This week’s featured Vandalpark sticker, “laat iedereen veilig thuiskomen,” or “let everyone get home safe,” is from my trans pride sticker collection. If you’re new here, Vandalpark is the small, GenAI-free sticker business I use to put out messages I wish the world would see a little more of, and the featured sticker is available here if you’re interested: https://vandalpark.bigcartel.com/product/other-queer-pride-stickers-matte-vinyl
I know I’m not the only one who has made it to school after another catcall, another threat, or another insult shouted at me from across the street only to pass a poster on the wall advertising a private initiative for a street harassment awareness measure marketed for problems “exclusive to women.” Still, I keep feeling like I’m the only one in the room who resists this. We have so much of the world explained to us in terms of the roles of the two genders - the perpetrator cis men and the victim cis women - that even as organisations publicly self-praise for their efforts against discrimination, they often actively erase our experiences, even our existence. What I wish this movement were about, and what I believe it can become about with enough awareness and acceptance, is justice and accountability. I wish it were about the fact that no one should have to be afraid to just exist in the street, in any country or city or at any time of day. There is no reasonable motivation for street harassment, no reasonable amount of abuse.
I wish I could tell everyone whose trans or genderqueer flag I’ve seen stickered above discriminatory messages in the street, or who has been the first person to start this conversation, either in person or on social media, how uplifted I feel by their presence. Thank you so much. Thank you, as well, to everyone whose story is denied and suppressed for not fitting within the traditional perception of victim-perpetrator roles, but remains stubbornly present. If you ever come across something describing itself as anti-discrimination while explicitly discriminating, I hope you feel encouraged to speak up about it if and when you’re able to, whether by asking the questions that are on your mind, using my sticker or even with a marker in a random bathroom stall (although of course my sticker is objectively much better).
If you’ve ever worked with an “exclusive-to-women” organisation, I would be curious to know if this is something that you were aware was erasing people, and what your ideal solution would be. As always, thanks for visiting Vandalpark.