Feminism revives in South Australia

Feminism is experiencing a revival in Adelaide with the formation of a new activist group, the South Australian Feminist Collective.

The group emerged from a feminist forum jointly hosted by Socialist Alliance and Femment, which followed the recent Adelaide “SlutWalk” march against sexual assault and victim-blaming. The forum explored the politics of this event and the relevance of feminism today.

About 30 people attended the collective’s first meeting on June 25.

The meeting began discussion about how the group would be run, its aims and values.

The controversial question of the day was whether men would have voting rights in the collective, which was tentatively resolved after almost an hour of highly political discussion and strong arguments from both sides. Ten voted against and 12 in favour of giving men voting rights.

The group will meet next on Saturday, July 16 at 2pm at the Adelaide Activist Centre, Level 2, 95 Currie St, city. All are welcome to attend.

The meeting will discuss campaigns for the collective, with possible ideas including an anti-tampon tax campaign, anti-sexist culture-jamming and campaigns around rape and sexual assault.

There is also a preliminary plan to organise around the annual Reclaim the Night march in October, and to inject a much needed youthful exuberance and political poignancy into this event.