Cultivate joy

Women Festival Note: Lean into joy

Tarana Burke, from Los Angeles, said as a survivor of sexual assault, joy saved her life. 

It was important to acknowledge the trauma, but even more crucial to cultivate joy. 

Burke left us with the galvanising message that we must shift the narrative of #MeToo, focusing on survivors and working towards finding solutions, or we would fail the movement and all those women and men who have bravely shared their stories. Burke is expected to speak at the Oscars tonight.

Australian journalist and trailblazer Tracey Spicer announced in October that she would make public the names of “long-term offenders” of sexual harassment in Australia’s media industry. 

She invited her social media followers to share their stories of harassment and abuse. Hundreds of women came forward.

Without being able to reveal further details, Spicer announced that an Australian version of Time’s Up is imminent.

At the beginning of this year over 300 women of Hollywood formed Time’s Up as an anti-harassment coalition, organising legal defense to support women and men who have experienced sexual harassment, assault or abuse in the workplace. 

Spicer said Australia needed nothing less than a cultural change in all areas of society. 





Cultivate joy: five things we learned at the All About Women festival 
Svetlana Stankovic and Alexandra Spring 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/05/cultivate-joy-five-things-we-learned-at-all-about-women