16 Activists to Follow for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence
Every year, people across the globe observe 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which kicks off on November 25 and ends on December 10 – International Human Rights Day. This annual campaign founded by the UN, is recognized worldwide to call for the elimination of violence against women (including trans and cis women). Despite this campaign running for 30 years, we’re still witnessing a staggering amount of inequity when it comes to safety for women.
In November 2021, UN Women reported that “nearly 1 in 3 women have been abused in their lifetime.” and “only 1 in 10 women would go to the police for help.” At WAVAW, we believe in a future free from gender-based violence. EVERYONE has a part to play in preventing violence – we have the power to change the conditions that allow harm against women to happen. Cis and trans women should not be solely responsible for keeping themselves safe. People of all genders can make an impact by challenging social norms and systems of power rooted in white supremacy.
The only way we can move forward to end gender-based violence is with an intersectional lens, and remembering that safety for one is not safety for all. As you familiarize yourself more with this international movement, the WAVAW team wanted to share 16 activists already doing this work. Learn more about these powerful individuals and collectives, give them a follow, and support them however you can:
- Butterflies in Spirit
Butterflies in Spirit are a dance group based in so-called ‘Vancouver’ founded by Lorelei Williams. Their mission is to raise awareness about violence, discrimination, and abuse against MMIWG2S. They also educate our communities and create relationships with all indigenous communities across Turtle Island.
- Faye Johnstone
Fae is the Executive Director and co-owner of Wisdom2Action (W2A) and based on unceded, unsurrendered Algonquin territory in Ottawa, Ontario. Over the past two years working with W2A, Fae has led local, provincial, and national initiatives focused on 2SLGBTQ+ community health and wellness, youth mental health, meaningful community engagement, and gender-based violence.
- Imani Barbarin
Imani is a communications specialist and writer who shares her perspective on human rights issues as a black woman with Cerebral Palsy. She creates narratives and media that centers people with disabilities of every race, religion, sexuality and gender from around the globe.
- Defund 604 Network
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
This is a collective of individuals who are advocating for community safety without police interference in so-called ‘Vancouver’. They provide resources on ways to speak to city council to defund the Vancouver Police Department, advocate for the rights of incarcerated folks, and engage communities to reimagine community safety without police presence.
- Tanya DePass
Tanya DePass (she/her) is the founder and director of I Need Diverse Games, an organization that highlights projects, works, and research by marginalized folks. She seeks to discuss, analyze, and critique identity and culture in video games from an intersectional lens.
- Richie Reseda
Richie is a producer and abolitionist feminist organizer who founded Question Culture, a social-impact record label; Success Stories, a transformational feminist program for incarcerated men; and cofounded Initiate Justice, which organizes people directly impacted by mass incarceration to change laws to end it. As a formally incarcerated man, he works to dismantle patriarchy and toxic masculinity by educating the public and holding intersectional feminist workshops that help incarcerated men overcome harmful gender behaviours and connect to their highest selves.
- Sachi ‘ONYX’ Keller
Sachi ‘ONYX’ Keller is an international exotic feature entertainer, owner of Iconyx Elite Entertainment, and the co-host of Yes A Stripper Podcast. She actively advocates for the end of systemic oppression in strip clubs and has been outspoken against the inequitable working conditions dancers face regularly. You can support her petition demanding for better treatment for dancers and learn more about why she fights for unionizing sex workers in the media.
- Jennifer Patterson
Jennifer is the editor and contributor to Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti-Violence Movement. Much of her work is in service of survivors of sexualized violence, particularly transgender and gender non-conforming survivors. She brings curiosity to her work, and always reminds us to connect self-care with community care and movements toward liberation. She writes, “The impact of systemic violence is overwhelming on our bodies and spirits and yet it gets framed as if it’s an individual issue to solve.”
- Kai Cheng Thom
Kai Cheng Thom, MSW, MSc is a somatic coach, consultant, healer, and conflict resolution practitioner based in Toronto/tkaronto. In her work, Kai Cheng supports individuals and groups to pursue collective healing and transformative change. She is also a writer, performer, and the author of five award-winning, internationally published books, including the Transformative Justice essay collection I Hope We Choose Love.
- Cicely Belle Blain
Cicely Belle Blain is a writer, activist, and thought leader, driving powerful conversations and strategizing for change. They are the founders of Black Lives Matter Vancouver, Stratagem, a conference and digital resource hub for diversity and inclusion engagement, and Bakau Consulting Inc., a full-service equity, inclusion and anti-racism consulting company based in Canada, with a global, intersectional approach.
- Sii-am Hamilton
Sii-am Hamilton is a Sto:lo and Nuučaan̓uł land defender and traditional knowledge holder born in occupied Hupacasath territory, Port Alberni, British Columbia to mother Kwitsel Tatel and father Ron Hamilton. They have been raised in political organization, land title, and grassroots activism since childhood, and now specialize in publicity/media promotion of environmental and land sovereignty movements.
- maya finoh
maya finoh has spent extensive time in various movement formations engaged in research, political education, writing, and organizing rooted in the liberation of all Black people globally. maya’s work centers prison-industrial complex abolition, Black feminist thought, community-determined interventions to patriarchal violence, fat liberation, and the Black radical imagination.
- Dr. Pam Palmater
Dr. Pamela D. Palmater is a Mi’kmaw citizen and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in northern New Brunswick. She has been studying, volunteering and working in First Nation issues for over 30 years on a wide range of social, political and legal issues, including poverty, housing, child and family services, treaty rights, education, and legislation impacting First Nations. She was one of the spokespeople, organizers and public educators for the Idle No More movement in 2012-13.
- Gabrielle Peters
Gabrielle Peters is a disabled writer and the co-founder of Dignity Denied and the Disability Filibuster and has been a leading voice in applying a disability lens to local, provincial, and national policy issues. Gabrielle’s work often focuses on further developing the radical theory of accessibility by integrating the lessons of disability justice, harm reduction, trauma-informed practice, grassroots community development, and transformative change activism.
- Aly Bear
Aly Bear is the third Vice-Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, a lawyer, a proud mother to her two daughters, and is a descendant of Dakota, Anishinaabe, and Nehiyaw heritage from the Whitecap Dakota First Nation. Her passion and primary focus as a lawyer has been, and continues to be, revitalizing and implementing traditional Indigenous laws and finding expression for these laws in modern-day Indigenous governance structures.
- Paisley Nahanee
Paisley is a Skwxwú7mesh woman who decolonizes with local teachings at Decolonize First. Her work with Decolonize First includes facilitating workshops such as, “Are You Serving It Right,” which supports attendees to unpack racial biases, microaggression, and racism that shows up in the service and nightlife industry. She also hosts, organizes, and DJs killer parties around town that center Indigenous queer and Two-Spirit folks.
This is not a complete list of activists doing the work to dismantle systemic oppression, colonization, and white supremacy, but it’s certainly a start. We hope that this list of activists inspires you to take action to dismantle and disrupt behaviours that perpetuate gender-based violence.
- On November 26, 2021