Jane Norling

Fight to End Violence Against Women, 1978-2017
poster
13 x 9 in.

This Is What a Feminist Looks Like

The 2016 US presidential outcome unleashed creative outrage & fight-back onto the streets inauguration day and Day After, January 20 & 21, 2017. For this, I made a digital version of my 1978 Fight To End Violence Against Women poster (designed & printed celebrating release from prison of agricultural worker Inez García, whose 1974 conviction for defending herself against rapists fired up a movement against gender-based violence, contributing to her 1977 retrial and acquittal). Early 2017, I mailed batches of posters around the country to family & colleagues for marchers to carry in their regions. (Thank you, Autumn Press, for printing 750 posters free)

Nov 2018 mid-term elections brought significant changes toward justice built largely on careful, vibrant organizing by women, people of color, LGBTQ communities, young people eager to create humane life and protect the planet. A necessary step toward dismantling the patriarchy dominating the world.

Patriarchy took a hit in Harris County, Texas, when 17 African American women won their judicial elections, joining 2 black women already on the bench, wiping out the republicans. Working together as Black Girl Magic to win their campaigns, the women now form a bloc of compassion ensuring equal opportunity for poor and disadvantaged who come into the judicial system.

The stunning photo of 19 African American women judges struck me as a refreshingly new picture of feminism–developed within the current legal system, yet changing it through force of women’s organization and lived compassion for the people they’re elected to serve. My 1978 poster acknowledged a hard-won legal victory by a migrant woman fighting back against male violence against her.

© Jane Norling