As the old slogan says, respect my existence or expect my resistance. You’re not alone. The backlash means we’re on the right track. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Your experiences as a person are influenced and shaped by many things including gender, race, class, sexuality and ability under patriarchy.
That means that our experiences of violence, marginalisation and oppression — as women, nonbinary and gender-diverse people, as people of colour, as LGBTIQ people, as people living with homelessness or precarious employment, as disabled people — are collective experiences that we can address with collective action.
You are one of many and together we are powerful. The haters might try to divide us and pit us against each other with racist, homophobic, transphobic or whorephobic rhetoric, but we are greater than fear.
Every year, between November 25 — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women — and December 10 — International Human Rights Day — there are 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence.
This year we’ve created a series of posters for you to print out at work, home or your local library, and to put up in your kitchen, community hall, meeting room at work — wherever you like. Help create a world where women, nonbinary and gender-diverse people are safe, respected, empowered and able to make genuine choices in their lives.
Violence towards women, nonbinary and gender-diverse people is a community problem. Everyone in the community, from schools to sporting clubs, can play a role in changing the structures, norms and practices that lead to gender-based violence.
Some of these actions will be individual and some will be collective: gender-based violence is a structural issue that we all need to work together to address.