morning folks. i have name changed for this post and it may end up a bit of a rant.
I work in a violence against women (VAW) organisation with a specifc focus on challenging the normalisation of the sex industries. this is my job and i love it. I have come up against some pretty aggressive opponents and whilst i do not enjoy confrontation - it has been addressed and I felt in some ways in control with those "debates" and arguements. am normally the trainer / facilitator.
Thurs and friday this week i was selected to attend training on an exciting approach around VAW and was really looking forward to it. the idea in this approach is not negating survivors experiences but on to encourage young people to intervene safely when they see incidents in their peer circles.
this was meant to be training for trainers so we would then go out and deliver this new package. i thought that, like myself, people would have to apply, give their reasons for attending and at least have read their pre supplied background reading. Oh no - not the case.
It was quite difficuklt on thursday. there was a 50 / 50 split of men and women in the room but very quickly, the men started to try and gain contrpol of the room. they talked over women, interuppted, laughed, eye rolled, sniggered and passed pieces of paper. Some felt confident enough to say things like "but women are bitches" and "the word bitch is a female dog. how can any women be offended to be called an animal. I love dogs and have 3 as pets."
when i introduced myself and my work - there was a palable increase in tension in teh room and was told i was a gobby cow, just because i told them what the focus of my job was. I did not feel safe speaking out in that context, a feeling shared with many women in the room. I raised my concerns with the failitators and also felt that alot of these men's understanding of gender and violence was of concern as they were meant to finish 2 days training and then go out and work with young men in their communities on the issues. i was told it was better to just have men on board and that to expect them to read anything beforehand was unrealistic.
yesterday a really horrible incident happened. One of the men decided to take control of a large group discussion through anger and aggression. he said that every women in that room agreed with and wanted sexual harassment really. i responded with a "please dont speak n behalf of everyone. I dont agree with nor want harassment. if that is your opinion - own it and dont put it onto "every" woman in the room" He told me to shut up, that i was miss f*king perfect and would never do anything wrong. I asked him to explain that personal comment to which he refused saying i was a humourless bitch who couldnt take a joke. he then got out his seat, came across the room and stood in font of me leaning over shouting "you've Fking won, you made me lose my temper" He stormed out of the room, shouting all the way at me but did come back to say that i was an ugly fat f*k who no-one would even want to rape.
i was mortified and so so embarassed in front of all those strangers. I did get support from women and men in the room, however he majority of men thought i had asked for it by talking back to him. I couldnt believe that they didnt get the irony that we were in training around no longer being bystanders and how there were no justifications for male violence against women.
he was allowed to return after he apologised to the facilitators. He did not say sorry to me.
the facilitators asked if i would mind leaving the day as they could not guarantee my safety.
it is being followed up through my work but it has really really shaken me. i was scared at the time but i am now to angry as he humiliated me and in the short term was allowed to get away with it.
I needed to share with some fem sisters.