How Long? - Thoughts on Women and Occupy Wall Street

By Alda Facio

Translated from Spanish by Emily Goldman

November 15, 2011

A few days ago, I read the following item on Democracy Now!:

“In other news from ‘Occupy,’ activists in New York erected a tent to be used only by women, after complaints of sexual assaults in the Lower Manhattan encampment.’”

“Alex Borders of Occupy Wall Street said: ‘Many women felt their rights were being violated, to the point that they were on the campus and there were people who were invading their spaces in the tents and stuff like that, and for that reason we set up a tent to be used only by women.  We have 24-hour security that patrols the encampment.”’

“Nan Terri of Occupy Wall Street said: ‘At this time, [the tent] houses 20 people, but once we organize it, more will fit.  That’s why I have my gloves on, because I am going to go clean.  But my idea is to get more women-only tents.  I am trying to get a tent measuring 80 x 80 or 60 x 80 to put up on the other side and thereby ensure women’s security.’”

 

I am not sure what bothered me more – the way in which Democracy Now! published the above news item or the news itself.  It would seem that the sexual harassment and even rape of women have become so commonplace that what became a newsworthy event was not that among a group of people protesting against the violation of the most essential human rights of 99% of the world’s population, there are some men who rape women’s bodies.  No, that was not newsworthy, because raping women’s bodies would seem to be an inherent characteristic of being a man, whether the man in question belongs to the 1% of the elite or the 99% who are outraged.  The only thing that was deemed newsworthy was the fact that some women had erected a tent only for women, for the purpose of protecting themselves against sexual assaults.  Just like that, as if the need to put up a tent only for women were as unavoidable as putting up tents for protection against the rain or ramps to permit access for persons utilizing wheelchairs or having sign language interpreters to include non-hearing persons.

But what saddens and frustrates me most is that we women remain silent in the face of these violations of our bodies so as not to discredit a movement which is against the pillaging and violation of Mother Earth and in favor of the economic, social, and cultural rights of the large majority of the people. What outrages me most is that I have not seen or heard any male co-occupier demand that women’s bodies not be raped in Occupy Wall Street or any other place.  What makes me despair most is knowing that if the Occupy movement, or any other social justice movement, were to achieve its goal or dream, women’s bodies would continue to be raped because ending male violence against women is not part of the hoped-for transformations.  And I despair even more when I read that there are more than one billion women who have been raped worldwide, that rapes and femicides are ongoing in Congo and Guatemala, to name just two of the many countries where women’s bodies are ravaged on a daily basis, or when I am told that pornography is freedom of expression and prostitution is a job like any other.

I am tired of the fact that the rape of a woman’s body is only denounced when the violation is committed by a man or men who are members of enemy armed groups or by groups against whom we are struggling but when the rapes are committed by our own brothers-in-struggle, we feel it best to keep quiet.  And we silence ourselves because we believe that the movement – be it anti-capitalist, -imperialist, -neoliberal, -colonialist, -racist, -corruption, -impunity, or any of the things against which we organize– is more important than our bodies, or because we know that denouncing our brothers-in-struggle would be considered treason both by our brothers as well as by other women.

How long until we understand that the ones betraying the movement are those who violate women’s bodies, not those who denounce such atrocities?  How long until all of us who organize for social justice understand that if we do not pull out by its very roots the belief that makes possible the millions of rapes of women’s bodies each year – that is, the idea that women’s bodies are merchandise or objects which can be bought or simply taken by force – we will never be able to eliminate the mentality which permits and justifies coups d’état, wars, corruption, the pillaging of Mother Earth, her rivers and forests, as well as the appropriation by 1% of the world’s population of 99% of its wealth?  As long as we believe that it is only natural that some men will continue to rape some women, how can we believe that we will succeed at getting 1% of the men to stop taking whatever they desire by force?

Alda Facio is a world-renowned human rights attorney and expert, and a long-time friend and strategic adviser to JASS and JASS Mesoamerica who also contributes extensively to our knowledge and learning.