[Smashpatriarchy] Fwd: Workshops/Presentation Proposal: Solidarity Against Patriarchy

[Aylon C]

Hey Folks,

the bookfair collective got back to me (see email below). They want to know
about more about what SAP does, about the poeple who will be presenting the
workshop, and our thoughts for creating safer spaces and whether we will
chat about transphobia.

I wrote up a little something for the presents. Given that others know more
about what SAP has done, can you guys fill in any missing detials about
SAP's work and about safer spaces. Also, please challenge and critique
anything i've written that you feel does not accurately represent the
shared understandings of the group.

 Solidarity Against Patriarchy (SAP) is a group of (mostly) male-identified
people working against internalized and external systems of patriarchy. The
work that the group engages in can be divided into two categories: internal
and external. Internally, SAP is both a dialogic and experientially focused
discussion group targeted towards men but open to all genders for the
purpose of exposing and challenging internalized forms of sexism and its
associated intersectional oppressions, such as racism, homophobia,
trans-misogyny, classism, ableism, etc. Externally, the group works to
support the voices of women speaking out against sexism by creating film
nights and establishing open discussions where women can publicly speak
about and critique patriarchy. In addition, SAP seeks to educate men about
how their behaviours uphold rape-culture by spreading anti-sexist
propaganda across Vancouver (for instance, see
http://www.wavaw.ca/solidarity-against-patriarchy/)

In regards to the workshop, SAP wishes to deconstruct and challenge
internalized forms of sexism and various oppressions that intersect with
it. We acknowledge that when a person with male privilege speaks in a
public setting about sexism, whether their own or someone else’s, they are
exposing people affected by sexism to this oppression, while reasserting
their own privilege to speak about sexism. The folks of SAP understand that
this is not helpful to intersectional practice, as it implies that only by
making an oppression about the oppressor can power-holders work towards
becoming allies. In addition, to speak about one’s internalized sexism in a
public setting disregards the feelings of women and non-binary identifying
people by exposing them to further sexism in an effort to work on male
privilege. SAP formed as effort to do this work on men in a setting that
made it explicit that this type of dialogue will occur and strives not
publicly perpetuate sexist discourse as men figure out their own baggage.
SAP, however, is not a gender-exclusive group because we want to allow
people of all genders the opportunity to consent to being confronted with
sexism in the hopes that men can maybe start to exorcise their own
internalized issues. SAP specifically speaks with, to, and for a male
audience in efforts to radicalize them.

Part of making the workshop a safe space is being explicit about the above.
Namely, that the workshop will focus on men not in an effort to re-centre
sexism on men but in an effort to confront men and their internalized forms
of sexism and so de-centre the male perspective. That said, we also
understand that sexism also affects men in unique ways, from the ability to
form intimate male friendships to the chastisement of expressing fragility
and emotions. We will provide non cis-gendered men and women the
opportunity to check-in with their present state and gauge whether they
feel comfortable confronting a dialogue that will inevitability be laden
with sexist,, trans-phobic, homophobic, etc. language for the purpose of
challenging this dialogue. Part of this will involve a discussion of
transphobia, about who gets to speak ‘as men’, and also tips on being
better trans* allies (e.g. don’t assume pronouns). In the work of
challenging internalized sexism, transphobia, and homophobia, the
facilitators will make it explicit that a key part of being an ally and
making the space safer for marginalized people is listening to the
experiences of folks who are directly affected by the oppression we are
trying to fight against. While our aim is to educate men shutting up and
listening to marginalized voice, we do not wish to silence men for good. We
want men to listen, learn, and to eventually to speak as men in solidarity
against patriarchy. We do not presume to know all the answers about how to
be good allies and understand that being an ally is a process. We see that
for many men this process has not started largely due to a lack of space –
physical and emotional – that would allow men to unpack and reflect with
other men about how they perpetuate sexism, about how sexism affects them,
and how to work towards becoming better anti-sexist men. As long as
patriarchal structures of power exist, men will always have to work at
uprooting their sexist habits and tendencies. Patriarchal systems will not
be overcome unless we perpetually work at root outing the sexism in our
heads and everyday behaviour, the sexism that causes us to love power and
to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits all of us in different
ways. SAP wishes to provide our understandings and ideas on why such as a
physical, emotional, dialogical, and experiential space should exist and
how men can go about creating it.



Presenters for the workshop:

Aylon Assael Cohen is a white cis-gendered queer scholar and activist.
Currently completing his masters on a queer intellectual history on the
origins of liberalism, he is primarily involved in both anti-sexist
struggles in the UK (http://ithappenshereoxford.wordpress.com/) and in
Vancouver (Solidarity Against Patrarichy) and also in animal rights
struggles in Vancouver as part of Animal Voices Radio (
http://animalvoices.org/) and the BlackPawPrint Collective.

Harjap Grewal:

Reg Johanson:




---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <workshops at victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca>
Date: Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 12:41 PM
Subject: Re: Workshops/Presentation Proposal: Solidarity Against Patriarchy
To: Aylon C <aylon.c at gmail.com>


Hi Aylon - thanks for offering this workshop.

The bookfair collective was interested to hear about your group, and we're
wondering if you can send us a little more information on what SAP does,
and about the individuals who would be presenting the workshop.

We'd also love to hear your thoughts on how you plan to create a safer
space for the workshop. We're also curious about whether discussion of
transphobia or transmisogyny will be within the scope of your workshop.

Thanks!

Shannon


> Hi there!
> My name's Aylon and i'm a member of the Vancouver group, Solidarity
Against
> Patriarchy, a group of (mostly) male-identified folks on Vancouver,
unceded
> Coast Salish Territories, working for gender equality and against
sexism.
> I and another member are coming up for the bookfair and would love to
contribute the following workshop to the bookfair's events:
> Solidarity Against Patriarchy: Questions and Challenges for Men Who Call
Themselves Anarchists
> What does it mean for men, especially anarchist men, to do
anti-patriarchy
> organizing? Why should men engage in anti-patriarchy organizing? How
should
> men engage in anti-patriarchy organizing? Vancouver’s Solidarity Against
Patriarchy (SAP) is a group of mostly male-identified folks trying to
answer these questions. At this workshop SAP will share questions,
ideas,
> and challenges. From the often-unseen patriarchal forms of organizing to
the divisions of emotional and physical activist labour, we will explore
the importance of male involvement in anti-sexist organizing and why
fighting against patriarchy should be central to anarchist praxis. This
workshop will consider the ways in which patriarchy is not merely a
political problem "out there", but one that shapes our personal desires
and
> attitudes in ways that can be hard to "see", impacting not just
relations
> between men and women, but also ties amongst men.
> While this workshop will focus on men, we encourage people of all
genders
> to come and share their experiences and ideas.
> Thanks!
> Aylon
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