Feminists Against Borders will hold their first meeting, “Moving gender”, as part of the Gatwick No Borders Camp, Friday 21 September, 10am-1pm, Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Road, Croydon.
The meeting will be an open discussion on the relationship between national borders, gender and sexuality. From their statement:
“Every day of our lives we are confronted with rigid ideas of gender and sexuality and thus our 'appropriate' roles in society. Anyone who does not conform is seen as 'other' or 'strange' or even 'dangerous'. In a society that always attempts to mark someone as 'other' (by race/sexuality/gender or any other means) we refuse to accept this present condition of nations and borders, the containment of people behind false divides that serves only to profit those in power.
“Many Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans and queer people find themselves crossing varying kinds of borders constantly.... Rigid gender roles and enforced norms mean many queers spend their lives migrating in one way or another.
“In similar and at the same time different ways, women are constantly moving. In and out of paid work, inside and outside of male dominated spaces, and across borders. Migration, so the media, politicians, mainstream feminists and leftists, and commentators tell us is a dangerous activity. Yet, women move and do so for the same reasons as everyone else. They/we move to make money, to survive and to realise their projects, dreams, and relationships.
Some ideas for discussion:
• What alternative political practices and discourses can we create that would actually support the struggles of migrant women, trans and queer people, whether they are employed in the sex industry, in domestic work, or in any other industry?
• What can we do to create alliances with other struggles (and their existing networks) across Europe?
• What kind of alliances do we need to create in order to shift the terms of this debate, in particular in feminist politics and in the left, and in order to fight the stigmatisation we experience in the wider society?”
