SEEING RED

My Two Cents On Sexual Violence Prevention

Is the movement around teaching consent rooted in preserving, while ameliorating, heterosexual patriarchal culture?

Framing rape prevention primarily around teaching men to ask for consent reinforces men’s (hetero) sexual prerogative. It completely ignores what we know about gender relations, relations of power and sexual assault. It ignores the research that shows that rapists chose their…

Organizing to Live: A Caribbean Feminist Statement in the Time of Covid-19. May 31, 2020.

This statement is issued by a group of Caribbean advocates and activists who participated in an open access online course, Society: Economy and Ecology (SEE) in the Caribbean: How Will We Organise to Live? Dedicated to late Guyanese activist Andaiye (September 11, 1942 – May 31, 2019), the course was developed to support thinking and activism for social, economic and environmental justice in the…

Selling Rum and Women’ Bodies

Guest post by Lisa Shoman and Deborah Mencias-McMillan

Sex sells…everything from body lotion to rum. We know that. But does that make it right?

The advertising budget for any alcohol product is significant. Rum producers sell rum by emphasizing their product’s distinctive qualities.

And using sex to sell rum is as old, as rum, and…

Solidarity with Yugge Farrell: Regional Statement  Amend the Mental Health Act of St. Vincent and the Grenadines NOW     We the undersigned, condemn in the strongest possible terms, the persecution and mistreatment of Ms. Yugge Farrell by the legal, medical, and political authorities of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We are in full solidarity with Ms. Farrell and those Vincentians who stand with…

Caribbean Unity in support of Tambourine Army activist Latoya Nugent

Caribbean Unity in support of Tambourine Army activist Latoya Nugent As concerned members of the Caribbean region and diaspora, we are outraged by the unreasonable and absurd charges of three counts of “malicious communication” under Section 9 (1) of the Cybercrimes Act of 2015 by the Jamaican state towards human rights defender and activist, Latoya Nugent. We are also outraged by the unfair…

We split this island open for every woman and girl who has had her body split open.

We split this island open and let all the secrets fall out.

We put flesh and blood and tears to the bones of statistics like:

Studies show that more than 35% of all murders of women globally are committed by an intimate partner. In comparison, only about 5% of all murders of men are committed by an intimate partner.

Country studies for Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, British Virgin Islands and Suriname suggest that between 20-69% of women in intimate relationships have been victims of domestic violence.

2007 research by CADRES confirmed a 30% prevalence rate for domestic violence in Barbados

48% of adolescent girls report sexual initiation to be forced or somewhat forced in 9 Caribbean countries.

Three of the top ten recorded rape rates in the world occur in the Caribbean: St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica and the top rated country of the Bahamas. All countries in the Caribbean experienced a higher rate of rape than the world average.

A population based survey among adolescents and young adults conducted in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago found that between 52% and 73% of women reported experiences of sexual violence by a partner.

Every force-ripe gal, every slut, every walking cemetery, every girl sent to Summervale because she was difficult, delinquent, let wunna know wha wunna prefer to pretend not to know.  Now you know.  Girls that survive sexual abuse are more likely to get punishment than justice.

That hashtag #lifeinleggings has cost us family, friends, homes. Bajan women are not afraid to name names and nicknames and addresses. Families can’t deal. Won’t heal. Abusers can’t deal.  Rapists are having a hard time.  Men who would never yell, girl yuh pussy fat!, still feel that someone is looking to take a way a right from them that they would prefer to keep, thank you very much.

#lifeinleggings Call for feminist solidarity

This island has been cracked open and will never be the same again. Women broke every silence. We spoke of street harassment: girl, yuh pussy fat! Principals who made no room for comprehensive sexuality education but slut-shamed girls who were themselves sexually abused. Rape by current and former partners. Years of sexual abuse by fathers, step-fathers, uncles, cousins. Stories of men who told…

Polish 800m runner, Joanna Jozwik is reported as saying she felt like a silver medalist even though she placed fifth: “I’m glad I’m the first European, the second white.” The top three places in the 800m went to African women: South Africa’s Caster Semenya, Burundi’s  Francine Niyonsaba and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui. By Jozwik’s logic these three African women are not women. The only women are…

Radical Self-Care as Resistance #blackfeminisms

Radical Self-Care as Resistance by Fatimah Jackson-Best In the last several months I’ve seen a number of articles and think-pieces about self-care from mainstream websites aimed at women, and sites that focus on Black women specifically. Many highlight self-care engaged in by the individual, which is sometimes made up of doing things for oneself like having a spa day, taking time off work, or…

Every Now Has its Before