NASTY WOMEN WRITE BACK
Local feminists make a statement
The 2016 US presidential election marks an extraordinary moment in history. America was on the verge of electing its first female president – or so it seemed. Despite winning the popular vote, Hillary Clinton lost the presidency – to a man infinitely less qualified for the job. ‘I think Hillary Clinton was a problematic candidate in many ways, yet however problematic she was, Donald Trump was a trillion times worse,’ says feminist writer Joy Watson. ‘Here we were at an inconceivable moment in time: that a man so deeply flawed, so deeply racist, so deeply women-hating could receive the votes of so many. It made us
‘There are moments when wehavetobe radical: moments of discomfort, shaking things upinaway that’s not nice because we don’t feel okay.’
question: what is happening that we’ve sort of gone backwards to conservative, right-wing values? Because in the end, Trump got into power because some people chose that.’
With 20 years of working in politics and social justice under her belt, Joy Watson is also a senior researcher, a mother and a wife. Sitting in her beautiful reading room, coffee in hand, she tells me she is tired. ‘It’s my job and I do it because I enjoy it, but I am exhausted.’ It’s no wonder, being a feminist requires stamina; the fight for equality is decades old but remains as relevant today as it was a hundred years ago. Trump becoming president was a debilitating blow to women’s rights.
In many ways the return to conservative values is a global phenomenon. ‘In South Africa it’s a lot more nuanced,’ says Joy. ‘Even though we come from a liberation history, there has been a resurgence of conservative values. We seem to not really understand what it means to promote human rights – it is necessary to talk about this and what it means for women. It was time to think seriously about these issues.’
In the wake of the US elections, Joy knew she had to do something. That something resulted in a collection of 24 essays and three poems by various women titled Nasty Women Talk Back (NWTB). She explains, ‘We were talking about Hillary and imagining: what if she won the election?’
Nasty women’ refers to a comment Donald Trump made during the third presidential debate. Hillary Clinton had the upper hand, so he resorted to name-calling.
But isn’t it problematic to re-appropriate his insult? Aren’t we just reinforcing the ‘angry feminist’ stereotype? No, says Joy. ‘There is tremendous power in re-appropriating the ideas, thoughts and language of the patriarchy and making them our own.’ The phrase has become something of a rallying cry worldwide, oft-quoted at marches.
How exactly does a collection of ‘angry’ feminist essays aid women’s rights issues? ‘It’s the radicalness of revisiting the experiences we’ve had and realising we don’t have to be polite and nice and selfsacrificing,’ says Joy. ‘When I look at my daughter and her ability to speak out, I realise we’ve made progress. It has brought something, a greater self-awareness of our rights. For years women have been conditioned to be nice and behave in an orthodox, ladylike way.
‘Look at Ashanti Kunene’s description of herself in her essay Don’t Forget: White Women Voted for Trump, for instance: “Ashanti smashes patriarchy every day with her stiletto heels”. These are the things traditional radical feminists shunned: women wearing heels and lipstick. There is no one way of being feminist, it’s about claiming these stereotypes and the name-calling and making them your own. Feminism at its core is about radically shaking things up.’
Joy believes the progress we’ve made – the right to terminate pregnancy, defining sex without consent in marriage as rape … even the right to vote – came
about from revolutionary, radical ideas. ‘There are moments when we have to be radical: moments of discomfort, shaking things up in a way that’s not nice because we don’t feel okay. We step into that discomfort and we do it.’
The voices in the book do not necessarily agree with each other. The stories are deeply personal, often violent and always incredibly courageous; and all the essays speak to things often left unsaid for way too long. Joy shares her story of being sexually violated by her gynaecologist at the age of 18. Scholar and writer Helen Moffet talks about infertility and the impact of medical procedures in Womb With a View, while Zama Khanyile talks about solidarity in I’m With Her.
Joy also enlisted women from further afield. Bosnian journalist Nidzara Ahmetasevic (who specialises in international affairs and war crimes) paints a picture of immigration in Lesson About Resilience, Struggle, Resistance and Determination and Daiva Stasiulis, a professor of Sociology at Carleton University in Canada, points out the flaws in Trump’s plan in Build Bridges Not Walls.
Joy’s co-editor and Professor of Political Science at Stellenbosch University Amanda Gouws also penned an essay for the book: My Arms Are Tired of Holding This Sign.
The diversity of voices in the book offers something for everyone. ‘If you join the dots it becomes the weaving together of stories that tell us something bigger, about a systemic issue, about the social order that we live in. So if it means that in being “nasty” we are spearheading and opening up silenced stories, then I am okay with being nasty.’