Feminist Collages: Denouncing discrimination in the streets

The discrimination of women is still an issue, both internationally and in the Netherlands, which numerous organizations and groups have tried to address, but often ignored by others, especially at the political level. The group Feminist Collages speaks up about this matter, and does it by raising awareness of the problem by pasting posters on the walls around the city reminding the passers-by of women’s position in society. Trying to include all types of women, from all races and genders, they value intersectionality by also addressing other issues such as racism and sexuality.

Inspired by the movement initiated in Paris, the group Feminist Collages takes to the streets of Amsterdam to claim women’s rights and share women’s experiences of violence and discrimination. If you walk around the city, you might notice white posters with large black letters on them, which together form statements which directly denounce  violence against women, women’s unequal position in society and the patriarchal system under which they fall victims. However, this group not only focuses on women, but also speaks about other societal and political issues, such as racism, gender and capitalism. Its unique feature is then bringing together all those themes which concern the exclusion of certain groups in society. In the past months, their posters about the Palestinian war, condemnation of Zwarte Piet and white privilege hung on the walls of various areas of the city with the intent of raising awareness about societal and political issues which are often not addressed by politicians themselves and which are part of a system still based on exclusions and inequalities.

Intersectional nature
The group Feminist Collages defines itself as intersectional, thus taking into account the experiences of women from different backgrounds and characteristics, such as race and sexuality, making their experiences heard and focusing on how women from diverse positions can be more discriminated than others. Being a woman from certain ethnicity or being a transwoman are examples of how the experiences of these women can be different from others. Therefore, the group criticizes so-called “white feminism”, which ignores the different forms of oppression experienced by women from other backgrounds, then limiting a coherent and inclusive form of feminism. The issue around privilege is then often addressed by this group, which pastes posters on the walls around the city reminding the passers-by of how white privilege is often hidden in most forms of feminism and how important it is to address the discriminations of women from other ethnicities, sexuality and characteristics which are often causes of societal exclusion.
Together with including all women, the position of this group is also very firm about not including cis-men, due to the issues that many women have had with them.

Raising awareness
The goal of Feminist Collages is to raise awareness about the problems these disadvantaged groups face within the society and the system we live in. Pasting posters on the walls around the city is a technique made to capture the attention of the people who pass by, making them think about the societal problems which surround them, but that they might not see or forget about. These posters are therefore much more than an Instagram or Facebook post, where only people within a certain circle might see, because by being in the streets they are able to reach every type of citizens, including those who find themselves in a privileged position and often ignore the problems around them. A thing that can be noticed of these posters is indeed the lack of a signature under them, often making people wonder who came up with such ideas. However, this is part of the group’s strategy, which sets the priority of addressing these issues without the need to make the group notable and thus risking to move the attention from the problem to who is the anonymous authors of the feminist, anti-racist and anti-capitalist phrases posted around the city.

Feminist collages Instagram