UPDATE: Somebody42, in the comments below, suggests #unoccupyrapeculture and I like it. I like it so much I wrote a separate post about it.

UPDATE #2: Instead of #occupyrapeculture, we’re going with #evictrapeculture. See you on Twitter!

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Yesterday, @theferocity tweeted the following (one tweet being part of the title of this post) and REALLY got me thinking about what #ows means to me:

“Oppression knows no hierarchy.” – Audre Lorde

“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” #AudreLorde

Are we fighting for genuine transformation of the system or simply trying to take our place on the throne?

I think that question is as relevant to #OWS as it is for the #LGBT movement.

I’m as impressed/inspired by #OWS as I am nervous/skeptical of it. Does anyone else feel this way? I’m trying to sort myself out.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since and was just inspired to tweet about this. For the sake of my own time, I’m just going to simply cut and paste my own words from Twitter here onto my blog:

I love #ows. What happened yesterday at #occupyoakland was emotionally invigorating, even from afar. BUT…

What will the movement mean if we don’t seriously focus on how race and gender affect one’s economic opportunities?

Women around the world work damn hard, get paid WAY less, are subjected to endless bodily and sexual violence, and own 1% of global wealth. Unemployment numbers in this country are staggeringly high for black Americans. We should all be working to fix these disparities.

I don’t know HOW to change the system to right these wrongs but not addressing them, ignoring them – that certainly won’t do any good.

When I see sexual assault happening in #ows camps w/ little discussion in its wake internally w/in movement, it feels like same old system.

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I am pushing the #occupyrapeculture hashtage on twitter for this reason. We need more awareness, as @meadowgirl tweeted to me.

We can’t simply ignore that sexual violence is taking place in multiple occupy camps across the world.

We also can’t see it as an aberration. It’s NORMAL.

And that’s part of the problem.

Sexual and bodily violence are part of the everyday social interactions that make up our economy and our lives. In the same way that we can’t begin to tackle the economic disparaties between white and black Americans without acknowledging the racism and everyday violence/bullying/intimidation black people face in the workforce or as consumers, we will never truly make life better for ALL 99% if we can’t come to terms with how patriarchy, kyriarchy, and rape culture limit women’s access to wealth and economic opportunities.

In short and to recap: we need to #occupyrapeculture.

For more (Please, LEAVE any and all relevant LINKS in comments):

• Occupypatriarchy.org (SERIOUSLY – GO READ THIS SITE NOW!)
• WomenOccupy on Tumblr and Twitter
• WomenOccupy also has this AMAZING list of relevant links.
• Shakesville (where else?), also on Twitter (@shakestweetz)

And I leave you with this tweet from @startledoctopus and add my own “FUCK YEAH”:

#OWS ladies, YES YES YES #occupypatriarchy #occupyrapeculture #womenoccupy Crack that #kyriarchy wide open!