I’m in recovery from FiLiA now - what a weekend. Amazing experience.
The biggest thing that has stuck with me, amongst all the heartbreaking stories I heard, all the inspiring and enlightening discussions, all the maddening ignorance and narcissism displayed by the “protestors” outside, all the solidarity and joy and love shared with women across generational and political divides…… was something that Vaishnavi Sundar said, the filmmaker who produced “Dysphoric” which looks at the impact of gender ideology on women and girls in developing countries youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRU9NIX0AA143z2QKukQcOqS96qriKGyw
twitter.com/vaishax/status/1355134390049751042?s=21
She said - do one thing, every day. And that’s what I want to do. Do one thing, take one action each day, that works towards women’s liberation and against male violence against women and girls.
I wanted to share that on here as I found what she had to say so inspirational but am shit at writing things properly. But she spoke along the lines of, sometimes it all seems overwhelming and hopeless, and you feel like giving up, and you get depressed. But she realised that if she wasn’t doing anything about it, if she wasn’t taking action, then she’d feel even worse about it all! So in that way activism is kinda a little self-care as well.
What FiLiA also bought home to me is how small actions plant seeds, how little things snowball into big things and how many small actions and the efforts of many women together can make real change, so that every small action we each take individually, that may feel like pissing in the wind at times, each petition or crowdfund we support, each tweet we amplify, each letter we send, each short conversation we have with people in our lives, can together support real change.
Anyway, that’s what I want to do. (At least) One Thing Every Day.
Yesterday I wrote a positive feedback comment to the BBC
about the Nolan podcasts, thanking them and a short explanation of how I feel betrayed, as “an LGBT person” that Stonewall now actively campaigns against my rights and interests, and worse that public bodies wholesale delegate responsibility for policy to them. www.bbc.co.uk/contact/comments-feedback/#/Your%20comment
Today, I have donated to a crowdjustice campaign for children conceived by rape to be recognised as secondary victims of the crime. Can’t post the link here as rules but if you search on crowd justice for “ Forgotten victims: conceived in rape” you’ll find it. Sharing on Twitter and here is part of that action too.
Today I also want to send a submission to the FCA consultation on self-ID for reporting of sex on company boards, and hope to find time later to find the details for that and just write a short thing for it