"Why stick out your vagina": What did the participants in the women's march say

This year March 8 was celebrated on a grand scale. - it seems that for the first time on this day and on the dates nearest to him there were so many feminist events, discussions, lectures and parties. The most historically accurate way to celebrate the day of the struggle for women's rights is a campaign to rally or march. “We are not an adornment of the collective” - under such a slogan the participants of the rally “March 8. Let's note correctly” gathered for the feast of the sisterhood in Sokolniki. We publish the texts of their speeches.

Anna Kuznetsova

political manager, COLLECTOR OF THE MEETING

My name is Anna Kuznetsova, I am twenty-eight years old, I have been organizing election campaigns for opposition politicians. I have a daughter, Zoya, she is three and a half years old.

When we prepared this event and threw an announcement into a friendly group of liberals, there was a femininity in the liner, and everyone began to practice wits about it. And in the course of the discussion, one girl wrote: “I don’t understand why we need feminitiva, why push out my vagina, for example, when I go on stage”. So, I want to talk about why to push out my vagina. My vagina is directly related to what I am saying. My vagina is directly related to the fact that I am here. My vagina is directly related to the fact that I applied for this rally in the company of girlfriends.

The fact that I was born with a vagina forced my parents to educate me in a certain model, and society and institutions to perceive me in a certain context. My life experience is very different from the life experience of someone born with a penis. Not because my brain weighs less, but because I was socialized so much when I was a child and had no effect on anything.

My vagina is directly related to the fact that I was raised in fear. When I was a child, I was taught in school: not to walk one evening is understandable. At any age, in any form a woman cannot walk alone in the evening. No matter how many children you have given birth to, you would not be married, no matter how many requirements of a patriarchal society you fulfilled, you will never be freed from the fact that you are an object that you want to use at any time.

Even at school they were taught: to enter the porch with the keys in your hand, are women still doing this? I do like this. Do not delve into the castle with your back to the stairs. Skip the elevator, in which a man goes, at any time of the day. I live in fear of twenty years of my twenty-eight. And it is not that I have some kind of anxiety, because of anxiety I have pills. These are just the laws of life, which were explained to me in childhood, because I have a vagina.

But you know that the wildest of the safety rules I remember from childhood? I remembered it as a child, I remember all my life, but only having become interested in the female agenda, I began to understand what nightmare girls grow up in. The rule is: "Do not go with long flowing hair late in the evening and do not go so in the porch." Because you know what? "They can be wound on the arm. The rapist coils them on the arm and you are trapped." (I’d like to add here that the patriarchy wants us to wear long hair.) To wind it up. I do not want my daughter to ever hear this rule. I do not want our daughters to live in the same fear.

My vagina allows me to use my experience to make the city safe for vulnerable groups of citizens. This can probably be done by several men after conducting research. And I can just tell you where in the city I’m scared, where in the city I’m scared with my daughter. I claim the right to live in safety.

My vagina is directly related to the fact that a child got out of me. Having gone some way in connection with this, I can say straight away that it is necessary to improve in maternity hospitals, antenatal clinics, what should be obstetric ethics. By the way, I gave birth for money, my husband was with me, after the birth the doctors told me that my husband would have impotence because of what he saw now. Of course, a research team of observant and as empathic as possible men could go this way with a hundred women, investigate the maternity hospital and fix everything, but, first, why do people with penises do this, and second, they are stupidly afraid to go there .

So, a child got out of my vagina. Also with the vagina. In two years, I read Brodsky's “Workbook” to her. There on each letter of the alphabet is called a profession in verse. Do you know how many of the thirty-three letters found the great Brodsky professions for women? Four. I will list: an agronomist (you will not understand that this is a woman, but it says “it is the aunt of an agronomist”), a ballerina — naturally, a nanny — of course, and a house manager. Obviously, the great Brodsky divided women into two types: a woman-woman and such a gentle woman, who is a muse and a ballerina. At the age of two, my daughter still had a meager vocabulary, but already the first attempts at analysis. She put her hand around the spread of the book and made the unequivocal conclusion: "Uncle! It's all uncle!" Sorry, the great Brodsky, but you obviously did not really treat women. Not only in this alphabet, but sometimes in his lyrics.

In two and a half years my daughter had a gap pattern. She in her little life had already traveled by taxi many times. And once a taxi came to us, where the driver ... is a woman. For the first time I saw a real pattern break right in front of me. The daughter asked for another ten minutes: "Where is the uncle? Who will get us lucky?" You see, the template is already two and a half years old with a child who lives in the center of Moscow in a family where the mother is a feminist, the father is a pro-feminist, reads Tatiana Nikonova and "No, no, no."

I think our vaginas have a lot to fix in the world. You know, there is such a stupid joke that if all the presidents in the world were women, countries would not fight, but just not talk to each other. I do not know what it is about, I and my friends can talk openly about what hurts me, and not interrupt the relationship, confident that no one wanted to harm the other.

I think our vaginas could stop wars. Because socialization demanded from us empathy, reflection, talkativeness. People with penises are not worse; they were simply socialized differently, demanding conquest, victories, not to cry. Because our vaginas for some of us have made children, and I see in each person someone's child, and if a person does not seem good to me, I imagine how his parents did not have the opportunity to love him, and I feel sorry for him. If you think well, I can regret both Putin and Trump. My vagina gave me the experience of vulnerability. In this vulnerability is my strength. I want to unite and unite. I want to protect the vulnerable.

Thanks to my vagina, I feel sorry for all the people of our country, and the poorest of our fellow citizens are single mothers, according to statistics. I work so that this system breaks down and people live better. The State Duma with vaginas would not accept the law of Dima Yakovlev, would not decriminalize domestic violence. I think women who are in power now have no vaginas. I want to push out my vagina so that, along with the feminitiv, I understand what path I have traveled in order to be here.

Lena Klimanskaya

Activist

As many know, I work with numbers, and the numbers tell different things - both good and bad. What do we know about women in Russia? A lot of bad.

Women constitute 84% of victims of domestic violence. Every fourth woman in the country is exposed to domestic violence, and we have no law against him. 75% of appeals after beatings do not get any legal result: cases are closed, documents are lost, victims are threatened by both the accused and representatives of the “legality”. We need a law against domestic violence.

I demand the adoption of a law against domestic violence!

86% of victims of sexual violence are women, and with girls, over 95%. The chance to undergo an attempt at sexual immunity to the age of forty in women in Russia is one hundred percent, starting from toddlers. Virtually every one has been subjected to attempted rape at least once, and we do not have modern protocols for investigating such crimes. All who have appealed to the police about this are subject to bullying and victimization. We need a new law.

I demand a new law against sexual abuse!

Every third child in the country is raised by a single mother, 96% of single parents are women, 67% of officially poor, living below the subsistence minimum are mothers with children. But the legal responsibility of the second parent is not respected, the procedures do not work. We need a new law on alimony.

I demand a new law on alimony!

80% of women forced to have an abortion are women with a low level of education and fully dependent financially. And in every fifth case, this is the result of contraceptive sabotage by a man. 70% of women are sure that they were protected, but this is not so. However, attempts are being made again and again to prohibit or restrict access to abortions — and to prevent sexual education for young people. We need sexual interrogation, affordable contraception - especially for the poor - and the prohibition of attempts on the right to abortion.

I demand sexual interrogation, affordable contraception and free access to abortions!

Women in Russia, on average, for five years, drop out of their studies and professional activities in connection with the birth of a child, and this is taking into account those who went "to the machine" directly from the maternity hospital. Due to the elimination of the nursery system (the actual availability of about 17% in the country) and the lack of gardens (40%), it is simply impossible for women to go to work. Need a nursery and gardens. And not only in millionaires, but state-owned and throughout the country, where the state is expecting new children from women.

I demand the provision of manger and gardens!

Women, being limited to the list of prohibited professions from 456 specialties, are in a situation of unhealthy competition in the sectors available to them, which leads to low wages and huge hidden unemployment (part-time, part-time, part-time, etc.), even for the most qualified professionals. While the general level of education of women is higher, their labor market is less than men’s for more than 10 million jobs, which ultimately leads to the financial dependence of many millions of women on their husbands, fathers, sons. The elimination of the list of prohibited professions is needed, and not to mention the glass ceiling and sabotage in education.

I demand to cancel the list of prohibited professions!

But there are many places where women are already together, though not from a good life. Women are: 90% of the scope of pre-school and secondary education. 99% of accountants of firms and enterprises, including chief accountants. 95% of state social service employees. 70% of the total financial management of a business. 75% of marketing and advertising services. 80% of sellers in malls and stores. Over 90% of animal and animal welfare volunteers. 70% of all medicine, including 91% of junior and nursing staff. And 99% of people who, in their own way, bring up new people with their own hands, are women: mothers and grandmothers.

We can already change the future society as we need. We can turn our problem into our strength and unite where there are already many of us. We need to talk to women, showing that their problems are not accidental and not only their own, that it’s not personally they are so unlucky, but such is the system for women, and this needs to be changed for everyone. When a woman has something terrible, she turns for help and almost always gets it first from women - be it shelter, protection, support, care for the sick, help with a child, money. Women help women.

Women - the vast majority of staff and volunteers in caring for the sick and the elderly. Women are the majority of employees in the food processing industry. Women are the organizers and managers of funds for the care of people with cancer and rare diseases, both children and adults. Women - organizers of shelters, shelters for victims of domestic violence. Women - organizers of human rights centers for victims of domestic and sexual violence. Women - the organizers of the centers of psychological assistance to victims of violence.

We are more than half of the population and more than half of able-bodied people in the country. And we already know how to unite and talk with each other - not only about cosmetics and family, but also about common problems for us - for the common solutions we need. We already know how to do it - let's spread this skill and negotiate among ourselves, this is our only chance for change. But we are the majority, and we can do everything we need. Women are power!

Tatyana Nikonova

educator, journalist

We used to think that our problems are insignificant. That there are cases that are committed by serious people. We listen to men, even if we are talking exclusively about women.

We think that they are the majority, and they tell us what is really happening to all of us. With our bodies, with our desires, with our needs. We are accustomed to the idea that only they have knowledge of the world.

We do not trust ourselves, our own knowledge and the words of other women, because we are sure that we will definitely make a mistake. But this is not true. We ourselves know what happens to us. We ourselves know what problems we face. We know how gender discrimination affects each of us. Even for those who are very good.

We know that to be a woman is to be constantly afraid - for yourself, for your safety, for the safety and health of loved ones.

We know that to be a woman now is to be a man who cannot be heard.

To be a woman now is to work in two shifts - at work and at home, but still remain addicted.

We know that being a woman is scary and means living without freedom.

And we know that there is not a drop of our fault in this. And we know that this can be changed. And we know that it needs to be changed. It's time to change - all of us. And for this we have to unite.

We are not a minority. We are the majority!

We are working women and housewives. We are mothers and women without children. We are national minorities and women with disabilities. We are entrepreneurs and employees of non-profit organizations. We are students and pensioners. We are believers and atheists. We are representatives of the LGBT community and their allies. We are citizens of Russia and migrants fighting for their lives. We are women, non-binary persons and joining men.

We all individually seem invisible, and we are not heard at all. We all individually consider ourselves a minority. But we are the majority, if we unite.

Together we are the majority of people in Russia. In our power to change everything. Our strength is in unity. All we need is an agreement.

Feel the power that is in each of us. Hear your voice that everyone should hear. Enough for us to be unnoticed! Stop silence and listen - even me.

Your voice is the main thing that we lack. Hear yourself. Hear others. Feel that you are not alone. Tell me - enough. Tell me - we can.

Tell me - enough. Tell me - we can.

Tell me - enough. Tell me - we can.

Tell me - enough. Tell me - we can.

Tell me - enough. Tell me - we can.

Tatyana Sukhareva

Feminist, politessa, human rights activist, author of the book "Life on the Other Side of Justice"

I am a feminist. It is natural, cool and fashionable. Because it is not normal that in the entire history of Russia there has not been a single woman at the head of the government. It is not normal that in the whole history of post-revolutionary Russia there was not a single woman at the head of the state. It is not normal that the country that was the first in Europe to grant women the right to vote is now far behind Liberia and Bangladesh by the proportion of women in power. Where there were already women presidents, and even not one. Women governors in Russia can be counted on the fingers, and they also go under criminal prosecution. In the Duma and the Federation Council, the proportion of women is lower than the world average. That is, we lag behind even the traditionalist Muslim countries.

What does this lead to? To the fact that our lives are controlled by other people. The life of the majority is led by a minority. It is almost impossible for a woman to get into the authorities: to be at the checkpoints on the lists of the State Duma (even the Moscow City Duma) requires very large financial investments, the figures reach 400 million rubles per seat. Of course, for a woman who was engaged in domestic work, she spent years caring for the elderly, the sick, children, rested against the glass ceiling, was unwelcome at work, this figure with rare exceptions is unattainable.

I also engaged in politics, I also have the experience of elections. And I know what I'm talking about. I am sure that for real equality it is necessary to introduce quotas. Many people think that quotas are for the weak. But if quotas are not introduced, everything will remain in the same place. I believe that it is necessary to adopt a law on quotas so that persons of the same sex in the authority do not exceed 60 percent (there are people who advocate abroad at 50 percent). Then we can at least rely on a feminine agenda.

Because women who are represented in power now, in order to maintain high cabinets, expensive cars, statuses, are forced to play along with men. The same Pletnev, the same Mizulina forced to play on the agenda of the owners. For a woman’s voice to be heard, women must be at least 30%. In politics, science, business. So that those who lead us make decisions in our favor. Я призываю к активности, к борьбе против стереотипа. Да, будет непросто, мы будем наталкиваться на серьёзное сопротивление. Но я хочу, чтобы мы победили и стали большинством везде. С 8 Марта!

Екатерина Патюлина

Предпринимательница, член партии "Яблоко", организаторка митинга

В мире, где все хотят, чтобы ты была послушной, заявлять о своих желаниях - уже протест. I think that I have always been a feminist: I wanted achievements, freedom and respect for the individual, to live as I wanted. It turned out that to be a normal free woman is to be a feminist. It surprises me that we have a separate name for what is a simple norm. But we live in a world full of injustice, repression, repression. Not only in relation to women, but women - the largest repressed group. It so happened. And I see how that is changing.

I see how young mothers teach their children to really listen to themselves, and not just integrate into society. I see how couples articulate their desires more clearly. I know that our society will be healthier if we get rid of sexism and achieve equality. And it inspires me.

I hope that this rally will become a brick in building new foundations. I hope that after him and other events we recognize ourselves not only as happy personalities, but also as political actors. No law should be passed without knowing the reaction of the feminists to it. No ethical decision can be made without regard to our opinion - the opinion of feminists, free women!

I urge all women to unite to fight for their political rights and the representation of women in politics. Be elected, be elected. Guys, join and help!

Anna Rivina

Leader of the project "Violence.net", co-applicant of the rally

I am very glad to see so many women and girls here, I am very glad that there are men here, but I would still like to talk to women. I am a feminist, and I could very easily formulate for myself why I am she, although, living in Russia, I had to go a long way to get the courage to call myself that. I realized that I just did not want to be comfortable. We live in a world where we are told from the very first days that we "must" do what we "must" look like in order to be "right" women. Because the easiest way a woman can be immediately taken out of a conversation is to say that she is not a real woman.

It is for us to decide what a "real" woman is, what a woman is "unreal." The main thing is that we are always told how we "should" be, but no matter how hard we try, we will never be good enough. We are always “not good enough” moms, “not good enough” wives, we can always say that we are not looking “good enough”: the shape of our knees is “wrong”, our legs are “not enough” short or long depending on the circumstances.

Whatever we do, no matter how hard we try, you can always come and say that this woman is not “good enough,” not good enough, “not smart enough” for this or that. We really have to do a lot more to just be on a par with men. And really, I want to repeat that now we are here, because before us a very large number of courageous women have come a long way so that we take for granted that they could not afford before - and even could not even dream about it.

I would like to say one more sad thing: every day in the work of the Center for Violence.Net, we encounter women who have experienced violence and whom the society label them as guilty of this. Because they are “not too good”, they are “not too good” wives, they “have stopped at the wrong time”, they allegedly “provoked”. They are “guilty” in that they chose this man, and in the fact that they did not leave this man at the same time, they are “guilty” in the fact that children live with such fathers, and in that they left and deprived most children of such parents.

But most of all it scares me that there are a large number of women who say that this is supposedly really women's fault. Where is that “female wisdom”, female acceptance, why, as Mrs. Pletneva, who heads the committee on women's affairs, says, do they talk to a man if he is drunk? We need to shut up, wait and then figure it out.

Unfortunately, many women behave in this way not because they believe that violence is not terrible, but because it seems to them that if they are the very "real", "normal" women, with them, of course, this will not happen . But this is a myth. Because no matter what a woman does, it never depends on her what a man decides to do. Will he be the aggressor or not, will he try to rape her or not. Women can always say that they "must" be sexy, they "should" like men. But if a woman is "too" sexy, it is her fault again: she put on a short skirt, she did something wrong, she did not stay at home, she went, she agreed, she found herself at work, where people came to her office and did something This is not the case - all the time she, she and once again she.

It is possible to talk about this for a long time, unfortunately, and I am very glad that today we are talking about it, and I am glad that in Russia now we are starting to talk about it more and more, but still, because today is our holiday, I sincerely want to wish every woman, every girl, who is growing in a new formation and in a new agenda, just to be not comfortable for someone, but to be comfortable for herself. To always put a focus on our own interests, decide for ourselves what we want, what we do not want, and of course, seek support in this very sisterhood in order to resist social pressure, which is still very high. Happy holiday, and I believe that we will succeed!

Syuyumbike Davlet-Kildeeva

Singer and journalist

First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone on the holiday - we remember that we are standing on the shoulders of so many generations of women who have achieved the rights that we have now. Separately, I want to remember my great-grandmother Fatima Davlet-Kildeeva, who participated in the gathering of feminists in 1917. They were not then called feminists. It was a large gathering of Muslim women who fought for their rights. And when I think it’s hard for us to fight, or another jerk jokes about feminitivs, I try to imagine what it is like to be a Muslim woman in 1917 and fight for my rights. And it gets easier.

I, too, for the law against domestic violence. When my drunken father returned home, beat my mother and we called the police, they could never do anything. They said: "Okay, we take him for three hours, but he will come back even more angry, because you called the police, because he is registered in this apartment." At eleven, I was sexually abused, and my parents said: "We will not go to the police, we think that the police will make it worse." That was twenty years ago. And all these twenty years I lived with the thought that all this is happening to me, because I am bad, because I myself am to blame. After all, society always tells you that you didn’t look that way, you were drunk. At eleven, I was not drunk and looked like an ordinary eleven-year-old child.

I'm tired of thinking that I was guilty of what happened to me. Now I work with a psychologist and I strongly advise everyone to do it. There are a lot of pitfalls here. There are many unqualified psychologists who can only make things worse. But be sure to talk. Previously, it seemed to me that all this happened only to me, everyone else has a normal life. But the more women began to talk, the easier it became for me. I began to realize that 96 percent of women in one way or another face violence.

And second, it is important not to be afraid. It is very scary - to return to traumatic episodes, to live them again. But as my beautiful psychologist says, the worst has already happened to you.

It infuriates me when they say that it requires “courage” to face their injuries. It does not require courage - it requires to be a woman, a strong woman. The more we support each other, the more we talk - the less fear there will be. And the more we will have the strength to fight with their own demons. And once again I want to repeat - the victim of violence is not to blame for the fact that this violence has occurred. Blame the rapist and the culture of violence.

Alena Popova

Lawyer, public figure, co-author of the draft law on domestic violence

In this folder, usually in the State Duma, in the Federation Council, in the government, I and our volunteers (and, by the way, male volunteers who call themselves feminists) carry our five bills. We are with you 78 million citizens of the Russian Federation. Men - 68 million. We are the absolute demographic majority. If we unite and stand shoulder to shoulder, no force can break, defeat or overcome us.

In this folder - the most important bill for which we are all fighting, on the prevention of family domestic violence. Thanks to you, 400 thousand signatures have been collected for this law. Thanks to you, this law can be introduced even to the most odious profile committee of the State Duma, the head of which, Ms. Pletneva, says that the woman herself is guilty of harassment. That a woman is guilty of harassment, because she walks in short skirts and in the topics, and that "homosexuality" is a disease, and "homosexuals" should be treated.

But even Mrs. Pletnyova understands that there are 400 thousand of our signatures in this folder. And so when we are asked whether we believe or not, that protective orders will appear that protect victims of violence, the definition of domestic violence (when not the victim will prove in court that she is a victim, and the state will defend her), I reply that I believe and it is thanks to you. Thank you very much, bow to you.

The second bill, about which everyone understands that it is important after Mr. Slutsky appeared on the information radar, is a bill against harassment. We have a non-working Article 133 of the Criminal Code: compelling a person of a deliberately subordinate position to sexual actions by blackmailing, threatening the destruction of property, and so on - a non-working article. We took it with experts, corrected it well, and we want Mr. Slutsky to leave the State Duma. Yesterday, I learned that he would be in charge of a delegation of four women who would go to the United Nations to talk about women's rights. Let him lay down his mandate, and let the State Duma adopt a bill against harassment and protect victims of harassment. And Lyuba Gerasimova, a mother of many children, a police officer who lives in the city of Chelyabinsk, who didn’t sleep with her boss and is now going to court to prove that she didn’t slandered him - imagine. Let's all together help Lyuba Gerasimova, she is on Facebook, please go in, write her a couple of kind words in honor of March 8 - this is important to her.

I will also say that in this folder there is a super-important law, for which we will also fight - this is a law that obliges companies to report on the difference in wages between men and women. You know, we have it 27-30%, and we want such a difference to not be.