"A man has been found not guilty of murdering his wife, just days into the first national Covid lockdown. Anthony Williams, 70, said he "just flipped" and strangled his wife Ruth at their home."
“The legal system is designed to protect men from the superior power of the state but not to protect women or children from the superior power of men,” U.S. feminist psychiatrist Judith Herman, Trauma and Recovery, The Aftermath of Violence-From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
"The national US av prison sentence of men who kill their female partners is 2-6 yrs, while women who kill their partners are sentenced on av to 15yrs, despite the fact that most women who kill their partners do so to protect themselves from violence initiated by their partners"
Prisons around the world are full of women who fight back and the streets are full of the men who assaulted them.
Are women punished more harshly for killing an intimate partner? The data shows there is a wide gender gap in the US when it comes to prison sentences for killing a partner theguardian.com/news/datablog/…
I got a lot of shit for the chapter on Violence in The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls because I asked frightening questions about what it would take to end patriarchy and the male violence it enables. Here's an excerpt. feministgiant.com/p/how-many-rap…
I ask frightening questions and continue to vow to destroy patriarchy every day on FEMINIST GIANT.
We are not socialized to fight back. We are not taught to fight back. We are punished for fighting back.
Men are not socialized to expect us to fight back. I think of that often when I hear of the spike in intimate partner terrorism during the pandemic. feministgiant.com/p/i-beat-my-as…
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This is a 14 minute clip that explains what my book The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls is all about, including why I started #IBeatMyAssaulter, #MosqueMeToo, and #WhyISayFuck via @YouTube
Whatever differences Trump and Bannon had, always remember: on his last night in office, Trump pardoned Bannon (who supported the insurrection) and said “our (America First) movement has only just begun.” Bannon coined “America First” and will always be Pied Piper of Fascism
We are not going to change the world by politely asking it to stop being so unjust.
“I do not believe that we can restore and expand the freedoms that our lives require unless and until we embrace the justice of our rage,” June Jordan feministgiant.com/p/letter-dear-…
"You were born with that raging fight inside you but the patriarchy has socialized it out of you and replaced it with acquiescence and a timidity that you will be taught are a privilege. Throw back that empty gift box. Better yet, tear it apart. Your anger is the real gift."
What would the world look like if girls were taught they were volcanoes, whose eruptions were a thing of beauty, a power to behold and a force not to be trifled with?
#Egypt now has the region’s first ever multidisciplinary center for #FGM survivors, where services include clitoral reconstruction surgery and therapy. Thank you @SanamF24 for highlighting co-founder Dr. Reem Awwad’s work to help survivors and #EndFGM
So many women I love in #Egypt - in my extended family and outside of it - have been subjected to the torture that is female genital mutilation/cutting. It crushes my heart.
And so I am so glad to know of the work of Dr. Reham Awwad and the centre she co-founded to help survivors
"We have 40 million women in #Egypt who are victims of #FGM and who have nowhere to seek treatment," Dr. Reham Awwad, plastic and restorative surgeon on why she co-founded Restore FGM. #EndFGM
A woman’s right to be free of rape or sexual assault should not be dependent on her relationship to a man. She should not have to be your daughter/sister/wife/girlfriend in order to be believed or to be free of sexual violence. #BrittanyHiggins
After I beat the fuck out of a man who sexually assaulted me in a club, a club manager asked me what happened and when I told him, he looked at my Beloved and said "Why didn't you let your husband take care of it?" I almost beat him up too feministgiant.com/p/i-beat-my-as…
“First of all, he’s not my husband,” I replied. “Also, this is my body, I take care of it.”
Patriarchy enables and protects men who sexually assault women, and it demands that only other men “protect” us. As long as we obey and behave in ways it approves of, of course.
There is “no going back to normal.” We must emerge, not regress. I refuse to emerge as if unscathed. I insist that we all be scathed. We will emerge, our hearts unhealed and scarred but awesome. feministgiant.com/p/essay-fallin…
Over the past few months, I've been writing more than I usually do. It's as if all the words i used to use in conversations with others are now, in lockdown, going onto the page. An essay per week for months, sometimes two a week.
cw: sexual assault
Both Falling Apart Like a Feminist & my latest deal with sexual assault & are some of my most personal writing. This new one looks back at times when I was 4yo, 15yo, and 50yo and fuck - our lives shouldn't be marked by sexual violence feministgiant.com/p/i-beat-my-as…