The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls, and there’s no better way to question and expand our understanding of violence than to learn through books and film.
This 16 Days, from November 25 to December 10, 2020, commit to reading or watching 3 of the works below, and share them with a friend. By educating ourselves and others we can move into purposeful action, and end gender-based violence for good.
1. Tireless Readers Collective: LIVE with author Katherena Vermette
Katherena Vermette is an award-winning writer and poet who shares diverse narratives and experiences of Métis women and girls in her work. Her novel The Break tells a beautiful and nuanced story of loss and love at the intersections of colonial and gender-based violence. Watch the interview below, and get a copy of The Break.
2. Tireless Readers Collective: LIVE with author Eternity Martis
In her memoir, They Said This Would be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up, author and journalist Eternity Martis deals with themes of racism, intimate partner violence, and healing. Join us for an online Meet and Greet with the author on October 23, 2020–a copy of the book is included in your ticket!
3. I May Destroy You
Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You has been called one of the best shows of 2019 for its portrayal of sexual assault and trauma. The show stars Coel—who also wrote and directed the series—as Arabella, a young woman who seeks to rebuild her life after being raped. Watch it now.
4. Sex Education
Sex Education is a comedy-drama that follows a teenage boy and his mother, a sex therapist, as they explore high school drama, new relationships, consent, sexual assault, and more. Watch it now.
5. A Better Man
A Better Man is a Canadian documentary co-directed by Attiya Khan and Lawrence Jackman. In the film, Khan meets with the man who abused her to see if he can take responsibility to heal and repair the harms he created. A review in Maclean’s said that their conversation “… manages to be simultaneously agonizing and hopeful… it is revelatory to know these kinds of [restorative] conversations are possible.” Watch it now.
6. The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
Set in Vancouver, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open explores the complex themes of racialization, gender, and colonization through the bonds that two women form with one another. In a chance encounter, Áila finds Rosie, heavily pregnant and barefoot in the street, and takes her home in order to escape Rosie’s violent boyfriend who assaulted her. As the two women unpack the traumatic event that Rosie survived, their relationship becomes one of deep connection and safety in a world that has harmed them. Watch it here.
7. I’m Afraid of Men: Vivek Shraya
In I’m Afraid of Men, author Vivek Shraya describes the violence she faced as a child for being “too feminine as a boy, and not feminine enough as a girl.” Read it here.
8. Resilience is Futile: Julie LaLonde
In this harrowing memoir of fleeing intimate partner violence while simultaneously working as an advocate for women’s rights, Julie Lalonde challenges the way we understand trauma and resistance. Read it here.
