Sometimes I Wish I Had Had an Abortion.

Whose Labour Matters?

As millions of Indian farmers pour into the streets, threatening the global supply of grains, medicinal herbs, and spices, one question should be on everyone’s mind - whose labor matters?

Every day these protestors push the meaning of dignified work further, but the unsung song in the middle of all the chaos is that of the women. Women are the backbone of most industries, but their role in Indian agriculture has been long overlooked. Now, as photos of the millions of (mostly) men marching for an audience with the Prime Minister flood the internet, it becomes even more apparent that this fight has never included the women who are doing most of the labor.

While they own just 12.8% of all landholdings in the nation, they perform the bulk of the labor. Estimates place female participation in the agricultural sector at 73.2%. The majority of women in that position are working at the behest of their husbands and families. Forced into this uncompensated labor by economics or tradition, these women are largely unseen. This year nothing seems to be changing about that.

Men are the face of farming in the country and the face of the protests today. This isn’t the first time the farmers have shown their great discontent with Prime Minister Modi’s false promises, but it is the first time they have shown up in such high numbers. Risking their marginal profits, health, and future relationship with the government, these farmers are embarking on a journey that threatens to shake how the West in particular views labor in the Global South.

Still, the revolution isn’t about women -it’s about farmers. That distinction is crucial because we fail to address much of the root challenges to development, equality, and human rights when we fail to center women’s issues. At every level and in every industry, the problems faced by women at work are unique and necessary to create meaningful change.

The question pops up again - whose labor matters?

For me, the answer is simple women’s labor, specifically women of color in the West and women in the global south. It is the informal, unseen, and undervalued work that fuels the global economy. Whether it is the women working long hours in the maquiladoras in Latin America or the vast fields of India’s farmlands, this is the work that generates profit. On the backs of these women, fortune 500 companies, silicon valley tech bros, and the wealthiest men in the world have built their empires.

Western media have been notably silent about reporting on the injustice and civil unrest in India. Many people continue to speculate about why but the reasoning is quite apparent to me and many others in the South. Understanding the many intricate ties that bind production processes in the global south and the egregious wealth that lies in the West would probably spark massive protests.

Sure, we all understand that women and young girls make our clothes, and there are suicide nets outside the factories that make our cellphones but knowing those things and understanding the snowball effects of capitalist greed are different. It is easy and comfortable to picture these people in faraway factories benefiting in some way from our oppressive tactics; it’s another thing entirely to see them act on their frustration and rebel.

It is another thing entirely to understand how an avocado bought in LA means that a family in Chile goes without potable water, or how trade deals like NAFTA and USMCA that make goods cheap in the US mean that thousands of women die in Juarez. These are the harsh realities of Western wealth and comfort. These events are inextricably linked.

The foundations of the system that bleeds the South dry for egregious Western profits were laid long before the world we know now came to be. To understand, we need to go back to a time where the West was more explicitly enjoying the fruit of colonial exploitation.

In his book, Black Marxism, Cedric J Robinson explores the origins of African enslavement in the New World. The story he tells is one of a direct correlation between European (particularly Italian) capitalism and new world colonialism.

Before Columbus ever embarked upon his journey, slave labor was already in use within the small empires European nations were building. The colonies of wealthy Spanish and Portuguese nobility extended into the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, sprawled across the Mediterranean, and had just extended into the Atlantic Sea. The aristocrats who made their living by taking part in these colonial expeditions frequently used slavery to supplement in times of high demand. But as Italian capitalists began to conspire with Spanish and Portuguese royalty, slave labor soon became the most widely used get-rich-quick scheme in the freshly colonized island of Madeira in the Atlantic Sea.

Columbus came to the forefront of Spanish politics at a time of great change in the aristocracy. He was perfectly situated to embody this convergence of European powers, the son of an Italian merchant capitalist who married into lesser Portuguese nobility but was employed by the Spanish crown. He arrived in the new world primed for this new form of capitalist oppression. This was the preamble to the Atlantic slave trade.

The slave trade would soon see millions of Africans taken from their homeland, stripped, packed, and shipped to the faraway countries that lay on the other side of the ocean. The actual number of people who were so brutally enslaved is unknown, but estimates place it at over 15 million.

It was by taking indigenous land and enslaving once free peoples that colonial puppet masters enriched themselves and their countries. Soon England, Portugal, and Spain ballooned on the wealth they took from the colonies. England had used the expansion of empire to transform itself into a fully industrial capitalist state. The subjugation of the colonized people was central to the power and development of the new metropolises forming in Western Europe.

That was how things worked for many centuries; free labor in the Global South made for high profit margins in the West.

But, like many other capitalist endeavors, it was unsustainable. Revolts and riots forced colonists to cease slavery as a practice. Still, ever since then, white men have followed in their predecessors’ tradition to find new ways to enslave their former colonial conquests.

Today that manifests in the many multinational (that is to say, American or European based) corporations that have robbed governments of their country’s resources in exchange for short-term gain. In some ways, nothing has changed. But one thing that certainly has is the capitalist victimization of women.

While the time of slavery saw many horrible atrocities inflicted on both men and women who worked for European slave masters, women were, for the most part, relegated to domestic work. After many bids for independence and economic freedom, women have become an even more significant part of the visible labor force. Whether formally or informally, female labor is generating massive amounts of wealth in the Global South.

The South is struggling to achieve what the West has in its hundreds of years of colonialism, and it is quickly realizing that the growth the world is demanding requires oppression. It requires human rights abuses; it requires dehumanization and disconnection. At the end of the day, women are being forced to bear the brunt of the struggle.

International organizations are quick to talk of the “rise of the Global South” but slow to acknowledge the failures of implanting capitalist value systems into these countries. Slow to speak on garment factory collapses in Bangladesh or miscarriages in maquiladoras. Slow to address the severe human cost of this “rise” to Western standards. Even less acknowledged is the role of foreign investment in that development.

While foreign investment was once revered as the best way to promote development, but now more people recognize the system’s inherent flaws. It results in mega corps like Chiquita (aka “the United Fruit Company”) buying out small producers and taking the bulk of their profits. These are roundabout ways for well established and privileged people (usually men) to profit from cheap, exploited labor.

The “rise of the Global South” is coming at a cost. One we, here in the South, are not prepared to pay. It looks like women working for no pay in India, and Modi attempting to rob the few farmers who do profit of their money. It looks ugly and disturbing because this “rise” is just another form of colonial violence.

Again, the South is footing the bill for Western enrichment. And again, the question lingers- whose labor matters?

If not these women, who are laboring in the shadows - then who?

Is it the men who sit atop the fortune they are building for them? That seems to be who we value, at least with money.

As the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos is the face of labor that matters today. News media is eager to tell us his story, to sell us another falsehood about our ability to accrue a fortune like his. Yet, at the same time, we see thousands of videos from Amazon employees crying out for better pay and working conditions- to say nothing of those who provide the goods that Amazon ships.

Long hours, few (if any) breaks, constant walking- these are just some complaints pouring out of the over 100 warehouses across the US. Yet, when asked about the importance of a “work-life balance,” Bezos neatly side steps any accusation of rights violations and skips to what might be the most capitalist concept of work ever.

He talks about a “work-life harmony” because “balance” implies a strict trade-off. He goes on to talk about his own experience, saying: “I find that when I am happy at work, I come home more energized, I’m a better husband, a better dad.” The problem is that it implies that your work should either spark joy or bring you the energizing positivity that allows you to be a better person at home. But that isn’t what Amazon’s work culture promotes; a culture which he actively claims he is proud of.

He says this, and yet the work he puts forward for his employees is grueling and repetitive. It doesn’t spark joy or intrigue. It doesn’t promote balance. And it proves what we all know, the work that matters - that builds an empire, isn’t joyous, it doesn’t create harmony.

Much of the work that makes his “work-life harmony” possible takes place on the ground floor in overheating warehouses, places he never has to see. Therein lies the problem, the work that generates wealth is far removed from those that keep it.

Slavery was built on disconnect and the dehumanization that comes with racist, imperial, and ultimately capitalist mindsets. That is what allows us to make choices that directly impoverish and oppress our fellow humans. Bosses are removed from their workers, consumers are removed from the supply chain, and the meaning is removed from those who labor.

Globalization and the nature of this increasingly globalized world have to make us ask - whose labor matters. We have to keep questioning that and questioning how best we can make sure that the money ends with those working. Moreover, we need to keep pushing our governments to ensure that the workers who matter are getting paid like it.

What that looks like for you or your country might be different, but what is essential is that we are all seeking to close the gap between pay and the labor that matters.

Hayley Headley is an emerging writer and journalist who works hard to create work that is fiercely feminist, anti racist and anti oppression on a whole. You can check out more of her work and content on her instagram @hayley.headley

Hayley Headley 4/6/21 Hayley Headley 4/6/21

Planned Obsolescence

“Women (especially women of colour) are bearing the burden of this capitalist invasion on human connection and all the subtly negative effects that come with it.”

Content warning: This article briefly touches on the subject of abusive relationships.

The practice of paying a dowry is extremely foreign to Western society today, and yet in every way imaginable women are still products being bought and sold in the implicit market for love and romance. Men are the consumers and the producers of female sexuality, love, and affection. Lessons taught to them by their fathers, learnt from centuries of female oppression.

This realization is hard to come to, but once you see it, you can't unsee it; all these small ways that society has encouraged us to not only internalise the language of the market but to weaponize it for oppression. Women (especially women of colour) are bearing the burden of this capitalist invasion on human connection and all the subtly negative effects that come with it.

When we live in a world that grants men money, power, and respect by virtue of their existence and forces women to earn the most basic tenets of their humanity it is only natural that the woman is the product and the man is the consumer. Men are the profiteers in the market that crowds the feminine form and forces women into their place on the shelf.

That then begs the question - what are they consuming?

In truth, the answer is whatever they may desire. When the market outside is rooted in consuming and discarding, we empower men to view women as assets to buy into and opt out of, not people with the same autonomy as themselves. In turn, women become commodities that gain and lose value based on what they might offer - they are like multipurpose appliances, new phones with different, better specs, with more or less to offer. This reduction of women to tools empowers men to use them as such.

Love, children, kindness all become upgrades that elevate female value, characteristics that maintain the patriarchal society that holds our bodies and minds hostage. Who we are is a question that fades into the background, as we market ourselves based on what we can offer. These aren’t shakable aspects of femininity, we carry the burdens of this constant market into every part of life and in turn men continue to “shop” wherever they can.

The modeling industry is dominated by women managed (primarily) by men, that sell to us “average women” an image of sexual perfection, and show men the best that their capital (social, cultural, or monetary) can buy. When I spoke to Ellie, a university student and part time model, she expressed to me her thoughts on this driving force in the modelling industry;

“They [female models] represent what men are supposed to desire, and what women are meant to become to gain the desire of those men. When you don’t fit the archetype of that desire, you are expected to change yourself, to consume the objects supposedly used by these ideal figures in order to imitate them. In the industry, there is a strong pressure to fit the mold of the ideal model, to embody that natural perfection.”

This idea of the perfect woman is simultaneously accessed and obscured by the artificial. The current state of the industry glorifies an image of white beauty, even when it attempts to be “diverse” it continues to place that “natural perfection” as the standard. The women we are meant to aspire to be come to us prepackaged in glistening shrinkwrap on the highest shelves pushing us a vision of ethereal beauty augmented by photoshop but their beauty isn’t inherently abrasive or oppressive - the commodification of their form is. Women on both sides of shrinkwrap are ultimately suffering from the images we continue to see, but in the professional capacity models are undoubtedly worse off.

The lines between the professional and romantic are so often blurred. Ellie highlighted how flirtation is at times necessary for advancement, that casual touches and coy glances make or break your modelling future. Saying;

“There can be a lot of unnecessary touching to fix how clothing is sitting or moving your hair and sometimes it is necessary and other times it is more an act of advantage. A lot of male photographers get agitated if you reject this kind of behaviour, and in some cases it is a well known ‘secret’ that being friendly and flirty and inviting gets you better images for your portfolio, or makes it more likely for them to refer you to other jobs.”

It has become all too commonplace that accepting these subtle cues of potential romantic entanglement advances your position, but this effect isn’t unique to the modelling industry. Beyond the modelling industry, when we expand our scope into the areas of business, finance, even healthcare - these small advancements, that border on sexual harassment at worst and are wildly inappropriate at best, permeate. This was echoed by another woman I sat down with, Elaine Teo.

As Elaine put it;

“When I look across my corporate experience, especially at the start of my career, there was definitely an undercurrent there. From my observations and experiences in the workplace over 27 years, women get subjected to objectification, appearance-based judgment and unwanted, unsolicited interactions often of a flirtatious or sexual manner - often as 'jokes' which one is 'supposed not to take too seriously', yet they can still be affecting, to a degree far outstripping that of men, who can just 'get on with the job'. Which is what I definitely wanted as a woman too, but which was not always given to me.

When I have withdrawn either implicitly or explicitly from letting myself be seen in a certain objectified way - sending certain signals to say you don’t treat me this way, you don't look at me with that regard, with that intention, or with that desire - I have often noted a cooling off, a distancing and an awkwardness. To make it worse, it’s often conducted underneath the surface so it's quite challenging and you never quite know whether you are reading too much into it. To me this is a kind of gaslighting, because you are led to doubt the truth of your own lived experience and perceptions, and because there is a social and political risk to a woman to 'make a fuss' about such behaviour, so often we are led to suffer terribly in silence, suppressing our own voice because we are afraid no one will believe us if we were to raise it, or we will get ourselves and/or others 'into trouble', make things 'troublesome/embarrassing' and so on. This is especially so in cases when those who have made inappropriate comments or behaved inappropriately are popular or in senior positions. I consider myself fortunate compared to other women I know that I have received unwelcome and inappropriate behaviours relatively mildly. But these experiences still leave their scars on me. No one should have to be subjected to such unwanted and distressing experiences.”

The question here is who gave men the right to feel so entitled, to feel so empowered to look at and touch the women they work with in that way. The pressure of sexual advancement is a flagrant abuse of the power men have by simply existing in the workspace only further marginalizes women who now doubt their own experiences and fear speaking up about them. And yet it is her sudden rejection of this subtle lust and attraction makes her less worthy as a coworker?

Female value is directly related to what romantic prospects women offer. We could be the most drop-dead gorgeous model or the most qualified and diligent employee but none of it matters if you aren’t partaking in the quiet sexual politics at play in the background. Television and media teach us to demonise women who “sleep their way to the top” but praise and deify the men who allow for that to be an option.

Whether men are saying it explicitly or not, in or out of the workplace, the quickest way to earning the jaded form of respect they offer to women is by leaving yourself open as a sexual conquest. The juxtaposition is clear, women can't view men as opportunities but men are free to see them as sex dolls. Love and sex are all things men get to see as gateways to respect. When you, as a woman, have to trade in your romantic attention, love, or sex for the feeble respect men have to offer we internalise an idea of love that is rooted in transaction.

Eventually that value runs out as well.

The problem with the way men are socialised is that society encourages them to take and take until either they have taken all that they need or the unfortunate object of their affection has given all that they can.

There is a lot of discussion of what it means to be in a toxic relationship, when I discussed this with Elaine she commented saying: " It’s toxic because it leaves you feeling uncomfortable to be yourself or to be seen” But what are we unconsciously afraid of men seeing?

The answer is, the truth. The nature of internalising the market, of being sentient objects in the market, is that we are hyper aware of the image we are “selling.” In the back of our minds we are constantly thinking about how we are sticking to the script and reflecting only what we know our partner wants - what they desire.

This, however, is a two way street. Men are keeping up a veneer, whether it is about how much they make or how kind or caring they are, the lie is implicit. Women keep up a veneer about their values, who they are and how they look. These most basic aspects of themselves must be concealed.

In a world where happiness is so thoroughly intertwined with togetherness and relationships we all are seeking love at the detriment of ourselves and our true values. While men are gaining the most, they are gaining clout and affection, women are taught that men are often the end goal. But women, by virtue of being the ones without the power, are being shorted in this exchange.

Women must cut away at themselves to put on a show, reflect a false image - one that wants 4 kids, a big house, a high power job, and a mildly attentive husband. When we chip away at our own values and ignore our own minds and eyes we can’t live in true freedom. We are constantly stuck in the shrinkwrap, we never truly leave our place on the shelf, we are still products.

Healthy relationships can’t be transactional. As Elaine continued; “[in a healthy relationship] you are safe to be seen, you are safe to be comfortable, safe to be yourself.” Unfortunately, life isn’t filled with healthy relationships.

When I spoke with Shelly, a physicist, she told me of her own experiences with abusive and toxic relationships. She started off saying; “I thought because I was an educated person I would have seen this coming. I didn’t date people who looked up front like what they cared about was me being some sort of status symbol. I thought I would spot that a mile away but it came to bite me in a different way.”

Shelly shared with me her story of dating a relationship coach who turned out to be fundamentally incapable of handling a relationship. She was intrigued by them, they were spiritual and seemed caring and chill. She was in a place where she wanted to seek that out so she did, they dated for a year and half but she realized by the end that “I was just an object, literally I was just an object.”

There were moments where she was being blatantly gaslit in front of other people about things she was seeing and experiencing with others. Yet, the spell was impossible to break. She continued to explore the intricacies of this year and a half, all these tiny moments that upon reflection paint a clear picture of abuse and manipulation.

What resonated most throughout her story was that when she was no longer useful in one way he pivoted to abusing some other facet of her identity. Suddenly her beauty wasn’t enough, then it was her kindness, then it was her presumed maternal instinct, and so on until he crept his way into her life in unreal ways.

This all came to a head when he was physically abusive. After an altercation Shelly quickly came to understand the way her life had transformed. She knew then that all of these little acts that seemed simple at first were just getting his foot in the door for the next thing. These were just his ways of testing the waters, and her options were clear - run or stay.

While abusive and toxic relationships are the most extreme extension of this sick logic, in most long term relationships women are asked more and more until they extricate themselves from the trappings of heteronormative relationships. It’s more than just cooking and cleaning or having children, it is also the maternal gentling and the burdens of sexual performance.

It takes a toll on the women who have to go through that. As Shelly put it “It’s just incredibly demeaning and demoralizing to be treated as an object when I bring so much more than that. This is not who I am, I am a human being, I am not something that can be reduced to a list of attributes.”

The problem is that men have accepted this shopping list mentality that it's nearly impossible to leave behind. Transaction is an inherent part of the neoliberal society that awaits outside of our homes, but when society allows men to feel this undue power, this unwarranted entitlement - we bring neoliberalism home with us. It becomes something that perverts the most comfortable and seemingly incorruptible parts of human existence.

Love, romance, beauty, they all become marketplaces. The women we know become objects. The men we know, the consumers. And the uncontrollable and unsustainable logic of the market reigns, breeding toxicity and abuse wherever it goes. The boom and bust of what “a good woman” is leaves women chasing behind this or that attribute while men laze about in the complacency of a wealthy existence.

Annie Savoy is an American photographer who takes self-portraits and overlays them with text. She explores themes of power, longing, desire and ennui. Her pictures are risky and provocative and they question the viewer’s preconceived ideas around nudity, femininity and sex. You can find more of her work on Instagram and Twitter.

Hayley Headley 3/23/21 Hayley Headley 3/23/21

We Have Coups at Home

As US citizens looked on in horror at the events of January 6th, I sat from my home in Jamaica alternating between distress and hilarity. The situation before me was absurd on so many levels, but the sense of irony that permeated the moment couldn’t be shaken. Decades of “covert operations” and dubious foreign policy all came to a head in an attack that many people saw coming.

White America has a history of aiding and abetting insurrection and the actions that day in the Capitol building were a reflection of that. Coronavirus, travel restrictions, and stay at home orders have forced many to be focused on local action and it seems white supremacists are no different in that regard. As thousands of Trump supporting terrorists stormed the building leaving in their wake explosive materials and carrying in their midst dozens of rich and well connected white men an air of despair and disgust fell over the US.

The weeks following these horrific events have been filled with politicians, news anchors, and journalists everywhere rushing to reassure the US that this “isn’t who we are as a country.” But that can’t possibly be the truth, this is the same country that has admitted to providing military and financial assets to at least 10 coups in Latin America alone. That number isn’t counting invasions or cases of only “suspected” US involvement. Hell, the US backed a coup just last September!

Undermining democracy is just as much a part of the US’ international legacy as baseball and slavery.

The attempts of those who empowered, emboldened, and condoned white supremacy under this administration through complicit complacency or active encouragement to wash their hands of guilt sickens me. That extends to more than just career politicians and into the “liberal media '' that failed to call out and disavow Trump’s wildest claims.

Big media organisations that have spent hours agonising over the Trump administration's most vile and ridiculous actions, giving him the foot in the door he needed to escalate. Their failure to actively call out the borderline (and sometimes actually) illegal actions of the former president and his cronies paved the way for those rioters in a way no sympathetic Capitol police person could have.

The career politicians who stood idly by watching the US’ political landscape erode before their eyes ought to hang their heads in shame. This might just be the most bipartisan act that took place in these last 4 years. Men and women on both sides of the aisle remained mild in their condemnations, weak in their convictions, and feeble in their actions.

The false calls for unity with radical right wing fascists sicken me. All the Republicans who failed to do what was right, are quick to claim the country can go forward without accountability. Impeachment is the bare minimum, charges are the bare minimum, increased security measures are the bare minimum.

Unity?

Unity is a distant dream they should have thought about before they endorsed the vile racist, misogynistic, ableist (and the list goes on) man child. Unity is what they should have thought about last summer as they brazenly condemned protests for black lives. The Republican party has never been concerned with unity, what they are concerned with is their bottom line. They are concerned with their next election and satisfying their now radicalised base, because what truly matters is power.

All these important political actors have all played a major role in allowing radical white supremacist rhetoric to fester in the American middle class. The blood and rubble is on their hands and their disservice to the American people is duly noted.

Finally, all the assertions that there is a way to “bring America back” without questioning what it is to be from the US and how and who got us here sickens me. What is the America you want to bring back? Yet again, the US’s elite are peddling lies, misinformation, and easy ways out of complex and confounding situations. One thing I have noted in coming to the US and attempting to understand US media cycles and politics is that coddling is an all too common practice. There is no comfort in uprooting white supremacy, there never will be. Hard work is never easy and changing a nation isn’t either.

US history is bleak but this is a time to look forward. To dream bigger and realize a United States that is at least more united in the pursuits of justice, peace, and radical change for the better.

Whether it comes from your local news anchor or the incoming President, we need to reject a narrative that makes these terrorists and their accomplices (active or passive) comfortable. That is what got us into this mess in the first place. When we prioritize the voices and comfort of more white, rich, well connected men (and women) we empower them to seek out that comfort at the expense of even democracy.

The failed coup of January 6th remains one of the most hilarious and harrowing things I have lived in my very short life. With a solid 40 years (at least) ahead of me I dread to think what future the US will build for itself. Whether it will be one darkened by years of further white supremacist action or enlightened by the liberation of the many oppressed peoples who reside here is as yet unclear to me. As I prepare for my next 3 years and a half in this peculiar nation I continue to ponder what it means to bring home your foreign policy with you. Furthermore, I question what it means to exist here in a time of great political and socio economic disarray.

I have many hopes for the future of the US, and while most involve preserving my personal safety and sanity, others are hopes for a nation that can fully accept all the people it holds within its expansive borders. I hope that this rattled and divided country can unify in the years to come, after the dust has settled and the charges have been filed, after accountability and unlearning. I hope that one day the US and its foreign relations wont strike fear in my heart or anyone else’s. Finally, I hope for a future that is filled with opportunity and joy for everyone.

Hayley Headley 2/16/21 Hayley Headley 2/16/21

This and Other Reasons Why I Don’t Walk Alone At Night

This poem was written at a time in my life where my mental health was fraying and I wanted to express my experiences and the experience of those around me. It gets into some deeply personal first-hand experience I have had with people who suffer from PTSD but my true purpose was to talk about the horrors of sexual assault and the mental scars it leaves behind. Sexual violence is a really horrible thing to experience, but the way in which PTSD prolongs victimhood consistently goes unspoken. So I spoke about it, and I hope it helps others understand that this is also a very female problem and many women are dealing with the traumatic aftermath on the daily.

Rape is like all the ‘nice’ guys I have ever met

He forces his way into your head, and then it's your bed

And now you can't rest

But before all of this

I never had this misfortune of meeting the man himself.

But now,

Now - Rape has moved in

Made a home for himself on the bed across the room

He bides his time during the day

Filters into the background

And at night he comes alive in the room

He haunts it

He preys on it

Hell, I think he enjoys it.

Sometimes I want to kick rape out

But I don't know where to start

When I try, he just comes back

He knows just when to show up

Knows how to wear us down

He makes it hard to keep living here.

Makes it harder to push him out

His shit is all over the place

Now my room is all stains and clutter and pain

Rape is tricky like that.

He comes back just when you think you are safe.

I wish Rape wasn't my problem anymore,

But he follows me now.

On my way home in the dark

Alone in my home

Around the men on the street

Rape,

Well he’s like all the nice guys I’ve ever met

Always there at the wrong moment.

Hayley is an emerging writer and journalist who works hard to create work that is fiercely feminist, anti racist and anti oppression on a whole. You can check out more of her work and content on her instagram @hayley.headley

Hayley Headley 11/13/20 Hayley Headley 11/13/20

Avocados are Murder

“Meat is murder” has been a pro-animal rights slogan since the 80s. When the Smiths first released their iconic slogan, they couldn’t have envisioned the life the term would take on. Since then, PETA and many other rights groups have taken it as a crusade against mainstream meat-eating. While many (not all) vegans make the switch to support animal rights or the environment, few consider the human cost of their eating habits. Produce like avocados and quinoa have become staples of the vegan diet.

The problem is that while the mass production of meat is labor-intensive and environmentally harmful, the mass production of these vegetables is no different. This is especially an issue in the cultivation, shipping, and mass consumption of the avocado.

Avocados are labor and water-intensive fruits. Recently, as the popularity of Latinx food and avocado-based cuisine has erupted in the West, the pressure on farmers has become overwhelming. Green gold - as it has come to be known, is slowly destroying the ecological equilibrium of Latin America’s once vibrant and diverse farmlands.

According to UNFAO stats, avocado is officially grown in 71 countries for export, trade, and mass consumption. Its top ten producers are almost entirely located in the Americas, but none has suffered more than the world’s third largest exporter of the fruit - Chile.

For the past ten years, central Chile has been experiencing a megadrought. The worst of its kind in 1,000 years. Rainfall has severely decreased, particularly in the areas that surround the metropolitan city of Santiago. In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that over 50 municipalities are official “agricultural emergencies.” To add to this new state of emergency, El Yeso, a major water reserve that serves Santiago and the surrounding areas, is experiencing an unforeseen strain. All of this comes as Chile is emerging as a global agricultural powerhouse.

In Petorca, a city just three hours outside of the capital sits the “gold mine” that is Chile’s avocado farms. One would think that these farmers should be reaping at least some of the profits of their lucrative cultivation. But the opposite is happening.

The boom in demand for the fruit has sucked the region dry - both figuratively and literally. All the water from the quickly drying water source is spent on growing avocados that the Chilean people almost certainly will not consume. This is the result of just a decade of big avocado companies descending on the Valiproso region.

The companies swarmed in and have not only taken much of the labor that small and more environmentally conscious local farmers but their very life source. The water crisis has been the leading cause of migration in the region. More and more families have been forced out of their homes, communities, and cities because there is no water. The town of Petorca and its surrounding area have become uninhabitable.

At the core of the issue is water rights. This crisis actually began back in the 80s when huge avocado plantations began to crop up on the foothills of the Andes on the fringes of smaller farms in the valleys of Petorca. Under the Pinochet dictatorship, in a time when neoliberalism was sweeping over much of the continent of Latin America, water rights were privatized. These firms came in at just the right time and they bought the water rights when they bought the land.

Since then the overwhelming abuse of the once ample river has caused many farmers to give up their land to these huge plantations and move out of the area. The rivers now run dry, water is more expensive than ever, and the locals are suffering.

The people of Petorca, have been crying out for the government to cease the exportation of these avocados. Many view their exportation is the theft of the little water that is still available. These concerns have been in the background of Chilean politics for years, but the issue cannot possibly be ignored any longer.

The avocado market has exasperated the drought. While civilians are forced to drink water from tanks that make regular deliveries to the most affected regions, big mono-crop farms get to abuse the safer water sources even further. The issue has already created hundreds of internally displaced climate refugees, and as the strain on the water supply continues, this number will only grow.

Small farmers have two options; continue to suffer from the harshest effects of the drought, impending widespread poverty, and dwindling government support, or move. Many are making their choice, and it doesn’t bode well for the future of the nation. As more people have to flood metropolitan areas like Santiago, the strain on basins like El Yeso will only increase.

Avocado production needs to be heavily regulated, but there is still a more significant global food production problem. This drought is being caused, at least in part, by a natural cycle that would take place with or without the Chilean people. Still, it would have never been this dramatic or destructive if it weren’t for the agricultural industry’s large-scale monocropping agrarian firms that have come to coopt food production in much of the global south.

The issue expands far beyond Chilean avocados or even avocado production. The fact that a trend in a country over 4 km away can result in the worst drought in 1,000 years is terrifying. That should make us rethink how we consume.

A culture of year-round seasonal fruit and exotic cuisine is killing entire ecosystems and industries.

Many people are vegan or vegetarian with the best intentions and with great concern for the environment, climate change, and the farmers on the other end of the production chain. But if we genuinely want to help farmers in the global south, we need to pivot away from our current consumption habits.

Avocados are murderous, not because they are born of any animal’s flesh, but because their mass production erodes the very ecological system that made their production possible. All over the world, small farmers are being pushed out of their usual farmlands; some are even forced to give up the trade entirely because of big agricultural firms. Ones that have little if any concern for the environments they destroy.

The unspoken cost of our comfort is all too real to the people of Chile - to farmers all over the global south.

As the people in towns like Petorca and the rural areas of Valiproso continue to wrestle with the erosion of their way of life, the onus is on us to make a change. We need to do more than simply be vegan or vegetarian; we need to eat local and consider more seriously the food miles that accompany our favorite dishes.

Hayley Headley 11/6/20 Hayley Headley 11/6/20

The Colonization of Porn

As millions of people flock to OnlyFans to enjoy local sex work, there is a sense of nostalgia for those 90s kids who can remember a time before free porn. OnlyFans represented a reprisal of that golden era of video sex work where women and their producers were getting wealthy from their content creation. For a long time, there was a sense that the golden era of pornography was long gone.

In the 90s, porn was something you bought. Different producers had websites and hard copy videotapes that people bought and paid for with real money. It was nearly impossible to come across sexual content like that without paying. But even then, life was finding a way. In chatrooms on obscure websites, men and teen boys alike were exchanging passwords and subscriptions so that they could access a world of online content for free.

This idea of subverting and circumventing the traditions of buying and selling pornographic content was novel in the 90s, that was all about to change. One unique kid in these chatrooms was concocting a business model that would radicalize porn, sex work, and the world at large. This man’s name is Fabian.

Where casual consumers saw the porn industry of the 90s as a treasure trove of content locked behind a series of paywalls, Fabian saw an opportunity. He was looking at the bigger picture, and that led him to create a site that is so ubiquitous with theft and abuse that producers and actors alike fear it.

The German “entrepreneur’,’ entered the industry by buying up existing sites and bringing them in as subsidiaries. This was the first in a long line of changes that would soon rapidly transform how we produce and consume porn.

He bought a company called Mansef and another called InterHub, the latter of which created what Fabian described as “the youtube of porn.” It was with this naivety that he began the colonization of the porn industry.

Mansef soon became Manwin, which later came to be known as MindGeek. The adult film conglomerate that consumers know and love. When Fabian bought them out, Interhub had just developed Pornhub and Redtube, and they had no idea how huge (and profitable) it would soon become. But much like most other capitalist inventions, it will come to oppress more than it benefits.

Manwin and their subsidiary Pornhub was forging a new path. The idea wasn’t unique, and neither was the infrastructure, but having the finances and confidence to make the site what it is today was something wholly unique to Fabian.

At a time when many sex workers were unable to access banking, the supreme irony of Fabian’s ability to obtain a loan that would soon erode their incomes cannot be lost on us. All the same, he got the loan and began to expand his platform. Soon he was the prince of free to access porn, and everyone else was just the benefactors. At least, that’s what he thought.

That was a half-truth; the problem is that saying Pornhub, Redtube, Youporn and all the other MindGeek properties are “ the youtube of porn” is that their business models are different. Youtube encourages users to create independent content, and there are heavy regulations on copyright infringement. Pornhub, however, actively incentivizes theft. The business is built on screen recording, downloading, and reposting content that someone paid to create and view elsewhere.

Moreover, the company has only expanded on that model since its inception. Jon Ronson spent a year following the effects of the flood of free porn on the internet, and what he found was unsurprising yet thoroughly unnerving. From custom porn to virginal sex offenders, the take away was obvious- free porn isn’t good for us.

Fabian was the first colonizer of the porn industry. He entered, wielded his privilege, money, and power to overhaul every step of the porn production and consumption process. He built on a long history of white men changing industries for the worst. Much like Bezos has co-opted the delivery market, Fabian robbed pornstars and producers of their power and gave it to consumers and the Montreal tech bros.

This is another reason why the Youtube comparison falls through because porn is shameful.

We live in a society that is obsessed with sex but shames sexual commerce. In the 90s, when production companies hid porn behind paywalls, porn was something you could do more casually. It was a thing you could leave behind, do until you are 20 and get a “regular” job. People couldn’t recognize you, and if they did, they were too embarrassed to mention. Now, we have become more and more comfortable with sex, but only if we aren’t paying. Fabian found a way to capitalize on that and profit from the sense of shame and discomfort that comes from a society that feels female bodies should be free for the taking.

He has made being a pornstar so much harder. Quality has been thrown out the window in favor of volume. Women (and men) in the industry have to film more and more videos to get less money. All the while, they were becoming more and more replaceable. The sex industry has always been a space for high turnover, but the introduction of pornhub also stole the art and creativity that used to dominate the industry. It’s all prepackaged cookie-cutter content that demands the women seem younger and younger and the sex to be more violent. Regardless, many porn actors have attempted to persevere in the face of adversity to no avail. At the end of the day, their hard work is stolen, reposted, and they realize they can do nothing to fix any of it. DMCA takedowns are too time-consuming and futile, only for the same person or a different one to post the same video to a site that remains apathetic to the creator’s plight. Even worse, you couldn’t leave. Or at least, it wasn’t as easy as it once could have been.

But, that was just how things were; that was the new normal for the porn industry. For years, the women (and men) behind and in front of the camera found ways around it. Whether it was making custom porn for high-income men with particular tastes or other kinds of sex work, they were still making a living doing what they loved, and in many ways, that was all that mattered. For a long time, it felt that the power would never be given back to the women (and men) who enjoy creating this content.

That was until OnlyFans popped up. Initially invented for social media influencers, Only Fans soon broke the sex work industry in the best way possible. Suddenly, women (and men) in the sector could make absurd amounts of money safely and consistently by posting content that ranged from not-safe for Instagram booty pics to kink and nudity. The important part was that the power was once again in the hands of the sex workers.

Only Fans was like custom porn meets Instagram and Patreon. You subscribed (or followed) your favorite creators for a monthly fee; once you could view their page, you could request personalized videos at an extra cost. The prices were all set by the performers. This was radical. OnlyFans was branded as a safe haven for sexual commerce, a renaissance. Just like that, we were back to paid-for local porn.

The site has yet to succumb to the colonial forces of pornhub, but there is a more immediate threat to the space. A side effect of having such a low barrier to entry was yet again, rich white celebrities (in this case) could co-opt the space. At first, it started with lightly disruptive content. People posting mildly sexier photos and get paid - sure.

But all hell broke loose in late August this year when Bella Thorne destroyed the “economy of Only Fans.”

After she entered the platform in mid-August, she made 2 million dollars in her first week. To make matters worse, posts began to circulate claiming that Thorne had posted a single nude which sat behind a hefty paywall of $200. As hundreds flocked to pay to see this elusive photo, they quickly realized these were all lies. As requests for refunds mounted, the team behind the site was forced to find a solution.

OnlyFans had to push for monthly, not weekly, payouts. Moreover, they began to limit their monthly fees and tip amounts. All this, for one white woman drunk on her privilege and ability. Thorne came under fire for her actions and claims that all these changes are being made for her documentary. She essentially claims that she accidentally destroyed the site’s pro-sex work infrastructure for an experiment.

If more and more celebrities begin to flock to OnlyFans and dip their toes in the water of sex commerce, it is uncertain what more changed the site will have to make to keep up. There is an overwhelming fear amongst sex workers that this is just the first in a long line of changes that ultimately ends in their renewed oppression.

Porn is still stigmatized, and as comfortable as we are watching it, we still don’t seem quite as okay with paying for it. The reasons for that are wholly patriarchal, and they speak to a desire for female sexuality. Fabian came to colonize sexuality, not necessarily with patriarchal intent, but with a capitalist one. He is a perfect example of how female and sex worker oppression is rooted in capitalist ideals. OnlyFans is just one rejection of that model, and even it falls under threat.

As a world, we need to question where our porn comes from and if we like that place. Our options are simple, go local, or contribute to yet another system of oppression.

Hayley Headley 10/28/20 Hayley Headley 10/28/20

Reconciliation and Reform; Chile's Long Awaited Plebiscite

On Sunday 25 October, Chile finally voted to change its constitution. The Chilean people have been awaiting this moment for decades, and whether they are conscious of it or not that single moment will be redefining their nation and national identity for years to come.

In 1973, Augusto Pinochet commanded his junta army to storm the streets of Santiago. In a coupe aided and abetted by the US government, as a part of Operation Condor, the general took control violently. Usurping and brutally murdering the opposition party effectively quelling any sense of dissent among the people.

Over the coming months, activists and leftists that were even remotely associated with the opposition or any potential resistance movements were locked away and imprisoned. The national stadium became a center for the egregious and murderous displays of right-wing malice that would become synonymous with the name Pinochet. The stadium was a place of joy yet the early days of the dictatorship saw it desecrated by bloodshed.

A symbol of the duality of their tenuous democracy.

When the stadium was too full the junta constructed new torture chambers in the north of the nation. They held tens of thousands of prisoners, killing, and discarding the bodies of many of them. An estimated 3,065 people have been confirmed to have died as a result of the dictatorship. While there are more than 40,000 people who are known to have been political prisoners, tortured, and made to disappear. All of them suffering at the hands of a leader poisoned by his own power. To this day thousands of people are still missing, leaving their mothers and families to search for them.

Pinochet changed Chile forever, and the greatest vestige of his tyrannous rule is the 1980 constitution. Among his first acts after usurping power was to abolish the constitution of 1925. This left him and his supporters with the lofty task of rewriting the constitution, which they did. At the behest of their hostile dictator, the regime and their team of right-wing judges and lawyers produced a document that extended the power of the executive.

The original council that was charged with designing a new constitution completed their first draft in 1978 but infighting prevented this draft from going anywhere. Finally, Pinochet and his military junta ceased control of the drafting process and produced a final document that enhanced the presidential powers and lengthed the transitionary period to secure himself essentially unlimited power over the government, another 8 years of undemocratic leadership, and eligibility in the next democratic election. The greatest authority Pinochet granted himself as a part of this new constitution is found in Provision 24. This was the section of the document that gave way to his most vile acts as a dictator, but these expired after the 8 year transition period.

The permanent articles of this constitution, however, lend themselves to an abuse of presidential power to the detriment of the Chilean people. Article 8 essentially condemns alternate ideologies, allowing for the arrest of individuals who espouse beliefs that aren’t supported by their government. The next few articles secure presidential authority above congress, and thus, above the will of the people. Pinochet worked diligently to actively seek out ways to assert his will, and to allow any possible future president to do the same.

Moreover, Pinochet was fiercely neoliberalist and he folded that ideology into his constitution as well. This left Chile with a system that ultimately values profit over people. With no constitutional way to reform the economic systems which Pinochet redesigned for his own profit, the people are left to deal with the impact of a truly free market where privatisation and inequality run rampant.

This new constitution was then put to a plebiscite on September 11th. The vote, however, was severely manipulated. When a movement to leave your vote blank to show your discontent began among centrists and leftists alike, Pinochet declared that any blank vote would be a “yes”, and since he destroyed the registration ledger, every Chilean over 18 was expected to vote. Spreading propaganda about the bright future this constitution offered and actively sicking his military and police forces on the opposition. The vote was illegitimate.

The constitution itself has been denounced by international onlookers and Chileans alike as a fractured document -- its very conception tainted by an era of dictatorial rule and suppression of the people.

But this is how the people lived, under a “president” that was clear on his consideration for the will of the people. His transitionary rule was just as brutal as the years before, but now he pushed through policies that would forever change the economy and life of the people.

Finally, after 16 long years of uninterrupted power, Pinochet and the junta held their final plebiscite in 1988 aimed primarily at securing more years of power. Activist groups who realized that this was their chance, their opening to finally bring about the return of democracy. The campaigning soon began and the final vote of 56% NO brought an end to the dictatorship. A return to democracy then began, officially ending Pinochet’s cruel reign in 1990.

Chile’s democracy remains fractured, the wounds of this era are still healing. They are still attempting to exorcise the terror that was visited upon them just 47 years ago. It has been a long and arduous journey to get to the place the nation is in today, and still the remnants of Pinochet’s reign linger on.

His free-market policies and the privatization of social security continue to widen wealth gaps and impoverish the poorest 90% of Chileans. His campaigns against the opposition have left people missing to this day. His constitution still holds power over the very people he terrorized.

Of course, various presidents have edited the 1980 constitution but the document remains lacking. Many academics and activists have been coming for the full reconstruction of the constitution for years, but those desires were first realized in 2019.

Chile is no stranger to protest, especially in its most recent history. The youth have found a voice through protest and the most recent ones have called for a variety of changes. High school students first began protests anew in 2019 over a spike in the price of metro tickets. This was the tipping point that started the nation down this path.

The students were soon joined by thousands of their compatriots as they called out for major economic, political, and constitutional reform. President Sebastián Piñera, whose brother originally constructed the privatized social security system that was a cornerstone of the reforms the youth were calling for, responded with violence initially. He declared a state of emergency and put the military to patrol the streets, the first time any action like this has been taken since Pinochet.

In the face of mass arrests, hospitalizations, and even murders as a result of the unrest, the protestors were unwavering. They continued to voice their demands, especially as coronavirus and the resulting shutdowns widened the wealth gap in the nation. It all came to a head this past Sunday when Chileans all over the world got their chance to vote.

Polls closed at 8 pm Sunday night and as the counts came in celebrations broke out as Chileans everywhere got what they have been waiting for. An overwhelming majority voted for a new constitution to be written by a constitutional council.

This may not bring an end to the socioeconomic tensions, but it’s a start to a journey of healing that should have begun in the 90s. This is the first step to a new Chile, one that is truly ready to crawl out from under Pinochet’s shadow.

Hayley Headley 10/16/20 Hayley Headley 10/16/20

Learning to Rethink Your Value

Everyone is scrambling to find meaning in the midst of this pandemic, throwing themselves into new hobbies, discovering making sourdough, etc. While these are all wonderful experiences, I think in these times of economic degradation we need to find value in new things. Unemployment all over the world is skyrocketing and that is placing radically new strains on families everywhere. Now, more than ever our understanding of our value and time is rooted in economic gain and output.

One thing I have been trying to learn especially getting back into school is to redefine my value. We live under a capitalist system and the few times we get to subvert the system are small but invaluable forms of resistance. Being still, loving yourself, - these are all unspoken forms of activism.

Capitalism demands that we spend every second of every day creating, producing, and working. But the world is constantly changing, we can’t always be working - especially now. For months we were all stuck at home, and instead of finding peace within ourselves, we sought out work. The one question that should be on our minds is do we truly enjoy work or do we think it’s the one thing that gives us value? Especially as lockdown restrictions are slowly being lifted (for better or worse), and many of us are getting the chance to get back to our old lives.

How are you valuing yourself, your time, and your mental space?

Let’s talk about you first. Beyond thinking your the hottest thing to walk the earth since its formation, do you appreciate your body? Even the parts you don’t love? Be honest - think about it.

Here is the thing, regardless of how much you love your body or how you see it, it is valuable. Even when you are just being still, your body is still working so that you get to live. That is a function you can’t deny. It keeps you breathing, makes sure oxygen gets where it needs it to go, and it does all of that without asking anything extra of you.

Whether or not you love every bit of yourself, appreciating it, feeling happy with it is activism. Body positivity has been co-opted by influencer culture but it was built on a platform of accessibility and disruption. If you have a body that you actively appreciate then, you are already disrupting a system that preys on your self-hatred.

You don’t need to post about it or even be loud about it. The key to it is to truly appreciate all that your body does and to help it function. Eat healthily (but we will settle for just eating), drink water, and be satisfied.

As you go back into “normal” life, redefine what body positivity is for you.

Now, we come to the question of time. The saying “time is money” is probably as old as capitalism itself, but we are failing to get to the heart of that. Yes, time spent relaxing could be time spent working, but the sole reason for living is not working.

It doesn’t matter if it is a job you love, work is hard, and it will wear you out. Take time for you and only you. Not for your friends, not for your family, take some time away from any social obligation and just vibe.

Stop demanding production out of relaxation. You don’t need to do a face mask or have a wash day to be caring for yourself. Be still.

Take that time you spend being still to repair your mental space. Personally, trying to find a balance between work and school is exhausting. Not just physically, but mentally.

Something I have been trying to learn; is to not turn every other thought into a new article or research paper topic. It got so bad that it felt as though all my thoughts had to be productive or useful. But when you start to think like that, your other thoughts lose their intrinsic value.

We have to divorce ourselves from this system that consistently asks us to produce more and more content.

This is all about protecting yourself, your time, and your mental space.

Art by Keelin Montzingo — *Art by* *Keelin Montzingo*

How do we put that into practice?

You have to be willing to challenge yourself. Here are some things that have been working for me over the past week:

Do nothing!

This week I challenge you to do nothing productive for a whole day. The real challenge is not thinking about being productive. When I say do nothing, I mean truly free yourself from any sense of obligation. Don’t think about work, don’t do work, don’t even look at anything to do with work.

Close your tabs, don’t open moodle (or any other site related to school/work), try to truly forget that you live a life filled with tasks and duties.

2. Feel great about yourself!

Look in the mirror, take any time you might have spent critiquing yourself, and be positive. Sometimes, I find myself thinking these subtly negative thoughts. My inner voice says:

”Oh, that part of me is great, kind of makes up for this other thing I hate”.

“Hmmm, that part of me looks worse today than it did before” or,

“Ehh, at least I look cute in photos so it doesn’t matter if I don’t look as good in real life”

That kind of thinking is harmful.

If you think like this you have a new challenge this week. Now, when you find yourself looking into the mirror, smile, and think of something you are grateful for and happy about. Hype yourself up!

3. Know your own worth.

I mean this in every way but especially, know the value of your time. Don’t waste it on people you don’t enjoy being around or people who don’t respect you.

Trust, it isn’t worth it.

When you start understanding your value and respecting yourself, you will know when others don’t. Once you recognize that they don’t respect you in any meaningful way, you can stop taking sh*t from people.

This week, only make time for things (and people) you value and people who value you.

Take these small things into account as you go through the next week. Use them to redefine how you value yourself, your work, and your time.

Keelin Montzingo studied Communications at the University of Massachusetts and Modern and Contemporary Art at Christies. In 2017 she returned to painting propelled by her insight in art history and commercial markets which gave a contradictory and fascinating perspective of her subject matter. Recent exhibitions include ‘Creatures’ at Olsen Gruin, 2019 and ‘Shifting Skins’ at Leonard Tourne, 2018. Her upcoming solo exhibition ‘Cosmic Latte Nostalgia’ will open in London in 2021.

Hayley Headley 10/2/20 Hayley Headley 10/2/20

El Marianismo: The Trap of Latinx Femininity

About the double standards and traps of marianismo culture.

El marianismo, as defined by Evelyn Stevens is “the cult of feminine spiritual superiority”. While machismo elevates men to the detriment of men and women alike, Stevens argues that women are the sole beneficiaries of this ideology. Stevens fails, however, to acknowledge the ways in which marianismo traps women in behaviours that ultimately benefit men.

The story of how this myth or cult of imagery surrounding women began in the New World is still retold today. The church says that ten years after the conquistadors first set foot on Mexican soil, an indigenous convert saw a vision of the Holy Mother of God in Tepeyac just north of modern-day Mexico City.

Before colonisation, this area was a significant place of worship for the indigenous people, where they worshipped their own mother figure Tonantzin. One of the first converts to Catholicism renamed Juan Diego saw the image of the virgin mother in place of Tonantzin. When this happened the priests and the Pope upheld this apparition as a testament to the power of God.

Since then, Mestizo culture has rallied around this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, turning it into a national icon. Later, when this apparition became the patroness of not only Mexico but the whole of Latin America, marianismo spread through the whole region.

This cult of feminine spiritual superiority manifests in the duty of a good woman.

Una Buena Mujer is one that fully embodies the image of the weeping mother, dutiful wife, and chaste daughter. These three dimensions govern much of what femininity meant and, in some places, still means in Mexico and Latin America. The belief that women have this spiritual superiority endows them with a heavy burden, that which they must carry with piety and grace. This comes with the recognition that men not only don’t have this same burden but are also not capable of handling this sacred duty.

It is the belief that men could never be held to the same standards as women gives them the leeway to be violent, insolent and unproductive while still maintaining their superiority. Under a system of marianismo, women are at once exalted and persecuted, trapped in this mantle of the virgin mother. While machismo is the “exaltation of the masculine to the detriment of the constitution and feminine essence”, marianismo is about the exaltation of the feminine in the service of men.

Una Buena Mujer doesn’t ask more of the men around her, she is submissive and accepting of their failures. As Stevens says in her paper: “Beneath the submissiveness, however, lies the strength of her conviction - shared by the entire society-- that men must be humored”. Women have been pictured in the region as the backbone of the society, filling in the gaps where the men in their lives falter. Yet, this is seen as her duty not her sacrifice. The problem of this myth, this cult of female superiority is that it is not to her benefit but to her detriment all the same.

Under a system of machismo, womanhood is a vehicle, a functional space in society. Women are first daughters, chase and meek. Then they are wives and dutiful homemakers. Until finally they are mothers pious, caring and grieving. The perfect image of the Virgin Mother herself. But what comes next? Where do they go after they have fulfilled their purpose? After they have long overstayed their welcome? They die.

Women exist in this macho society in relation to and for the pleasure of men. This is what life used looked like, especially in the underdeveloped Northern towns and villages. But the growing pressures of international debts, free trade agreements, and multinational corporations with shaky moral values have caught up with the developing nation.

The idea of “una buena mujer” is deeply entrenched in most of Latin America, and while many young women have begun to challenge it, in states like Chihuahua the most radical stance in opposition to this archetype is the image of the working woman.

One of the drivers of the violence in Juarez is the invasion of global capitalist structures that have expanded the role of women in the workforce. While in much of Mexico globalisation has brought with it widespread development and a movement towards social justice, in the north, it has given rise to a wave of violence that threatens to drown the women that live there.

The Maquiladora industry has swept over much of the northern states, as a part of the “Programa de Industrialización Fronteriza” (the Border Industrialisation Program or BIP). The industry is synonymous with Mexican manufacturing, and features a variety of assembly line factories producing a wide range of export goods. The industry exploded under this program which allowed for foreign (and local) businesses to import machinery and raw materials essentially duty-free to industrialise and further develop the country, but particularly Northern states like Chihuahua.

Before BIP was introduced in 1965, PRONAF, an initiative geared towards improving infrastructure and creating jobs in border states, led to the construction of huge factories. When la Programa de Industrialización Fronteriza was introduced, foreign manufacturers began to use it as a way to import raw materials and export consumer goods at lower prices than ever before.

In the new era of global free trade agreements, the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the ’90s propelled this once small fledgling industry into the economic powerhouse we know it to be today. As more North American investors saw the opportunity that came with mostly duty-free raw materials and little import taxes, Maquiladoras became a major means of production for primarily exported goods. But the rapid expansion of commercial spaces and central Mexican populations has led these factory jobs to be relegated to the North.

The industry has shifted Mexico’s socioeconomic landscape, but its greatest impact has been on the women in cities like Juarez. BIP failed to improve infrastructure in the North, it failed to bring the radical development it promised, and where it aimed to bring better jobs it has instead brought a second wave of indentured servitude.

Most workers at these factories are young women, from rural areas that surround cities like Juarez. And they have been targeted for stepping outside of their traditional role as women. A role which is rooted in religious dogma and machista oppression. We cannot pretend that this role exists in a cultural vacuum, it is inherently cultural. Machismo and marianismo have combined in the society to put forth an image of womanhood that is purposefully one dimensional. It is that picture perfect image of the barefoot pregnant housewife that dominates the minds of the many men who are outraged by female participation in the workforce.

Wright, in her research into the femicides that have erupted post-NAFTA, claims that it is the devaluation of female work under this new capitalist structure that has further devalued their lives. They have been made pawns in the capitalist game of low starting costs and high profits that characterises the modern Maquiladora industry.

Life in the industry is, however, highly undesirable. Much of the social friction that comes with women taking up space in this sector is rooted in them stepping out of their traditional roles and family structures. Women in this industry have been reportedly paid 25% less than the minimum wage, many have had miscarriages attributed to the long hours of menial labour. What infuriates the men in the society is this sense that women are being ripped from their homes, their proper duties, to focus instead on the working world.

Women working in the Maquila industry put their lives on the line day in and day out. Immediately after the introduction of NAFTA which sparked this mass expansion of the industry in the 90’s, the homicide rate for women spiked by 600%. Every day as these women leave their homes in the early morning they feel the threat. As they make the march with the others in their communities and approach the company bus, they notice the women who went missing the night before. They know all too well that they could be next. And yet, they persist.

They don’t have many options.

They have already given up so much to simply be here. Leaving behind their families and communities to move to this new city and entering into this line of work the predicates on their oppression. The Maquila industry has incited the mass migration of vulnerable, poor, independent women to cities like Juarez.

Where they are then preyed on by two systems; one that turns their victimhood into profit and another that turns it into symbolism.

Late at night as shifts end there is little to protect these women. The city is underdeveloped, the buses run late and the street lights don’t work. There are men who see this as the perfect time to exact their revenge, release their anger, and express their frustrations. These murders are brutal. They are deliberate and painful, they leave the women’s bodies mangled and bruised.

While there is little consensus between NGOs, academics, and politicians on who exactly is responsible for these crimes, the guaranteed side effect of this industry’s expansion is the increased vulnerability of these women.

The system of capitalism that degrades these women, their labour and their economic value is the same system that degrades them culturally. It is a system that stands firm in the belief that women are superior in a singular dimension, the spiritual, and that men have dominion over all other dimensions in which people exist. Even that minor superiority diminishes, fading into the background of a world that is increasingly less focused on fate and more on profit.

Capitalism is a patriarchal invention, and the pressures of global capitalism have only come to further gendered divides, not close them. But as Stevens observed in her research Latinx women have long been silent, and as she argues, unaware of this oppression. This is the crux of the issue.

As these women step out of the mantel, that has secretly been their cage, they are grasping for feminist empowerment. Their work is degrading, their employers degrade them, but their empowerment is their financial freedom. The perpetrators of these crimes are well aware of what the working woman means, the power she holds.

These murders, whether they are truly serial killers or simply gang members, are targeting these women because they have so boldly taken this step. When women are stuck in the social construct of marianismo, they are also stuck in the exaltation it gives them. They are trapped by terms of praise, the sense of piety that ultimately oppresses them further.

Joining the workforce signifies a transition into the feminist culture that dominates in central Mexico. This minor empowerment and freedom is opening the door for Northern women to find the same emancipation from this subtle condemnation that so many of their compatriots have. With every protest, every riot, these women are firmly asserting themselves and affirming their human value.

Asserting a value that exists outside of the spiritual, that takes its form in those fields they have so frequently been shunned from. The act of working in this industry while it oppresses them in a way that is much more overt, it is allowing them the chance to gain access to that feminism which has been previously unknown to them. These women are becoming educated, financially liberated and firmly aware of their own oppression.

The infiltration of the Maquiladora industry into the fabric of the Mexican economy represents many new and formidable threats. But it also represents a time of great, incomprehensible change. The agency and bravery these women are expressing as they take these first unsure steps outside of this caging mantel of the virgin mother, are laying the foundation for change.

Many activist movements and organisations have started in protest of the murders and as a way of providing support to the victims of gender violence in their communities.. The groups of women that have started to highlight these issues and call out for their rights are worth reading and learning about. We at the Whorticulturalist encourage you to do so. Here are some links to NGOs and feminist collectives from Jurarez and other cities and areas in the North of Mexico:

Casa Amiga is an organisation that provides immediate aid to women suffering from the violence in Juarez. If you click the link you can donate directly to them via paypal.

Ni En More is an organisation of women in Juarez that are combating the format of maquila work directly, they produce textiles and clothing that are rooted in activist foundations. You can donate and learn more about them here.

Ella Tienen Nombre maps the femicides in Juarez, with data going back all the way to the 90’s. This is a great resource to stay up to date on the realities of the violence, and you can see all the amazing work that is being done here.

Hayley Headley 10/1/20 Hayley Headley 10/1/20

We Need to Talk About Nagorno-Karabakh

A brief explanation of the current conflict in Armenia, and how you can help.

For decades there have been disputes over the territory now known as Nagorno-Karabakh. Last Sunday there were reports of attacks late at night, since then the conflict has escalated with both sides taking up arms.

While few people are taking note of the issue outside of Armenia, I think we who live far away from the horrors of armed conflict owe it to those who suffer from it to understand what is happening. So here is a crash course in the significance of Nagorno-Karabakh, the conflict, and the events this week:

Why is Nagorno-Karabakh disputed?

The region is made up of ethnic Armenians, who have inhabited the region for centuries. The mountainous enclave that stretches over 4000km was first placed under Azerbaijani control during the establishment of the Soviet Union. There was no concern at the time for the actual ownership of the lands and under Stalin’s rule few openly contradicted the decision.

When the era of Soviet oppression began to come to an end, the majority Armenian region began to call out for their independence or a return to Armenia. But these cries fell on deaf ears and the region remains internationally recognized as under Azerbaijani control to this day. In spite of that, the region has operated independently with heavy Armenian support after a series of ethnic conflicts and full-blown wars that took place in the 90s.

The most notable of which is what occurred in 1992, a year after the region declared itself as an independent state. Though that independence is not supported by any UN member state (including Armenia) The war in 1992 ended in Armenia ceasing full control over the region. 2 years and approximately 30,000 lives later, the two nations signed a ceasefire.

This however did not guarantee peace. There have been consistent attacks made on the border as Azerbaijan still holds out hope that they will regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding areas.

The region remained in a stunted and perpetual state of conflict.

What happened this week?

Attacks began anew on Sunday the 27th of September as reports of fighting erupted, these reports continued well into Monday and Tuesday. Both sides accuse the other of beginning this renewed violence and casualty estimates continue to rise as the fighting continues.

Fighting broke out late Sunday night and many Armenian villages have been under martial law since then. While Armenia is said to have been the first to fire, many view Azerbaijan as the original aggressor, especially after the events of this summer. In early July the nation began to encroach on the Tavush region of Armenia to little success. Their past attempts have failed to gain them greater footing on Armenian territory, and these latest battles seem to be an extension of this attempt. The President even reaffirmed his confidence that they will regain control of the region after the most recent attacks.

The conflict entered its fourth day on Wednesday. With estimates of casualties and injuries among Karabakh soldiers as high as 2,3000 since the fighting began on Sunday. Wednesday also saw the largest eruptions since the 1994 ceasefire, stoking many fears that this might fully reignite the conflict.

On Thursday attacks have begun to encroach on civilian territory on both sides, even expanding beyond the contested region. Armenia’s president said that the air force shot down drones near the capital, Yerevan. This attempt is the furthest one away from the contested region.

Current reports put the confirmed death toll on the Armenian side at 104 soldiers with 23 civilians. While there are no independently or nationally certified numbers for the other side, regional authorities claimed that Azerbaijan has lost 130 soldiers since Sunday.

The violence is escalating daily and reactions from the international community have been less than ideal.

How has the world reacted?

This move from Azerbaijan is in direct insubordination and defiance of the ceasefire instituted by the United Nations Security Council. But responses to the conflict and fighting from the council has been lukewarm.

On Tuesday, the 29th of September, the Security Council met to discuss the conflict and called for an “immediate end”. But this rhetoric in words alone is useless when the Security Council has many other tools at their disposal. Many Armenians have taken to social media to call out this weak and haphazard response offered by the UN.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Turkey is actively supporting their Azerbaijani brothers. This builds on a strong devotion to their well documented anti-Armenian rhetoric. Erdogan has made it clear that he is vying for an expansion of power within the region, so his support of Azerbaijan’s weak claim to the territory is well reasoned.

There are many rumors that Turkey will be sending in a private military bolstered by members of Syrian rebel groups, to fight with Azerbaijani forces already present on the ground. Though Turkey has said they are not responsible and their support of Azerbaijan only extends to military training and advice

Erdogan’s outspoken support strikes fear in the hearts of many Armenians. Sparking concerns that he will use this burgeoning war as a way to slaughter the ethnic Armenians present in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Meanwhile, Armenian forces which are made up primarily of young 18, 19 and 20-year-olds fulfilling their mandatory service requirements have had no tactical support. On Wednesday, France stated their support for Armenia. Meanwhile, Russia, who has a military base in the post-soviet nation has instead called for an immediate ceasefire but remained inactive. Many international organizations have called for peace talks but were rejected by both sides.

What does this mean for Armenia?

Honestly, no one has an answer to this. At least not one that perfectly reflects the future of the country. There are so many variables. But what this means for Armenians today, tomorrow and at the end of this conflict is a loss of life, the loss of a generation even.

This is about more than just Nagorno-Karabakh, it is about the future of this entire nation. Turkey has called them aggressors and their troops mercenaries and terrorists, yet they are just trying to defend their land and their people. Especially as the attacks from Azerbaijan begin to encroach on internationally recognised Armenian territory, the threats feel more and more existential for the Armenian people.

I am scared, heartbroken, and sorry. There is very little to be done on a personal level but I implore you to keep learning about the conflict, keep watching what is happening, keep teaching others. Being able to watch what is happening and talk about it like this is the definition of privilege. And as those with the supremely enviable position of not having any stake in this battle we need to use the methods we have to spark change and spread awareness.

To my Armenian friends,

I am sorry - so deeply sorry. I’m sorry that the world around you is fading away, being shattered with every new attack. I am sorry that your neighbor refuses to let a new generation pave a way for peace, and has instead chosen to inundate you with bloodshed and hatred of warfare. But above all, I am sorry that your friends and family are dying to defend their country and the rest of us even have the option of ignorance.

We here at the Whorticulturalist encourage you to get involved and learn more. Here are resources you can use to further educate yourself and some Instagram pages you can repost to spread the message of Armenians on the ground:

Al Jezeera has been giving almost hourly updates on the conflict, we encourage you to keep up to date with all that is happening on the ground with them.

Zartonkmedia is an Armenian run Instagram page that provides consistent daily updates on the fighting.

Amplify Armenia is an Armenian run Instagram page that aims to be a safe space for Armenians to speak out and educate others.

Amplify Armenia is also collecting donations to provide aid to civilians who have been displaced by the recent fighting, we encourage you to donate if you can.

If you are American, or from a NATO country at all, please reach out to your representatives. Many countries have been accused of supplying Azerbaijan with arms, most notably the United States, but many stand to gain financially from this conflict. Email, call, and sign petitions, and get these countries to stop fueling the conflict.

Hayley Headley 9/11/20 Hayley Headley 9/11/20

El Machismo: A Lethal Construction of Masculinity

El machismo is a colonial mark, a permanent stain on the once rich and equal cultures of the Americas. It is at the core of the violence, mistreatment, and murder we have witnessed erupt over the past few years. Machismo is about weakness and power, the dichotomy that exists between the two, and how we who exist in gender binaries fit into it. It too transcends class and racial boundaries; it condemns all things not male, white, or wealthy. It lives in the collective unconscious that has gone unchallenged and uncorrected for years.

In her paper “ Machismo y Violencia ”, Carmen Lugo defines machismo as:

“... the expression of the magnification of the masculine to the detriment of the constitution, the personality and the feminine essence; the exaltation of physical superiority, brute force and the legitimation of a stereotype that recreates and reproduces unjust power relations. "

“The expression of the magnification of the masculine to the detriment of the constitution, personality, and the feminine essence; the exaltation of physical superiority, brute force, and the legitimization of a stereotype that recreates and reproduces unjust power relations. "

It manifests in many different ways and truly is a global model of oppression. Better known in the West as “toxic masculinity”, machismo is simply a product of a patriarchal system that governs the basic and complex systems and societies we all exist in. Waxing and waning in the background of our interactions, breeding slowly but surely a culture of hating women.

And how then might we liberate ourselves from this inescapable model? How can we extricate ourselves, as women, from this transcendent oppression? Even if we can reject this system within ourselves, how do we go about unearthing the patriarchy from our country, from the men in our lives, from our systems of justice and education?

These are questions that feminist collectives have been endeavoring to answer for decades. LASTESIS offers one answer, through protest. When you are unheard and unrepresented you must take to the streets, voice your opinions so loudly they can not be ignored.

“El patriarcado es un juez

que nos juzga por nacer,

y nuestro castigo

es la violencia que no ves.”

These opening lines to the feminist song that electrified the streets of Santiago, Chile. First performed in front of La Moneda by a crowd of hundreds of empowered and enraged women, the now-infamous piece “El Violador en Tu Camino” has since been performed in countries half a world away. Its lyrics transcending time, place, and circumstance.

The sounds of this feminist anthem give us goosebumps, the fond and unfamiliar sensation of being fully expressed. Originally written in Chilean Spanish, the lyrics resonate regardless of understanding, regardless of culture or borders. Distance is not the defining factor. It is that widespread appeal that is eerie and encouraging.

“The patriarchy is a judge

The judges us for being born

And our punishment

Is the violence that you don’t see”

It captures the very soul of what it means to be a Latinx woman right now, to be oppressed - to be hunted.

Chile is often touted as one of the “best” countries in the region, being one of the wealthiest with the lowest homicide rate. But we often forget the other side of the narrative, that the nation is also the most unequal, that crimes that do occur are brutal and violent, and that all of this disproportionately impacts women.

A country that seems almost perpetually on the brink of revolution Chile, has been no stranger to the scourge of gender-based violence that has swept the continent. And these murders are becoming increasingly graphic. They seem less like apathetic killings and more like performance pieces. Warning signs, sirens that scream: your womanhood is dangerous and our manhood is predatory

A study done in 2017 proved that nearly 40% of women ages 16-65 have or continue to experience domestic violence. In 2019, the nation saw 45 women fall victim to the government’s strict definition of “femicide”. There is a threat looming in the background of this seemingly peaceful society. While the Chilean government overlooks these issues, women are dying from a culture that long predates the independence of the nation.

El violador eres tú.

Son los pacos,

los jueces,

el Estado,

el presidente.

El Estado opresor es un macho violador.

These, the most notorious lines from the epic performance piece changed forever the way some women came to understand the nature of their oppression.

“The r*pist is you

It is the police

The judges

The state

The president

The oppressive state is an (aggressive) male r*pist”

(from Nosotras Audiovisuales Chile of the first performance by LASTESIS)

Protests are the language of the unheard and unwanted. They are meant to uplift the oppressed and shine a light on our oppressors. These lines are awakening women a world over to realities that they have known but never acknowledged before. Helping them realise the all too present truth: there is a system of men who work against us.

It is about more than just the aggressor in these crimes. It is also about the police who fail every year to actively seek out justice and shame women out of even trying to report. The judges who go against the best interest of the victim and prioritize the future, safety, and happiness of the men who violate and desecrate these women’s bodies. The state that narrows its definition of femicide and does the bare minimum to protect women. The president who seems more preoccupied with furthering inequalities than with saving the nearly 40% of women who are suffering in obscurity.

This oppressive state forces them to be victims in their own homes.

This song has changed the work of activists all over the region and has propelled femicide, sexual violence, and all other forms of gender-based violence to the forefront of activist political discourse. The awakening it has incited is shifting the sociopolitical landscape in which these women fight. Slowly tipping the scales in their favour.

In Chile, this has led to more laws intended to further the pursuit of justice. However, new policies like the “Street Respect Bill” lack enforcement and seem to be the government’s attempt to appease the international pressure to crack down on the issue rather than create systemic change. While the crime of femicide does carry with it a long sentence, Chile’s definition of the crime is decidedly narrow. Limiting it to exclusively intimate femicide, lowering their official numbers, and creating greater barriers to finding justice.

Many activists are quick to point out that laws don’t reform a macho society. There is no way to do that without first addressing that it is in fact a macho society. To confront that “el violador eres tu” (the rapist is you), to recognise that everyone is complicit and that their actions, culture, and mindsets need to be uprooted to make a change.

Machismo began in Latin America during the era of Spanish and Portuguese colonialism. Carmen Lugo says:

“La cultura indígena es destruida, sobre las ruinas de las pirámides se erigen ostentosas catedrales, se nos impone un idioma extraño, una religión ajena; el orden de valores, la cosmogonía indígena es destruida; aparece una nueva sociedad, una nueva cultura donde lo indígena y lo femenino son relegados, son inferiores. Esa ecuación inconsciente, lo índio-femenino, se transforma en aquello que le recuerda al criollo, al mestizo, su superioridad sobre el vencido.”

“The indigenous culture is destroyed, in the ruins of the pyramids they erected ostentatious cathedrals and imposed on us a strange language, an alien religion; the order of values, cosmogony of the indigenous [people] are destroyed; there appears a new society, a new culture where the indigenous and the feminine are relegated, are inferior. This unconscious equation transforms the indo-feminine into that which reminds the Creole [those of Spanish/Portuguese and African descent], the mestizo [those of Spanish/Portuguese and Indigenous descent], of their superiority over the defeated”

Much like racism, machismo doesn’t exist in the absence of the white European colonizer. The destruction of the indigenous cultures; the vicious slaughter of their people, the burning and destruction of their temples, and cultural artifacts were only superseded in brutality by the widespread sexual violence of the era. What they left behind was a societal structure that routinely demeans and dehumanises women.

How then does this same structure, that has yet to be deconstructed, parsed apart and rebuilt, claim to protect women?

Chilean society and by extension no Latin American society can’t claim to uphold the rights and interests of these women. They have a foundation that is specifically built upon the defeat of them to further the superiority of men.

Machismo is also about much more than systems, it is deeply entrenched in the culture. It is the casual and common dismissal of women. It is the constant jokes about their inferiority. Jokes and comments that seem small and insignificant are playing out in major ways. These minor, casual statements that stoke the flames of male egos and male violence.

It is about the life cycle of these ideas. Abusers hear jokes or throw away comments and they continue to abuse the women in their homes. These women hear the same jokes from ‘pillars of their community’ and instead of reporting it, instead of trying to seek out better, they remain silent. Convinced that they have no supporters, no allies, and no options. These pillars of the community continue to live in ignorance of the very real, violence that plagues their cities. We get no change and the simple fact is no law will break these cycles.

What these women need is to be freed from this sick oppressive culture. We cannot put another man on trial for these vicious crimes until we put this system on trial. We cannot seek out justice for another woman until we construct a system that will give it to her.

In understanding our complicity we might hope to educate ourselves. When we can finally comprehend the long previously untraversed road ahead, only then can we hope to bring change to the continent. To undo the centuries of suffering that began when Colon first tarnished Latinx soil with his flagpole. Only then can the region hope to heal.

LASTESIS finishes the song with these final lines, a mockery of the police anthem:

Sleep easy, innocent girl,

without worrying about the bandit,

that for your sweet and smiling dream

watch your carabinero lover.

Sleep peacefully innocent girl,

Without worrying about the bandit

Your dreams sweet and smiling

Are guarded by your carabineer [a type of 17th-century soldier] lover

To support LASTESIS check out their instagram and facebook pages.

Make a note of:

Today marks 47 years since the military coup that instated Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. The dictatorship is a huge part of Chilean history and has forever changed its political landscape and its effects are still being felt today . We want to encourage everyone to take some time to learn about the dictatorship, here are some links to articles and projects that might help:

An art project to remember The Disappeared

A timeline of the coup

A reflection written 40 years after the coup

An in depth history lesson

Hayley Headley 9/9/20 Hayley Headley 9/9/20

Are Short (White) Men Okay?

The short answer is no, but why and how are we meant to deal with it? Let’s talk about that. It’s a joke...kind of.

Are Short (White) Men Okay?

We all know a short guy that just seems to be perpetually in the middle of a tirade. Usually about their obsession with the “elitism” of women or expressing this or that opinion from their self assigned role of ‘devil’s advocate’. They all seem to have this common characteristic that comes with the sense of manufactured oppression that they place upon themselves - they are just cantankerous.

So when I ask the question ‘are short men okay’, we can already be sure that the answer is:

No! They are not okay!

After months of back and forth with many many short (usually white) men, I am officially over it. I have argued with short men over every idea under the sun; whether or not religious freedom is important, if we should say ‘eat the rich’, and why marijuana is apparently not only a gateway drug but also ‘severely dangerous’ on its own. I have literally had one of them tell me that he didn’t believe I, a black woman, had ever experienced racism! All of this had led me to the conclusion:

They are angry and it just isn’t my problem.

I have decided for myself that I am simply no longer arguing with short men in my DMs. And if you are a woman, particularly a woman of colour, particularly a black woman I sincerely encourage you not to as well.

Short men are preoccupied with this sense of masculinity that is rooted in patriarchal power. Power that stems from a long and ‘proud’ history of stepping on women, black, indigenous, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities. Much like capitalism, the patriarchy doesn’t like us!

The grounds on which any short (usually white) man and I enter into an argument are irrevocably different and it is exhausting. Arguing with people who are willing to question your human rights for the sake of “playing devil’s advocate” is tiring, it’s debasing and it’s wholly unnecessary.

The problem is patriarchal masculinity is unattainable because they aren’t ‘tall enough’ in any conventional way. They aren’t intimidating or foreboding, two quintessentially male characteristics. Short men don’t pose the same apparent threat that other men do, and somehow this upsets them.

Since you can’t just assume that they are capable of harming you, they assert themselves with arguments. But these arguments aren’t about things like pineapple on pizza or if chicken soup is cereal, they all have to be about my rights. It is always about assuming this or that right-wing opinion. They will assure me that they are either just thinking it through, exploring the ‘other side’ and that it should upset me. But it does.

I am tired of my body and freedom being a thought experiment.

These men throw their weight and opinions around the shut you up. Not because they necessarily believe what they are saying and not because they care about these issues. They do it to keep the women in their lives well aware of the fact that they are no different from the other stereotypically macho men that they know.

This phenomenon lives on social media, where they don’t have to deal with the real world emotional or sociopolitical repercussions of their actions. Where they don’t have to take these things into consideration and where no one else can see how little they care. These men don’t take these arguments seriously, and they certainly don’t take you seriously enough to not bother you with their petty feuds.

If you are like me; here are 5 tips to help you free yourself from them and live a happy, healthy life:

Stop responding with arguments

When they swipe up on your story with their hot take on why eating the rich is an oppressive statement, don’t dignify them with an actual thought out response. Google is free for everyone and they can find out why their opinions are bullshit there.

Suggested alternatives are:

No ❤️

Okay.

Or just leave them on read

2. Don’t let them live in your head rent-free

None of them are paying you to think about them so don’t!

It’s easier said than done but honestly the second you stop thinking about and entertaining their ideas when they are not there you feel so much lighter. There are so many better things to let live in your head like the strawberry dress or your dinner plans. Free up space for what makes you happy.

3. Let them argue with themselves

If you can’t quite bring yourself to give up arguing, send them in circles. Usually, their arguments are flimsy and the only things they have going for them is passion and a complete disregard for facts. When you approach the argument don’t aim to express yourself, rather aim to allow them to really read what they have just said. Then at the perfect moment hit them with the: “So you agree (insert whatever leftist idea they just argued against)”

4. Understand that none of this is really about you.

Dissociate yourself from these arguments as best you can. None of this was ever about you, they would argue just as much with Siri if they could. The simple fact is that you are kind of interchangeable in this equation.

5. Just block them.

We often forget that this is an option, but you can simply block them. Ghost them every chance you get. Remember that you don’t owe people who don’t value you an explanation for why you are cutting them off. It’s okay not to be sure of why something offends you, but it is not okay to ignore it for the sake of not having a rationale.

Finally, if you are a short man reading this and you feel hurt. I can’t really do anything other than say if the shoe fits wear it and by all means feel free to change it. No one can save you from your own fragile masculinity but you, so get on google and figure it out!

The Whorticulturalist 9/2/20 The Whorticulturalist 9/2/20

A Reimagining of ‘A World's Wife’

Three poems based on ‘A World’s Wife’ by Carol Ann Duffy, reimagined by Hayley Headley.

These poems are inspired by and a play on the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy and published in her collection, “A World’s Wife.”

A reimagining of A World's Wife (2)_Page_1.jpg

A reimagining of A World's Wife (2)_Page_3.jpg

The Whorticulturalist 8/28/20 The Whorticulturalist 8/28/20

El Feminicidio: Redefining Womanhood and Female Activism in Mexico

Art by Sofia Vargas Aguayo — *Art by* *Sofia Vargas Aguayo*

While millions of women in North America and Europe celebrated their women’s day with marches and fun social media posts, Mexico was learning what it meant to live without them. From Tijuana to Chetumal, the streets, subways, and offices of cities and towns all over the country were operating without women.

#UnDiaSinMujeres was a countrywide sit-in. Abandoned by their government and the international community these women have been left to defend themselves against a country of men that seem hellbent on their extermination. This day was meant to awaken the police, prosecutors, and politicians to the future of their nation. It was meant to help these powerful men (and women) realise the gravity of the situation at hand.

“To understand that a war has been brewing in our voluntary negligence. ”

El feminicidio or femicide has been a growing issue across Latin America, and the past few years have seen these rates skyrocket. In 2018, UN Women put out a report saying that every day 12 women die from femicide in Latin America and just a year later 2019 the numbers topped out at about 10 women per day in Mexico alone. The numbers are staggering, and everyone is looking for a place to pin the blame; a single point source to this corrosive societal pollutant.

All eyes are on Ciudad Juarez and they have been since the early 90s. Amnesty International has been calling out the dire circumstances in Juarez since 2005. They revealed that over 370 young women and girls had been murdered without justice or cause since 1993.

In a study of Ciudad Juarez, done as an analysis of a decades-long history of violence against women from 1993 to 2007, researchers identified that these offenses are primarily either intimate or systemic sexual femicide. Intimate refers to femicide that is perpetrated by someone close to the victim, while systemic sexual has its roots in patterns of violence against women and children like kidnapping and sexual assault. These two accounted for about 62% of all femicides in the city for that time. The pattern has since continued, with the bulk of women dying at the hands of violent men who knew them or men who simply saw them as yet another target. The only significant change is the sheer number of women who have fallen victim to these felonies.

While this city is best known for its reputation as the murder capital of the world or its features in shows like Narcos or El Chapo; it has an unspoken history of violence against women. It expands far beyond murder; it’s the hundreds of women that have gone missing since the 1990s, it’s the thousands of women who experience sexual violence every year, it’s the gross mistreatment of women and girls at home and in the streets.

Moreover, the situation is about more than just Juarez. It is easy to push the blame around, to try and localise the situation to one city or one state. But the reality is that femicide is on the rise all over Mexico, that 1.4 of 100,000 women die each year from these heinous acts of violence, that Mexico doesn’t even chart in the top 5 worldwide for these crimes. And it is the globalised nature of these issues that prompts us to ask the question - why? Why is any of this happening? Why is the situation in Mexico the way it is at all? Why does it continue and how did it start?

Some point towards the cartels and gangs that see women as cannon fodder for their wars. Others to a culture of machismo that has stoked the flames of the male egos in the region for decades. And a few try to point to simple circumstances, that there are thousands of people who die every year in Mexico… of course some women will be caught in the crossfire. But the fact is undeniable that women and girls are being deliberately targeted by vile men who seek them out, violate their bodies, and leave them there to be displayed like a flag, or a warning.

It is the impunity with which these murderers act that sickens me. It is the very fact that there is a system of people who fail every day to give these women the justice they deserve. After dying in such a graphic and brutal manner, the least the powers that be might offer is the meager gift of a sentence passed - a sliver of dignity.

There is something eerily commonplace about these crimes. That is a part of their cultural danger. It is easy to get desensitized by these numbers and forget what they truly mean for the lives of millions of women and girls. It is easy to forget that day after day women turn on the news to hear of yet another young woman. One no different from themselves, no different from their sisters or daughters or mothers being slaughtered. But it is even easier to keep searching for an answer with no intent on finding one.

The women of this country know exactly why this is happening. They know how you can fix it, but they also know you refuse to listen. These women have been left to their own devices, to seek justice for themselves. Surely they are victims of a system and a society that sees them as nothing better than warm bodies or lambs to the slaughter but they have refused to trap themselves in their victimhood.

The mothers of the women who have died as a result of femicide have empowered themselves. In early 2020 one of them took it upon herself to confront her country and the murderers who reside there with a poignant question :

“Cual es tu pinche problema?”

“What is your fucking problem?”

In a speech that went viral, she spoke with a fury that I sincerely hope shakes the nation. She spoke from her heart, and she spoke for everyone in the same situation. She knows there is nowhere to turn in her fight for justice other than the public. Saying:

“Yo no soy una colectiva, ni necesito un tambor, ni necesito de un pinche partido político que me represente”

“I am not a collective, and I don’t need a drum, or a fucking political party to represent me”

She can represent herself. This organic, grassroots activism has been the largest, strongest and most public opposition that has been displayed amid this crisis. Movements like Ni Una Mas and #UnDiaSinMujeres have been central in these women’s fight to be represented and heard. But no matter how many protestors pour into the streets, or mothers share their stories, or women stay home, it is impossible to ignore that they first took to their stand in the 90s.

It has been 30 years since this became a national and regional talking point. 18 years since Mexican women first spoke up and said that not one more girl or young woman should share this fate, and yet thousands more bodies have been buried - victims of this savage and unprovoked violence.

The Mexican government only officially began to monitor femicide in 2012. Nonetheless in these 8 years it has offered little in the way of making practical amends. They have made special prosecutor offices and extended sentences, but femicide is still on the rise. After years of willful ignorance, feminists all over the country rejoiced in hope that their newest leftist president would turn the tide. But two years into his administration, next to nothing has been done. Activists and women all over the country are at a loss for what to do.

The world has told them over and over again that they are each other's only allies, in this fight for the basic right to life. And it is the basic right to exist, that is reaffirmed in every human rights agreement, every constitution, and law, that is being affronted in this subtle warfare. This conflict has taken thousands of lives and scarred tens of thousands more. It is ushering a new era of female fear.

For me, it is more terrifying to think that it will not be bringing with it a new era of women’s rights. Protests and riots have been reignited since the start of 2020, and while things have slowed due to the pandemic, these women are no less desperate and no less ready to fight. What happens over the coming months and years will forever reshape the geopolitical landscape in which we, as women, all continue to live in. It will forever change how and if women get to exist.

All over the continent rights are eroding and they are being repackaged and resold to us as privileges. It isn’t a privilege to narrowly escape death. There is no surplus in simply awaking each day. What wealth is found in existence under constant threat? These women are being offered their next breath as a gift from the state. The very same state that fails to uphold these most basic rights day in and day out.

Even so, these women have continued to persevere. Unashamed and unconstrained they stand up for themselves even if there is no one standing with them. There is something unique about Latin America’s revolutionary spirit. There is something special about the ability of these women to unify in their fear and anger. That spark, the fervour and zest with which they seek out a better life for themselves and their children, is invaluable.

Not much is certain for the future of femicide or feminism in the region, but one thing I am certain won’t be abandoned is this burning desire for change. It is impossible to know how many more protests will be held, or how many more days there will be where women disappear from the streets, or if sustainable change will come at all.

It is scary to think of what happens if this continues, or what it means to live in a world that doesn’t care if it does. El feminicidio is about more than just Mexican women, more than Latinx women, it is about the fate of womanhood everywhere. These women are fighting for a system that upholds more than just their rights, they are fighting for women’s rights everywhere.

How can you support them in this fight and get involved?

Check out and support local and regional activist organisations like:

Donate to organisations that support women’s rights and the women fighting for them:

The Whorticulturalist 8/13/20 The Whorticulturalist 8/13/20

Body Positivity, Activism and Race in the Middle of a Pandemic; a Conversation with @amapoundcake

A wonderful interview from one of our newest writers on how the Black woman’s body is a political space.

Danni, better known by her instagram handle @amapoundcake, is a force for social change in a world that seeks to undermine and snuff out any shred of confidence and activism that comes from fat black women. In this moment, she and other women like her are coming to the forefront of a movement they began.

When I first sat down to talk with Danni, I wanted to know how she got started in the body positive activist space. Unlike many fat kids, Danni was never shamed for her body - in fact she was encouraged to love it. She saw fat black people all around her; remarking:

“ ... most of my family was either skinny and got fat or were fat when I met them.”

Growing up in a household that didn’t partake in the same causal body shaming that many of our own did, empowered by the words of Mo’nique, Danni began her first social movement - ‘Eat or Die’. She and some other big girls from her middle school took it upon themselves to walk around in matching t-shirts and talk about what it means to be fat.

All this positivity in her upbringing didn’t shelter her from the ‘real’ world, the one that wished her white and skinny. She was barred from many activities because she couldn’t fit the mold others made for her. But she stood out all the same, when the dance team rejected her she found herself on the step team. For her, a lot of life was about carving out a space for herself with people who could truly appreciate her. In highschool that meant joining the step team, nowadays it looks like building a network of support around herself.

116279029_201229691332810_1802009546457534922_n (1).jpg

In her undergrad experience she was heavily involved in black activism. She posted about being fat on many platforms, but it wasn’t at the centre of her work. This was around the time she began to notice that fat black women just weren’t a part of the narrative of black and intersectional feminism.

Today, the world is radically different from the one we were all born into. Activism has changed, branding has changed, politics have changed - but this new wave of social justice has left behind thousands of women who look just like Danni. We see more and more black women occupying spaces they never had access to before, but the posterwomen for anti blackness still sit on the outskirts.

This is something Danni understood at a young age, saying:

“I understood fatness and blackness at the same time.”

These two things that were so central to her appearance were simultaneously at the centre of much controversy and socio political discourse. She noted that she wasn’t originally set out to be a body positivity icon, or an influencer of any kind. But her push to make all of this was when Plies made a music video that included not a single thick woman.

After claiming in a video that he loved big women and was so supremely attracted to them, in his latest music video at the time Plies failed to include even one of these women. She did what she could, she started a fight in the comments. And hundreds of women just like her rallied against the video. He listened. Plies put out a request calling on all the women who were angry to send him a video dancing to his song by the end of the day. And Danni did, for a long time she was the only one but just when she thought to take it down; there she was featured on Plies’ instagram. Soon after other women joined her, posting their own videos, dancing and being carefree and happy. It goes to show:

“You don’t need a following, you just need a voice.”

And for so long, there was no one who wanted to hear the voices of influencers and women like amapoundcake. Fat black women were at the centre of black humiliation and degradation for centuries. The mammy stereotype kept all black people down, sure, but since then we have failed to distance ourselves from an image of fat black women that isn’t centered on being caring and nurturing. Both on television and in real life big black girls are nothing more than side characters; a shoulder to cry on, a place to dump your feelings and move on, a two dimensional figure in the background of someone else’s life. We don’t get love interests or sex scenes. We don’t get to be in the skin care commercial or the music video. Amidst all of this underrepresentation, it is nearly impossible to come to terms with yourself.

It was in the middle of discerning all of this that Danni knew that she had to just get up and do it. Make representation where there was none. So she started taking her platform more seriously, speaking out about the intersections of race, class and fatness. She forced herself into the narrative when so many forces sought to erase her. Some black people don’t like her because she is fat, some white people don’t like her because she is black, capitalism hates her because she can own these two things unapologetically.

On her instagram page you will find that Danni is fiercely anti capitalist, anti racist and overall anti hate. She positions herself as a representative of the marginalised and she walks the talk too. She consistently speaks up on what it means to live in a world that refuses to accept you as you are. Moreover, she is creating a space where conventional, skinny, white and palatable feminism is not upheld.

She talks about everything, from hard hitting critiques of capitalism and the state of modern activism to desirability and sex. I got the chance to pick her brain about it all. Especially right now in this time where the coronavirus pandemic has us all stuck to our screens, all eyes are on this revolution.

It has been a time of recognition and amplification for many spaces. One thing that many have been realising is how inextricably linked fatphobia is to race and anti blackness. As Danni put it:

“Fatphobia is a direct attack on black women.”

In turn, by virtue of living in a capitalist system, we have turned hate into an individual issue, and then we market it and make it lucrative for forces at play behind it all. Danni cited just some of the many subtle ways our society seeks to punish and belittle fat people. “The doctor tells you need to lose weight, they sell you the pills, they make you pay for the consultation but they ignore your real problem - your flu, your broken foot. Airlines make it more expensive to fly, it is impossible to find comfortable seats in public spaces. Life insurance policies are next to impossible to find, and when you can find them they are expensive.” The unspoken tax on fatness. All this to punish the individual, but we never attempt to condemn major organizations for their role in manufacturing the obesity epidemic.

To make it that much worse, all the strong black women that have taken the time to create out their own spaces and their own representation have been muted within their own community. Many white women are realizing that where they originally came to share they have stolen and co-opted. Danni pinpointed the use of the term “Phenomenal woman” a phrase originally thought of by a black woman [Maya Angelou] for other black women, in a time where it wasn’t okay or trendy for us to love our bodies. There is the unnerving sensation that much like other parts of black culture, our activism is also slipping away from us too.

So, what does all of this mean, what does it all look like in the middle of a global pandemic? Well, in short, everyone needs the love and confidence that radiates off of the women in these spaces. Danni, outside of instagram, works as a body image coach and in these difficult times has seen her customer base expand. In the midst of all of this distress many people are gaining weight and losing it, moreover, they are losing their confidence. While we have to remain fiercely in support of the marginalised, insecurity is a universal experience.

116244176_296497101404028_2320434655146702207_n (1).jpg

People are sad, routines have changed, lives have been uprooted so how do we navigate all of that? I think Danni put it best, saying:

“We can be in this world alone or with others, with a support system even if it’s virtual.”

It's all about building a system of like minded people that help you achieve your next goal whether it's that next big step in your career, or starting a new relationship. It’s supremely important to feel supported in these endeavours. Many of us didn’t get a childhood that supported us in the way we so deeply desired, but we deserve to create an adulthood that does. That is what activism, body positivity and life really is about - taking that next step, fighting against the system and loving yourself with the people who love you.

Something we can all stand to learn from Danni, her following, and the myriad of black women just like her is that in these strange times we need to recenter ourselves. Question your values and your position on the issues that matter, readjust where necessary. Reaffirm your activism, reaffirm your goals, reaffirm yourself.