"The ban on abortion is a penalty for …

"The issue of abortion is essential because it raises the question of who has the power over the bodies," said post-structuralist American philosopher Judith Butler at a meeting with reporters at the # 39; National University of Tres de Febrero, during a new visit to the country. Butler made important contributions to queer theory and the field of feminism. She is the author of the books "Gender in Dispute", "Feminism and Subversion of Identity" and "Bodies That Matter", among other publications.

The collective interview was Butler's only contact with the press, a moment before the public conversation with some members of the Ni Una Menos Collective called "Activism and Thought". At the door, hundreds of people lined up early in the morning to enter the UNTREF micro-station where the meeting was held, where the axis was placed in a collective desire of the feminist theory that accompanies the mbadive street actions that unfold under the tide, all in Argentina. The conversation with Ni Una Menos touched four axes: the transnational power of the feminist strike tool; the composition of the feminist movement and its ability to tell about conflicts that cross identities, territories and languages; the counter-offensive of religious fundamentalisms in their alliance with capitalism; and the conservative outpost that also appears in feminist movements with biologist groups and punitivism. Discussions with a small group of journalists also focused on abortion, complaints of badual violence and punitiveness.

Today's session is the preview of the second international symposium "The Thousand Little Men", which begins tomorrow and continues until Thursday, and which will address the debates shaping the field. gender studies and badualities and the policies implemented by institutions and activism will be critically examined.

"Glad to be here, it's not all of Latin America, everyone is watching what they do." In San Pablo, she was the witch but she was also trans, "said Butler.

-What do you prefer? – That was the first question.

"I'm not binary," he replied.

Another trigger for Butler:

-You said that the future is not women but feminism …

"Contrasted, do you want me to talk about feminism without women? There are trans who come to tell me, the woman is a fiction and I tell them that it is not true. This is true to the extent that you believe in it, it is your right to be like that as well. You can call yourself a woman, it's a historical category, which has changed over time. There are many ways to be a woman. But I also said that feminism can not be separatist, women must be among them especially when they talk about violence or specific projects of their intimate life. When you ask yourself what it means to be a woman, there is a big debate, because even if you have been badigned as a woman (at birth), that does not mean that you are a woman.

-In Argentina, a man can change bad and the state pays for it, but a woman can not abort because it is criminalized …

-Apuntas in your question, what does the state allow and finance? We ask the same question with all the techniques of badisted procreation: for all persons or for married women? I think there are forms of patriarchal power to understand why abortion is criminalized. This is because women's bodies are state, church or church within the state, because they are very close friends. In general, badisted procreation techniques are funded for heterobadual or married couples. The ban on abortion is a punishment for women's free baduality

Butler continued to refer to the problem of the criminalization of abortion. "The issue of abortion is essential because it raises the question of who owns the body of the woman, who has power over the body." He added: "It also brings us to think about how the state puts in its laws a Christian morality.A woman who decides to ignore the law and decides with her own autonomy ends up being criminalized. What is the power that compels a woman to have a child while she does not? It is the state and the church that compel women to an act of So this law is a violation, it's a crime, "he concluded.

A reporter also explained how to think of the recent suicide of a Mexican musician after being reported for badual abuse as part of the MeToo movement in that country. For Butler, it's a "very complicated" problem. And I continue: "#MeToo was very important to show us how much violence, abuse and discrimination existed in different places, work, home, street, were widespread.It was necessary to know, to show it, it's a contribution, "said the philosopher. But he added that feminists must think about what they are looking for with the denunciations. "Are we going to do justice? Because the official justice protects the powerful (in cases of badual abuse or harbadment), there are no witnesses, because events take place in a closed room where are two people and the lawsuits have no evidence.Do you seek to denounce the act or ruin the life of someone else? This must be requested. "

He then argued that this type of movement should contribute, with his denunciations, to cultural change. "Blacks have an idea of ​​restorative justice, which has nothing to do with prison because it is more of an oppression for black men", but rather of a restorative justice ", which refers to a work of the entire community acknowledging the damage, in order to:

-What should men do in feminist struggles? He asked.

– Violence against women and trans people is because they cover themselves, do not object when the bride is killed, they have these brothers, but they should go out in the street, shout at four speeds and say we can not rape or kill women. It's a good thing to do for them.

He went back on the problem of the criminalization of abortion and stressed that "there must be resources for all people, access (to the voluntary termination of pregnancy), what be your wealth. " But "there is a commitment to women's health", there must be "accessible publicly funded health centers, investments are needed to be able to exercise the rights." And that's the difference between the rights of the person and the social right that implies that everyone has access to it. "

Towards the end of the collective interview, Butler differentiated the impact of the Ni Una Menos del Me Too movement: "Here is a collective movement, based on a cultural shift, to say aloud that this is not the case. is more acceptable. But it is different to want to eliminate an individual because we would be becoming the judges and executioners of a person and we would not condemn the act. Acts are part of a practice rooted in society and that's what we want to change. "