Eastern Europe, Southern Europe
Eastern Europe, Southern Europe
Our society is traditionally very patriarchal, with the sneaking matriolatry that is typical of such cultures.
Women’s liberation as a movement started here in 1887.
Women got the right to vote in 1952. Parliament and government are still overwhelmingly male, and almost every position of power is held by a man.
Male violence against women is endemic everywhere, but here it is routinely excused by courts and public figures.
The country is institutionally Christian Orthodox, a rigidly patriarchal church, but one that has always been relaxed about divorce, contraception, and abortion.
This last is starting to change as US evangelical money enters the picture, and some politicians are associated with the emerging anti-abortion narrative.
There is a thriving fertility industry, including surrogacy.
Prostitution is legal.
Gender transition (without sterilising surgery) has been legal since 2017. As far as I know, medical intervention is not offered to minors.
The church (which is entangled with the state) condemns homosexuality, and there is a strong anti-homosexual current in society, but lesbians and gay men have won some important struggles despite this and with the help of European Union rights law. Just last year, against much opposition, same sex marriage became legal.
It’s pretty difficult to disentangle women’s rights activism, homosexual rights activism, the cultural expression of gender non conformity, and trans ideology here from the broader left, which is tied up in party politics and anti-politics in ways I struggle to explain.
Recent extreme cases of intimate partner violence, sex trafficking, and femicide have focused attention on women’s inequality, as especially have police cover-ups (more than one case has involved police or military officers).
This, my summary of the state of things in one European country, is posted so the category isn’t empty, and in the hope that I am not the only feminist here from my part of the world.
(edited for typos)
I live in a Southern European country which is on the Eastern edge of Europe but was not part of the Soviet Union’s sphere.
Our society is traditionally very patriarchal, with the sneaking matriolatry that is typical of such cultures.
Women’s liberation as a movement started here in 1887.
Women got the right to vote in 1952. Parliament and government are still overwhelmingly male, and almost every position of power is held by a man.
Male violence against women is endemic everywhere, but here it is routinely excused by courts and public figures.
The country is institutionally Christian Orthodox, a rigidly patriarchal church, but one that has always been relaxed about divorce, contraception, and abortion.
This last is starting to change as US evangelical money enters the picture, and some politicians are associated with the emerging anti-abortion narrative.
There is a thriving fertility industry, including surrogacy.
Prostitution is legal.
Gender transition (without sterilising surgery) has been legal since 2017. As far as I know, medical intervention is not offered to minors.
The church (which is entangled with the state) condemns homosexuality, and there is a strong anti-homosexual current in society, but lesbians and gay men have won some important struggles despite this and with the help of European Union rights law. Just last year, against much opposition, same sex marriage became legal.
It’s pretty difficult to disentangle women’s rights activism, homosexual rights activism, the cultural expression of gender non conformity, and trans ideology here from the broader left, which is tied up in party politics and anti-politics in ways I struggle to explain.
Recent extreme cases of intimate partner violence, sex trafficking, and femicide have focused attention on women’s inequality, as especially have police cover-ups (more than one case has involved police or military officers).
This, my summary of the state of things in one European country, is posted so the category isn’t empty, and in the hope that I am not the only feminist here from my part of the world.
(edited for typos)