notice and with only a handful of activists. The protest burst across our streets and convened at Buoy Park afterwards for speakers. We outnumbered the Rally for Life 2016 significantly. The WSM on the struggle for abortion rights in Ireland Oct 13 0 comments This is the Workers Solidarity Movement position paper on Abortion Rights as collectively agreed at July 2017 WSM National Conference. This position paper sits under the Patriarchy paper which in turn is under the Anarchism, Oppression & Exploitation paper, and hence does not repeat any of that material in these. Why the first female first minister of North of Ireland will not advance feminism Dec 11 0 comments Next week will see the promotion of Fermanagh & South Tyrone MLA (Member of Northern Ireland Assembly), Arlene Foster to the position of DUP leader and the North of Ireland’s First Minister. Foster is a woman who was once described to have “learned a lot from the likes of Thatcher when it comes to dealing with men in politics." Over 1000 early medical abortion pills seized by Irish customs Sep 29 0 comments Over 1,000 abortion pills were seized last year at customs, a figure that represents double the amount seized the two years previous. This fact is very much in contradiction with the myth of the anti-choice side that there is no demand for abortion in Ireland. more >>From Dublin to Brussels demand universal access to abortion Sep 26 WSM 0 comments The Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland is in full support of the protests in Brussels on the 28th September demanding a guaranteed, free, and accessible access to abortion across Europe. The EU has stood by idly while the bodily autonomy of pregnant people continues to be violated by some member states including Ireland and Malta. It has similarly done nothing while other member states progressively attack reproductive rights based on the political whimsy of the controlling parties of ever-increasing conservative governments. We hope the this mobilisation will demonstrate the united commitment to reproductive freedom for all. Cork Queer Pride 2005: What are we Proud of? & who can we rely on? Aug 03 WSM 0 comments So what are exactly are we proud of? Is it just that we are attracted to a particular gender or genders? Or, are we proud of our courageous history of struggles as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered/ LGBT/ Queer people for our rights, and against bigotry, oppression and hatred? |