Today, dear reader(s?), we take a break from my usually whimsical (and entertaining?) blog posts so I can put on my academic hat and do some preliminary analysis.
I have been thinking a lot about my data from Brazil and Spain. The most striking similarity between the two is the “grassroots” or “underground” feminism groups at universities in each country. I believe I’ve mentioned this in a different post, but in both countries, there were instances where feminists responded to decisions by the university in rather unconventional ways. In Brazil, a “colectivo feminista” posted the names of suspected aggressors in women’s restrooms and even forced one male out of the university. In Spain, a group of feminists had posted the picture of an accused aggressor with a description explaining that he was still receiving pay and benefits from the university despite having been found “guilty” by the investigation commission.
At right is one of the examples of the grassroots movements from a university in São Paulo. This poster was put up in response to comments made by a male student in lecture stating his opinion that women are not discriminated against and are not considered inferior to men in society. The group of feminists decided to respond by putting up posters explaining what feminism is in order to raise awareness and educate. In this diagram, they outline visible violence (visível) and invisible (invisível) violence. The
“Gender Violence” poster put up by a colectivo feminista in Brazil. This poster attempts to educate other students about the types of gender violence. Here, the students have broken down the types of violence into visible violence (physical abuse), and invisible violence (discrimination).
forms of violence are also divided into explicit forms and subtle forms. The diagram itself is supposed to resemble an iceberg, with visible forms being the “tip of the iceberg” and invisible violence being the iceberg underneath the water. Following the classic metaphor “just the tip of the iceberg,” the invisible violence is much larger than the visible.
It seems that the presence of grassroots feminist actions suggests several things. First, it shows that there are committed students working to promote a discussion about gender violence and sexual assault. This is, perhaps, an obvious conclusion, but it is an important one. If no one is working on the issue or working to promote it, then there will be no discussion or change. Thus, the presence of these groups is very important.
Second, the fact that they are underground is intriguing. It suggests that there is no institutional buy in or support for the cause. This could be the institution actively ignoring the groups or it could be that the institution has voiced their support for change, but are not committing resources to it. In Brazil, it seemed that the feminists groups were acting entirely without the support of the university, and often worked against the university. They had no recognition, met informally, and had no one professional staff on campus devoted to the issue. In Spain, gender violence was an identified issue by the university, but there were not resources committed. This is in contrast to Northwestern’s campus, where there are multiple groups sanctioned by the university that work on gender violence and sexual assault, and even receive funding from the university.
The underground/grassroots nature of these groups also means that they are unregulated. In both places, groups had publicly accused male students of being aggressors. There was no due process, and any accusation they made could have been false. This would, in short, never be allowed of a student group in the United States. I can already see the letters to the editors, the emails sent to the entire university condemning the actions, and the public debate that would follow on any university campus. The ability to act unregulated is a dangerous power that these groups possess. Because of the lack of oversight, they can act in basically any fashion that they feel is appropriate. In some cases this may be wonderful and help them promote their cause and awareness. But, left uncontrolled they could make a mistake and hurt their cause, another student, or cross a line that brings action from the university.
In other news, I’ve concluded data collection in the Netherlands and I’ll soon provide my thoughts on the data. I also hope to get out a post about grocery shopping in foreign countries and a wonderful misadventure on a “Rainy Day in Holland.”