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Women’s March For Justice

Yesterday we proudly attended a march in Manchester, home of the suffragettes. A march of righteous anger about violence against women and girls that seems to be being condoned and enabled by the male dominated justice system.

With rape being essentially legal both in society and in prisons, domestic homicide at a historical high because domestic abuse is not taken seriously, only 1 in 10 victims of domestic abuse being heard in family courts, 9 out of 10 girls feeling unsafe at school because of rape culture and child sexual abuse being filmed making Britain the third highest consumer of “child pornography” in the world. It’s no surprise that women and girls have had enough.

We saw some great organisations at the march including the Pankhurst Centre. Those attending were women and girls varying in class, race, disability and in years in the fight. Brought together to say ENOUGH!

WHATEVER WE WEAR, WHEREVER WE GO, YES MEANS YES AND NO MEANS NO!

Speakers were Gemma Aitchison from YES Matters UK who spoke about the objectification of women and girls being at the heart of violence against women and girls and that we must fight to remind all that we are not disposible. That women and girls are not collateral damage in a man’s world.

We had Belstaffie who spoke about her amazing grassroots community development work in Holbeck. Not only there to fight the exploitation of the women and girls there but to lay the blame and shake in the right place…the feet of the perpetrators and punters. How she listened to how the lives of the women and girls in the residential community were affected too. Using her professional knowledge, her campaigning experience and amazing bravery she listened and gave the community tools to fight resulting in the “managed zone” in Holbeck to be shut down.

We also heard from a girl. A fierce and intelligent girl who wanted to say a few words about why she was glad she came to the march. Words that meant alot to the women there fighting for her to have a safer future.

All in all the march was an inspiring although anger fueled event. Women making public that they will not ask nicely, they don’t care about not all men and that they demand change.

We were proud to stand with every one of them.

YES Matters response to the Cosby release.

This week has been an interesting one in the area of violence against women and girls and justice. Alot of stark contrasts.

The response to Prof Whitty looking uncomfortable and getting unwanted attention from men and trying to get away. The look in his eyes as he was calculating how to stay safe by getting away but not angering those men was something most women and girls could recognise and relate to. The response to his harassment however is not something they could find as relatable. The public outcry, the police taking it seriously, the government condemning it as unacceptable. No expectation that Whitty should stop making a fuss, that it was a compliment or that he brought it on himself by what he was wearing…

We saw Britney Spears give a clearly thought out and prepared statement about how she is being controlled and exploited including not having bodily autonomy over her reproductive rights and access to her children. She committed no crimes, she has no victims. She reacted to years of hypersexualization and paparazzi stalking by shaving her head to avoid the femininity and sexual objectification she had been put in. She was then blamed for that reaction rather than address the actual cause and that was used against her. She is denied her freedom.

Then we have Cosby, a man who has at least 60 victims because he was condoned and enabled to commit sexual offenses to such an extent (and sexual offenses are always serial offences) that 60 women and the Me Too movement brought this offender to account. Only for him to be released. Condoning and enabling him to reoffend because his rights are apparently paramount.

The theme here is that men are to be protected. Be they victim or perpetrator, their needs and rights matter more than women and girls. They outweigh them in access to justice, when it comes to public response and when it comes to freedom.

Men’s bodies, feelings, experiences, wants are paramount and are condoned and enabled in a patriarchal society.

Our response to this is the reminder that gender stereotypes, in this case the sexual objectification of women and girls, is damaging. The idea that we are objects and not subjects means that we don’t matter as much as the subjects do. We see this in these cases. We see it in the historical low rape conviction rate, that 1 in 10 domestic abuse victims get support in family courts, that domestic homicide is at a historical high and 9 in 10 girls feel unsafe at school because of rape culture.

Throughout history we see the dehumanising of a group before acting against them, the first step in justification. Until society sees us as subjects as men are – our freedom, exploitation, safety and justice will remain unattainable.

For more information on our activism, school training, youth victim support services and speaking events go to http://www.yes-matters.co.uk