Yesterday was International Day to end all violence against women and girls, but truly this is an everyday fight. Gender-based violence is an epidemic that is centuries old. It has no colour, class, or race; it is psychological, physical and sexual. The power dynamics that put one sex, race, class on top of another are at the root of this systemic issue.
Here are 6 poetic antidotes to the toxic narratives that feed these systemic issues.
✨Learn about love as freedom practice- Our perception of love is shaped by the systems we inhabit. The love we know is unrealistically romantic, it tells us we have no agency in how we build relationships and that everything falls from the sky. Love takes practice, and it exists in romantic relationships just as much as friendships and family bonds. The systems that perpetuate violence against women are not based on love. To define and understand love intellectually read bell hooks, Brigitte Vasallo, and Esther Perel.
✨Dance — A dancer once told me “[Dance] is also the language of healing, it is also the language of expressing, the language of telling a story”. Reclaiming body is reclaiming the story around it. How can you insert dancing into your to-do list?
✨ Decondition softly — know that the road is long, and forgive yourself for the times where incoherence comes, and the times when ignorance will shame you. The road to change is not linear, nor is it without error. Minna Salami has great insights on this.
✨Slow the F down — do it for a day or an hour or half an hour. Taking time is the biggest fuck you to a society based on productivity and rushing to the finish line (which doesn’t exist spoiler alert). The Nap Ministry have some amazing insight on rest as a form of resistance.
✨Inhabit plurality — Accepting plurality requires a rejection of hierarchy, you see where I am going here? Check the work of indigenous activists and study indigenous knowledge. The work of Aura Cumes, Nina Gualingua, Olivia Palma can bring you to other resources. Be curious!
✨Practice pleasure- eat, masturbate, enjoy life without feeling guilty. Adrienne Maree Brown and Venus O’Hara are incredible in spreading the art of pleasure as a political practice.
