Today we’re chatting #BodyPolitics with Dr Awino Okech who is a Kenyan academic, based at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
“Gender studies is the field that gave us Feminism as a framework for analyzing power and the intersections that frame our experiences with patriarchy” - Dr Awino Okech
“If we unpack what patriarchy is, we realize the distinctions between public spaces and who is allowed to hold and accumulate power within that sphere“ - Dr Awino Okech
“The regulation of women’s bodies is a system of maintaining patriarchy. When we move away from this regulations, we begin unseat to patriarchy and reclaim power in some ways” - Dr Awino Okech
Conversations about sex and sexuality are not only about sex. We have to talk about femicides that occur because men kill women who refuse to have sex with them. Because they feel entitled to sexual attention- #BodyPolitics Dr Awino Okech
#BodyPolitics is deeply connected to acts of gender based violence such as marital rape, sexual harassment, femicides and so on. This stems from societal norms around how men are expected to engage with women. - Dr Awino Okech #BodyPolitics
“Patriarchy continues to sustain itself across different levels from social to economic models and it is maintained through religious and legal structures” - Dr Awino Okech #BodyPolitics
The intersection of gender, race and class influences the way people move and interact in story. Particularly when people of certain race, gender or class are stereotyped in ways that make them targets for criminalization. - Dr Awino Okech #BodyPolitics
“In doing the work of preventing violence against women, we need to care for one another. We need to care for the people within our movements. We need to care about the growth of our movements.”
- Dr Awino Okech #BodyPolitics
- Dr Awino Okech #BodyPolitics
“In talking about self care, there has to be some synergy between the work that we do for ourselves and the efforts that formal organizations put into ensuring that staff are able to take periods of rest such that they’re not overwhelmed with activist work” - Dr Awino Okech
“There is Nothing wrong with women owning their sexuality. Whether it’s sex work or having safe sex with multiple sexual partners” - Dr Awino Okech #BodyPolitics
“We need to begin to unlearn some of these ideas that conversation about sex and Sexuality are secret and should happen in private. The mystery around this is a driving force for sexual violence against women”. - Dr Awino Okech #BodyPolitics
“As men, your task is to rethink masculinity and power relations in societies, to redefine masculinity in a way that is not toxic or violent. Your task is to be in allyship with feminist movements to unseat the structures that maintain unequal power dynamics” - Dr. Awino Okech
“ I am not immune from violence because I am an urban woman or have access to resources. The scale of violence may differ but I am susceptible anyway because I coded as *woman* and cannot run away from structural violence. - Dr Awino Okech #BodyPolitics
