Opinion

This is a critique of feminist politics, mine included. If we do not seriously begin to rethink the old tactics we have been using to dismantle patriarchy, what will be at stake is our death and the death of more of our sisters who are raped, harassed, and threatened every single day.

“Unjust provocation” is a legal term frequently applied in femicide cases in Turkey, to reduce the penalty of the perpetrator. The laws allow the judges to suggest that the murdered woman to some extent deserved to be killed…

Fortunately, there are men who do not over-determine and interfere in the feminist dialectic, but call the masculine into question and discuss gender stereotypes and machismo in a totally independent way.

We, the strong and independent women, daughters of Dany Bustros, Sylvia Plath, and Soad Hosny, are all without exception suffocating under the weight of silent suffering. Like my friend, we too tell ourselves “I want to escape”, sometimes more than once a day.

What is not reported does not exist, and if it does not exist, nothing can be done to change it. Ukraine has not existed until today. There is no Ethiopia, just as there are no Congo, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Burundi.

Feminism is at the antipodes of the Putinian virile matrix that it combats, that of the violence in action in all the wars generated by a patriarchal system whose worthy representatives are erected across the world: Trump, Bolzonaro, Edogan, Salvini, Orbàn... to mention just a few.

Fuchsia is the color chosen by the “Non Una Di Meno” (Not one less) movement in Italy. It is a garish, bright and strong color that exasperates and incorporates the stereotypical pink, which, for centuries, has built the feminine identification imposed on girls.

“I will give my cheek to my lover and my kisses to anyone I choose…”. While Arabic poetry served to glorify the heroic Arab, poetry by slave women in captivity, known as Jawari' poetry, was far overlooked. These women’s writings were daring and teeming with defiance and unrestraint…

This is what bothers me about this day internationally reserved for women. That we need to prove, or at least bombard others with posts until they are convinced, that women are not worth less than men. Just like we need to prove to the aggressors that we are not less than them. The parallel is undeniable.

With this illustration, I wished to evoke joy, struggle, beauty and celebration that are all related and essential for me. I felt like representing a body that was neither young nor smooth…