Joanna's Work: Mission (Spoiler Alerts)
Joanna Pickering is a regarded playwright and gender activist addressing women's rights, equality, sexism, ageism, sexual assault and the imbalance of patriarchy. In her stage work, she addresses rape myths, victim profiling, negative victim experience, as she fights to expose flaws in society. Her post-play Q&As inform, 1 in 3 women are raped. There is a rape crisis.
Joanna’s plays are described as brutally honest and impacting. She brings unseen narrative to the stage in fearless work where normally victims' stories are silenced. A Centre Stage interviewer asked Joanna if she wanted to tackle less heavy themes next time, she replied, “I’d love to, but the status quo never changes. There is always more work to do.” This best explains Joanna's overlap in her career as a playwright and as a social justice writer. Joanna tells stories to audiences in an attempt to change how we may view these issues and to champion more female voices.
Joanna’s ability as a writer allows her to create plays that don’t preach or judge, as many me too plays that often risk alienating half the audience, but rather, she dares to write in the grey nuanced area, where she assures most assault takes place. Her plays are a vehicle to entice and unite everyone to the same agenda. No matter how heavy the subject, Joanna has engineered an edge of seat theatre experience—full of twists, turns, what happens next, who do you believe—which like any good thriller hooks us all in as entertaining theatre. It’s her skills as a playwright to deliver these plot twists and gut-punches, prevalent in real life, that not only sells out her shows, but challenges us to re-think and re-reframe the issue.
At the talk backs, Joanna informs 97% of rapes are acquaintance rape—someone you trust. Women’s stories are often unheard stories for these reasons. Joanna is big on talking about rape responses of fight, flee, freeze, fawn, and how the police and law still use this against the victims. Joanna is eloquent on these matters, dedicating her years, not only in bringing works to stage, but speaking on panels for women, such as at the United Nations and at major charities working for women against gender violence. It is in her role as a storyteller where strong female characters triumph in these pervasive issues.
Beach Break, a one act play, 2018, a full play, 2019, and a TV series adaptation, 2023, tells of Layla and Zurie, the badly behaved female anti-hero's, chasing sun, sea, sex, drink and drugs, until something terrible happens and they need to report a rape to the police and who will believe them? As the detective in charge of the investigation retorts, "they came asking for it."
Cat and Mouse, 2020, is a play about an attempted rape, by a movie director, that is brushed off to remain friends for transactional gain, until another woman comes forward as a victim of his assault. The message is it’s okay how you handle it, you can still call it out.
Sylvie and Sly, 2020, tackles sexism, ageism and image distortion on social media.
Bad Victims, 2022, tells of three women tackling sexual assault who will not be believed. This time the combined stories show there is no such thing as a good victim, only a wrongful perpetrator—we should stop profiling victims.
The Endgame, 2022, addresses acquaintance rape. Artistic director Melody Brooks, at New Perspective Theatre Company, awarded Joanna The Women’s Lab fellowship to write and develop this play, but on receipt of the first draft the work kept the theatre debating and concerned it was too risky to put to stage. They took the journey forward in creating these daring new perspectives, and had the fortune of their bravery rewarded by witnessing the sold-out responses of many women thanking the playwright and theatre for telling their story they never dared tell. It is, undoubtedly, controversial material as it is a conversation between rapist and victim. It shows the gaslighting and casualness of a never heard before post-rape conversation, while both pretending everything is fine. The Endgame surpasses expectations as Joanna gives the audience a unique lens to a secret conversation—never heard as a witness in real life, let alone on a stage. As the rapist admits his culpability in the opening lines, we see the victim discredit herself by staying to work it out. We are now forced, unequivocally, to reframe how we think and act to rape victims. In the script the actors receive the character is simply written as: Jane (Doe), could be anyone.
Don’t Harm The Animals, 2023, addresses secondary re-victimization. This is a one woman show Joanna herself performs, reviewed as a powerhouse of a performance by The Chain Theatre. The play is commissioned for 2024 at Theatre 555 for a 90 mins run. In this moving, hard-hitting show, Joanna navigates us through the lack of support that rape victims experience in speaking out. Joanna shows the hypocrisy of those supposed to protect victims—the police, me too activists, a best friend, who worries about the animals as the sound of licking has become a trigger. Such specificity defines great storytelling while informing what a tigger really is. The play is a sea of imagery about a childhood, rich with love of animals, all the way to Jane's battlecry: when did I become the criminal, the one who would hurt animals, and why is no-one challenging his behavior?” There is no-one in the audience who is not appalled how rape victims are disregarded and the perpetrator exonerated. It’s a brilliant and brave work delivered from one woman speaking for every woman.
Oh My Sweetheart, was completed and announced to Joanna's followers on social media on Valentine's day, 2024, as a sweet romance about the insidious abuse of gaslighting. This is the one act teaser in anticipation of her 2024/25 commissioned show by Tony award-winning Broadway producers, which covers themes of domestic abuse, coercive control, and the DARVO technique—the tactic a person may use to deflect responsibility onto an individual they have abused. It is the ultimate form of manipulation to discredit a survivor's experience.
There are very few playwrights daring to tackle and take on all these issues. Joanna is championing women’s rights and by going to the heart of the problem that everyone else avoids, she is ruthlessly fighting for victims.
Bad Victim's producer Tiffany Newton (UK).
Joanna’s plays are described as brutally honest and impacting. She brings unseen narrative to the stage in fearless work where normally victims' stories are silenced. A Centre Stage interviewer asked Joanna if she wanted to tackle less heavy themes next time, she replied, “I’d love to, but the status quo never changes. There is always more work to do.” This best explains Joanna's overlap in her career as a playwright and as a social justice writer. Joanna tells stories to audiences in an attempt to change how we may view these issues and to champion more female voices.
Joanna’s ability as a writer allows her to create plays that don’t preach or judge, as many me too plays that often risk alienating half the audience, but rather, she dares to write in the grey nuanced area, where she assures most assault takes place. Her plays are a vehicle to entice and unite everyone to the same agenda. No matter how heavy the subject, Joanna has engineered an edge of seat theatre experience—full of twists, turns, what happens next, who do you believe—which like any good thriller hooks us all in as entertaining theatre. It’s her skills as a playwright to deliver these plot twists and gut-punches, prevalent in real life, that not only sells out her shows, but challenges us to re-think and re-reframe the issue.
At the talk backs, Joanna informs 97% of rapes are acquaintance rape—someone you trust. Women’s stories are often unheard stories for these reasons. Joanna is big on talking about rape responses of fight, flee, freeze, fawn, and how the police and law still use this against the victims. Joanna is eloquent on these matters, dedicating her years, not only in bringing works to stage, but speaking on panels for women, such as at the United Nations and at major charities working for women against gender violence. It is in her role as a storyteller where strong female characters triumph in these pervasive issues.
Beach Break, a one act play, 2018, a full play, 2019, and a TV series adaptation, 2023, tells of Layla and Zurie, the badly behaved female anti-hero's, chasing sun, sea, sex, drink and drugs, until something terrible happens and they need to report a rape to the police and who will believe them? As the detective in charge of the investigation retorts, "they came asking for it."
Cat and Mouse, 2020, is a play about an attempted rape, by a movie director, that is brushed off to remain friends for transactional gain, until another woman comes forward as a victim of his assault. The message is it’s okay how you handle it, you can still call it out.
Sylvie and Sly, 2020, tackles sexism, ageism and image distortion on social media.
Bad Victims, 2022, tells of three women tackling sexual assault who will not be believed. This time the combined stories show there is no such thing as a good victim, only a wrongful perpetrator—we should stop profiling victims.
The Endgame, 2022, addresses acquaintance rape. Artistic director Melody Brooks, at New Perspective Theatre Company, awarded Joanna The Women’s Lab fellowship to write and develop this play, but on receipt of the first draft the work kept the theatre debating and concerned it was too risky to put to stage. They took the journey forward in creating these daring new perspectives, and had the fortune of their bravery rewarded by witnessing the sold-out responses of many women thanking the playwright and theatre for telling their story they never dared tell. It is, undoubtedly, controversial material as it is a conversation between rapist and victim. It shows the gaslighting and casualness of a never heard before post-rape conversation, while both pretending everything is fine. The Endgame surpasses expectations as Joanna gives the audience a unique lens to a secret conversation—never heard as a witness in real life, let alone on a stage. As the rapist admits his culpability in the opening lines, we see the victim discredit herself by staying to work it out. We are now forced, unequivocally, to reframe how we think and act to rape victims. In the script the actors receive the character is simply written as: Jane (Doe), could be anyone.
Don’t Harm The Animals, 2023, addresses secondary re-victimization. This is a one woman show Joanna herself performs, reviewed as a powerhouse of a performance by The Chain Theatre. The play is commissioned for 2024 at Theatre 555 for a 90 mins run. In this moving, hard-hitting show, Joanna navigates us through the lack of support that rape victims experience in speaking out. Joanna shows the hypocrisy of those supposed to protect victims—the police, me too activists, a best friend, who worries about the animals as the sound of licking has become a trigger. Such specificity defines great storytelling while informing what a tigger really is. The play is a sea of imagery about a childhood, rich with love of animals, all the way to Jane's battlecry: when did I become the criminal, the one who would hurt animals, and why is no-one challenging his behavior?” There is no-one in the audience who is not appalled how rape victims are disregarded and the perpetrator exonerated. It’s a brilliant and brave work delivered from one woman speaking for every woman.
Oh My Sweetheart, was completed and announced to Joanna's followers on social media on Valentine's day, 2024, as a sweet romance about the insidious abuse of gaslighting. This is the one act teaser in anticipation of her 2024/25 commissioned show by Tony award-winning Broadway producers, which covers themes of domestic abuse, coercive control, and the DARVO technique—the tactic a person may use to deflect responsibility onto an individual they have abused. It is the ultimate form of manipulation to discredit a survivor's experience.
There are very few playwrights daring to tackle and take on all these issues. Joanna is championing women’s rights and by going to the heart of the problem that everyone else avoids, she is ruthlessly fighting for victims.
Bad Victim's producer Tiffany Newton (UK).
Social Justice Impact
Joanna has guidance in her activism from many charities, such as from Barrister Dr. Proudman, who fights for women’s rights in the family courts at Right2Equality, in particular the DARVO technique (Deny, Accuse, Reverse Victim Offender), Annie Lennox's The Circle (Don’t Harm The Animals was written intially intended for The Punch series created by Loraine Hayes, who went on to encourage Joanna to expand the piece into a full play, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Organization, and Refuge, who are the largest charity working to stop domestic abuse.
In London, her plays attracted interest and attendance from members of the Met Police. Joanna holds moderated talk backs after her plays to debate and expand on issues with her audiences to break rape myths and to encourage new informed ways of thinking to protect victims. This agenda impacted police to join in and discuss issues such as needing to meet a threshold of evidence versus who the police may actually believe. Her plays engage vital and timely debate across all forums on changing policy, on accepting behavior of a rape victim—to freeze, flee, or fawn, to stay friends with and please the attacker, and that none of these behaviors should be used to undermine the case. That what you wear, if you were drunk, if you were the one instigating fun, changed your mind, no means no, or rather even, consent laws should be in the form of an affirmative yes. Also, importantly, in Joanna's work, we often see that assault is committed by regular nice guys. In rehearsals, the playwright and director work, endlessly, for the male actor not to play the villain, and the rape victim to appear as functioning on autopilot, in order to break myths and be more accurate.
These plays are not only reaching audiences, but they have been helping to unite and join forces with those best able to educate and lobby for generational, government, and societal changes. By whom Joanna is inviting into the theatre, there is a united aim to create a safer, more respectful, network for all victims, with increased understanding and awareness, which in turn may lead to greater accountability and prevent an assault. It is a space where victims can be heard and unite more safely, with increased confidence in reporting, no matter the odds.
Bad Victim's producer Tiffany Newton (UK).
Fuck me. Bad Victim's is uncomfortable and brilliant.
Kirsty Allison, author
Not since the Vagina Monologues hit The West End has theatre been so vital to expand the conversation as a culture must see.
Kirsty Allison, author
Kirsty Allison is a moderator of the post Q and A at Bad Victims, this is her full introduction:
"Fuck me. Pickering's work is uncomfortable and brilliant. I remember when the Vagina Monologues first hit Broadway when vagina was an outlawed word. It was embarrassing to have one let alone give it a voice until that point. Bad Victims does the same to categorically, through a series of situations that rape is rape is rape in a post me-too universe, and expands the conversation as culture must"
Kirsty Allison, Moderator Bad Victims, author of Psychomachia.
Statistics
Every 68 seconds another citizen is sexually assaulted.
9 out of 10 rape victims are female.
97% rape is by someone the victims knows (acquaintance rape).
48% are sleeping when a rape happens.
1% of rapists are convicted.
1 in 5 adults experience Domestic Abuse during their lifetime.
Women are more likely to experience repeat victimization, be physically injured or killed and experience sexual violence.
93% of people referred to services seeking civil protection orders last year were women.
Domestic abuse is a largely hidden crime which goes unreported to the police.
National Centre for Domestic Violence and RAINN
Resources
Joanna is grateful for a wealth of knowledge from these dedicated organizations:
Refuge UK, the largest domestic violence abuse organization for women
The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation
V Formerly Eve Ensler, V-Day and One Billion rising.
The Circle and Annie Lennox, a network of Global Feminists.
Broadway's Prima Facie, playwright Suzie Miller, producer James Bierman at Empire Street productions.
Right2Equality and barrister Dr. Proudman
The Consent Labs, changing the culture around consent.
United Nations for Women
Create 2030 for United Nations.
Helplines UK: https://rapecrisis.org.uk/get-help/want-to-talk/
Audience Responses
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Letter From Playwright
July 1st 2023.
Dear friends,
I've just stepped from stage from my debut one woman play Don't Harm the Animals. I am euphoric, mainly, as I did not know any of it was possible, and mainly, as you, the audience made it possible. There was no room to be afraid and alone on stage as I knew I was speaking on behalf of so many.
In bringing my plays to stage, I am inundated with women and men (although considerably less men), who approach me after my shows, often in tears, and thank me for bringing their untold stories to stage. We embrace and hold hands. Often, I find they have not spoken about their story, harboring it inside, silenced or shamed.
I am grateful to these brave women and men sharing their stories, as it confirms what I learned when I was part of the United Nations' efforts to include storytellers in their conversations—that the immense power of collective storytelling is a device for healing. As people approach me every night, every run, every city, every play, it also confirms to me the statistics are accurate. It confirms we have reached the point of decriminalization of sexual assault in a legal sense. Therefore, the theatre as a safe space to address these issues becomes more vital.
It is due to each person in my audience, who share stories, or are open to listen, that makes tackling this tough agenda worthwhile. To know it may help one person feel less alienated makes it easier in fighting for finance, which is significantly more difficult for these themes, or for establishing the safe spaces needed in rehearsals for each of us.
I offer my heartfelt thanks to every performer who explores my plays, to my directors who work to fine-tune high-stake content, to all my producers who dare to realize this is the narrative that needs to be told, and to the activist organizations that guide and support (listed on this page). I am grateful to all, who allow themselves to be exposed, or uncomfortable, or shocked, and receive the work with an open heart. It is not my job as a playwright to judge or take sides, but to step into other people's shoes to observe and process how this alarming status quo is possible. My hope is that my plays make some small impact on an audience, perhaps just enough, so when they leave, they re-consider and act differently in supporting and understanding victim's better.
In the safe space of a dark theatre, no matter what life throws at us, or how afraid we are to speak up, we will always find a stage to speak for everyone. To survive and rise, to tell the truth and conquer, to fight for others, and perhaps, make the world safer—not only for victims, but for all women and men. A world that reaches gender equality is a safer world for men too. When I use the word woman or man, I use them in the most inclusive sense, and offer consideration to intersectionality of race, sex, gender, socio-economic factors in our activist community.
Thank you for coming to support my plays. I hope you will keep coming to say hello—there is no purpose for any play without a brave cast, a stage and an incredible audience.
Best wishes,
Joanna x
Dear friends,
I've just stepped from stage from my debut one woman play Don't Harm the Animals. I am euphoric, mainly, as I did not know any of it was possible, and mainly, as you, the audience made it possible. There was no room to be afraid and alone on stage as I knew I was speaking on behalf of so many.
In bringing my plays to stage, I am inundated with women and men (although considerably less men), who approach me after my shows, often in tears, and thank me for bringing their untold stories to stage. We embrace and hold hands. Often, I find they have not spoken about their story, harboring it inside, silenced or shamed.
I am grateful to these brave women and men sharing their stories, as it confirms what I learned when I was part of the United Nations' efforts to include storytellers in their conversations—that the immense power of collective storytelling is a device for healing. As people approach me every night, every run, every city, every play, it also confirms to me the statistics are accurate. It confirms we have reached the point of decriminalization of sexual assault in a legal sense. Therefore, the theatre as a safe space to address these issues becomes more vital.
It is due to each person in my audience, who share stories, or are open to listen, that makes tackling this tough agenda worthwhile. To know it may help one person feel less alienated makes it easier in fighting for finance, which is significantly more difficult for these themes, or for establishing the safe spaces needed in rehearsals for each of us.
I offer my heartfelt thanks to every performer who explores my plays, to my directors who work to fine-tune high-stake content, to all my producers who dare to realize this is the narrative that needs to be told, and to the activist organizations that guide and support (listed on this page). I am grateful to all, who allow themselves to be exposed, or uncomfortable, or shocked, and receive the work with an open heart. It is not my job as a playwright to judge or take sides, but to step into other people's shoes to observe and process how this alarming status quo is possible. My hope is that my plays make some small impact on an audience, perhaps just enough, so when they leave, they re-consider and act differently in supporting and understanding victim's better.
In the safe space of a dark theatre, no matter what life throws at us, or how afraid we are to speak up, we will always find a stage to speak for everyone. To survive and rise, to tell the truth and conquer, to fight for others, and perhaps, make the world safer—not only for victims, but for all women and men. A world that reaches gender equality is a safer world for men too. When I use the word woman or man, I use them in the most inclusive sense, and offer consideration to intersectionality of race, sex, gender, socio-economic factors in our activist community.
Thank you for coming to support my plays. I hope you will keep coming to say hello—there is no purpose for any play without a brave cast, a stage and an incredible audience.
Best wishes,
Joanna x
Events and Summits
Joanna was selected as 1 of 15 filmmakers or storytellers with Create2030 and attended a policy making conferences at United Nations for the SDG's and contractually allow to include artists and storytellers in changing the dialogue. At the UN Joanna is a participant speaker for UNNGO2018 conference, elevating voices in achieving SDG's to create a more sustainable future. Joanna was also invited to attend to UN High commission of The Culture of Peace, for a creditable path way to the culture of peace. Joanna helped with her team implicate approval on the declaration for people centered multilateralism and pledged as artists to uplift those whose human right's are most under threat, attending at UN We The Peoples, finding global solutions for global problems. Joanna also was 1 out 100 artists who attended The United Nations SDGs film festival, with Emmy-nominated filmmaker Lisa Russell, to demonstrate the reactionary impact artists can make, and citing Merve Cirişoğlu’s film The Box about Syria. It won 41 awards as proof of impact, reaction, and showing the overall aim with respect story telling to bring awareness to war, refugees, gender violence and rape worldwide.
Joanna, in 2023, feeling overwhelmed and helpless by The Gaza Israel-Conflict, and contradicting opinions online, received her certificate in The Emergence of The Modern Middle East from Tel Aviv University.
Joanna was vocal in urging UN and female organizations to address more vocally the rape of Israeli women, while calling an urgent cease fire on Gaza, condemning the rape, violence and death of all women and children, in war anywhere in the world, as a war crime.
Joanna, in 2023, feeling overwhelmed and helpless by The Gaza Israel-Conflict, and contradicting opinions online, received her certificate in The Emergence of The Modern Middle East from Tel Aviv University.
Joanna was vocal in urging UN and female organizations to address more vocally the rape of Israeli women, while calling an urgent cease fire on Gaza, condemning the rape, violence and death of all women and children, in war anywhere in the world, as a war crime.
Articles on Gender Inequality by Joanna
Quotes from Interviews
Betty Frieden’s bestseller “The Feminine Mystique” which challenged the housewife image and demanded women’s liberation, would arguably better place her as the mother founder of the real sexual revolution.
Myths of a Sexual Revolution and Hugh Hefner by Joanna
Frieden’s book is exactly about not entrapping women in a role, of not being imprisoned, but rather empowering them to achieve as a woman’s own right. This was not the branding – and it was branding – of women under the Playboy label, who were rescued from the role of housewife, but into the entrapment of the role of bedroom mistress.
Myths of a Sexual Revolution and Hugh Hefner by Joanna
Let’s be careful to ensure this so called symbiotic relationship isn’t one based on uni-directional dependence. A symbiosis bred by an entire society of institutional sexism that was built and reinforced, and thus not at all revolutionary.
Myths of a Sexual Revolution on Hugh Hefner by Joanna
For a true, equal and necessary revolution, we must aim to tear down the patriarchal structure by bringing constant awareness, and encouraging others to speak out forcibly on anything based in sexism and control.
Myths of a Sexual Revolution by Joanna
And more crucially, has there really been a full sexual revolution yet? Alongside the female movement – lobbying for equal pay, reproductive rights, rights to abortion, non bias to men, non objectification of women, liberating women, freedom from assault and coercive control.
Myths of a Sexual Revolution by Joanna
Why nobody is calling 911, a question you will ask yourself repeatedly during the show” While this may be a flippant remark, it opens discourse we cannot ignore. Already, there are many articles discussing the racial issues in US regards the white privilege of 911, and why Black people are far less likely to call 911. The New York Times relentlessly covers police brutality, misconduct and shootings, so it is a poignant moment that we need to remind that a young Black male is 21 times more likely to be shot by police than a young white male in US. To remind that civil rights for African American people are directly thwarted by policing in this country.
Response to NY Times review of Black Art "Master of Crossroads"
These explosive subject matters cannot be ignored. This is a play about the most vulnerable. To misunderstand it, is indicative of what non-white people are up against in life, and in making art. This is not an insult to the reviewer, but a welcome discussion for Black art to be considered within its own cultural framework, and with respect the long standing structures of discrimination in America’s pathology.
Response to NY Times review of Black Art "Master of Crossroads" by Joanna
The play is a reminder that we need to think about what is happening for more “than a few minutes.” We may then understand why a playwright, aware of all this, drives such an angry vehicle, and is bravely non-compromising to white privileged sensibility. Does Master of The Crossroads make sense? Only so long as police brutality, white supremacy, and mass incarceration exist.The Truth is hard.
Response to NY Times review of Black Art "Master of Crossroads" by Joanna
I'm in LA. It's 108 degrees. I'll say that again, it's 108 degrees. That's cooler than last month. At the weekend it will be back at an average 110 degrees. The temperatures this summer have been the hottest on record. There have been more fires than on record, with people evacuating their homes, or watching them burn, in a new state of emergency. The week before there was a tropical storm that hit US shores with storm surges that also broke records. The week before that, a tornadeo in New York broke all records. All over the world, heatwaves, droughts, typhoons, and hurricanes are causing mass destruction around the world. Distasters like this have always been part of the world we know, but they are becoming more frequent and more intense. These changes in the climate... are well.... climate change. There's nothing not to believe.
The Climate Actors, Joanna joining John Hamm, Alan Cumming and many more activists at www.theclimateactors.org
If considering women as the “beneficiaries of dialogue over decades” (and what happened to the centuries of women’s subordination) then surely this stands as testimony to the volume of gender disparity in itself, that despite all of this movement, current climate remains poignantly damaging for women?
Response to NY Times Men are being left behind/Gender Inequality and Male Identity by Joanna
That girls significantly out perform boys, with reference to high school and university data, is factual but it is not a new trend. And, again, this has not yet solved the continuing, and in some cases declining, lack of representation of women in STEM subjects, managerial positions, nor does it secure women equal pay for the same roles. This stands in stark contrast to the rise in position of power, status, and salary, for boys into men, in many more industries. In fact, it is estimated that with men in charge wage disparity will not close until 2085.
Response to NY Times Men are being left behind/Gender Inequality and Male Identity by Joanna
Regards male inclusion, having re-addressed female exclusion, it is vital to note, most beneficiary work for gender equality, led by feminists, over the last 50 years, has necessarily included male dialogue— studies, resources, support, as well as discussions on the role of masculinity. Not only have feminists included men in dialogue, but they have successfully fought for the inclusion of men in law reform, and in abolishing laws that discriminates against men. To name just a few—the “Rape Is Rape” campaign launched by the Feminist Majority Foundation lobbied to include men in the legal definition for rape victims, significantly effecting how rape is reported, while the National Association for Women fought to include men in paid sick leave days. Similarly, as regards violence, in 1990s UNESCO and the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women met up to discuss male roles with the specific aim of building “a culture of peace.” This examined harmful consequences of rigid gender stereotypes, included strategies for reducing men’s violence, and raising boys for peace. Even regards sexual harassment, feminist scholar and Professor of Law Catherine Mackinnon wrote one of the most cited legal codes of behaviour for industry in 1979—had any man paid attention to it, the #metoomovement would not have been needed 38 years later, protecting us all.
Response to NY Times Men are being left behind/Gender Inequality and Male Identity by Joanna
The impact of Mandela’s work, less known for championing women’s liberty, fiercely marching for women’s rights comes to mind. Or refer back to the pro-feminist men’s movement which formed out of the men’s liberation movement —influenced by second wave feminism and social movements of 1970s. This embraced a system for men and women based on egalitarianism. Strength, power and focus was not stolen, but re-directed to dismantling their own male gender roles, and breaking down rigid structures, to work against violence. To conclude, the strength and qualities of men are needed and more than ever.
Response to NY Times Men are being left behind/Gender Inequality and Male Identity by Joanna
Advice for Young Artists
Be ready to fake male confidence. Do not self-select out, no one has a clue what they are doing at the start. Remember to find the right person and ask for what you need. Tell them what you can offer. Embrace rejection is a bonus to be even more creative to find a new path in. My favorite one: don’t be afraid to say “Yes! I can!” and then learn how to do something. My hardest one: set your own goals, and then measure your own success by these alone, never by comparing yourself to others, or the noise that is social media. And lastly, have a wide range of projects on the go, if you can manage them, because many projects are going to fail. Don’t let anyone tell you that this is being unfocused.
Advice for younger artists in Independent Magazine
V (formerly Eve Ensler) V-day
Reckoning and Apology, Book recommendation, The Strand New York City on March 7th, 2024.
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