Safe streets for women #ReclaimTheseStreets #ReclaimTheNight what can be done? When I was researching my book on feminist activism & particularly Reclaim the Night marches, women often gendered public space as default male. Women would say that RtN marches 'took back' 'took over'
'reclaimed' public space in their town/city centres. So much concrete, steps, bridges etc. Likewise, when on RtN marches, hostile men watching often receive these protests in exactly the same way, as incursion, trespass, invasion, takeover. Many times I've been on RtN & heard...
hostile men bystanders shout stuff like'get in the kitchen' 'go home' 'these are our streets'. So women are not wrong in perceiving public space as default male. We will not end sexualised male violence against women overnight, but we can change this messaging by changing cities.
There is decades of work from #feminist geographers & architects, engineers, town planners etc to draw upon. Feminist work on fear of & reality of crime for women. But we should not pretend that city centres cause male violence against women, they do not, underpasses or covered..
bridges do not rape, & CCTV cannot & does not stop rape or domestic homicide. But, when we think about 'community safety' or 'public safety' we just need to remember that women are half the population, & restrict their use of public space due to threat & reality of male violence.
Women are the public. Women are the community. Being able to use the city centre, parks, public transport isn't therefore a special niche women's issue, it's an issue of basic human rights & freedoms. Women shouldn't have to be under curfew, nor manage...
...an individualised responsibility for personal safety inside a culture that portrays women as objects & eroticises violence against women. This is a societal issue. A more accessible, welcoming city centre would be better for everyone. And we all can think of practicalities.
Wider pavements for buggies/mobility scooters. Better street lighting. No underpasses. No enclosed covered bridges. Clear signage. Parks kept clear not overgrown. Footpaths kept clear. Pedestrianised areas. Public loos & changing spaces. Reliable public transport. Cycle routes.
Street road name signs kept clear. Night time economy security staff in bars/clubs trained to spot sexual harassers & sexual harassment immediate grounds for exclusion/ban. More women taxi drivers. More women security staff. Taxi drivers trained to safely question/intervene when
women or men are clearly in a state unable to consent yet being held up/walked/dumped into taxis by men. Likewise nightclub door staff who look out for this when guests are leaving. Public safety messaging which is aimed at potential perpetrators & intended to stop people from
perpetrating crimes rather than messaging/ads which tell people not to be victims, as nobody chooses or asks to be a victim - perpetrators make people victims by choosing to perpetrate violent crimes against them. Bold prevention work from Early Years upwards on consent,
inclusion, equalities, feminism, anti-racism, bodily integrity, human rights. As children get older bold & courageous sex education, includes critical thinking & media literacy, given that too many ppl think mainstream porn sites can be left by default to provide sex ed to teens.

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More from @Finn_Mackay

22 Mar
The protest in #Bristol was against the Tory bill to stop the right to protest. Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill. It was not a BLM protest, yet this is being suggested, in order to attack anti-racist movements & to peddle racist stereotypes libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/libertys…
You know how people were angry they weren't allowed to protest fatal, racist police violence & institutional racism including police harassment & violence here in the UK, after police murdered George Floyd in the US. You know how ppl were angry they weren't allowed to protest...
...after the news a police officer was charged with kidnapping & murdering a young woman in London, in a culture where sexual harassment is the norm for most women, where sexualised male violence against women is a threat & reality women organise their lives around? You know...
Read 6 tweets
11 Mar
Everyone is asking what men can do. #NotAllMen #TooManyMen #YesAllWomen Men could hold silent vigils, could demand their peers change, could challenge sexism from peers (and in their own attitudes/values). Men could try to unlearn what society has shamefully taught them since
childhood, which is that women are special & different, that sex is a conquest, that control of women is a way to move up the patriarchal pecking order, that sex is something men want & women choose to give or withhold until they are persuaded or forced otherwise, that women are
objects to be looked at, that displays or language of violence & toughness are manly & are a universal way to impress other men, that women (often women of a certain race & class at least – White, middle class) need looking after & protecting yet at the same time what all women
Read 14 tweets
11 Mar
My heart just goes out to Sarah Everard's family & loved ones. This is at once absolutely unimaginable & at the same time everyone's worst nightmare. Tragedies like this backlight a constant background, women aren't suddenly noticing sexual harassment or threats, it's that...
..tragedies sometimes allow a small window in which women are allowed to talk about managing the threat & reality of sexualised male violence. In this moment women are more likely to be heard & slightly more likely to be believed. This window will close again, as it always does.
We've been here before. And yet whenever a woman's life & future is taken like this society looks in through the window at all the women saying: this, this is what we live with & fear dying from, it's so present it's almost unconscious. And society pretends to be shocked.
Read 6 tweets
10 Mar
Sometimes, in response to news coverage of male violence against women, women will think/say: what time was that, was it dark then, I'd not walk that way etc. Victim-blaming is indeed wrong, but this can also be understood as a form of psychic self-defense. A way of distancing...
...a way of saying: it couldn't be me. This is a defence against the truth we all know, which is that it could be any of us. Because these aren't isolated incidents, & all women live with, in spite of & to spite the threat & reality of sexualised male violence.
Every time, time after time, how many times! police say to women: don't go out after dark, don't wear headphones, don't use your phone, do pretend to be on your phone, don't walk this way, be careful of taxis, don't get too drunk, wear trainers...women are made responsible &...
Read 6 tweets
26 Dec 20
There is so much wrong with this article, it's hard to know where to begin. Lesbians are not extinct, nor are lesbians close to extinction. The L Word has never really been as popular as "gay" & this has long been the case, it's not a new thing.... telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/2…
Then in the context of Queer activism, DIY activism & the burgeoning internet culture in the 90's younger adults did not seem to like to be labelled, or boxed into labels. It is still popular for younger adults to describe themselves as fluid, in terms of sexuality, gender...
Earlier, 70s/80s there had been an attack on #butch lesbians in the LGBT community, not from trans women, but from lesbian feminists & lesbian feminist theory, which branded butch #lesbians sadomasochists copying het roles & eroticising sexism & the oppression of femme lesbians..
Read 16 tweets
9 Oct 20
Saying that sex is a construct is perfectly valid. It's not saying sexed genital & reproductive features of the body are constructed; it's not saying the body isn't real; it's to say that what those bodily features mean is constructed by society. The meanings are constructed.
Why should a penis & testicles on a new born baby mean anything about their role or potential, any more than we would call out their weight at birth & go, there it is, that's who they are forever now, let's label them as that & put it on all their paperwork into adult life.
As Radical Feminist theory explained decades ago, sexed features of the body are constructed to mean sex rank. That's what sex means. The meanings can be changed.
Read 9 tweets

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