Grève Féministe 2023

Vais-je descendre dans la rue ? Comment exprimer ma rage face à ces systèmes qui me révoltent, moi aussi ? Comment, quoi déconstruire, détruire pour arriver à nos fins ? A quoi bon ? Est-ce que je supporterai ?

Tant de questions qui m’amènent à réfléchir, prendre position, et dans ce sens-là, j’apprécie la mobilisation.

La révolte, elle est en moi, sans aucun doute. C’est une révolte nourrie de fatigue, d’incompréhension. C’est une révolte que je porte dans mon corps, nourrie par les agressions – qu’elles soient micro-, physiques ou psychiques. J’ai souffert, je souffre. Je ne veux plus, j’y suis résignée, ça me tue.

Et j’ai peur de ça. De le retrouver chez mes sœurs et adelphes si je sors tout à l’heure. J’ai peur de toute cette rage, tellement légitime, tellement mienne, tellement douloureuse. J’ai peur de ressentir tous les coups, les crachats, les insultes inscrits dans notre corps collectif. J’ai peur d’érailler ma voix, de la perdre, encore un fois, alors que ça ne changera rien à ma peine.

Par contre, je comprends bien l’enjeu d’occuper l’espace. Que je pourrai rajouter mon corps et ma voix au cortège, rendre la masse plus grande et plus bruyante, et qu’on montrera qu’on est bien là, qu’on existe, qu’ils ne peuvent pas nier notre présence.

Mais mon activisme se fait autrement. En élavant la voix dans le silence, en prenant la place aux tables auxquelles on ne m’attend pas. Je combats en faisant la sieste au bureau, en écrivant pour faire pleurer, en chantant, assise bien au milieu de scènes, sachant qu’on a essayé de me faire taire, de m’écraser, de faire comme si je n’existais pas.

Est-ce qu’aujourd’hui j’ai envie de revendiquer mon droit plutôt à la douceur, de protester en prenant ma place au bord du lac, en acceptant mes peurs et fragilités en sirotant un verre bien mérité ? De faire fi des attentes du système sur moi ?

Ou ais-je un devoir de rejoindre la foule, de rendre le privé politique ? Est-ce qu’au final manifester fera bien bouger les choses au bout du compte ? Ne sera-ce pas l’occasion d’exorciser mes peurs, entourée de celle.x.s qui comprennent ?

Ce que j’aimerais savoir, en vrai, c’est comment rester courageuse, comment ne pas baisser les bras face au monstre qu’est le patriarcat, cette ombre qui s’infiltre partout, dont on ne peut pas se défaire, jusque dans notre propre jugement de nous-même. Est-ce qu’une liberté existe vraiment, là maintenant, est-ce que j’y goûterai un jour ? Comment aider à l’instaurer ?

Pour aujourd’hui, on verra bien. Quoi qu’il en soit, j’assumerai d’autant plus de me vêtir de mauves et de violets, de sortir en Lila, à l’intersection de toutes mes identités.

Turn back the pages – August 2012

Throw the walls down
Punch, stamp, tear at them
Open the space up wide
Wide, wide as the
Moonlit sky above.

Lose yourself in the space
In your head, your heart
Your home, your world.
Like in a film, let the camera
Pan upwards and out,
Leaving you, a speck of flesh
Alone in the dust.

But free.

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Me too.

Nothing can describe the recurring sinking in my stomach, or the invasion of shivers. My complete inability to understand whether I should like, send love, be sad or show anger; wow could never be a solution. Also difficult to express is the deep gratitude in feeling that this time, we’re on a roll. Not all of us are marchers, or politicians, journalists, rappers, or have access to a platform from which to express ourselves. But what a lot of us do have in common is social media. And through this system we insist on calling perverse (which it is, but that can’t overshadow the ways in which it is effective..!), we have managed to create a true wave. And what with? Two words. Two words to lend our voices to a cry which should never be quietened, let alone silenced.

In only a few days, we have shone a light on a monster we love to ignore.  And you know what, I’d love to see how you go around ignoring us this time. The numbers are undeniable; you cannot argue provocation, drunkenness, naïveté, or any of the other “excuses” you cower behind. May you be damned if you don’t prick up your ears, ready to finally listen, or if you choose to deny the truth, again.

More than the sinking feeling and the skin crawling, I’ve been crying. Crying at a pain that’s so normal, we never even bother mentioning it anymore. An injustice we should fight against together, but that we are all too tired to address, faced as we are with other unrelenting assaults to our integrity. When I see how many of us are involved, somehow, I feel even more helpless. If so many of us have been through this, how come it’s still going on? But this, this feels like a new opening for this conversation.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is a feminist wave, a current event, that makes the involvement of men obvious. Without the oppressing group gaining consciousness, it all stays the same. So when each of us says “Me too“, we are lending you our voices – so that you can join our ranks, stronger from our avowals – and be a part of this fight against a patriarchy that makes sexual harassment and assault part of the normal fabric of society. This is not normal. It’s time we overthrew this system, all of us together.

 

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All of us, messed up, in pain

You leave me with bite marks,
Fantasy plans of tying me up tight.
But when it comes to real tears
Or hearing my calls as I drown,
You turn your music louder
Cover my voice with drunk stutters.

Now, just the other day:
“Give it all up” you say, “come, let me show you the way”
Promised me an ear, “Come on, give up on the pain”
If I’d just let go of the meds, stop reaching out for professional help…

But now, where are you now, dicky dick dick
Enjoying my tears from afar, finding joy in my fear ?
Stroking your c*ck at the thought of me lost?

I promised I’d crown you and you laughed – not your play
Maybe the wisdom of your years (that you do have!)
Tells you you’re right, you’re too old to care,
And this girl? She’s too young to know.
Trouble, trouble. Just raw, needy trouble.

But what happened to love, to trusting, believing?
When did you become too lazy to care
And I, your light, become a burden,
A truth, too heavy to bear?

Yes, my pride’s hurt, and yes I’m messed up
No, I don’t hide it, fuck no, I don’t blame you.
Yes, I get scared and hey, yes, I’m scary
I scare you, I know, but aren’t you scared too?

YET behind these addictions, I know you hear it boo
The same fear rips through you, I’m sorry to say.
Shake your head all you like, give up on the world
Out-talk it, you’ll try: “No Silence, not you!
No! Peace, not your touch
Stop the voices, shut up, leave me be, stay away!”

—-

Whisperings, baby, turn your ear, just listen.
In truth, they say “Honey, don’t let go
I know you’re scared we’re leaving but –
No, angel, no,
We want to stay.
This burden you bear, shift it over here.”

Your addictions and mine, just chemical aids.
What if if we both found a wide open space,
Thick forest of fears, the depths of depression,
A sheer, blinding darkness…
And sat there a while.

The different parts of me, collection of us,
(Most of our friends are here too, if you let yourself see.)
All of us, messed up, pissed off, in pain, too proud,
Hiding and hidden. What for?
Open up, damn it. Don’t be ashamed,
I’m not – will not, accept to be told.

But I will hold your hand,
Yes, and sob in my sleep
Now here’s the cliché: I want to believe

Luxury and adventure await, if only we trust.

 

Extract from a love letter – on self affirmation 

But I am a whole, made of good and bad, confident and anxious, calm and angered, sober and excited. I deserve to be loved as a whole, to have all aspects of me honoured, kept safe and taken care of. Dealing with me requires patience, which I will not apologise
for. I will not put myself in boxes to please others, especially those I choose to let into my intimate circle. This is necessary for my mental health, and more and more for my physical integrity too. I am not an embarrassement to be hidden, I am not my illness.
I am a whole. More than the sum of my (partially defective) parts. And isn’t that who you love? I expect to be loved, not changed. This is not to say I will not change and improve, but that it is a process, aided by love and not a question of clicking fingers
and becoming the perfect woman. Every day I am the best version of me in the context I am given. If you love me, you can believe that.