Stop Patriarchy

That’s what a young woman said to her friend with wonder in her voice after encountering the #Stop Patriarchy booth at Warped Tour. She was pro-choice and wanted an #Abortion on Demand & Without Apology sticker but she had obviously never heard anyone talk positively about abortion. We mentioned how important and liberating the right to abortion is for all women, and how we need to fight for it this summer on the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride. It wasn’t long before she told us that she had had an abortion and wasn’t sorry she did, but also felt bad about it. We answered very supportively that abortion is a responsible choice, she obviously did the right thing for her, and she absolutely did not do anything wrong, period - so there’s no reason she should have to feel bad about it for the rest of her life. When her friend ran up behind her and got filled in about the conversation, she put her arm around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, “You shouldn’t feel bad about your abortion.” The young woman smiled and you could literally see her shoulders relax. 

This needs to happen many times over and on a much larger scale throughout society. 1 in 3 American women will have an abortion by age 45. Think about how many teens and grown women are held back and held down by a burden of shame and stigma! This is totally unnecessary and should not be tolerated by anyone who cares about women or what kind of world we live in. 

This summer, Stop Patriarchy and all the people who will be joining us on the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride are setting out to change this! Imagine what it would look like, this new force on the scene, if everywhere the Freedom Ride travels, to all five states with only one clinic left, hundreds of girls and women, wave after wave, throw off the burden of shame and stigma and begin to proudly and defiantly fight to determine their own destinies and turn the tide for abortion rights. All this is tangible and possible.

This Freedom Ride is happening. Join it, Support it, Tell people about it. Donate at stoppatriarchy.org

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http://revcom.us/a/298/arkansas-law-biggest-assault-on-right-to-abortion-en.html

A woman holds a poster during a vigil in Dublin November 17, 2012, in memory of Savita Halappanavar and in support of changes to abortion law. 

WTF. WTF? REALLY??!! WTF!!!! This was my reaction…..increasing in anger and volume… to the news that Planned Parenthood is dropping the “label” of being pro-choice, under the idea that this term is too “divisive.” As I sifted through some articles online, I also read from one of them that Planned Parenthood is saying that they hope to move beyond any labels, and that the issue of abortion is “complicated.”

It must be said, this is not at all complicated!!!! This is a “divisive issue” not because of the pro-woman, pro-abortion side of this fight, but because there exists a fanatical anti-abortion

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It was sort of cozy in the arena. At least it offered protection from the storm raging outside that vetoed the N17 plan to make a ruckus at the courthouse. It was a first-name environment, too. We all knew each other from branding days or the county fair. Kids were stomping up and down the bleachers and through the stables in their boots, showing off their belt buckles and bragging about their advantages in this or that event. Everybody was dressed in plaid shirts and wrangler jeans, even the babies. It was just another rodeo.

I was hugging my bag tightly, thinking about all  the palm cards I had in there. “ABORTION ON DEMAND & WITHOUT APOLOGY!”: that would surely get me thrown out of the arena and into the rain. “IF YOU CAN’T IMAGINE SEX WITHOUT PORN, YOU’RE FUCKED!”: that might offend people because of the cursing, but folks might actually take it. The rodeo crew needed these cards just as desperately as the more progressive crowd at the courthouse, so I figured I better hand some out and see what happened. It would be a shame if the cards all stayed in my bag. 

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• Ft Benning, Columbus, Georgia
  10am - 5 pm
  At the SOA Watch Protest in Columbus, Georgia, Revolution Books is bringing an interactive display: “The Military Culture of “Be All You Can Be”:  Patriarchy inside the Military and the Lands They Occupy” 
  contact: revbookatl@hotmail.com

• Portland
  Sunday, November 18th! @ 2 PM
  Meet up at 701 SW 6th Avenue, Pioneer Square
  Join us to wake people up about the war on women and patriarchy!  Create a display, poster, or bringmusical instruments so we can make our voices heard! Our goal is to also distribute as many palm cards as possible that day. contact: mashasavchenko@aol.com 

• Seattle
  3:30 pm: Westlake Park, 4th & Pine, downtown Seattle
  We’re building a wall of “Stories from the War Zone” of the war on women. Come add your story and get a stack of palm cards to spread everywhere as part of the 50,000 card campaign.
  contact:SeattleStopPatriarchy@gmail.com

• NEW YORK CITY:
  2-4:30 pm EST - End Patriarchy Pageant: A Fierce Outcry
  Broadway & 14th Street, N.E. Corner (just east of Union Square);    
  Bring a display, a sign, or in costume which highlights one front of the war on women. Be creative. We’ll make a righteous noise and spread our determination to end the enslavement & degradation of women.
  5:00 - March!
  6:00 - Celebration & Open Mic at Revolution Books, 146 West 26th St. between 5th&6th Aves.
  contact: StopPatriarchy@gmail.com

• OAKLAND:
  Noon PST: Plaza at 14th & Broadway
  Join us to Expose, “denormalize,” & Resist Manifestations of the War on Women - all around downtown Oakland.
  contact: StopPatriarchyBayArea@gmail.com

• LOS ANGELES
  Noon PST: Hollywood Blvd & N. Highland Ave. in the heart of Hollywood
  Join Cal State Los Angeles in the war against women. Take a stand, mass distribute palm cards, voice your anger and fight to end the degradation of women!
  Wear a bright pink or green top and dark pants!!!
  contact: EndPatriarchyCSULA@gmail.com

• EUREKA, CA:
  2:00 pm PST - Speak Out & Rally Against Patriarchy
  Gather at the Humboldt County Courthouse. Speak out & break the silence to demand that women be treated as full human beings.
  contact: Karlee.Tiller@gmail.com

Join Us!!! Find an event near you. Organize your own! 

Like it says in the call “every act will be amplified!” So get in touch & get on the streets November 17th.

by Karlee

On November 17th, in conjunction with actions around the nation, I’m taking the fight against patriarchy to the streets because the war on women is real, I’m angry, and the solution is not more female Senators.
I am fed up with “legitimate rape,” “gift from god rape,” “enjoyable rape,” detainee rape, and the rape culture that continues to blame victims and encourage rapists at every chance. When a comedian makes a joke about rape it’s defended, but when he’s challenged it’s “heckling.” Women walk around every day wounded with the trauma or shaking with the fear of becoming one of the rape statistics. 
I am fed up with the attacks on abortion AND birth control. The “woman’s place rhetoric.” Without these basic rights, women can’t be free! Forced motherhood is female enslavement. 
I am fed up with ”sex positive” rhetoric. Porn is destructive to women’s humanity AND their sexuality. I am fed up with the increase in violence that accompanies a more mainstream industry. I am fed up with all industries that profit from the degradation of women. 
Every day is a battle and every block, every ally, every classroom, every home is a war zone as women’s lives are stolen, and their futures foreclosed. This has gone unchallenged for far too long. I’m breaking the silence because in the 30 minutes it took me to write this 120 women have been beaten and at least 10 have been raped. Reproductive rights are in grave danger. I cannot think of one corner of the globe where women are not routinely abused, degraded, sold…  Half of humanity is under attack, that’s why I’m taking it to the streets, and that’s why you should join me.

Join me. Find an event near you. Or organize your own!
Planned Actions So Far…

• Oakland: StopPatriarchyBayArea@gmail.com
• NYC: StopPatriarchy@gmail.com
• LA: EndPatriarchyCSULA@gmail.com
• Eureka: Karlee.Tiller@gmail.com

We’ll be stopping by here after St. Pat’s on Saturday.

Protest at Chiaroscuro Foundation office at 5th Ave. & 50th St. This group is responsible for major anti-abortion advertising including last year’s SoHo billboard which read “The Most Dangerous Place for an Afro-American is in the Womb.”  It’s a racist women-hating group that aims to shame black women who seek abortions.

SPREAD THE WORD!

End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and Degradation of Women!

Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!

Fight for the Emancipation of Women All Over the World!

Read the call to action that started this whole campaign.

Saturday March 10th
Celebrate International Women’s Day!

NYC Plan
12:00 Noon
Protest and March against sites of women’s oppression!

12 noon: GATHER AT ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL!
Fifth Avenue between 50-51st Streets:
The Catholic Church’s approach to women, gender, science and sexuality is a Dark Ages disaster! The Pope has condemned condoms (causing millions of HIV/AIDs deaths). The Church condemns homosexuality and insists that “divorce is a sin” (contributing to women staying in abusive marriages). Recently, Catholic Bishops urged “non-compliance” with new regulations requiring health insurance to cover birth control!

MARCH to TIMES SQUARE:
Protest the objectification of women! Women’s near-naked and rail-thin bodies are used to sell everything from clothes to cars to “American culture” to the entire world.
Protest the US Military Recruiting Center! Protest the US military’s quasi-official reliance on brothels as a “perk” to male soldiers; the role of military forces in trafficking women & girls; and the epidemic of rape, harassment and violence against female soldiers.

MARCH to and PROTEST STRIP CLUBS in the area!
U.S. men spend an estimated $15 billion a year on strip clubs, as compared to $4 billion on baseball. Strip clubs have always objectified & degraded women.  But as women have entered – and fought for increasing respect in – the public sphere, strip clubs have become an enclave for sexism and male entitlement towards women’s bodies.  Further, strip clubs prey upon the desperation, abuse and addiction of many women, including trafficked women.

ALONG THE WAY: Protest “Crisis Pregnancy Centers”
& Celebrate Abortion Provider Appreciation Day:
Crisis Pregnancy Centers are fake “clinics.”  They are driven by an anti-abortion agenda, often have no clinical staff, spread lies, guilt-trip women and enormously delay and complicate women’s ability to access abortion.

In contrast, we’ll celebrate abortion providers because March 10th is Abortion Provider Appreciation Day!
 
PLANNING/MOBILIZING MEETINGS
are held THURSDAYS @ 7 PM

If anything in this flier resonated with you… If you care about the conditions of women… If you want to do something that can really make a huge difference – not only for yourself, but for women (and all people) worldwide and for future generations…

CONTACT US at stoppatriarchy@gmail.com

3 things you can do right away:
1. Invite us into your class, club or dorm.
2. Spread this call to action on Facebook and Twitter.
3. Distribute this flier everywhere/anywhere you go.

Organize actions on March 10th to Stop Patriarchy! Email us at stoppatriarchy@gmail.com or submit your action via tumblr to post them here.

Download NYC Fliers (two-sided):