Tag Archives: politics

Activism and Agitation

Rarely seen or heard…

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https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/putting-a-human-face-on-abortion-makes-all-the-difference-36830714.html

 

Putting a human face on abortion makes all the difference

Graphic posters should be countered by equally powerful images of women who’ve had abortions but are rarely seen or heard.

 

“Rarely seen or heard..”

Except for this 2013 award winning video by the Irish Family Planning association.

Except for the X-ile Project.

http://www.x-ileproject.com/

X-ile project is an ongoing online gallery of people who have accessed abortion services outside of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We welcome participation by trans men, non binary people and anyone who can be pregnant. Our objective is to give a much-needed face to those have effectively been exiled and ignored due to unduly restrictive and oppressive abortion laws. Our gallery demonstrates that those who choose to travel to have an abortion are responsible, ordinary people and are members of our communities. X-ile Project is changing the nature of conversations about abortion from the grassroots up. We believe that abortion and reproductive rights and the corresponding discussions should be led by those affected, not by politicians.

In recent times several women have come forward through various media outlets to share their abortion stories. X-ile Project builds on that important work by strengthening links between those who have travelled for abortion services. Our website launched on 10 December 2015 with our first group of 11 photographs. Our second group of photographs was launched on 23 February 2016. The third group of photographs was launched on 9 June 2016. Our gallery was increased to 50 photographs on 12 May 2017 following our #facethe50 campaign.

Except for those involved in Parents for Choice,

 

Except for those involved with The Abortion Rights Campaign

Except for the members of Terminations for Medical Reasons

 

And yet abortion and TFMR are medical matters and a person’s medical history is always private, yet plenty of people have come forward to waive that privacy to talk about their experiences and break the social stimga and taboo.

We shouldn’t have to be on posters, this is about our human rights, it is about compassion health care here in Ireland.

There were not posters of LGBT people up for the Marriage Equality, there should not be pictures of those who have had an abortion, we only but up images of people we are voting for in elections as we need to know who they are so we can judge their track record.

No one who needs to access or has accessed abortion care, needs to be judged like that, that only leads for more stigma. more unkind assumptions. People need access to free safe and legal abortion here in Ireland, no matter what they look like or no matter what their personal history or circumstances are.

Anyone who says that people have not been coming forward, needs to look around a bit more, say maybe at what else is being published in the very paper their opinion has appeared in.

 

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/its-time-to-vote-yes-and-bring-compassion-home-36830685.html

 

Activism and Agitation

Launch of Roscommon For Yes!

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I hopped on the bus down to Strokestown for the launch of Roscommon Together For Yes, it’s one I have done a few times to Strokestown it’s not even a 3 hour trip which is always nice to sit and read and relax for.

I was still invited down to attend the launch and to meet the members of Roscommon Together For Yes, who had been Ros for Choice part of the Abortion Rights Campaign region groups before they re branded for the referendum.

I meet up with them in the bar of the Percy French Hotel were the event was on later. We chatted about posters, the campaign, how they hoped the launch would mean more people would sign up to canvass, about when posters would be up and the add they placed in the local paper about the event. They were delighted to find out I have been a frequent visitor to Strokestown.

There were  exhibitions in the room as well, one was this amazing display of 20 shoes, one for every person we know traveled to the UK to have an abortion in 2016.

And the amazing http://everydaystories.org/  

Which was set up by an amazing Rocommon native who also founded Voices for Choice Choir.

Everyday stories is an exhibition which is currently traveling and if any group wants to host it please get in touch with them. There is also a discussion workshop which can be sent out to people to run.

Story Events

Requirements

  • Any groups or individuals may host an event.  Workshops have been held in cafés, pubs and living rooms – whatever space you feel comfortable in.
  • A phone + internet / mp3 player is required to play the audio. A speaker is recommended if your group is larger than 4 people.

Please get in touch if you would like to host an event.

 

The speakers at the Roscommon Together For Yes were wonderful.

The Minsters Speech was powerful, I still get very moved when TDs and Minsters speak about the Harm the 8th Amendment causes and how we need to remove it for compassionate healthcare here in Ireland. It is so wonderful that so many of them are on board and echoing what we have been saying for the last 6 or so years.

Nurse Polly spoke about how she can not do her job and how legally there are things which she can do to a pregnant person while they are giving birth with out their consent that in any other context would be assault and how this has to change and how she wants to be able to care for all her patients.

Tracey from Terminations for Medical Reasons spoke about being are parent with 3 children already who had deal with a fourth pregnancy which ended tragically after a diagnosis of a Fatal Featal abnormality.  How she and her husband had thought naively after the diagnosis was confirmed that she would be induced here at home.

Instead she has to take on trying to get an appointment in Liverpool women’s hospital and make all the travel arrangements which took weeks, all the while people were asking the types of questions they do, about when are you due, are you hoping for a boy or a girl, are your other kids excited to get a new baby.

She spoke of the compassion, dignity and care she experienced there and how that was lacking here due to the 8th amendment.

The we hear from Dr Mark Murphy who explained what a medical abortion with pills is like, how drs and all medical staff will be able to opt out of providing abortion services same as they do with contraceptive services using the conscience clause.

That no form of contraceptive is 100% and even when people are doing all they should do, unplanned pregnancies can still happen, drs deal with this everyday and most of the people who have an abortion are already parents.

The Roscommon Together For Yes were amazing and live tweeted the meeting you can read it on thier account if you want to know more. https://twitter.com/RosForChoice

I want to give a special thanks to Nurse Polly stepped up to be a speaker at the launch when I had to step down. I have no doubt we will be sharing a platform soon at other meetings around the country.

The Welcome I got in Roscommon was wonderful and if there is time over the next 5 weeks I will absolutely be back, maybe to do something in the north of the county.

 

Again thanks to all those who supported my gofundme which made this possible.

Activism and Agitation

Together for Yes poster campaign launches!

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You can donate here!

https://togetherforyes.causevox.com

 

Already between me filming this and posting it, the amount raised has gone from 130,000 to 150,000!

This is how Together For Yes  will raise the money which will be spent on the campaign, from prochoice people all over Ireland.  We have been waiting a long time for this to happen, it’s been over 5 years from when the Abortion Rights Campaign was founded, to bring about a referendum and it’s members from all over the country have been working and preparing.

More blog posts to come soon, still feck that’s the fund raiser today and the restoration of the Maser Mural yesterday which have had me crying, but they are happy tears! No doubt more will be shed between now and the 25th of May!

 

Activism and Agitation

When will the #Repealthe8th Referendum be?

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Right now we are in a weird place re the upcoming referendum. We are waiting for the Gov to announce the wording and the date for the referendum. Once that happens there is a whole process that kicks off.

There hadn’t been an official date announced yet, a possible one has of the 25th of May.

But right now there is a court case in progress in our Supreme Court which is in relation to the 8th amendment. The Supreme Court case that needs to be resolved before the Eighth Amendment referendum

Until the Supreme Court rules, the Gov can not decide the wording of the referendum and can’t announce a date. We are in a holding pattern, so we are seeing media outlets who know there is much interest in with nothing ‘new’ to report. So we get pieces full of speculation. I know people are getting restless wanting to get a move on, but the Gov has to wait on the Supreme Court. And no the Gov can’t hurry along the courts, that would be a serious breach in separation of powers.

Frustrated with what you are seeing from media outlets I suggest you read instead. https://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/2018/02/01/explainer-government-calls-for-repeal-and-new-provision-to-legislate-for-abortion/

Also maybe don’t share daft pieces which aren’t helpful, written to have ‘something” about on a media outlet. Why not share one of these instead

5 Facts About Abortion in Ireland

8 Myths, Busted!

8 Reasons to Repeal the 8th Amendment

They Say, We Say

A Brief History of Abortion in Ireland

Abortion FAQs

Or share this https://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/2018/02/01/making-sure-you-can-vote/

I’m frustrated too, with waiting for the Supreme Court, but I am going to keep on talking to people about #repealthe8th And how if we want to have any change to bring about to compassionate healthcare at home in Ireland in line with human rights & best medical practice then we need to .

In the meantime groups are organising all over the country, get involved https://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/get-involved/

 

Activism and Agitation

Juno and the Paycock

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I have a soft spot for this particular play by Sean O’Casey, I never studied it in school but read it all the same. The language of it, the rhythms of speech can still be heard in Dublin today.

I have seen it preformed a few times and have read as Juno in table readings of the play and was offered the role once when I was part of an amdram group but turned it down due to nerves and lack of experience.

I think it’s an important one, esp for women to read, and my favourite of Sean O’Casey’s plays. A friend of mine reminded me of this quote today and  93 years after it was written it is relevant today.

“Maybe, Needle Nugent, it’s nearly time we had a little less respect for the dead, an’ a little more regard for the livin”

Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey

http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=31933

 

Activism and Agitation

Gloria Steinem and #repealthe8th

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I was delighted to see images on my twitter feed of Gloria Steinem posing beside the Repeal Projects jumpers and the AimsIreland T shirts.

https://twitter.com/Harmonica26/status/756831226682568705

But I wasn’t one bit surprised. Ms Steinem was one of the Founders and Editors of Ms Magazine and it’s debut issue in December 1972 featured 52 women stating “We Had an Abortion”

This action followed on from the French & German Actions of June that year: the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur Published the Manefestio which was orchestrated by Simone de Beauvoir and was sign by 343 women and the Stern Magazine cover is wonderful and 70 women came out about having had an abortion.

VOE STERN 24/1971 BS 1 Titel Titelseite Wir haben abgetrieben Abtreibung 1971_24 Schlagworte:Zeitschrift, Presse
VOE STERN 24/1971 BS 1 Titel Titelseite Wir haben
abgetrieben Abtreibung 1971_24 Schlagworte:Zeitschrift, Presse

All these actions happened before I was even born, but I knew that if women in Ireland are to have the right to an abortion when we need one, then just like the women in France, Germany and the USA some of us were going to have to go public with our stories. Which is why I chose to start telling my story, which by a quirk of fate was also published in Le Nouvel Observateur

But I was just one person back in 2013 but soon other women started stepping forward, and when I was asked to take part in the X-ile Project it was something I could not refuse.

Women in Ireland have started to come forward to ‘come out’ (as Panti Bliss recently put it) about their abortions, we have done so follow the footsteps of many other brave women, and Gloria Steniem is one of those women. She has shared her story about having to get an illegal abortion.

So I will be keeping an eye out for Gloria Stenism on the Women’s Podcast, I am looking forward to what she has to say about #repealthe8th, I don’t doubt she agrees that we need Free Safe Legal and local abortion services in Ireland.

Activism and Agitation

Proud to be Bisexual

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I wrote this after a call out for the Cork Pride Booklet asking for a piece from a Bi person, but due to some confusion over deadlines it won’t be included so I am publishing it here with additions.

 

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I am Proud To Be living in Ireland in the 21 Century, not just the passing of the Marriage Equality referendum but the many more changes I have seen in the last 20 years.

I have very proud of the group of people who have come together as the Bi+ Network and the work which has been done over the last year to bring together, support and increase the visibility of non monosexual people in Ireland. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there are so many of us who are Bisexual, pansexual and bi romantic in Ireland and from all 4 corners of the country.

I am proud of the work I have done as an out Bisexual person, in giving interviews on TV and Radio and of the raising the issue that Marriage Equality effects Bisexual people too on various social media platforms.

I am proud to see a generation of young people who have grown up attending the workshops and groups which BelongTo run all over the countryside being so open about being Bisexual and being so accepting of their peers being Bisexual.

I am proud that so many of our secondary schools have the Stand Up program running in them. That there are positive messages about being LGBT are being heard in many of our schools. That so many rainbow flags were raised on college campuses across the country.

That my own kids have grown up secure knowing that if they turned out to be LGBTQI that they were never have to fear being kicked out of the family or out of home and I hope that this will be the same one day for all teens.

Yes we still have to wait for the the marriage equality legislation to pass through the houses of the Oireacthas, yes there is still work needed on the Gender Identity bill, yes the health care services need to do better when dealing with LGBT clients. But what has been accomplished in the last 20 years makes me so very hopeful.

I was a teenager when homosexuality was decriminalized in Ireland, someone being ‘gay’ was a term mentioned in hushed tones or else there were unkinder words slung at people. Even after the change in the law it has taken a long time for the level of acceptance LGBTQI have to come about but it’s not finished yet.
Bisexual people still have to deal with having our identifies defined by our partners, which is absurd and more often then not we don’t hear the term Bisexual at all in the discourse we see in our media, from print, broadcast and even online media. Which is why the T shirt I wore at the Dublin Pride has the Bisexu Whale on it, if you are unsure how to say the word Bisexual, try pronouncing Bi Sex U Whale first.

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We had just under 50 people walking with the Bi+ Ireland Group at Dublin Pride. It was the 1st time there had been a BI group with a banner, hopefully we will register earlier next year and so not be so far to the back of the parade. The feeling of solidarity was wonderful and so was having people cheer us. Unfortunately I did hear remarks from people as I was the lead steward for our group and walking slightly ahead of the block.

All of the comments came from white men, most of whom given what t shirts they were wearing I am going to assume were also gay men. 4 times I heard the phrase “Bi now Gay later!” also heard  “who let the breeders march” “bisexuals are real?!” and a few more which I won’t repeat. It seems We have a long way to go to combat Biphobia yet.

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These two lovely members ordered Bi Pride flags and wore them, they had people tell them they were wearing the wrong flag, or just be utterly confused about the flag. But we did a huge amount for BiVisiblity by just taking part in the Parade.

So out of all the things I am Proud to be, I am Proud To Be Hopeful that we will as a Society keep moving forward with the acceptance and support for all LGBTQI people.

Activism and Agitation

A mile in our shoes, Canvassing for Yes Equality.

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I meet a couple while canvassing this evening, they opened the door exclaiming they were voting yes, and how glad they were to be at home and to be canvassed. They came out, one of them holding their dog, telling me the whole road was voting yes and that they had told friends and family if they wanted to come to their wedding that they had to vote yes.

They were both very emotional to see a group of strangers they didn’t know out asking for a Yes vote for their right to marry. They asked what the response on the doors had been like and how they their nerves would be shot until the result on Saturday. They held hands saying thanking us for caring and canvassing.

There are real people, like this up and down this country of ours who are feeling supported and hopeful, I just hope the result doesn’t dash our hopes and dreams.

CFjWKtNVIAEMUGr

Activism and Agitation, Uncategorized

Painting a different picture

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They often say a picture is worth a thousand words and certainly pictures help to set the scene, the tone and context of an article. Which is why sometimes images which are paired with articles about abortion be it in the news, magazines or online can be problematic.

Often the go to image is that of a pregnant person. We have all seen them the headless pregnant woman who is 30+ weeks pregnant, is sometimes called the preggo belly shot. Sometimes the image is just a front close up  the preggo belly or other times the image is in silhouette, eliminating the woman from the image entirely.

The problem with those sorts of image it that it distorts the discussion of abortion before it even begins. The vast majority of abortions happen before 9 weeks, when person really has no outward signs of being pregnant at all. They can often be unfortunately paired with a really good pro choice piece.

Some online news outlets have gotten better at the image they choose, from using airplanes, pictures at protests rather then the preggo belly image or one of a distraught women. But how do we bring about a change in what pictures are used?

Often simply asking works. Campus.ie  recently published an article on Repealing the 8th amendment. It was by Tomás Heneghan and a great read but alas it had been paired with the preggo belly image. So Tomás and Campus.ie were asked over twitter could the image be changed; the suggestion was made for the article to have instead a stock image of a positive pregnancy test. And I’m delighted to say it was changed and it is a worth while read. http://campus.ie/surviving-college/politics/why-we-need-remove-eight-amendment

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We are now starting to see a new type of image being used on articles about abortion, that of women telling their stories,  which clearly makes the article and the discussions focused on the woman, her rights and her choice.  Which is why the photograph of Tara who shared her story of travelling staring into the camera brave, defiant and unflinching is such a powerful one.

image

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/tara-they-shouldn-t-have-control-over-my-uterus-1.2089490

This means we are seeing abortion being discussed a very different way in the media in this country, one which no longer promotes stigma and shame, and this creates the space to have different conversations which we have not been able to have before. There will be no going back, we can only hope that our legislators can find a fraction of the courage Tara and other women have had to do and set in motion the referendum to repeal the 8th amendment.

Activism and Agitation

On Being Propositioned

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So I was on my way home from spending some time with a friend, you know the fun few hours of tea and chats and conversations that twist and meander, it was late in the evening by the time I went for the bus.

As I strolled along slowing to the bus stop, as I knew I had time to toddle along, a car pulled up along side, I stopped thinking it might be someone who was looking for directions, but instead I got propositioned. I was asked “was I working”, I gave a startled laughed, replied that I wasn’t and the driver pulled off hastily.

I was a lil taken back, after all I didn’t think black combats, a Jack Skellington hoodie would be what sex workers tend to wear, and I tweeted about my experience when I got to the bus stop and while I waited for the bus to arrive.

I had a fair few people shocked and concerned for me and my safety. I hadn’t been worried about my safety, I was on a busy enough street, there were open pubs and shops near by I could have fled too, if I felt I needed to. My whole reaction was one of amusement.

Some people seemed to think I should be upset and disgusted that I had been mistaken for a sex worker, personally I found it funny, esp considering what I was wearing. I hadn’t been in that part of the city for a few years and as I replied to tweets I tried to remember the last time I had been propositioned and yep it was the in the same area.

I have had more upsetting experiences in pubs, and walking down more ‘safe’ and ‘respectable’ areas of Dublin when the polite and restrained inquiries of when I have been propositioned by someone hoping I was a Sex Worker.

I don’t have an issue with someone who engages in Sex Work, their body, their choice. The only thing I would wish for them is that, they choose to do so of their own free will and are not compelled to do so.

I know that there are those who ID as Feminist who have have huge issues with Sex Work and I read this yesterday which prompted me to write this blog.

http://bornwhore.com/2012/12/07/hey-baby-how-much-stop-blaming-sex-workers-for-street-sexual-harassment/

I have to say I agree, the type of street harassment I have experienced, from verbal right up to sexual assault would never be something I would connect to Sex Work and I think it’s wrong to try connect the two.