Athena Forum
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A European initiative for sex-based rights, democratic values and political courage.
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That Billy Kelleher MEP uses terminology such as “all genders” to introduce the European Parliament’s new WOMEN’s health report illustrates precisely the problem we have raised. This much-needed report is fundamentally undermined by the unresolved contradiction between materially based and identity-based approaches to health embedded in the text. In his address to the European Parliament today as rapporteur, Kelleher dismissed scrutiny of these contradictions as a “culture war”, declaring: “your interests are not women’s interests”. We are a women’s rights advocacy organisation, and we are one of the groups that scrutinised this report. In fact, we wrote to all MEPs ahead of today’s vote to highlight the missed opportunity to address the longstanding neglect of women’s health, and invited them to meet with us and hear our perspective. Dismissing the rights and interests of half the population is a bold move. Especially when the task was to improve their situation and deliver the clarity and focus women’s health urgently needs. Instead, the report became a vehicle for advancing unrelated EU policy on “legal gender recognition”, “transition” and “conversion practices” related to gender identity.
Athena Forum76,086 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
This week we have been in Brussels at the European Parliament meeting with MEPs from across the political spectrum as well as with civil society organisations. We've had some very valuable exchanges about the importance of women's sex based rights, child safeguarding and freedom of expression. It was clear from many conversations we had that MEPs are accustomed to discussions about these issues being polarised and they were surprised to hear a critique of the erosion of sex based rights that comes from people with a background in progressive politics, lesbian and gay rights activism and feminism. We hope we gave them food for thought. Our aim is to move these debates beyond knee-jerk polarised positions and bring scrutiny to proposals like self-ID, conversion therapy bans which include gender identity and the expansion of hate speech regulations.
Athena Forum23,169 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
Recently, Athena Forum Director Faika ahmed abd elrhman spoke at the Hanus Days Festival in Bratislava on reality, freedom and human dignity. She spoke about the many, many women across Europe who have been viciously attacked and subjected to a social and professional death sentence for standing up for women's rights. Women who are feminists, oftentimes lesbians, former leftists, accomplished professionals. Who have been likened to extremists - in reports, dossiers and media coverage -, have been made physically unsafe, existentially destitute and emotionally abandoned by their political allies and often closest comrades, friends and family. And about the perpetrators who are orchestrating an inquisition akin to a holy war. Against those who are disobedient and refuse to follow blatant lies, who do not support harmful social changes and medical interventions, and continue to stand for women's rights. And the values that ground those who perpetrate the persecution, those who follow them, and those who watch; in horror, with fascination, indifference or in silence. And about the current state of “the progressive project”, which once understood freedom as the collective struggle to improve the material conditions of life. Today, freedom is conceived as the individual right to define oneself independently of social and biological reality. Subjective identity has replaced objective reality, bodily integrity has given way to radical autonomy, exploitation has become self-empowerment and agency. Alongside this paradigmatic shift, another intellectual current is reshaping our understanding of what it means to be human, to be embodied, to be women and men, of the fabric of the society in which we are embedded, and the proper role of the state. Moving away from accepting the givenness and limits of the human condition and towards maximising autonomy, choice and technological control. Link to the full speech and discussion below ⬇️
Athena Forum10,440 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten
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