Creator Q&A - Rebecca Ruth/Charlotte Bouilloux
We publish Q&As in The Anti-Misogyny Club journal, because we love to chat process with the incredible feminist artists and writers whose work we share. We don’t always have room to publish every Q&A, so instead we’re using this space to share them, fortnightly.
Rebecca Ruth’s essay A Number Of Ridiculous Things Are Happening, published in Issue 05 of our journal, compares human rights progress in the USA and Japan, specifically trans rights and the misogynistic preoccupation with trans women in bathrooms. The thesis is that overwhelming public sentiment and resistance from lower levels of government can overcome bigotry from national leadership. Rebecca is the former Vice President of Stonewall Japan, former Vice Chair of National AJET, and once the language section editor for Connect Magazine.
Who are your creative and/or feminist heroes?
Feminista Jones (b. Michelle Taylor, Ph.D.) says a lot of intelligent things that I enjoy reading lately on gender equity, racial and cultural identity, and politics.
When and why did you first start making creative work?
I wrote a book about a dog when I was 7 and immediately binned it. I clearly remember thinking that after a disgraceful artistic failure like that I was never going to get published.
How has your creative practice changed over time?
I’ve forgotten a lot of English while living in Japan, so I curse at my computer more than I used to.
If you could go back to tell yourself one thing when you first began making creative work, what would you say?
Get someone else to read the comments on your fiction. Have them only pass on the ones that won’t cause blinding rage.
What most excites you about your creative work/practice?
Anything I create becomes a document of thought that validates my existence and identity. Going out with friends makes me feel happy in the short term, but I need to dig out time to be alone on a mountain or in a cafe or in my dark and quiet house in order to feel like a complete person with a verifiable past. I prefer to only periodically stumble out into the world and blink in disorientation after a stretch of isolated darkness for writing or painting.
What most frustrates you about your creative work/practice?
Nothing. It’s only other things that frustrate me.
Charlotte Bouilloux’s poem Not All Men, also published in Issue 05 of our journal, dissects that saying, using rhetoric and anaphora, unpacking the truth behind it with statistics on sexual assault and rape. Charlotte is a queer and bilingual poet residing in Norwich, UK. Her poetry addresses themes such as heritage, feminism, the body, and identity. Her poems have been featured in publications such as The Paper by Good Press and Doghouse Press. You can find her on Instagram.
How would you describe your relationship to feminism?
Feminism for me is more than an ideology, it's an ongoing practice of dismantling the patriarchal status quo and enacting change within our communities, fostering a safer place for women and other marginalised genders.
Which feminist issues are most important to you and why? What actions would you recommend other feminists take to address them?
There is currently an epidemic of gendered violence and femicides across the world. Not enough perpetrators are being prosecuted, and too many survivors are not receiving the justice they're owed. There is a very masculinist dangerous mentality that is projected by misogynist individuals online, which is also tied to the rise of the alt-right in online and offline spaces. The saying of 'not all men' is spouted by these individuals and even less extreme people. As Gisele Pelicot says, shame needs to switch sides. And guilt needs to shift from survivor to perpetrator. Feminism needs to be a mainstream practice, that is promoted by everyone and not just militant circles. Preventative work must be done in the form of education through schools to equip young people with factual information about sexual violence, its repercussions and look into why people commit these acts in the first place.
Who are your creative and/or feminist heroes?
Some of my feminist inspirations are Audre Lorde, Diane di Prima, Helene Cixous, Adrienne Rich and Camille Froidevaux-Metterie.