Supporting feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements to thrive, to be a driving force in challenging systems of oppression, and to co-create feminist realities.
While we dream of a feminist world, there are those who are already building and living it. These are our Feminist Realities!
What are Feminist Realities?
Feminist Realities are the living, breathing examples of the just world we are co-creating. They exist now, in the many ways we live, struggle and build our lives.
Feminist Realities go beyond resisting oppressive systems to show us what a world without domination, exploitation and supremacy look like.
These are the narratives we want to unearth, share and amplify throughout this Feminist Realities journey.
Transforming Visions into Lived Experiences
Through this initiative, we:
Create and amplify alternatives: We co-create art and creative expressions that center and celebrate the hope, optimism, healing and radical imagination that feminist realities inspire.
Build knowledge: We document, demonstrate & disseminate methodologies that will help identify the feminist realities in our diverse communities.
Advance feminist agendas: We expand and deepen our collective thinking and organizing to advance just solutions and systems that embody feminist values and visions.
Mobilize solidarity actions: We engage feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements and allies in sharing, exchanging and jointly creating feminist realities, narratives and proposals at the 14th AWID International Forum.
The AWID International Forum
As much as we emphasize the process leading up to, and beyond, the four-day Forum, the event itself is an important part of where the magic happens, thanks to the unique energy and opportunity that comes with bringing people together.
We expect the next Forum to:
Build the power of Feminist Realities, by naming, celebrating, amplifying and contributing to build momentum around experiences and propositions that shine light on what is possible and feed our collective imaginations
Replenish wells of hope and energy as much needed fuel for rights and justice activism and resilience
Strengthen connectivity, reciprocity and solidarity across the diversity of feminist movements and with other rights and justice-oriented movements
Host: We tend to think about communicating desire as something that is limited to the private intimacy of the bedroom and our personal relationships. But can we also think of this kind of communication as a structure, a praxis that informs our work, and how we are, how we do in the world?
Lindiwe
I believe that unfortunately in the past, expressing your sexuality has been limited. You were allowed to express it within the confines of your marriage, which was permitted, there have always been taboo and stigmas attached to expressing it any other way. When it comes to communicating, obviously the fact that certain stigmas are attached to expressing your sexuality or expressing your desire makes it a lot harder to communicate that in the bedroom or intimately with your partner. From my personal experience, I do believe that obviously if I feel more comfortable expressing myself outside of the bedroom on other matters or other topics, it’s easier for me to build that trust, because you understand conflict resolution with that particular person, you understand exactly how to make your communication special towards that particular person. It’s not easy. It’s something that is consistently done throughout whatever your engagement is, whether it’s your relationship or whether it’s casual and just in the moment. But I believe that confidence outside can definitely translate to how you communicate your desire.
Manal
Since childhood, a woman is raised with that, “you’re not allowed to talk about your body, you’re not allowed to talk about your desire,” which puts a heavy responsibility on women, especially girls in their teens when they need to express themselves and talk about these issues. So for me I think this is a big problem. You know, I have been married for more than 25 years, but still, until now, I cannot talk about my desires. I cannot say what I want or what I prefer, because it’s like I’m not allowed to go beyond this line. It’s like haram, despite it being my right. This is the case for all my friends, they just can’t express themselves in the right way.
Louise
Personally, I find that expressing our desires, my desires, however that expression comes in hand, has to do with the other, and the gaze that the other would have on me. So this is also something that we can link to cinema. And the gaze I would have on myself as well: what I think I am as an individual, but also what society expects of me and my sexuality. In the past, I somehow did the analogy between what happens in the bedroom and what happens in the workplace, because there is sometimes this dynamic of power, whether I want it or not. And oftentimes, verbal communication is harder than we think. But when it comes to representation in film, that’s a totally different game. We are very far away from what I guess all of us here would like to see on screen when it comes to just communicating sexual desires inside or outside the bedroom.
Online and Embodied
Host: We can think about the digital world as embodied: while it might be virtual, it is not less real. And this was made clear in the context of AWID’s feminist realities festival, which took place entirely online. What does it mean then to talk about sexuality, collectively, politically, in online spaces? Do we navigate virtual spaces with our bodies and affects, and in this case, what are the different considerations? What does it do to communication and representation?
Lindiwe
Social media makes you feel community-based. When you express what it is that you want or like, there is someone who’s either going to agree or disagree, but those who do agree make you feel that you belong to a community. So it’s easier to throw it out into the universe, or for others to see, and potentially not get as much judgment. And I say this very loosely because sometimes, depending on what it is that you’re expressing, it either will get you vilified or celebrated. But when it comes to the bedroom, there is an intimacy and almost a vulnerability that is exposing you and different parts of you that is not as easy to give your opinion on. When it comes to expressing your desire, speaking it and saying it and maybe putting a Tweet or a social media post, or even liking and reading other communities that are same-minded is a lot easier than telling your partner, “this is how I want to be pleasured” or “this is how what I want you to do next,” because of the fear of rejection. But not only that, just the vulnerability aspect – allowing yourself to be bare enough to let the other person see into what you are thinking, feeling, and wanting – I think this is where the difference would come in for me personally. I feel it is a lot more community-based on social media, and it’s easier to engage in discourse. Whereas in the bedroom, you don’t want to necessarily kill the moment. But I think that also kind of helps you understand going forward, depending on the relationship with the person, how you would engage thereafter. So I always know that if I try to communicate something and I fail to do so in the moment, I can always try to bring it up outside of that moment and see what the reaction would be so I know how to approach it going forward.
Louise
You know the question in films is, I don’t know if the male gaze is done intentionally or not. Like we don’t really know that. What we know is that the reason why sexuality in general has been so heternormative and focused on penetration and not giving any space for women to actually ask for anything in films, is because most of the people who have been working in this industry and making decisions in terms of, you know, storytelling and editing have been white men. So rape revenge is this very weird film genre that was birthed in the 70s, and half of the story would be that a woman is being raped by one or multiple people, and in the other half, she would get her revenge. So usually she would murder and kill the people who have raped her, and sometimes other people next to them. At the beginning of the birth of this genre and for 30 years at least, those films were written, produced, and directed by men. This is why we also want so much representation. A lot of feminists and pioneers in queer filmmaking also used the act of filming in order to do that and to reclaim their own sexuality. I’m thinking about Barbara Hammer, who’s a feminist and queer pioneer in experimental cinema in the U.S. where she decided to shoot women having sex on 16mm, and by doing so reclaimed a space within the narrative that was exposed in film at that time. And there is also then the question of invisibilization: we know now, because of the internet and sharing knowledge, that women and queer filmmakers have been trying and making films since the beginning of cinema. We only realize it now that we have access to databases and the work of activists and curators and filmmakers.
Resisting Colonization
Host: And this opens up the conversation on the importance of keeping our feminist histories alive. The online worlds have also played a crucial role in documenting protests and resistance. From Sudan to Palestine to Colombia, feminists have taken our screens by storm, challenging the realities of occupation, capitalism, and oppression. So could we speak of communicating desire – the desire for something else – as decolonization?
Manal
Maybe because my village is just 600 residents and the whole village is one family – Tamimi – there are no barriers between men and women. We do everything together. So when we began our non-violent resistance or when we joined the non-violent resistance in Palestine, there was no discussion whether women should participate or not. We took a very important role within the movement here in the village. But when other villages and other places began to join our weekly protests, some men thought that if these women participate or join the protests, they will fight with soldiers so it will be like they’re easy women. There were some men who were not from the village who tried to sexually harass the women. But a strong woman who is able to stand in front of a soldier can also stand against sexual harassment. Sometimes, when other women from other places join our protest, they are shy at first; they don’t want to come closer because there are many men. If you want to join the protest, if you want to be part of the non-violent movement, you have to remove all these restrictions and all these thoughts from your mind. You have to focus on just fighting for your rights. Unfortunately, the Israeli occupation realizes this issue. For example, the first time I was arrested, I wear the hijab so they tried to take it off; they tried to take off my clothes, in front of everybody. There were like 300-400 people and they tried to do it. When they took me to the interrogation, the interrogator said: “we did this because we want to punish other women through you. We know your culture.” So I told him: “I don’t care, I did something that I believe in. Even if you take all my clothes off, everybody knows that Manal is resisting.”
Lindiwe
I think even from a cultural perspective, which is very ironic, if you look at culture in Africa, prior to getting colonized, showing skin wasn’t a problem. Wearing animal skin and/or hides to protect you, that wasn’t an issue and people weren’t as sexualized unless it was within context. But we conditioned ourselves to say, “you should be covered up” and the moment you are not covered up you are exposed, and therefore it will be sexualized. Nudity gets sexualized as opposed to you just being naked; they don’t want a little girl to be seen naked. What kind of society have we conditioned ourselves to be if you’re going to be sexualizing someone who is naked outside of the context of a sexual engagement? But environment definitely plays a big role because your parents and your grannies and your aunts say “no, don’t dress inappropriately,” or “no, that’s too short.” So you hear that at home first, and then the moment you get exposed outside, depending on the environment, whether it’s a Eurocentric or more westernized environment to what you are used to, then you are kind of free to do so. And even then, as much as you are free, there’s still a lot that comes with it in terms of catcalling and people still sexualizing your body. You could be wearing a short skirt, and someone feels they have the right to touch you without your permission. There is so much that is associated with regulating and controlling women’s bodies, and that narrative starts at home. And then you go out into your community and society and the narrative gets perpetuated, and you realize that you get sexualized by society at large too, especially as a person of color.
Resistance as Pleasure
Host: And finally, in what ways can our resistance be more than what we are allowed? Is there a place for pleasure and joy, for us and our communities?
Louise
Finding pleasure as resistance and resistance in pleasure, first for me there is this idea of the guerrilla filmmaking or the action of filming when you’re not supposed to or when someone told you not to, which is the case for a lot of women and queer filmmakers in the world right now. For example, in Lebanon, which is a cinema scene that I know very well, most of the lesbian stories that I’ve seen were shot by students in very short formats with “no production value” as the west would say – meaning with no money, because of the censorship that happens on an institutional level, but also within the family and within the private sphere. I would think that filming whatever, but also filming pleasure and pleasure within lesbian storytelling is an act of resistance in itself. A lot of times, just taking a camera and getting someone to edit and someone to act is extremely hard and requires a lot of political stance.
Lindiwe
I have a rape support group. I’m trying to assist women to reintegrate themselves from a sexual perspective: wanting to be intimate again, wanting to not let their past traumas influence so much how they move forward. It’s not an easy thing, but it’s individual. So I always start with understanding your body. I feel the more you understand and love and are proud of it, the more you are able to allow someone else into that space. I call it sensuality training, where I get them to start seeing themselves as not sexual objects, but as objects of pleasure and desire that can be interchangeable. So you’re worthy of receiving as well as giving. But that’s not only from a psychological point of view; it is physical. When you get out of the shower, you get out of the bath, and you’re putting lotion on your body, look at every part of your body, feel every part of your body, know when there are changes, know your body so well that should you get a new pimple on your knee, you are so aware of it because just a few hours ago it wasn’t there. So things like that where I kind of get people to love themselves from within, so they feel they are worthy of being loved in a safe space, is how I gear them towards claiming their sexuality and their desire.
Manal
You know we began to see women coming from Nablus, from Jerusalem, from Ramallah, even from occupied 48, who have to drive for 3-4 hours just to come to join the protests. After that we tried to go to other places, talk with women, tell them that they don’t have to be shy, that they should just believe in themselves and that there is nothing wrong in what we are doing. You can protect yourself, so where is the wrong in participating or in joining? Once I asked some women, “why are you joining?” And they said, “if the Tamimi women can do it, we can do it also.” To be honest I was very happy to hear this because we were like a model for other women. If I have to stand for my rights, it should be all my rights, not just one or two. We can’t divide rights.
Snippet - CSW69 - Full Calendar - EN
Clone of Mariam Mekiwi | Snippet AR
مريم مكيوي مخرجة أفلام ومصورة من الإسكندرية تعيش وتعمل في برلين.
📅 Friday, March 14, 2025
🕒 12.00-2.00pm EST
🏢 Blue Gallery, The Blue Building, 222 East 46th Street
🎙️Facilitated by: Gopika Bashi, AWID Director of Programs
Organizer: Count Me In! Consortium
Embodying Trauma-Informed Pleasure | Small Snippet EN
Embodying Trauma-Informed Pleasure
Trauma is not the event; it is how our bodies respond to events that feel dangerous to us. It is often left stuck in the body, until we address it. There’s no talking our body out of this response – it just is.
Explore and share the databases with your network now!
#7 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet AR
أداؤك في المضاجع مهاراتك في ضبط المراجع…
منجزاتك الأكاديمية جسر عبور نحو شهوتك الجنسيّة (جدّيًا، سلِّم الأوراق المطلوبة، الكترونية كانت أم ورقيّة)
Snippet - COP30 - Resisting Ecofascisms - EN
Resisting Ecofascisms: A cross-movement dialogue at COP30
How movements are resisting fascist agendas in relation to climate change.
📅 Tuesday, November 11, 2025 📍 Beira Rio Hotel, Belém, Pará
Beijing Unfettered: the Power of Young Feminist Movements
In partnership with young feminist activists and youth-led organizations, AWID co-organized Beijing Unfettered in parallel to and independently from Beijing+25.
WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.
The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.
Risks and threats targeting WHRDs
WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.
By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:
Physical assault and death
Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
Judicial harassment and criminalization
Burnout
A collaborative, holistic approach to safety
We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership
to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk
We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:
emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles
Our Actions
We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.
Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to strengthen responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.
Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;
Increasing the visibility and recognition of WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:
Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.
Soigner nous-mêmes, notre activisme et nos mouvements
En prévision de la Journée internationale d’action pour la santé des femmes, le 28 mai 2016, nous mettons en lumière Sacred Women International, membre institutionnel de l’AWID basé à Toronto au Canada. L’organisation se concentre sur la création d’un équilibre et la favorisation du bien-être des femmes africaines, caribbéenes et noires à travers la diaspora. L’équipe de Sacred Women International a expliqué l’importance de soutenir les activistes afin de contribuer à faire vivre les communautés et les mouvements. #BlackLivesMatter
« Nous avons absolument besoin de passion pour le travail que nous faisons. Pour parvenir à changer quoi que ce soit, nous avons besoin de cette passion. Il ne faut pas remplacer la passion par de la colère. Et ne portons pas notre histoire, pétrie de douleur, sur notre dos au point que cela affecte notre travail et nos vies. » - Aina-Nia Ayo-Dele, Sacred Women International
Visionnez la vidéo afin d’en savoir plus sur Sacred Women International
Ahead of the 2016 International Day of Action for Women's Health, on May 28th, we spotlight Sacred Women International, an AWID member based in Toronto, Canada. The organisation focuses on “creating a balance” and building the well-being of African, Caribbean, and Black Women across the diaspora. They shared with AWID on the importance of sustaining activists in order to continue social activism, uphold our communities and movements. #BlackLivesMatter
“We absolutely need passion for the work that we are doing or we won’t be able to do it. And to shift anything we need passion. But let’s not replace passion with anger. And let’s not carry the history of pain so much on our back that we bring it into our work, that we bring it into our lives.” – Aina-Nia Ayo-Dele, Sacred Women International
Watch the video to find out more about Sacred Women International
Dando apoyo a nuestros activismos, a nuestros movimientos y a nosotrxs mismxs
Adelantando el Día Internacional de Acción por la Salud de las Mujeres, 28 de mayo, destacamos el trabajo que realiza la organización afiliada a AWID con sede en Toronto, Canadá, Sacred Women International. La misma se dedica a “crear un equilibrio” y fortalecer el bienestar de las mujeres africanas, caribeñas y negras de la diáspora. Ellxs compartieron con AWID lo importante que es dar apoyo a las activistas para que se pueda continuar con el activismos social, y respaldar a nuestras comunidades y movimientos. #BlackLivesMatter
«Realmente necesitamos pasión por el trabajo que estamos haciendo. Y para cambiar algo, necesitamos pasión. Pero no reemplacemos la pasión por ira. Y no carguemos tanto sobre nuestras espaldas la historia del dolor como para llevarla a nuestro trabajo y a nuestras vidas.»– Aina-Nia Ayo-Dele, Sacred Women International
Mira el video para saber más acerca de Sacred Women International
Después de que Rusia le quitara Crimea a Ucrania y la anexara en marzo de 2014, las comunidades de personas lesbianas, gay, bisexuales, trans, queer e intersex (LGBTQI) de la península y sus derechos quedaron sujetos a una ley discriminatoria y represiva conocida como ley de «propaganda anti-gay».
Tangarr nació en Sebastopol, una ciudad sobre el Mar Negro. Como hombre trans y gay con firmes convicciones y principios que apoyan el feminismo, los derechos LGBTQI y los derechos humanos en general, considera que Crimea se ha tornado un lugar peligroso y por eso huyó con su pareja a la parte continental de Ucrania.
Sobre la identidad
A diferencia de la mayoría de las personas trans, Tangarr descubrió relativamente tarde que su identidad de género no coincidía con el sexo que le habían asignado al nacer. Nos contó que su infancia fue relativamente feliz y que su madre y su padre tenían una visión bastante liberal de cómo se supone que lxs niñxs deben comportarse. Los trataban a él y a su hermano de igual manera y nunca intentaron persuadir a Tangarr de que «actuara como una niña normal» o que hiciera cosas que la sociedad tradicionalmente considera como femeninas.
«Jugaba a indios y vaqueros, escalaba montañas con mis padres y mi hermano, íbamos de mochileros. Practicaba judo. No tenía ningún problema en ser yo mismo.»
Pero la llegada de la pubertad implicó desafíos para él. No estaba contento con nada lo que su madre valoraba, sobre todo la idea a menudo idealizada de que ese es el momento en que «las chicas se convierten en bellas mujeres».
Sus sentimientos en relación a esos cambios tenían que ver más con la preocupación y la frustración, y recuerda lo «difícil que es darse cuenta que tu cuerpo se desarrolla de una forma que contradice a tu alma».
La sociedad no lo trataba de la forma en que él quería ser tratado; la gente veía en él a una joven y lo único que él sentía era que algo no estaba bien. Su confusión estaba relacionada con el hecho de que la percepción que la gente tenía de él lo decepcionaba.
«Pensé que era lesbiana (porque, como ya saben, el estereotipo las muestra como mujeres masculinas), pero prefería a los hombres. Es uno de los momentos en los que te das cuenta de lo importante que es entender las cuestiones del género y la orientación sexual».
Tangarr relata que como carecía de información acerca de las personas transgénero, pensó que el problema principal era su cuerpo. Hizo ejercicio y logró «volverse más musculoso y atlético, pero definitivamente algo estaba faltando». Sin embargo, la sensación persistente de que algo no estaba bien se veía atenuada por un entorno bastante liberal en el que contaba con la comprensión y el apoyo de sus amigxs.
Fue una persona (que él conocía) quien cambió su vida cuando intentó insultarle diciendo «No importa cuánto ejercicio hagas, nunca serás un hombre». En ese momento Tangarr se dio cuenta de algo que nunca se le había ocurrido antes...
«Pensé que estaba solx. Una chica que se sentía como un chico — lo que es más, un chico gay».
Cambios legales y desafíos
Antes de su cambio de sexo legal, Tangarr encontró información en línea y habló con gente que le ayudó y le guió mientras aprendía todo lo que necesitaba saber acerca de este proceso en Ucrania. Leyó historias, artículos médicos, básicamente todo lo relacionado con los cambios en la apariencia y la terapia de reemplazo hormonal.
Tangarr comenzó la terapia y se hizo una mastectomía (extirpación de los senos) en Moscú, Rusia, ya que «no hay cirujanos en Ucrania que sean conocidos por su pericia en este tema». Para él, esta situación también refleja el estado general de «ignorancia sobre los temas trans que existe entre la población, incluso entre lxs trabajadorxs de la salud».
«Por todo aquello que atesoramos, es impensable negarse a enfrentar el desafío.»
Sin embargo, en Ucrania, para completar el cambio de sexo legal es obligatoria la esterilización irreversible. Tangarr protestó contra eso porque «las razones por las que la esterilización forzada es discriminatoria son demasiadas para ser enumeradas». Con el apoyo de una persona amiga pudo cambiar sus documentos legalmente, sin someterse a una histerectomía (extracción del útero). Tangarr es una de las pocas personas que lo ha hecho en Ucrania.
Discriminación/Prejuicios/Violencia y la afiliación al/los movimiento(s)
«Siempre me pareció raro que nadie hiciera nada para evitar que eso sucediera... Pero luego entendí que ese nadie era yo.»
Las experiencias de Tangarr durante su vida (como mujer) le llevaron a unirse al movimiento feminista, «ya que el proceso adicional de socialización masculina puso de relieve todos los desafíos que las niñas y mujeres deben superar día a día». Desde entonces es activista en la «Amenaza Violeta», un grupo cuyas principales áreas de interés son la teoría queer, el feminismo y los derechos trans y miembro activo de la Trans* Coalition [Coalición Trans*], grupo que une a las personas trans y sus aliadxs en los países de la antigua Unión Soviética.
En diciembre de 2015 Tangarr comenzó su trabajo como activista participando en un coloquio entre representantes de la comunidad trans de los países de Europa Oriental y Asia Central (EECA, por sus siglas en inglés) y la Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM) [Coalición Euroasiática sobre Salud Masculina], para discutir sobre prevención y tratamiento de VIH y SIDA entre las personas trans como grupo socialmente vulnerable. Allí hizo una presentación sobre los «Los sesgos cognitivos como razones por las cuales los hombres trans corren un alto riesgo de infección por VIH, métodos de prevención y cómo mejorar la situación».
Tangarr ha colaborado en la creación de un folleto informativo sobre género, ha escrito artículos sobre temas trans, ha trabajado en un video que apoya al grupo Odessa Pride [Orgullo Odesa] y ha hablado en un programa de televisión acerca de los desafíos que enfrentan las personas trans cuando intentan hacer un cambio de sexo legalmente.
En el Centro de Lucha contra el VIH y el SIDA de Kirovogrado (Ucrania central), Tangarr ha sido invitado a dar una conferencia para periodistas, activistas de derechos humanos, trabajadorxs de la salud y policías sobre temas trans.
Tangarr cree firmemente que «la educación es una panacea contra los prejuicios y conceptos erróneos, la discriminación y la xenofobia». Su lema es: «Ríndete a la verdad tan rápido como puedas».
«Cuanto más sepamos sobre identidad de género y orientación sexual, menos prejuicios tendremos. El prejuicio trae aparejado sufrimiento, por eso barrer con la ignorancia es reducir el dolor que ella causa».
Depuis l’annexion de la Crimée à la Russie en mars 2014, les droits et les communautés des personnes lesbiennes, gaies, bisexuelles, trans*, queers et intersexes (LGBT*QI) de la péninsule sont soumis à la loi discriminatoire et répressive de « propagande anti-gays » (lien en anglais).
Tangarr est né à Sébastopol, une ville située au bord de la Mer Noire. Mais cet homme trans* aux convictions et aux principes bien ancrés, soutenant le féminisme, les droits LGBT*QI et les droits humains en général, estime que la Crimée est aujourd’hui un lieu dangereux (lien en anglais) et a fui avec son partenaire en Ukraine continentale.
De l’identité
Contrairement à la plupart des personnes trans*, Tangarr a découvert un peu plus tard que son identité de genre n’était pas en accord avec le sexe qui lui avait été assigné à la naissance. Il nous a raconté que son enfance avait été relativement heureuse, que ses parents avaient une vision plutôt libérale du comportement que l’on attend d’un enfant. Son frère et lui ont été traités de la même façon, et on ne demandait pas à Tangarr « d’avoir le comportement d’une fille normale » ou de faire des choses que la société considère féminines.
« Je jouais aux cowboys et aux indiens, j’escaladais des montagnes avec mes parents et mon frère, on voyageait en sac à dos. Je faisais du judo. J’étais moi-même et je me sentais bien. »
Mais avec la puberté, il a vu surgir les difficultés. Il vivait mal les aspirations de sa mère, en particulier l’idée selon laquelle la puberté était la période qui « transforme les filles en de belles femmes », une idée qui est souvent enjolivée.
Cette métamorphose suscitait en lui des sentiments de frustration et du tourment. Il se souvient : « C’est dur de réaliser que le développement de votre corps prend une direction opposée à celle de votre psyché ».
La société ne l’a pas toujours traité comme il l’aurait souhaité, les gens voyaient en lui une jeune fille. Cela ne lui inspirait qu’une confusion et une impression d’incongruité, toutes deux liées au fait que leur perception le décevait.
« J’ai cru que j’étais lesbienne (parce que, vous savez, elles sont stéréotypées comme étant des femmes masculines), mais je préférais les hommes. C’est là qu’on se rend compte à quel point il est important d’éclairer les gens sur les questions d’orientation de genre et sexuelle. »
Tangarr décrit qu’il a cruellement manqué d’informations concernant les personnes trans*, ce qui l’a amené à croire que le plus gros problème venait de son corps. Il s’est mis à s’entraîner, « [est] devenu plus musclé et athlétique, mais quelque chose manquait clairement ». Bien qu’atténuée par un environnement assez libéral et par la compréhension et le soutien de ses ami-e-s, cette impression d’incongruité a continué de persister.
Sa vie a changé lorsque quelqu’un (qu’il connaissait) a cherché à l’insulter en lui disant : « Tu peux t’entraîner autant que tu veux, tu ne seras jamais un homme ». À cet instant, Tangarr a réalisé une chose à laquelle il dit n’avoir jamais pensé auparavant…
« Je me suis dit que j’étais seul. Une fille qui se sent comme un mec — un mec gay, qui plus est. »
Changements juridiques et obstacles
Avant de changer légalement de sexe, les renseignements que Tangarr a trouvés sur le net et les gens avec lesquels il a échangé l’ont aidé à s’orienter afin d’obtenir toutes les informations nécessaires au sujet de ce processus en Ukraine. Il a lu des témoignages, des articles médicaux, essentiellement tout ce qu’il pouvait sur les changements au niveau de l’apparence et sur le traitement hormonal de substitution.
Il a entamé sa thérapie et subi une mastectomie (ablation des seins) à Moscou, en Russie, puisqu’il « n’existe en Ukraine aucun chirurgien de qualité réputé dans ce domaine ». Pour lui, cela reflète aussi « l’ignorance générale de la population sur les questions trans*, et cela même parmi le corps médical ».
« Au nom de tout ce qui nous tient à cœur, il est impensable de refuser de relever ce défi. »
Mais l’Ukraine exige qu’une stérilisation irréversible soit pratiquée afin d’effectuer le changement de sexe. Tangarr s’est insurgé contre cette condition, car « la stérilisation forcée est discriminatoire pour mille et une raisons ». Avec l’aide d’un ami, il est parvenu à modifier ses documents légalement, sans avoir à subir d’hystérectomie (ablation de l’utérus). Il est l’une des très rares personnes à avoir procédé ainsi en Ukraine.
Discrimination/préjugés/violence et adhérer à des mouvements
« J’ai toujours trouvé bizarre que personne ne fasse rien pour empêcher que cela n’arrive… Et puis j’ai compris que ‘personne’, c’était moi ».
Les expériences que Tangarr a faites au cours de sa vie (de femme) l’ont amené à rejoindre le mouvement féministe, « dans la mesure où sa socialisation en tant qu’homme a mis en évidence tous les obstacles que les filles et les femmes ont à surmonter jour après jour ». C’est un activiste de Lavender Menace, un groupe dont les principaux domaines d’intérêt sont la théorie queer, le féminisme et les droits trans*. Il est aussi membre actif de la Trans* Coalition, qui rassemble les personnes trans* et leurs allié-e-s des pays de l’ex Union soviétique.
En décembre 2015, Tangarr a entamé son travail activiste et participé à un dialogue entre représentant-e-s de la communauté trans* des pays de l'Europe de l'Est et d'Asie centrale (EEAC, en anglais) et de l’Eurasian Coalition on Male Healthou ECOM (Coalition eurasienne sur la santé des hommes), afin de parler des stratégies de prévention et des traitements du VIH et du SIDA au sein de la communauté trans* en tant que groupe socialement vulnérable. Il a présenté un exposé sur « les préjugés cognitifs comme causes de la forte exposition des hommes trans* à l’infection du VIH, les méthodes de prévention et l’amélioration de la situation ».
Il a participé à la création d’un ouvrage d’information sur le genre, rédigé des articles sur le thème trans*, travaillé à une vidéo de soutien à Odessa Pride et s’est exprimé lors d’une émission télévisée au sujet des obstacles juridiques auxquels les personnes trans* sont confrontées lorsqu’elles tentent de changer de sexe.
Le Centre de la lutte contre le VIH et le SIDA de Kirovohrad (au centre de l'Ukraine) a invité Tangarr à donner une conférence sur les questions trans* à des journalistes, des activistes œuvrant en faveur des droits humains, des travailleur-euse-s de la santé et à la police.
Tangarr est fermement convaincu que « l’éducation est une panacée capable d’éliminer les préjugés et les idées erronées, la discrimination et la xénophobie ». Il a pour devise : « Optez pour la vérité le plus rapidement possible ».
« Plus nous savons de choses sur ce qui a trait à l’identité de genre et l’orientation sexuelle, moins nous nourrissons de préjugés. Les idées reçues engendrent de la souffrance. En abolissant l’ignorance, on diminue la détresse qu’elle provoque. »
After Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) rights and communities on the peninsula became subject to the discriminatory and repressive‘anti-gay propaganda’ law.
Tangarr was born in Sevastopol, a city on the Black Sea. But as a gay transman, with strong views and principles supporting feminism, LGBTQI rights and human rights in general, he now considers Crimea a dangerous place and has fled with his partner to the continental part of Ukraine.
About Identity
Unlike most transgender people, Tangarr discovered somewhat later in life that his gender identity didn't match his sex assigned at birth. He told us about his childhood being relatively happy and his parents holding fairly liberal views on how a child is supposed to behave. He and his brother were treated equally, and Tangarr wasn’t persuaded to 'act like a normal girl' or do things traditionally considered feminine by society.
"I was playing Cowboys and Indians, climbing mountains with my parents and my brother, we went backpacking. I practiced Judo. I had no problem with being myself."
The coming of puberty, though, brought challenges for him. He wasn’t happy about everything his mother cherished, particularly the notion that this was the time that ‘turns girls into beautiful women’, an idea often romanticized.
His feelings about those changes were based on worry and frustration, he remembers, “it's hard to realize that your body develops in a way contradictory to your psyche”.
Society didn’t treat him the way he wanted to be treated, people saw in him a young girl, and all he felt was a sense of wrongness and confusion related to the fact that their perception disappointed him.
“I thought I was lesbian (because they're, you know, stereotypically portrayed as masculine women), but I preferred men. It’s one of the moments when you realize how important enlightenment on issues of gender and sexual orientation is.”
Tangarr describes how he lacked information about transgender people, so he thought that the main problem was his body. He worked out, “became more muscular and athletic, yet something was definitely missing”. The sense of wrongness still persisted even if it was diminished by a quite liberal environment, including the understanding and support of friends.
His life was changed by someone (he used to know) attempting to insult him by saying “no matter how hard you work out, you’ll never be a man”. At this point, Tangarr realized something he said he never thought about before...
“I thought I was alone. A girl who feels like a guy — moreover, a gay guy.”
Legal changes and challenges
Prior to his legal sex change, the information Tangarr found online and the people he talked to helped guide him to learn all he needed to know about this process in Ukraine. He read stories, medical articles, basically everything about appearance changes and hormone replacement therapy.
He started the therapy and went through mastectomy (removal of breasts) procedure in Moscow, Russia as there “are no surgeons in Ukraine who are famed for quality in this matter”. For him this also reflects general “ignorance among the population on transgender issues, even among medical workers”.
“For everything we hold dear, it’s unthinkable to refuse facing the challenge.”
However, to complete the legal sex change in Ukraine, irreversible sterilization is mandatory. Tangarr protested against this because, “forced sterilization is discriminatory for too many reasons to count”. With support of a friend, he was able to change documents legally, without undergoing hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). He is one of the very few people who has done so in Ukraine.
Discrimination/Bias/Violence and joining movement(s)
“I always found it weird that nobody does anything to stop it from happening… But then I understood that this nobody is me”
Tangarr’s experiences during his life (as a woman) moved him to join the feminist movement, “as further male socialization highlighted all the challenges girls and women must overcome on a daily basis”. He is an activist in "Lavender Menace", a group whose main fields of interest are queer theory, feminism and transgender rights, and is an active member of the Trans* Coalition, which unites transgender people and their allies in countries of the former Soviet Union.
He has participated in creating an information booklet about gender, has authored articles on transgender issues, has worked on a video to support Odessa Pride, and has spoken on a television show about challenges transgender people face when trying to change legal sex.
In the Kirovograd (central Ukraine) Centre for Fight against HIV and AIDS, Tangarr has been invited to lecture journalists, human rights activists, medical workers and the police on transgender issues.
Tangarr firmly believes that “education is a panacea for biases and misconceptions, discrimination and xenophobia”. His motto: “surrender to the truth as fast as you can”.
“The more we know about gender identity and sexual orientation issues, the less biased we become. With prejudice comes suffering, and to dispel ignorance is to diminish distress caused by it.”
AWID began preparing this annual report just as the global pandemic began to unravel how we gather, organize and live our lives. It is impossible to review what we have done without COVID-19 tinting our assessment.
Co-Creating Feminist Realities is no longer just an AWID Forum theme - it is a rallying cry in response to a pandemic that has laid bare the failures of social, political and economic systems.
It is an urgently needed affirmation that there are other, more just ways of organizing our lives. During 2019 hundreds of groups shared their experiences and proposals for feminist realities with us, ranging from radical networks of community support in Latin America facilitating self-managed abortion, to practices of community-centered economies in Indonesia and community-centered food systems in India and the US, to a re-imagination and new practice of harm-free rites of passage in Sierra Leone. These are the experiences that will chart a path forward for a “new normal”.
Yet long histories of oppression and violence can make it difficult to imagine the possible. A key part of our work in 2019 was to spark these explorations through a toolkit AWID launched to support groups interested in unearthing the stories and aspirations that are the building blocks of feminist propositions.
While we focus on our proposals for a different world, we recognize the challenging context around us.
Through the Observatory on the Universality of Rights, Feminists for a Binding Treaty, Count Me In! and other alliances, AWID has continued to push back against unfettered corporate power and fascist and fundamentalist agendas that undermine women’s rights and gender justice. With dim prospects for transformative change through multilateral processes and limited responsiveness from most states, we are redoubling our efforts to ensure that feminist movements, in all their diversity, are resourced in ways that match the critical roles they play - supporting their communities, demanding rights and responding to crises. In 2019 we introduced feminist principles and approaches to ground-breaking funds like the Spotlight Initiative and the Equality Fund, and succeeded in leveraging resources through feminist reality seed grant funding from feminist funders.
As we look ahead, it is clear that the context is calling for a transformation of our organizing strategies:
we are learning to navigate global advocacy confined to online channels,
we grapple with the uncertainty of when and how we can convene in person, and
we use the tools at our disposal to tighten connections across local to global spheres.
AWID is embarking on a new membership model that lowers barriers to access and emphasizes opportunities for engagement and cross-member connection. We will continue to experiment with different online tools and processes for building community. Cross-movement engagement will stay at the center of our work. AWID’s actions in solidarity with oppressed movements and identities, even and especially where these are marginalized in feminist movements, are important to drive change and support broad and inclusive movements for all.
Crisis is not new to feminist and social movements.
We are resilient, we adapt, and we show up for each other. And we have to keep doing better. Thank you to all who are part of the journey with us.
Margo Okazawa-Rey is an activist-educator and transnational feminist working on issues of militarism for nearly 30 years. She is a founder member of the International Women’s Network against Militarism and Women for Genuine Security, the US group of the Network. She has long-standing activist commitments with Du Re Bang/My Sisters Place in South Korea and Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling in Palestine. She also serves on the International Board of PeaceWomen Across the Globe in Bern, Switzerland and is President of the Board of Directors of Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). Her foundational activist/life principle is that love is a radical act. She is also known as DJ MOR Love and Joy.
