Four transgressive declarations for ending gender violence

Abstract

In this chapter, the author transgresses by declaring some difficult realities that call the collective attention to language, intersectionality, and communication. She makes four transgressive declarations for ending gender violence: It's not about women; stop calling us survivors; radical activism is dead; and no one likes angry feminists. The movement to end gender violence involves a rich history of consciousness-raising, grassroots organizing, radical activism, and theory development. As a part of the larger feminist movement, crisis advocates, prevention educators, activists, and scholars draw upon nearly fifty years of valuable testimony, speeches, writings, and research that inform contemporary strategies to respond to and prevent gender violence. There have been notable shifts in gender relations, but gender violence remains pervasive and commonplace. The internet has led to more public visibility of gender violence, but mainstream attitudes still maintain a culture in which gender violence is normalized, minimized, and encouraged; perpetrators are not held accountable; and victims are blamed.