PRESS RELEASE
III ABOLITIONIST MARCH May 8, 2021
FOR THE ABOLITION OF PROSTITUTION, PORNOGRAPHY, REPRODUCTIVE EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN AND SEX ROLES
The Third Abolitionist March called by Women for Abolition and co-organized by more than 90 feminist groups from the Spanish State and 15 other countries, it will be done this Saturday the 8th through social networks from 9 in the morning and throughout the day.
women of Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, UK, Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Bolivia and Dominican Republic, will make the March possible on social networks by posting photos, videos and carrying out interactions with the hashtag that we will reveal moments before the start.
The calculation of the route reached by the Third March will be done, as previous year, attributing 1 kilometer on the way through each interaction on social networks.
In 2021, in addition to the demands to abolish prostitution, pornography and reproductive exploitation, the demand for the elimination of sex roles is added, given the attempts to introduce “gender” self-identification laws that reinforce sexist stereotypes and lead to the elimination of rights achieved by women throughout History. In this sense, we state in our manifesto, published in several languages and signed by more than 1,000 women and 120 associations, that: “As radical feminists, we cannot conceive that sexual oppression is conceptualized as something identity (We DO NOT believe in the idea of “gender identity” nor do we support the entire medical-pharmaceutical industry that is built around this idea that sexual roles are something innate)”
As in the last edition, we will hold a Congress in September with speakers of significant importance today in radical feminism. Arguments about our abolitionist demands can be found, and signed, at our manifesto here made in accordance with the most recent and aggressive attempts to eliminate the rights of women and those of our daughters and sons.
HISTORY OF THE ABOLITIONIST MARCH
The Abolitionist March is a demand, which promotes and calls Women for Abolition since 2019, coinciding with the second Saturday of May, to demand the abolition of prostitution, pornography and the prohibition of reproductive exploitation (“wombs for rent”). The first edition of this initiative was done in person, in the neighborhoods most affected by prostitution in Barcelona, with the collaboration of French colleagues and the survivor Rosen Hicher. It was a historic day that opened a gap in Spain and in which we found prostituted women rebuking us on behalf of the pimps, with regulationists who threw colored powder at us when passing through the most conflictive area (we learned that they were paid for it), but also with a citizenry grateful for our action. The national coverage press, including the main TV channels , agencies and newspapers , widely disseminated our work.
The Second Abolitionist March Work was being carried out to take place in the streets of Madrid on May 9, 2020. However, it was necessary to do it virtually due to the pandemic and despite everything it achieved an unusual international projection on social networks. That edition was scheduled to end II March in a Congress and continued with the idea. Thus, we began by talking to the speakers, who were very cooperative, and it was possible to make it a reality that the final Congress could be offered virtually in September, adapting to health requirements. The speakers were Julie Bindel, Gail Dines, Janice Raymond, Ingeborg Kraus, Renate Klein, Raquel Rosario Sánchez and Alika Kinan, with an average attendance of 300 people a day. On that occasion, a critical debate on the abolition of gender was also included and the work was carried out with the collaboration of 29 feminist organizations from inside and outside Spain, ending with the reading of our manifesto that had collected, at that point, thousands of support signatures.
This Saturday the 8th we are waiting for you on social networks with your videos and photos. Each interaction will be a kilometer traveled.
For the peace of women!
Women for Abolition
