Times Up & Me Too - purpose & context

While researching the current spate of revelations in Hollywood, it's been good to see the amount of positivity arising around the situation, especially in movements like Me Too and Times Up. The main thing I find inspiring about these movements is that they are positively feminist, something that the internet in general largely misunderstands. A lot of people see feminism as something that threatens masculinity, and that feminists want to be, or see themselves as, superior to men. That isn't the point of feminism, the point of feminism is equality. Feminism says that no one of any gender/sex should be above anyone else for any reason, that everyone is equal. So whenever someone is surprised at a man for being a feminist, it's largely because they misunderstand the meaning of what feminism is.
In this same vein, the #MeToo and Times Up movement really speak a positive message to me because they are focused entirely on equality. It isn't as if you have to be a woman to be a member of either of these groups, or that women have an authority over the groups. The members are equally comprised of men and women without discrimination, unified in support of those sexually abused in the industry.

In relation to my practice, and more specifically, the zine I’ve been developing, it is refreshing to see movements like this. Because this issue isn't something that directly affects me (and sexual misconduct from a woman's perspective isn't something that I’ll never directly experience or fully understand, purely because Im not a woman), I was conscious that it might not be my place to make this work or say the things I want to say with it. But seeing these movements taking place has shown me that just because this isn't something that has happened to me, doesn't mean I can't talk about it and respond to it.

Working on this has been a really interesting learning process for me and has helped me to adapt my work to situations I wouldn’t usually approach within my practice.