Feminists need to aim higher. We are trying to balance the patriarchal system with reforms, but not to overthrow it revolutionarily. We need to throw forces at the radical change in the life of humankind, cooperating with other feminists and organizing underground groups across the country and then all across the world. It is the only way for women's emancipation, and until feminists en masse realize it, nothing is going to change.
The right to abortion is a basic right for every woman. And the struggle to ensure that everyone can exercise this right is useful and valuable. But in fact, we must fight not just for the right of women to have a legal abortion but for the very concept of unplanned pregnancy to disappear from human life. We need to fight for a mass refusal to have sex with men and for the absence of rape. It should be so that a woman does not have even a minimal risk of getting pregnant against her own discretion.
Fighting for the right of every woman to receive contraceptives for free is a noble step. But in fact, we have to fight not just for this but for the lack of risks for a woman to get pregnant. Moreover, if we take into account the fact that contraceptives harm women's health, it becomes clear that this measure is not so useful and even hypocritical. Like, "We will leave the institution of marriage, heterosex, and, in the end, you can't forbid men to rape women, so here you are, women, contraceptives." But this is absurd! It's like taking a human hand and starting to scrape wounds on it and then telling the person, "We value your well-being, so we will give you painkillers." If we are to fight for contraceptives, then they must be free and mandatory for all men, not for women. And in this case, it is better to fight for vasectomy and castration because the problem is not in women; it is in men. We need to eliminate the root of the problem, not smooth out the consequences.
Fighting for the adoption of a law on domestic violence is a good initiative. But we must fight not just for it. Instead, we need to fight for any woman not to have a single chance of being beaten up and raped by her husband, roommate, brother, or father. We should not make do with half-measures. Patriarchy cannot be patched up so that both women and men can comfortably coexist. Patriarchy is based on violence and hatred; it is foolish to think that reforms alone can change the situation of women. Let's remember the history.
As soon as women formed the gender theory and proved that it was not physiology but gender that was to blame for many of the "woman peculiarities", men gathered together, turned everything women said upside down, dressed up in dresses, and stated that they are true women if they feel like ones. And the flow of these "women" rushed into women's locker rooms, sports teams, and prisons.
As soon as women achieved the right to earn money and hold high positions, men tripled the pornographic boom. If it is now more difficult to humiliate a woman because of her status, then every man can watch porn videos of women and girls being tortured. The more women gain power, the more sophisticated and violent pornography becomes.
Every time one door was closed in front of the men, they opened two others. What we do is plug holes in the bottom of the boat with our feet and palms, and the more actively we plug them, the faster new ones appear. We'll drown.
Someone can say that women will not unite, that it is too early, that it is dangerous, and feminists are already doing everything in their power, namely, fighting for the right to abortion, to receive contraception, to fight for the adoption of a law on domestic violence, etc. The fight with men who created patriarchy and who have been actively supporting it is indeed dangerous. Of course, women won't unite immediately; we need to make a great effort for it to happen. We must not think that feminists are only capable of feeding women painkillers while men are torturing them through rape, the institution of marriage, cohabitation, and the production of pornography. No, it is in the power of feminists to begin to unite in groups. Not only in online chats and groups but also physically in the real world. Otherwise, we'll drown. No matter how many holes we plug, new ones will still appear.
You shouldn't perceive the said thought as if today's feminist struggle doesn't matter. No, the painkillers do indeed have a soothing effect and help women endure what is happening. However, the main forces should not be thrown at it. Instead, they should be thrown at organizing the network of physical groupings, which in the future will rid us of the patriarchal infection and restore the world in which humanity lived before the establishment of male power.
Author: Shveia Krovavaia
Translation: Julie Vengeful
