Aidonian's blog

The 8th of March is the day to celebrate womanhood, but it is also a day to stand up for the rights for women. Especially now during COVID pandemic, women’s rights are under more pressure than before. 

The first women’s day was held in America towards the end of February. It wasn’t until the 1920’s that the international women’s day was held on 8 of March after the Sovjet-union did it. 

Why is it so important that we have such a day? Well, firstly to acknowledge the contributions women have made to daily life. Without them the world would stop spinning sort of speak. Women still make less money than men. Women are still expcted to take care of the family, etc.. They receive less pension than theiur male counterparts.

But more importantly, it’s a day where we stand up for their rights. It’s a day to acknowledge that feminism has a lot of work ahead of them so that women are treated equal. Also important is that all women have access to free daycare for their kids, menstrual products that are free, access to abortions if they either need it or want it. Their body, their right. Which is why every year there are events, protests to speak up and try to enlighten the public of the changes that need to take place.

Women should learn how to defend themselves against aggression, both physical and psychological. Men should be thought to behave themselves and not assault women. Sexual education plays a big part to accomplish this. In a ideal world, women shouldnt learn how to defend themselves, but we don’t live in a ideal world.

laws should be reformed so that stalking, rape and physical, verbal aggression towards women is punished more severely. Like it is now, it’s a joke. Stalking. Sorry, we can’t really do much. Raped. What were you wearing or why were you there? Not why did those men rape them or who was it. Reforms should be done so women can be protected more easily and rapists are sentenced more easily.

As a man I find it difficult to say what women need besides those points. Women know it better what they need and want.  I can Imagine that those things are important next to criminalise rape, which in Belgium is still a criminal offense and not a crime. This needs to change. A woman was raped in the bathroom by two men and they were set free because the judge deemed it foolish what those men did. Not only did they rape her and gave her STD. They also taped it and spread it on the internet without her consent. Another rapist was set free without jail because the judge didn’t really believe it had happened that he raped two women in his appartement. Not at the same time it seems. The fact that one victim could clearly describe his appartement didn’t seem to matter. 

So yeah there is a lot of work. 

Upon reading up on Marxism I learned how Marxism viewed the role and rights of women and how it’s different. That is why we have two kind of feminism. Liberal and Marxist. The liberal wants equal rights for all women based on their position in society. Marxist feminism wants equality for all women regardless of class and position in society. I’m in favour of the last one of course. It took Marxism to open my eyes and how the world works and that all women regardless of class are equal. Someone who works as a cashier or cleans or whatnot is no different from a female dokter or politician, CEO or manager.

which brings me to my next point. Knack magazine published an article of two well known Belgian women talking about that feminism needs more sex. While women do deserve to have good sex, safe sex, etc.. it shouldn’t be the main focus of feminism. If you use sex as a means to further feminist goals, then I feel it might hurt the movement as well because then you point out that only attractive and sexy women can be feminists or be it’s spokesperson. It undermines everything they want to accomplish, in my opinion. 

More so, a poor woman living in poverty is not so much concerned about good sex but I think rather more concerned about making ends meet, being able to pay the bills, put food on the table,… so that message will be most likely be lost on them.When making statements like that, it sends a wrong message that feminism is just about sex and sexuality, while its broader than that. Feminism is also about the right to not be sexually assaulted, not be discriminated against, the right to be heard when they are assaulted and to be taken seriously. Feminism is making the same amount of money as men. Its also being able to have a career. Women are today still the main caregivers of their children. They are the ones to put their careers on holt to take care of their children or family members. Women and men should have acces to day care, to put their kids in when they go to work. Today in Belgium, its facing a crisis in day care. Since privatisation if the way to go for the Flemish goverment, privatized day care have sprung up and there are cases where children are being abused.Not just in privitized day care. Also in public day care there are problems, like that there are to many kids for one person: like 9 for just 1 person to look after. They can’t do their job as they want to.

Women have faced more violence during the pandemic because they lived with their abusers. Most of the time when a woman is murdered, its their partner or former partner doing the deed. Each year more women die due to violence in a relationship. Laws run behind and police can only act when something has happened. By then, its to late.

Feminism is also about free acces to menstrual products, birth control, day care. Saying that feminism needs more sex just proves how priviliged you truly are when that is your main concern. 

The last one might be bit controversial for some. Feminism needs to embrace sex workers who do it voluntarily and are not forced to it. Sex workers also deserve equal rights and are as much part of society as anyone else is. Hence its good that sex work is decriminalized in Belgium. In Holland two men were convicted of stealthing, an act where a man removes the condom during intercourse without consent of the partner. Its something that all women and sex workers experienced it at one point during their lives. Their struggle is as much as the struggle of any other women.

While in USA conservatives were able to overturn Roe vs Wade, which made abortion legal. Its a stop closer towards theocracy. On paper there is a seperation between church and state, but in the USA, this is not in practice. Especially republicans seem to lean on religion to gain influence and power. This succes inspired conservatives to seek similar succeses elsewhere in the western world. The anti-woke movement who do not realise that they come over as woke, still seek to undermine the sentiment that men who behaved like a Harvey Wenstein should not be harshly punished, otherwise it might appear that you can’t say anything to women anymore. This polarisation makes it harder to focus on equal rights for women, gays, transgenders. Conservatives use woke as a means to attack rights of gays and lesbians, even transgenders. They want to appear that gays and lesbians are exposing children to sexual behavior, which is ridiculous. In pamflets, they use people from the gay parades and a child in front it. Like the far right does so good here, is not use rationality but emotion to undermine the rights of certain groups like LGBTQ. By focusing on emotion and not on rationality, facts, they undermine the other person’s ability to defend himself and his position. By focusing on the emotion, facts and rationality will lose in a public forum. Conservatives want to paint LGBTQ as unnatural and unhealthy, which it isn’t. They want to express themselves freely. The irony being that the conservatives who crusade against homosexuality are usually the ones later busted being a closeted gay person.

With the rise of fascism and far right in the western world, we need to focus and protect the rights of women’s and LGBTQ community. Which means acces to affordable day care, healthcare, possibility to have a abortion, to be able to the make the transformation from one gender to another if they chose to do so, equal pay,….