For each AWID Forum we call for contributions from a wide range of feminist and social justice movements to propose activities and create the Forum program.

For the 14th AWID international Forum, we want to make the program truly representative of the diversity of the movements.

That is why we put in place a new and engaging way to choose the proposals that will generate the final Forum program: the Participatory Selection Process (PSP).

What is the Participatory Selection Process (PSP)?

The Participatory Selection Process is the final step in reviewing the activity proposals and selecting those that will be part of the official Forum program. 

This is how it works: 

1. Activity proposals have originally been submitted via our Call for Forum Activities, open to everyone - groups and individuals - interested in presenting their feminist reality at the Forum.
2. Out of all the activities submitted, AWID staff pre-selects the ones best reflecting the Forum theme and presenting a creative approach for audience engagement.
3. Activities are then reviewed and short-listed by different Forum Committees to ensure a good diversity of regions, movements and ideas.
4. The selected proposals are then reviewed and rated by individuals and groups whose proposals have also been short-listed. The proposals which receive the most votes from fellow candidates will become part of the final Forum program.

The whole activity selection process at a glance:

Why did AWID decide to organize a PSP for the 14th AWID Forum activities?

We think a PSP is relevant for the AWID Forum because:

• It places at the centre of the decision making process the communities who live the feminist realities that will be showcased and discussed at the Forum 

• It is consistent with our identity and our role as a movement support/ accompaniment organization. 

• It is in line with our vision of the Forum as co-created with different feminist and social justice movements, who shape the Forum through their participation in committees (content and methodology, access, artivist and host country), creating and facilitating activities as partners with AWID and also making decisions about the Program through the PSP.

• It allows for greater diversity in the textures that will make up the Forum fabric (or in the voices that will compose the Forum song). It ensures we go beyond AWID itself and the movement partners that we already know and work with. It opens the door to the unexpected.

How did AWID come up with this PSP idea?

This is the first time AWID is considering such a process.

The initial idea came from AWID’s Co-EDs and staff. Before committing to a decision, we consulted some of the community funds that have been implementing participatory selection processes for years. These included FRIDA: The Young Feminists Fund, the International Trans Fund, UHAI - East Africa’s fund for sexual minorities and sex workers - and the Central American Women’s Fund. We consulted them to learn from their extensive experiences and get their feedback.

Pre-selected activities

• Financial autonomy, breaker of silence
  ORGANISATION DES FEMMES AFRICAINES DE LA DIASPORA (OFAD) ASSOCIATION LES PETITES MERES PRODADPHE ASSOCIATION AMBE KUNKO (AAK)

• Contribution of feminist organisations to the fight against violent extremism in Niger
  Femmes Actions et Développement (FAD)

• Self-financing: home banking for women 
  Rassemblement des Femmes pour le développement endogène et solidaire RAFDES

• Food and food sovereignty for rural women
  Association Song-taaba des Femmes Unies pour le Développement (ASFUD)

• Feminist leaders, investing in positive masculinity, creating a new balanced social order: how to change mentalities? 
  Une societe cooperative, la chefferie traditionnelle des localites, les autorites administratives et les autres associations feminines ONG Centre Solidarite "Investir dans les Filles et les Femmes

• Co-creating the sponsorship methodology.
  NEGES MAWON

• Millennium of opportunities to save the earth (MOST) by supporting climate justice for local and Indigenous communities in Congo Basin. 
  Jeunesse Congolaise pour les Nations Unies (JCNU), Association Genre et Environnement pour le Développement (AGED)

• Envisioning an Asian Queer Feminist Politics
  ASEAN Feminist LBQ Womxn Network Sayoni

• Supporting the Self-Managed: Abortion Doulas, Acompanantes, and Radical Networks of support
  inroads

• Online Feminisms: How Women Are Taking Back The Tech
  Feminism In India

• Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Sex Workers
  Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), The International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP)

• Sustainable Feminist Leadership and Organizing - Personal and Collective Experiences
  HER Fund, Institute for Women's Empowerment (IWE) ,Kalyanamita, AAF

• Caribbean Realities: Black Sauna Radio
  WE-Change Jamaica

• Telephone Helplines Care and Women Experience
  Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN),Youth Network for Community and Sustainable Development (YNCSD), Community Health Rights Network (CORENET)

• Sensuality as resistance; body movement workshop
  UHAI EASHRI

• Lesbian Disco Eastern European Style
  Sapfo Collective

• FitcliqueAfrica Feminist Utopia Installation, Trauma Healing and Self Defense Camp
  FitcliqueAfrica (Fitclique256 Uganda Limited)

• Queering Communications for an Open Internet
  Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice

• Is the Way you Think about Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRHR) Ableist? Good Practices for Disability Inclusive SRHR Programmes and Advocacy.
  Asia Pacific Network of Women with Disabilities and Allies

• Decolonizing Non-Violent Communication
  API Equality-LA, Sayoni, ASEAN Feminist LBQ Womxn Network

• Feminist centred approaches to prosecuting sexual harassment in the world of work
  Women's Legal Centre

• Women in Conflict in Myanmar
  Women's League of Burma, Rainfall

• Caribbean Feminist Spaces, Creative Expressions & Spiritual Practices for Community Transformation
  CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice

• POP-UPS: Just Power: Popular Education Tools for a Feminist Future
  JASS/Just Associates

• UnAnonYmous: Queering Black African Diaspora Feminist Practices Sobriety

• Digital Witchcraft: Magical Thinking for Cyberfeminist Futures
  The Digital Witchcraft Institute

• Building Womanifestos: Grassroot Women's Agenda for Change in Asia Pacific
  Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development

• Designing your astral travels
  EuroNPUD, narcofeminists as a loose group

• Collective Care
  RENFA Rede Nacional de Feministas Antiproibicionistas

• Music of our movements
  Radical imagination

• From waste to Ecofriendly coal
  KEMIT ECOLOGY SARL

• Collective care and insurgency of feminist antiracist movements under authoritarian and violent contexts
  CFEMEA - Feminist Center of Studies and Advisory Services, CRIOLA - black women`s organization, Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras

• Breaking Patriarchal Religion's Stranglehold on Family Laws that Affect Our Lives #FreeOurFamilyLaws
  Musawah

• Feminist approach to claim and control over lands within investment
  Badabon Sangho, APWLD

• Women's Global Strike: Our resistance, our future
  Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law & Development, ESCR-Net, Women's March Global

• Towards an Inclusive ‘Mother Earth’
  Disability Rights Fund, Open Society Foundation

• From Inclusion to Infiltration: Strategies for Building Intersectional Feminist Movements
  Mobility International USA (MIUSA)

• The hidden stories of women with invisible disabilities: Art in action
  The Red Door, Merchants of Madness, Improving Mental Wellbeing through Art

• Public-Private Partnership and Women´s Human Rights: learnings from case studies in the Global South
  Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

• The Interconnected Journey: Our Bodies, Our Sci-Fi! <3
  The Interconnected Journey Project, Laboratorio de Interconectividades

• Compiling and Building: Alternative feminist vision to challenge the dominant world economic order
  IWRAW Asia Pacific

• Self-publication as a feminist act
  International Women* Space

• Good Practices of legal protection for gender & sexual minorities in Pakistan and their Intersectionality
  Activists Alliance Foundation, Khawja Sirah Society, Wajood Society, Wasaib Sanwaro

• Feminist Approaches to Counter Trafficking
  IWRAW Asia Pacific, Business & Human Rights Resource Center

• Critiquing individualism and state policies: transnational organizing against targeted violence
  Masaha: Accessible Feminist Knowledge

• Decolonizing Intimacy: How Queer Identities Challenge Heteronormative Family Structures
  WOMANTRA

• Yeki Hambe - Sex worker theatre
  Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Task Force

• Creating the Indigenous feminist reality: honoring the sacred feminine and building new paths for Indigenous women
  Cultural Survival, International Funders in Indigenous Peoples

• Eyes on Anti-prohibitionism by Brazillian Women
  Mulheres Cannabicas, Tulipas do Cerrado

• Black Feminist Truth Commission: Addressing Injustices to Revolutionize Intersectional Feminism as the New Reality
  Black Women in Development

• Community care is self care: true stories are told in safer spaces
  Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Metzineres, Urban Survivor’s Union, Salvage women and children from drug abuse

• NO MOVES BARRED:Dancing connections between Disability,trans & sexual rights against violence
  National Forum of Women with Disabilities, Autonomy foundation, Nazyk kyz

• The Impact of Corporate Capture on Feminist Realities: Developing Tools for Action
  ESCR-Net | Economic, Social, Cultural Rights Network

• Reimagining AIDS: building a feminist HIV response
  Frontline AIDS, Aidsfonds, IPPI (Indonesian Network of Women Living with HIV), UHAI-EASHRI (East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative)

• Advancing Economic Justice towards Realizing Our Vision of a Feminist Planet
  International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ESCR-Net

• Sex Workers Cafe
  Hydra e.V.

• Adopting an ecofeminist approach in dealing with climate change and food security
  Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage, Human Rights Educational Centre

• Connecting the grassroots with the international: experience from creative sex worker mobilisation in Europe
  International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe, STRASS - French Sex Worker Union, APROSEX, Red Edition

• Experiment with how innovative tech can help us feel safer when navigating our cities
  Soul City Institute for Social Justice, Safetipin, Womanity Foundation

• question “Are hierarchies within organisations UNfeminist?”
  Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya National, Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

• We all are different, but we do have joint shared values
  UNWUD (Ukrainian network of women who use drugs), JurFem Association, Women's Prospects

• A World Without Class
  Bunge La Wamama Mashinani (Grassroots Women's Parliament)

• Women Empower the Community
  Institute for Women's Empowerment (IWE), Solidaritas Perempuan, ASEC Indonesia, Komunitas Swabina Pedesaan Salassae (KSPS)

• Feminist Organizing: Transformational Leadership - Women Workers in Latin America Creating a Feminist Labor Movement and a Feminist World of Work
  Solidarity Center

• Acting Out, Acting Up : Disability-Feminism decolonising narratives of Stigma thro' Participatory theatre
  Rising Flame, National Indigenous Disabled Women Association, Nepal, The Spectrum & Union of Abilities, The Red Door

• Valuing and centering rest, pleasure and play
  ATHENA Network

• The African feminist judgment project
  The Initiative for strategic Ligation in Africa (ISLA)

• Voices from the frontlines: Bolstering collective power to end the incarceration of women worldwide
  International Drug Policy Consortium, Equis Justicia para las Mujeres, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Women and Harm Reduction International Network

• Queer Youth Organising: imagining in an era of human rights and sustainable development
  African Queer Youth Initiative, Success Capital Organisation

• Our Struggles Our Stories Our Strengths
  Oriang Lumalaban, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan

• Breaking barriers for collective Indigenous climate action in Southeast Asia
  Cuso International, Asia Indigenous Peoples' Pact

• Love Positive Women: Going beyond romantic love to deep community love and social justice
  Eurasian Women's Network on AIDS

• Intersex and Feminism
  Intersex Russia

• Understanding the reproductive health experiences and needs of transgender and gender diverse people
  Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN)

• Because She Cares: Critical conversations on HIV activism as (un)caring work
  Because We Care Collaborative

• The Mississippi Food Systems Manifesto
  Center for Ideas, Equity & Transformative Change, National Council of Appropriate Technology - Gulf South, MS Food Justice Collaborative, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

• Kurdish Women's Movement co-presidency experience as an example of a radical feminist realization: Co-presidency is our PURPLE line!
  The Free Women’s Movement (TJA)

• WOES -"Walking on Egg Shells"
  Eldoret Women For Development (ELWOFOD), Mama Cash, Young women against Women Custodial Injustices Network

• FREEDOM

• Prison Isn’t Feminist: Exploring the impact and alternatives to reliance on police and incarceration
  Migrant Sex Workers Project, Showing Up For Racial Justice

• Bondo without Blood: A Feminist Reimagining of Sierra Leonean Rites of Passage
  Purposeful

• Liberated Land & Territories: A Pan-African Conversation
  Thousand Currents (USA), Abahlali baseMjondolo (South Africa), Nous Sommes la Solution (west Africa/regional), Movilización de Mujeres Negras por el Cuidado de la Vida y los Territorios Ancestrales (Colombia), and Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Brazil)

• Popular Education and Organizing for a Feminist Economy
  Jamaica Household Workers Union (JHWU), United for a Fair Economy, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL)

• So You Wish To Mobilise With An Empty Wallet? Let’s Make It Happen!
  Breakthrough India

• Experience sharing establishing a network for women human rights defenders in East Africa: Ugandan perspective
  Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda

• Tech clinic
  Stichting Syrian Female Journalists Netowrk

• Building Inclusive Movements: Going Beyond Tokenism
  Rising Flame

• Justice & Healing for Survivors of GBV: an interactive debate on restorative justice and the anatomy of an apology
  One Future Collective

• Collective actions to ending transphobia through a feminist lens
  Asia Pacific Transgender Network, Iranti, Transgender Europe

• LBQ women & Asylum
  Sehaq

• Abortion and Disability: Towards an Intersectional Human Rights-Based Approach
  Women Enabled International

• Learn how to support the self-organizing of undocumented, migrant, and criminalized and sex workers communities
  Buttrerfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network)

• Self Care: A Fundamental Tool for Sustaining LGBTQI & Feminist Organizing
  United and Strong Inc., S.H.E Barbados, Lez Connect

• Reclaiming Young African Feminist VOICES-REALITIES-POWER for climate justice
  Young Feminist organization Gasy Youth Up, Young African Feminist Dialogues

• Women in action & solidarity: performing our realities (Asia & Africa)
  Young Feminist organization Gasy Youth Up ( co-founder) , Young African Feminist Dialogues ( member)

• Women in action & solidarity: performing our realities (Asia & Africa)
  Women Performing the World (Asia/Africa)

• Challenging patriarchy: Workers in entertainment sector
  Women Forum for Women in Nepal (WOFOWON)

• The non-citizens: issues of women's citizenship in the context of migrant, vulnerable communities in South Asia
  NEthing

• Visioning for voice in migration and climate crises
  Women's Refugee Commission, The Feminist Humanitarian Network, ActionAid

• In It Together: Women's Funds and Feminist Movements Co-Creating Feminist Realities
  Mama Cash, Global Fund for Women, Urgent Action Fund - Africa

• Co-creating magic with young feminist movements - participatory practices that spark joy
  Feminist organizing, FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund (Community), Teia

• Protection right of woman’s in difficult realities 3 organizations of women from marginally communities
  NGO Asteria, Ermolaeva Irena and Bayazitova Renata. NGO Ganesha Musagalieva Tatiana. NGO Ravniy Ravnomu Kucheryavyh Tanya

• Feminnale - traditions against art and expression
  Bishkek Feminist Initiatives

• Resistance through knowledge, arts and activism: creation of a feminist library in Armenia
  FemHouse, Armenia

• Conquering the UN System with Feminist Strategies (You Don’t Need to be a Lawyer to Have Fun)
  Kazakhstan Feminist Initiative "Feminita", IWRAW Asia Pacific, ILGA World

• Data. Huh. What is it good for? Feminist data and organizing for feminist outcomes
  International Women's Development Agency, Women's Rights Action Movement, Fiji Women's Rights Movement

• Criminalized Women’s voice, leadership and influence on laws, policies and practices in Kenya
  Keeping Alive Societies Hope-KASH, Katindi Lawyers and Advocates, Vocal Kenya

• From Colombia to the world, African women's changing force
  Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia -PCN, Solidarité Féminine por la Paix el le Develppment Integral -SOFEPADI,

• Afro Queer Listening Lounge and Story-Telling Booth
  AQ Studios, None on Record, AfroQueer Podcast

• Reclaiming Bodily Integrity
  GBV Prevention Network : Coordinated by Raising Voices

• Learning from diversity
  Circulo de Mujeres con Discapacidad -CIMUDIS, Alianza Discapacidad por nuestros Derechos -ADIDE, Fundación Dominicana de Ciegos -FUDCI, Filial Puerto Rico de Mujeres con Discapacidad

• Football as a feminist tool
  Fundación GOLEES (Género, Orgullo, Libertad y Empoderamiento de Ellas en la Sociedad)

• Migratory constellations
  LasVanders

• Ecofeminist dialogues to defend territories
  CIEDUR (Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre el Desarrollo), Equit, Foro permanente de Manaos y Amazonia

• La Frida BikesMoviment
  La Frida Bike

• Witchcraft, shamanism and other insurgent knowledge against patriarchy.
  Colectiva Feminista MAPAS-Mujeres Andando Proceso por Autonomías Sororales

• Experiences, learnings and challenges in managing holistic security of horizontal feminist organisations and of gender-dissidence in times of social and political crisis. The experience of the popular uprising in Chile of 18 October.
  Fudación Comunidades en Interfaz

• Food that we all know about
  Las Nietas de Nonó, Parceleras Afrocaribeñas por la Transformación barrial (PATBA)

• Practices of resistance against climate change of Indigenous women in Peru and Guatemala
  Thousand Currents, Red de Mujeres Productoras de la Agricultura Familiar, Asociación de Mujeres Ixpiyakok (ADEMI, Ixpiyakok Women's Association)

• Building Feminist Cities
  CISCSA, Articulacion Feminista Marcosur

• Stand in my place
  Alianza Discapacidad por nuestros Derechos - ADIDE, Circulo de Mujeres con Discapacidad -CIMUDIS

• Clearing the way for women's fullness of life, healing collective and historical traumas
  Grupo de Mujeres Mayas Kaqla

• Zapoteca Indigenous women challenged by nature

• Houses of Care and Healing for Women Human Rights Defenders as part of Integral Feminist Protection: A Feminist Reality
  Iniciativa Mesoamericana De Defensoras de Derechos Humanos, Consorcio Oaxaca para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad A.C, Red Nacional De Defensoras De Derechos Humanos en Honduras, Coletivo Feminista de Autocuidado

• Healing your unicornix voice: Weaving ancient and digital technologies to sharpen the tongue

• Feminist trajectories for an assisted motherhood protocol for women with disabilities
  Circulo emancipador de mujeres y niñas con discapacidad de Chile, CIMUNIDIS, WEI

• School for trans feminist children
  Fundación Selena

• REDTRASEX: Experience of Organization and Struggle for the Rights of Women Sex Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean
  RedTraSex Red de mujeres trabajadoras sexuales LAC

• Gender based violence and the world of sex work in Mexico
  Brigada Callejera de Apoyo a la Mujer, "Elisa Martínez", A.C., Red Mexicana de Organizaciones Contra la Criminalización del VIH. Red Mexicana de Trabajo Sexual

• Migration forces us to draw the path as we walk
  Asociación de Trabajadoras del Hogar a Domicilio y de Maquila. ATRAHDOM

• New narratives for Black women: body, healing and pleasure

• Weaving memories and networks - Black Feminists strengthening Black feminisms in LAC
  Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas, Afrocaribeñas y de la Diáspora, Articulação de Organizações de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras (AMNB), Voces Caribeñas

ใหม่

จุดศูนย์กลาง: การเดินทางข้ามพรมแดน

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จริงในกรุงเทพฯเช่นเดียวกับบุคคลที่เชื่อมต่อทางออนไลน์        ผู้เข้าร่วมในจุดศูนย์กลาง Hub นี้จะสามารถ ดำเนินรายการในหัวข้อกิจกรรมต่างๆ เข้าร่วมอภิปราย แลกเปลี่ยน และเพลิดเพลินไปกับโปรแกรม ที่หลากหลาย

ที่ตั้งจุดศูนย์กลาง Hub จะประกาศในปี 2567

Un indice visuel est toujours utile

« La sexualité est fluide, et là mon vagin aussi. »
#FeministFestival #SextLikeAFeminist

By Prinka Saraswati, Gianyar, Bali

The menstrual cycle usually lasts between 27 and 30 days. During this time, the period itself would only go on for five to seven days. During the period, fatigue, mood swings, and cramps are the result of inflammation.

In traditional Javanese culture, this is the moment for women to rest and take care of themselves. During this moment, a woman would take Kunyit Asam, a jamu or herbal drink to soothe the inflammation. This elixir consists of turmeric and tamarind boiled together in a pot.

I still remember my first period - it was one day before graduation day in elementary school. I remember pedaling my bike feeling something warm running between my thighs. When I arrived home I did all I could to clean myself and then put on a menstrual pad. My mother came home from work about four hours later. I told her what had happened. She looked me in the eye and asked how I felt. I told her that it was painful, that my body was swollen in every place. Then she asked me to go with her to the backyard. I followed her to our little jungle, my mother sat down on the soil and smiled.

“See this slender leaf? This is the leaf of Kunyit, *empon-empon that leaves the yellow stain on your fingers. What’s most important is not the leaf, but the roots. You dig the soil and slowly grab the roots.”, my mother showed me how to pick Kunyit or Turmeric roots. Then we went to the kitchen where she boiled water along with some tamarind. While waiting for it to boil, she showed me how to wash and grate the orangey-yellow root. Then, we put the grated turmeric into the boiling tamarind water. “Tomorrow, you can make it for yourself. This will help you to feel better!”.

I remember the first time I tasted it - a slightly bitter taste but also sour. My mother always served it warm. She would also put some in a big bottle which I would place on my stomach or lower back for further relief. For days after, my mother’s hands and mine were yellow. My friends could always tell every time I got period because my hands would be yellow.

A year after my first period, I found out that you could get the bottled version in convenience stores. Still, I made my own Kunyit Asam every time I had my period because the one in the convenience stores was cold. It did not smell of wet soil and warm kitchen.

Fast forward, I am a 26 year old woman who casually makes this drink for friends when they have their periods. I’ve made some for my housemates and I’ve delivered some for friends who live in different towns. I do not grow turmeric roots in my garden, but I have grown and shared the love from my mom. What was once from garden to cup is now from *pasar to cup.

A couple of days ago, I asked my mother who taught her how to make the jamu.

“Who else? Yang Ti*! Your grandmother was not just a teacher”, said my mom. I was never close to my grandmother. She passed away when I was eight. All I knew from my mom was that she was a math teacher who had to teach courses after work. I had this image of my grandmother as a hard worker who was kind of distant with her children. My mom did not disagree with that but explained it came from her survival instinct as a mother. “She tried to make time. She tried. She taught me how to make jamu so I could take care of myself and my sisters”.

My mother is the second child out of seven, six of whom are girls. The reason my grandmother taught her is so that all of her children could take care of each other. While my mother was taught how to make the drink, my mother’s older sister was taught how to plant turmeric. Yang Ti knew which one loved the smell of soil more and which one loved the smell of the kitchen. My mother was the latter. She learned how to plant from my aunt, her older sister.

My grandfather worked in a bank but he got laid off when he was in his 40s. So, my grandmother had to do a side-hustle to support their children. My mother was in high school at that time when Yang Ti woke her and her older sister up at dawn. “Would you help me to pick some roots?”. Of course nobody said no. Especially if it was your mother, especially if you were born in Javanese culture where saying “no” sounded like a bad word. Together, the three of them went to the backyard, and they harvested empon - empon, rhizome, that was buried inside the soil. She grew many kinds of rhizome; temu lawak, temu putih, ginger, galangal, kunci, kencur, and kunyit. That was the day where my mother realized that her mother was never far away from her.

That was the day where she could spend more time with her mother. There, in the garden. There, in the kitchen.

“We’re sending these for Ibu Darti, the lady who lives across the river. Kunyit Asam for her and her daughters.”, said my grandmother to my mother and my aunt that day. They poured the Turmeric-Tamarind warm drink into a tall thermos and later my grandmother would deliver it on the way to school.

Over time, my grandmother got more orders for jamu. Everybody in the family helped her to make and deliver her jamu. The small business lasted only a few years, but that was what paid for my mother and her siblings’ education.

Today, my mother, who got laid off just a few days before I wrote this piece, harvested Turmeric and other roots. She’s making her Turmeric Tamarind drink from her kitchen.

My phone rang in the middle of this afternoon, a couple minutes after I boiled the rest of my grated turmeric. Today is one day after my period.

“Ingka, have you washed your pot after boiling those turmeric? It would forever be yellow if you don’t wash it right away!”

• *empon-empon = roots like ginger, turmeric, etc. coming from the Javanese word “Empu” which means, something or someone that has deep knowledge.

• *jamu = Indonesia’s traditional elixir made of roots, barks, flowers, seeds, leaves, and fruits.

• *Yang Ti = Javanese term for grandmother, taken from the term “Eyang Putri” the female you look up to.

• *pasar = the word for traditional market in Indonesian.

“Feminist Movement”

by Karina Tungari, Hamburg, Germany  (@_katung_)

The more women support other women, the quicker we’ll see progress. Together we are stronger and make even more impact.

Communicating Desire

and Other Embodied Political Praxes

Communicating Desire

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.

The artwork is a photography and illustration collaboration between Siphumeze and Katia during lockdown. The work looks at black queer sex and plesure narratives, bondage, safe sex, toys, mental health and sex and many more. It was created to accompany the Anthology Touch.

About the Artists:

Accessibility and Health

Continuez à explorer Incarnations transnationales

Cette édition du journal, en partenariat avec Kohl : a Journal for Body and Gender Research (Kohl : une revue pour la recherche sur le corps et le genre) explorera les solutions, propositions et réalités féministes afin de transformer notre monde actuel, nos corps et nos sexualités.

Explorer

El Colectivo Moriviví es una colectiva de solo mujeres. Nuestra producción artística consiste en muralismo, muralismo comunitario y acciones/performances de protesta. Nuestro trabajo tiene como objetivo democratizar el arte y llevar a la esfera pública las narrativas de las comunidades de Puerto Rico, para generar espacios en donde sean validadas. Creemos que, a través del artivismo, podemos promover conciencia sobre temas sociales y fortalecer nuestra memoria colectiva.

En el marco de su participación en el Grupo de Trabajo Artístico de AWID, el Colectivo Moriviví convocó a un grupo diverso de afiliadxs, asociadxs y personal de AWID y facilitó un proceso colaborativo de imaginación, configuración y decisión sobre el contenido para la creación de un mural comunitario, a través de un proceso de creación conjunta en múltiples etapas. El proyecto comenzó con una conceptualización remota con feministas de diferentes zonas del planeta reunidxs por AWID, y luego evolucionó hacia su recontextualización y realización en Puerto Rico. Nos honra haber contado con la contribución de las artistas locales Las Nietas de Nonó (@lasnietasdenono), la participación de mujeres locales en la Sesión de Pintura Comunitaria, el apoyo logístico de la Municipalidad de Caguas, y el apoyo adicional al colectivo, brindado por FRIDA Young Feminist Fund.
 
El mural explora la trascendencia de las fronteras, al presentar cuerpos como un mapa en un abrazo que realza la intersección de las distintas manifestaciones, prácticas y realidades feministas.
 
Agradecemos también a Kelvin Rodríguez, quien documentó y captó las diferentes etapas de este proyecto en Puerto Rico:

Sobre el Colectivo Moriviví