16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

Originally posted by Michael Lovan on November 25

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It's officially recognized by the UN to raise awareness of the crimes perpetrated against women, including rape and domestic violence.

Today also begins 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, preceding December 10's International Human Rights Day.

That means from now until then, you have sixteen days packed full of choices. When I got started, I was entirely lost. So I made a list of 16 things you can do over the next 16 days that could go a short way towards eliminating crimes perpetrated against women, or a long way towards changing you.

1. You can read a book about the harms of pornography. I recommend you get started with Pornland by Gail Dines or Big Porn Inc by Melinda T Reist and Abigail Bray.
2. You can donate to a charity that supports women. I highly recommend Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW).
3. You can check out the ENTIRETY of Andrea Dworkin's essays online for FREE. I recommend starting with Pornography: Men Possessing Women.
4. You can abstain from pornography. I suggest you do it for forever. Trust me - it'll change the way you look at everything.
5. You can dive in and absorb some amazing feminist articles online. I suggest Feminist Current for the honest and brilliant articles.
6. You can volunteer with or donate to a local shelter that promotes women's safety.
7. You can interrupt any sexist or misogynistic language being used in your vicinity. I know how super hard that can be, but trust me when I say that true strength lies in those who challenge those in power. Only misogynists punch downwards (which is what you're doing when you make rape jokes or sexualize women).
8. You can be critical of the media you consume. Don't know how to start? Stop watching and start listening when women tell you something is offensive (i.e. Game of Thrones and unnecessary nudity - it's okay to be critical of the things you love, people).
9. You can listen to a podcast. Again, have to recommend the dense selection at Feminist Current.
10. You can seek out organizations that are feminist, pro-feminist, pro-women and get to know more about their cause.
11. You can open up communication with a woman you know who's been harmed by domestic or sexualized violence. I heartily recommend you start by telling them something along the lines of, "I haven't truly considered the experiences of other people. I want you to know that any time you need an ear, I would be happy to listen. And no, I will not offer you unsolicited advice or offer solutions or pretend I'm an expert at what you've gone through."
12. You can stop using sexist or misogynistic language. This includes using words like "pussy," "bitch," "whore," "ho," "son of a bitch," "cunt," and phrases like "... like a girl," "be a man," "... is a man's job."
13. You can stop laughing at jokes that generalize and thus reinforce what it means "to be a woman", such as the way women talk, dress, behave, and so onj
14. You can defend women. Start simple, like with sharing an article on your personal timeline on the condition that you will be active in the comments section that follows. Small potatoes, share an article that's pro-women. Medium potatoes, share an article that's anti-porn. Large potatoes, share an article that establishes your position as an anti-porn / pro-women advocate and watch how quickly some men will hiss at you and how others in real life will begin to avoid you like you're insane (lol you'll get used to it).
15. You can admit that you don't actually know much about violence against women, but that you are open to learning more and could use a few suggestions to teach yourself (important: nobody can change you except yourself. The best you can do is be open and allow yourself a huge amount of space to accept how very, very little you know and how very, very disorienting everything becomes once that light bulb has gone off over your head).
16. You can speak up in real life.

Deep Green Resistance also recommends reading our Feminist Solidarity Guidelines, and following the DGR Women's Caucus

hu-MAN Up project to end rape culture

hu-MAN Up is working to end rape culture, starting by challenging it through billboards, bus signs, and theater. They're currently fundraising to place their ads. See the hu-MAN Up website for more information and to support them.

Will Falk's DIY Resistance series

Will Falk of Deep Green Resistance San Diego has been writing prolifically this year on various resistance topics, notably about his time at the Unis'tot'en Camp. More recently, he has published an ongoing series of essays on the theme of "Do-It-Yourself Resistance." We'll keep this post updated with new additions, and here are all his excellent pieces so far:

• August 5: Fall in Love
• August 12: Recover Empathy
• August 19: Beat the Grief
• August 26: Develop a Sense of Urgency
• September 18: Find Rock Bottom
• September 23: Post-Modern Robin Hoods
• September 29: Resistance is Sexy
• October 15: I Love You, Dad
• October 31: Grasp Things at the Root

Cathy Brennan interviewed on radical feminism and "transphobia"

Cathy Brennan is a long-time radical feminist lesbian activist working for equal rights for gay people, trans people, and women. Mark Angelo Cummings (FTM transman) and Jessica Lynn Cummings (MTF transwoman) interviewed Brennan for the July 24 episode of Transition Radio TV. Despite her work in the real world to protect trans rights and end male violence against women, children, and gender noncomforming people, Brennan has become a popular target of what the hosts term "keyboard warriors" who attack and tear down potential allies. These "transactivists" have threatened to rape and to kill Brennan and many other radical feminists expressing their analysis of gender. Brennan and the Cummings explore this radical feminist analysis that one can not simply "identify" out of this oppressive caste system, and the irony of heterosexual men who identify as women bullying and threatening actual women with whom they disagree.

Brennan speaks with clarity on the history of gay, lesbian, and queer culture; ongoing homophobia and male violence; why the interests of lesbians don't always align with the goals of others in the GLBTQ movement, which she says has become a men's-rights movement; and why women need women-only space to meet and organize.

The interview is an excellent antidote to the smears across the internet about Cathy Brennan and her supposed "hate speech" or "transphobia." Brennan's long-time experience with queer culture and human rights activism, and her resultant wisdom, is a breath of fresh air if you've ever wallowed through the trans hostility online.

By giving Brennan a platform to discuss these important issues, and by calling out abusive individuals and behavior within the trans community, the Cummings model what we all need to do in in our various environmental and social justice circles. We can't build a healthy movement while being undermined by aggressive or mentally ill individuals sabotaging relationships by fostering horizontal hostility. We need to identify and expel such people from our communities, with zero tolerance for abusive behavior. Besides damaging our internal dynamics, such individuals make our movement look childish and non-serious to outside observers, potentially discrediting the goals towards which we work.

Watch the video interview below, and check out the recently featured Meghan Murphy interview for more on how horizontal hostility and labels like "transphobic" are used to silence women.

Videos recommended by Deep Green Resistance

We've compiled lists of videos we recommend to those learning about radical history and resistance, from presentations by DGR members to fictional films. We have two sets of lists. Enjoy!

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Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel features resistance videos with Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Aric McBay, and other DGR members. You'll also find non-DGR films and music videos with anti-civ analysis and themes of resistance.

• Trailers for upcoming DGR films
• DGR Workshop Presentations
• DGR Presentations at PIELC (Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, OR)
• DGR Authors (Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay) giving various presentations
• Other DGR members on various speaking tours
• Radical Feminism
• Resistance & Anti-civilization Films
  • Resistance - Contemporary
  • Fictional Resistance & Anti-Civ
  • Resistance - Historical
  • Indigeneity
  • Civilization: The Problem
• Resistance Radio: audio interviews by Derrick Jensen
• Music videos

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We also have a set of Deep Green Resistance IMDB lists. These don't include any actual video clips, but do provide more information on the films, including reviews by other people.

• The Problem of Civilization - Big Picture
• The Problem of Civilization - Specific Issues
• Resistance - Contemporary
• Resistance - Historical
• Resistance - World War II
• Resistance - Fictional
• Indigeneity
• Feminism
• Historical & Political Documentaries
• Restoration & Nature Documentaries
• Animal Rights
• Fictional anti-civilization films

But I'm an anarchist! How can I be sexist?

"Going to Places That Scare Me: Personal Reflections on Challenging Male Supremacy"

Chris Crass, author of the book Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy, devotes one chapter to detailing his personal experience becoming aware of his own sexism and that of his fellow male activists. After accepting the reality of his privilege, he began the lifelong process of uprooting blatant and subtle manifestations within himself, challenging it within male comrades as indivduals, and helping structure activist groups to counteract sexist defaults and biases.

This is an essay for other people raised male who identify as men and who, like me, are Left/anarchist organizers with privilege struggling to build movements for collective liberation. It is written for men in the movement who have been challenged on their sexism and male privilege and are looking for support. I'm focusing here on the emotional aspects of my own experience of dealing with issues of sexism and anti-sexism.

More and more, gender-privileged men in the movement are working to challenge male supremacy. Thousands of us recognize that patriarchy exists; that we have material and psychological privileges as a result; that sexism undermines movements; that women, transgender, and genderqueer people have explained it over and over again and said "you all need to talk with each other, challenge each other, and figure out what you're all going to do." However, a far greater number of men in the movement agree that sexism exists in society, perhaps even in the movement, but deny their personal participation in it.

Deep Green Resistance takes very seriously the need for those with any kind of privilege to examine and disarm it within their own lives and relationships, but more importantly to use it to dismantle the larger systemic institutions that uphold that privilege. Crass' journey touches on many important aspects of anti-sexism work, and gives an excellent entry point for men with interest in facing the problems of patriarchy. He shares personal revelations that many of us might be ashamed to admit:

Learning in a community of largely women and people of color also deeply impacted because it was the first time that I'd ever been in situations where I was a numerical minority on the basis of race or gender. Suddenly, race and gender weren't just other issues among many, but central aspects of how others experienced and understood the world. The question I sometimes thought silently to myself - "Why do you always have to talk about race and gender?" - was flipped on its head: "How can you not think about race and gender all the time?"

The whole piece is important for men to read, as undoing sexism is a process that requires work and has no easy answers. But it's also valuable to keep in mind concrete steps men must take to challenge male supremacy, such as these laid out by a friend of the author:

"Gender-privileged people can offer to take notes in meetings, make phone calls, find meeting locations, do childcare, make copies and other less glamorous work. They can encourage women and gender oppressed people in a group to take on roles men often dominate (e.g. strategic leadership in actions, MCing an event, media spokespeople). You can ask specific women if they want to do it, and explain why you think they would be good, as oppose to tokenizing just to get a woman to do it. Pay attention to who you listen to and check yourself on power-tripping."

Read the entire chapter by Chris Crass: Going to Places That Scare Me: Personal Reflections on Challenging Male Supremacy.

Interview of Meghan Murphy

Ernesto Aguilar, a former DGR member, interviewed Meghan Murphy of Feminist Current for Women's History Month in March 2013. Murphy presents a clear and articulate analysis of the current state of online feminism – strengths and weaknesses, successes and works in progress, allies and backlash. She spoke extensively on the destructive tendency of online discussions to turn into horizontal hostility, and the ongoing pattern of silencing women:

I don't think that attacking and harassing feminists online counts as activism, or as supporting women, even if you kind of pretend you're doing it on behalf of women. Regardless of how you frame it, it's still about woman-hating, and it's about anti-feminism, and that's not progressive. If you're a man and you're harassing or silencing women, you can't pretend to be a progressive person or a person who cares about liberty or human rights or women's lives or the well being of women. That's not what allies do.

Later in the interview, she gets specific about a prominent silencing mechanism:

There's this thing that's become popular in the feminist blogosphere, and that's this overuse of the phobia language. I think that's a big problem. It's become common practice to label any [feminist] critique as a phobia. You hear things like "kink phobia", or "whore phobia", "transphobia", on and on and on. And I've personally been accused of all of these things, and I don't hate or fear prostituted women or trans people or kinky people.

What I want to have is conversations, and this is just another way to shut down conversation, and it's a part of the bullying that goes on in some parts of online feminism. It's about keeping people in line, and it's about keeping conversations restricted within narrow boundaries. If you don't like what someone says, you can call them some version of "phobic" and you can call someone a bigot and everyone shuts up. These are kind of the magic words that put fear in every feminist's heart, because they know that if they're called one of these things – some kind of "phobic" – that no one will stick up for them, because everyone else is afraid of being labeled by association. Everyone's afraid to have real conversations, because they see what happens, and they see what happens to other feminists, and they don't want that to happen to them.

Listen to the entire interview embedded below (originally posted at Feminist Current). And for elaboration on the tactic of shutting down feminist discourse by threatening to apply vague but powerful labels, see the latest article at Feminist Current: "How ‘TERF’ works", by Sarah Ditum.

What Is a Woman? - New Yorker article

The New Yorker just published "What Is a Woman? – The dispute between radical feminism and transgenderism" by Michelle Goldberg. Her piece provides a good summary of the differences in political analysis between radical feminsts and liberal transgenderists, from their different views on gender and whether "girl brains" exist to the real-world effects on women. Having interviewed Lierre Keith and Rachel of DGR, other radical feminists veteran and new, and prominent transactivists, Goldberg provides a useful introduction to this decades-old debate.

The article makes clear the need for women to have women-only safe spaces for meeting, organizing, and letting down their guard. Goldberg describes the pattern of threats against and silencing of women who question queer theory, from deplatforming to cancelation of venues to straight-up death threats. (The article does not attempt to cover transactivists' pattern of physically assaulting women who disagree with them.) The article quotes Sandy Stone, a man who identifies as a woman: "I am going to have to say [to women who want women-only spaces], It’s your place to stay out of spaces where transgender male-to-female people go. It’s not our job to avoid you." Sandy's statement perfectly illustrates the male entitlement behavior radical feminists are working so hard to dismantle.

Read the whole article to better understand radical feminism & transgenderism, and accusations of transphobia against Deep Green Resistance

For more information, see:

• Summary of and videos from Radfems Respond, an event mentioned in the article.
• Deep Green Resistance Radical Feminism FAQs
• Rachel's video presentation The End of Gender: Revolution, Not Reform

WoLF: Women's Liberation Front

Women's Liberation Front is a radical feminist organization dedicated to the total liberation of women. With several DGR members involved, they fight to end male violence, regain reproductive sovereignty, and ultimately dismantle the gender-caste system. They put on the recent Radfems Respond event and are actively seeking new members and new chapters to expand their activity.

To learn more, make donations, or join their efforts, visit the Women's Liberation Front website.

Feminist Current - smart analysis of feminist issues

Meghan Murphy at Feminist Current writes a steady column of insightful and incisive articles from a strong feminist perspective, and regularly interviews women and men on a broad range of feminist issues. She lives in Canada, so some of her focus is specific to that country, but most of it is relevant to all of North America and the rest of the world. Smart and often funny, her analysis from current events to issues fought by feminists for decades is always worth the read. She also does a good job of moderating comments, so the space is useful and safe for women and feminist allies to have productive discussions.

Last summer, Murphy interviewed DGR's Rachel and Lexy Garza in the podcast Deep Green Resistance Under Attack, and has provided outstanding coverage in general of the backlash to radical feminism by Men's Rights Activists, trans/queer activists, and other misogynist attackers of women. You can see all the available Feminist Current podcasts or read the most recent Feminist Current articles. We highly recommend taking some time to peruse the site and its contents!

Sam Leah on Resistance Radio

Sam Leah serves on the DGR Steering Committee and is a founding member of Warrior Sisters Society, a women-run Eugene OR nonprofit providing free self defense training to women. Derrick Jensen interviewed Leah for the June 1st episode of Resistance Radio.

Leah explains the realities for women of living in a rape culture, and how self defense training has been shown to empower women and dramatically decrease the rates of assaults by men. She describes the work being done by Warrior Sisters Society, the inspiration it takes from the Gulabi Gang in India, and the positive results already experienced by participants.

Warrior Sisters Society provides a strong example of how women can collectively take matters into their own hands and resist patriarchy and rape culture, and this interview gives important insight into the direct action philosophy that led to its formation. Play the embedded audio below or listen to the interview on the DGR Youtube channel.

Browse all of Derrick Jensen's Resistance Radio interviews.

Radfems Respond

Several Deep Green Resistance members participated in Radfems Respond the weekend of May 24th 2014, in Portland, OR. The event was facilitated by Samantha Berg, with the goal of providing safe space for discussion:

Hey social justice activists!

Are internet flamewars bumming you out?

Do interactions on social media sometimes make you feel like you’ve entered a fighting pit?

We’re tired of the lightless heat, too. That’s why Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) has arranged for a public dialogue on two of the most controversial issues facing modern feminism, abolishing prostitution and ending gender.

On Saturday May 24 we will honor Memorial Day weekend with a political ceasefire and call for the opening of peace talks. In the spirit of honest, respectful engagement, you are invited to come ask radical feminists any questions on these subjects you may have wanted to ask but were too intimidated by rancorous internet interactions.

Please join us at Multnomah Central Library in Portland for what will be a thought-provoking day for everyone who wants clarification on what radical feminists really think about prostitution and gender.

The panelists shared important information, concepts, and experiences around radical feminism, well worth watching and reading. You can see videos of three of the presenters, and read transcripts from two of those three:

Lierre Keith

Keith speaks on the difference between liberals and radicals.

Rachel

Watch the video above, or read Rachel's "This Is What I Said At Radfems Respond for her analysis of a radical conception of gender and her experience expressing these politically challenging ideas.

Heath Atom Russell

Read Russell's "Radfems Respond, WoLF, and MRAs" to learn of her personal experience transitioning to be a transman, then detransitioning, and the backlash she received from the queer community for developing a critique of gender

Other Panelists

Kathleen Barry and Dawn Schiller also spoke, but were not recorded.

Backlash

Samantha Berg's "The City of Roses Shall No Longer Tolerate Feminism" gives an excellent overview of the threats and backlash from local queer activists, angry that radical feminists were gathering to speak.

How to Stop an Abusive Stalker

Reinforcing boundaries shouldn't be up to any single individual. This group of anarchists decided enough was enough after a friend was subjected to the unrelenting harassment of an abusive ex-partner. Social repercussions can and do influence behavior. What follows is a useful tactic for anyone struggling to maintain their personal boundaries against abuse.

Excerpt:

Our goal was to read a letter of demands to him and then turn around and leave silently. This was not going to be a discussion or a dialogue. This was an ultimatum and a warning.

Read whole report here.

Solidarity Statement from Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter

Re-posted from Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter

June 25, 2013

On June 22, 2013 Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter hosted an all day event with local feminist allies to discuss, evaluate and strategize different tactics of women’s resistance to male violence against women.

Dozens of women participated in the day including members of the Indigenous Women Against the Sex Industry (IWASI), the Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights, the Asian Women’s Coalition Ending Prostitution (AWCEP), EVE (formerly Exploited Voices now Educating) and past and current collective members of Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter.

During the day we passed a resolution to publicly express our solidarity with Deep Green Resistance in light of the recent attack on their members at the Law and Disorder Conference and afterward:

We condemn the attack on the members of Deep Green Resistance at Law and Disorder Conference in Portland Oregon. We are appalled by the conference organizers utter refusal to protect DGR members from threats, bullying and silencing and troubled that no other participant interfered or insisted that the conference will practice its premise for “safe space”.

We stand in solidarity with Deep Green Resistance and its commitment to feminist principles including the right of women (as all oppressed groups) to define their boundaries and decide who is allowed in their space.

Hilla Kerner, for the Collective of Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter

Response to Aric McBay's "Deep Green Resistance and Transphobia"

Deep Green Resistance has refrained from making any statement in regards to the circumstances under which Aric McBay left the organization to date. This decision was made on the basis that it would be unhelpful to resistance efforts in general and also because DGR did not wish to speak badly of him.

Because he has now chosen to publicly make statements that do not reflect the actual events of his departure, DGR is issuing the following statement.

Aric McBay was part of a small, unsuccessful effort to oust both Lierre Keith and Derrick Jensen from the organization. The entire staff and many of the members resisted this attempt.

DGR's stance on women's spaces was only one issue on the table among others at this time. It was the women of DGR who made the decision to keep women's spaces for women only. It was not decided by Derrick Jensen or Lierre Keith. The assertion that this was policy handed down from them is a lie.

Aric was part of a conference call about this subject and chose to say nothing. He left the organization soon after, taking a large sum of DGR money for work he had not done and which he has yet to pay back. His only comment was that there was a lack of transparency in decision making. Until that point the majority of decisions had been made by himself and a co-coordinator.

It is clear that Aric's departure was for the best. Feminist politics, including the right of women to define their own spaces, is central to our work.  Anyone who does not respect the choices of women does not belong in DGR.

"Politics of Reality" Book Review

Ben Cutbank / Deep Green Resistance Wisconsin

The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory, written by Marilyn Frye in the 1980's, is one of the most instructive books I have read to date. The succinctness of each of her essays, which cover such fundamental topics for the feminist learner as white privilege, male supremacy, lesbianism and gay rights, and violence against women, combines with an impressive comprehensiveness that leaves the reader with little room for debate. It's simple, but forceful, similar to, I would assert, the works of radical environmental author Derrick Jensen, and especially his two-volume book, Endgame.

In one essay, a difference between love and arrogance—two forces that, in a sense, speak to the entire battle of life against oppression—is drawn out:

The loving eye does not make the object of perception into something edible, does not try to assimilate it, does not reduce it to the size of the seer's desire, fear and imagination, and hence does not have to simplify. It knows the complexity of the other as something which will forever present new things to be known.

The arrogant perceiver's perception of the other's normalcy or defectiveness is not only dead wrong, it is coercive. It manipulates the other's perception and judgment at the root by mislabeling the unwholesome as healthy, and what is wrong as right. One judges and chooses within a framework of values — notions as to what 'good' and 'good for you' pertain to....If one has the cultural and institutional power to make the misdefinition stick, one can turn the whole other person right around to oneself by this one simple trick.

As a woman living under the rule of patriarchy, and as someone with a radical feminist analysis, Marilyn Frye is no stranger to the meaning of privilege, both in concept and practice. As one might expect, she speaks thoroughly and often about the privileges afforded to men over women. However, her analysis doesn't stop there: those with white skin, including white women, experience a certain kind of privilege as well, because the dominant culture is both patriarchal and white supremacist. Connecting these dots is both crucial and, unfortunately, too rare. Says Frye:

In a certain way it is true that being white-skinned means that everything I do will be wrong—at least an exercise of unwarranted privilege—and I will encounter the reasonable anger of women of color at every turn. But 'white' also designates a political category, a sort of political fraternity. Membership in it is not in the same sense "fated" or "natural." It can be resisted.

Members of the dominant culture must be able to mark or define the sex of human beings so that it's clear who is to subjugated and who is to do the subjugating, who is to be exploited and who is to do the exploiting. Masculinity and femininity are concepts created and enforced by patriarchy to keep the social order running smoothly. As Marilyn Frye puts it:

I see enormous social pressure on us all to act feminine or act masculine (and not both), so I am inclined to think that if we were to break the habits of culture which generate that pressure, people would not act particularly masculine or feminine.

Imagine a bird in a birdcage. The bird is confined by numerous wires that connect with each other in order to imprison the bird. If one looks at one of the wires alone, it could seem silly as to why the bird doesn't simply fly around it to freedom. However, it takes stepping back and seeing the whole picture that is the birdcage in order to understand why the bird is trapped. This is the classic metaphor that Frye has used to describe the meaning of oppression. She goes further to give a basic definition:

Oppression is a system of interrelated barriers and forces which reduce, immobilize and mold people who belong to a certain group, and effect their subordination to another group (individually to individuals of the other group, and as a group, to that group).

In a discussion of the gay liberation movement, and the fatal mistake of gay men often trying to embrace masculinity instead of rejecting it, Marilyn Frye speaks to a different vision, a lesbian vision, in a line that I believe is one of the most powerful in the book:

The general direction of lesbian feminist politics is the dismantling of male privilege, the erasure of masculinity, and the reversal of the rule of phallic access, replacing the rule that access is permitted unless specifically forbidden with the rule that it is forbidden unless specifically permitted.

This book is crucial reading for any person with the love and courage it takes to fight for a better world. While anyone would benefit from heeding the lessons that Marilyn Frye has put forth, I especially think that men need to hear this radical feminist message and begin to join women in the fight against patriarchy and for the liberation of all of life.