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Navigating Gender-Based Violence in Indonesia
By Dewi Aryanu, community organiser, IndonesiaĀ  Trigger Warning: Sexual harassment, sexual violence ā€œWhy did you take off your hijab? I sent you to live in a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) so that you know to…
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Facilitating Safe Spaces for Womxn in Indonesia
By Theresia Siti, community organiser, IndonesiaĀ  I joined FAMM Indonesia (Young Indonesian Women Activistsā€™ Forum) during their intergenerational meeting and Movement Building Institute (MBI) in 2010. Initially, I received an invitation from the director of…
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Unresigned
By Alexa Bradley I am sweating.Ā  I am alone, sitting with a phone pressed to my ear, waiting.Ā  My heart is beating, I am trying to breathe but feel nauseous. I am dreading what might…
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Fighting for Abortion Access amid Bans & Gag Rules
In 2019, anti-abortion groups and their political allies have launched of a full-scale war on abortion access and rights. This year alone, nine U.S. states have passed early abortion bans. Among them, Alabama has gone…
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Celebrating Womanhood
When I was 14 years old, I had a male friend ā€“ his name is Dede. People said he acted feminine. The boys in school used to make fun of him. A few boys ā€“…
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Building from the ā€˜Iā€™ to the ā€˜Weā€™
For three days in Johannesburg, JASS has been asking the big questions for feminist movement building and activism in Southern Africa: where, what, who, why and how. It couldnā€™t come at a more pressing time…
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Seven Striking Things about Zimbabweā€™s Stop Rape Now March
Over four hundred women are waiting in front of Harare Town House, a spot that once marked the centre of the city. There are all sorts of women in the crowdā€”the young and the less…
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When reality becomes stranger than fiction, Gumbura gets going!
Rape of women and girls is proving to be a deliberate constant in Zimbabwe. On 3 February the Harare magistrate court concluded an ā€˜exceptionalā€™ case in which Robert Gumbura, founder and supposed ā€˜pastorā€™ of an…
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Thai Activists Stand for Womenā€™s Right to Make Choices
ā€œWe can make it happen. People need to break the culture of silence. Womenā€™s experiences on undergoing abortion are real and we only need to communicate these to the world. Art performances and film screenings…
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The Story behind the Vagina Warriors
Thereā€™s an act of defiance in going onstage… We are standing in the garden of Katswe Sistahoodā€™s office in Harare. It is 29Ā°C, the sun beats on our foreheads until weā€™re shiny with sweat and…
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Getting the Facts Straight on Indonesiaā€™s Virginity Tests for Young Women
Just like a saga, the recent media brouhaha on virginity testing for young girls in Indonesia proves that the discourse on this testing is far from over. In 2007, several students of Indramayu got involved…
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Fanning the Flames of Feminist Activism in Zambia
Sometimes you just donā€™t know where things will end up. In 2009, JASS held a series of movement building institutes (MBIs) in Southern Africa that were attended by feminist activists in the region. These institutes…
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The Fairy Tales Patriarchy Tells Us
I am sitting in a private taxi. Earlier, when I stepped into it, I noticed the cab driverā€™s gaze run over my bodyā€”the kind of look that makes my skin crawl and my fingers dig…
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Where did all the “bad women” go?
Musasa-JASS Wellbeing Circle in Zimbabwe. What makes a ā€œbad womanā€? Does she laugh too loudly or speak out of turn, drink too hard or dance all the time, have too much sex or no sex…
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My experience at the 6th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSHR) in Indonesia
It was a great opportunity to be part of an Asia Pacific level conference that is so reputable, particularly for my personal development. The experience allowed me to gain new knowledge and was a moment…
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Young Timorese Women Clear Up Confusion around LGBTI
How does a woman have sex with another woman? Can a transgender person change both their internal and external sexual organs? Why would a gay person marry someone of the opposite sex and have children…
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Days of Learning: You think I canā€™t dance? Watch me!
From 16th ā€“ 18th April, I joined over 300 participants from all over Southeast Asia and South Asia and beyond at CREAā€™s Count Me In! Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. Count Me In! focuses on marginalized…
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My Body Is Not a Strange Flesh Anymore
My body used to be a strange thing. It’s a fragile yet a sacred monument full of myth, which I found out later is not the truth. In some cases the myth serve as the…
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Wise Advice for Activists from Ugandan Sex Workers
In time for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, Hope Chigudu shares lessons learned from our sisters – activists, sex workers, feminists in Uganda…   They hate writing. They like music, dance and…
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I am a Chameleon: Young Feminists in Zimbabwe Carve Out Space for Themselves
  Every woman is a chameleon. She changes her color to suit the situation; she adjusts and adapts to face the pressing challenges. She wears a different face but the essence of who she is…
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Through the Looking Glass Latin America
Latin America, Same-Sex Marriage, and Separation of Church and State The recent decision by Mexicoā€™s Supreme Court to uphold a law passed late last year allowing married, same-sex couples in Mexico City to adopt children…
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Reclaiming Women Space and Voices: Crossing the Line in Zimbabwe
The gathering on the 6th March 2010 was a public one at the National Art Gallery in Harare, Zimbabwe ā€“ one of the events taking place this month to commemorate International Womenā€™s Day. The panel…
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No longer Invisible
Written by Miles Tanhira, Information & Communications Officer at GALZ, Zimbabwe Therefore i will not keep silent.I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, i will complain in the bitterness of my soul (JOB 7…
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Crossing the Line in Malawi
Tonight we decided to chill ā€“ candles, blankets, drinks, chips; creating the kind of accommodating and comfortable atmosphere that would allow the us to engage effectively with issues that are regarded as very personal, reflective,…
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Malawian womenā€™s stories may surprise you!
Some of us wore expressions of a most unprofessional glee as Victoria, one of the women at the workshop, a teacher by profession, made us smile by sharing a story of how she has been…
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Unlearning the ‘truths’
Zimbabwe was hounoured with the presence of Professor Sylvia Rosila Tamale from Uganda. She gave a talk at the Zimbabwe Womenā€™s esource Center Network (ZWRCN). The room was packed to capacity with a mixture of…
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Diversity of Feminisms at the XI Latin American and Carribean Feminist Encuentro
Over a thousand women from all over Latin America and the Carribean have gathered for the XI Feminist Encuentro in Mexico City. The debates have been lively, the ideas and questions brought up in the…
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Fight Homophobia with Politics of Fun not Anger
By Kamilia ManafInstitut Pelangi Perempuan (Indonesian Youth Lesbian Center) At the AWID Feminist Forum held on November 2008 in Cape Town,South Africa, on the fourth day of the conference, I attended aworkshop on homophobia organized…
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Pens and Presentations Down
By Keba, South Africa A session that was supposed to be about experiences of hate crimes, and remembering people we have lost at the hand of homophobia ended up into something else. The session started…
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