Curated by FG Contributor Samiha Hossain
People take part in a demonstration against femicide outside parliament in Athens, Greece, 17 December 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGE VITSARAS
The murder of a 41-year-old pregnant woman, Greece’s first femicide of 2024, has stirred fresh calls for femicide to be made a distinct criminal act. Two men, the woman’s 39-year-old partner and his 34-year-old friend, were brought to Thessaloniki courthouse earlier this week to testify over the murder of a 41-year-old woman killed in her third month of her pregnancy. According to the authorities, the two men planned her murder together.
We have a femicide and an attempt [at femicide] in the first ten days of 2024, with the perpetrators being the husbands of the victims. The intensity and violence of the two brutal crimes are appalling. The perpetrator in Thessaloniki in fact had a history of abusing other women but continued to abuse undisturbed. -Natasa Kefallinou, from Diotima (a Greek women’s non-profit)
While femicide as a distinct criminal act has been incorporated into the law in many countries, in Greece the term has not yet been legally recognized. Diotima and the Greek section of the European Observatory on Femicide have aimed to present a current picture of femicide in Greece through data recorded since 2019. According to Diotima, from 2010 to 2023, a total of 202 women were murdered in Greece.
Legal recognition, as has been done in other countries, will help to deal with the crime, record it and prevent it. We know it is not a panacea but it’s an important measure among others aimed at protecting survivors. -Natasa Kefallinou
A report by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, GREVIO, published in November 2023, pointed out shortcomings in Greece’s approach to the issue. It urged Greece to set up sexual violence crisis centres, introduce training and guidelines in the criminal justice system, expand the number of shelters for women victims and ensure that children exposed to domestic violence receive counselling and support. The report raised concern about sensationalised reporting on gender-based violence, including gender-based killings of women, by media outlets that use discriminatory language and disclose the identity of victims, breaching their privacy.
Feminist Groups At Rally In Paris—Remon Haazen/Getty Images
A collective of feminist groups held street protests across France last week to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s support of Gérard Depardieu in the light of multiple allegations of sexual assault against the actor. The initiative – entitled “Keep your old world, we want one without sexist and sexual violence” – was centred in Paris but also saw smaller satellite protests in cities such as Toulouse, Marseille and Lyon.
“We call on all those who defend the rights of women, children and gender minorities, and who refuse sexist and sexual violence to rallies,” the group, gathering under the banner of the Feminist Strike Collective, announced in a statement prior to the protests. Some 400 people gathered in Paris’s Place Saint-Augustin brandishing placards bearing slogans such as “Patriarchy, You’re Stuffed”, “The Omertà Is Finished” and “Let’s Break The Old World”.
The street protests come three weeks after Macron publicly defended Depardieu who has seen his star fall following the broadcast of a bombshell documentary delving into multiple allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior against him. In an interview with evening talk show C à Vous in mid-December, Macron suggested Depardieu was the subject of a witch hunt, adding he was a “great admirer” of the actor who “had made France proud.”
Vanessa Joy via AP
Despite receiving enough signatures to appear on the ballot, a transgender woman has been disqualified from an Ohio House race because she omitted her previous name, raising concern that other transgender candidates nationwide may face similar barriers.
Vanessa Joy was one of four transgender candidates running for state office in Ohio, largely in response to proposed restrictions of the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Joy legally changed her name and birth certificate in 2022, which she says she provided to the Stark County Board of Elections for the March 19 primary race. But as Joy recently found out, a little-known 1990s state law says that a candidate must provide any name changes within the last five years to qualify for the ballot. Since the law is not currently listed on the candidate requirement guidelines on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website, Joy didn’t know it existed.
To provide her former name, Joy said, would be to use her deadname. And while Joy said the spirit of the law is to weed out bad actors, it creates a barrier for transgender people who want to run for office and may not want to share their deadname for important reasons, including concern about their personal safety.
If I had known that I had to put my deadname on my petitions, I personally would have because being elected was important to me. But for many it would be a barrier to entry because they would not want their names on the petitions. It’s a danger and that name is dead. -Vanessa Joy
Over the last few years, many states have ramped up restrictions on transgender people — including barring minors from accessing gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers and hormones. In some states, that has extended to limitations on which school bathrooms trans children and students can use and which sports teams they can join. Sean Meloy, the vice president of political programs for LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which supports LGBTQ+ candidates, said that last year, a record number of candidates who are transgender sought and won office, and he expects that trend to continue in 2024.
Meloy said that some conservatives are trying to silence transgender voices. He pointed to Zooey Zephyr, a transgender lawmaker who was blocked last year from speaking on Montana’s House floor after she refused to apologize for telling colleagues who supported a ban on gender-affirming care that they would have blood on their hands.
Joy appealed her disqualification and is now seeking legal representation. She plans to try to change Ohio’s law.
We’re going to see this happening all over the place. This could be a snowball if I’m just the start of it. This is horrible news for the trans community. -Vanessa Joy
Vanessa Chisakula
Prompted by the struggles of motherhood, Vanessa Chisakula from Zambia uses her art to address women’s rights, African identity and mental health – and gives others a platform to do the same. After giving birth, Chisakula started writing poetry as a way of processing the changes and struggles she was experiencing as a new mother.
I was in my early 20s. I had just become a mum and didn’t understand it. I had all these questions. What is a woman? Is this it? I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing. -Vanessa Chisakula
Just writing poems was not enough, however. Chisakula wanted to share her stories. She was inspired to do spoken-word poetry when she heard I Will Wait For You by Janette…ikz, an American spoken-word poet. Now, she is spearheading efforts to expand the spoken-word scene in Zambia. In 2017, she co-founded Word Smash Poetry, a movement for young creative activists across southern Africa.
I believe in the beautiful persuasion that art brings to the table. Art is a form of protest that leaves no blood. It can be peacefully done but a strong message can be communicated artistically. -Vanessa Chisakula
In 2020, Chisakula released a short collection of poems, Africana, written to embrace her identity as a black African. She said she wanted to relocate to the US when she was younger to chase the American Dream. She no longer believes this; now she wants to celebrate her home continent. When she was younger, she was made to feel inferior when peers called her skin “too dark”; at college she was called “blackie”. She blames colonialism for engendering an inferiority complex among Black Africans in Africa.
Male poets still outnumber female poets. Chisakula believes women struggle to get a foothold in the arts in Zambia. Last month, the Word Smash Poetry movement hosted its second all-female national poetry slam in Lusaka, which took place during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence.
The girls were able to express themselves. The stories were well put; they were loud; they were clear. They had solutions. They were captivating. I’m glad we managed to put that space there to allow a celebration of our stories. -Vanessa Chisakula
Willow by Evan Purdy
“Photography is a way of making myself feel less alien,” says Evan Purdy of his new exhibition, which captures London’s queer community. After moving from his home in Manchester in 2020, Purdy immersed himself in London’s queer creative community, making photos that reflected a new generation grappling with a world shaped by the decisions of generations prior. His latest project, I Am Firstly Nothing, captures his gender non-conforming community in large format darkroom prints displayed at south London’s Dilston Gallery, with proceeds going to various LGBTQ+ charities.
Each subject is a friend, captured sensitively and authentically, donning their own clothes and striking powerful stances in soulful ownership of their respective identities. Shooting on location on the streets of east London or in a squat, he eschews the clinical environments of studios in the hopes his subjects take the chains off and forget the lens, capturing an authentic version of the self, unpolished, and imbued with the spirituous emotion of a new generation.
I find the world really weird, in enjoyable ways, but also in really scary ways. One way that I can deal with that is by using photography to show people and make them think about how weird the world is, look at how strange the structures are, and look at what that does to the individual. Fear is what keeps these dominant structures alive. -Evan Purdy
Purdy’s biggest inspiration when he moved to London was the queer community, he says. He calls the people of London “exciting” and “brave” in the way that they present themselves and don’t care how others will see them. Purdy’s shoot with Willow was what ignited the process of the series. He calls Willow “super inspiring” as they are always dressed in a collection of rogue different pieces put together.
I wanted the fashion to be a language of its own, and I think the language is most potent when you use real clothes – clothes people wear. There’s a strong social language with fashion. It’s illegal to be naked in public, so even if you like fashion or not, everyone is forced to communicate with fashion constantly. -Evan Purdy
Samiha Hossain (she/her) is an aspiring urban planner studying at Toronto Metropolitan University. Throughout the years, she has worked in nonprofits with survivors of sexual violence and youth. Samiha firmly believes in the power of connecting with people and listening to their stories to create solidarity and heal as a community. She loves learning about the diverse forms of feminist resistance around the world.
