Women and girls who engage in environmental activism face increased harassment and violence.

Content Warning: talk about sexual violence, rape, and murder.

Women are increasingly involved in environmental activism. The burden of environmental activism has fallen in the hands of women. In fact, 80% of environmental activists worldwide are women (Fury for the Sound).

Sexual violence, rape, and even murder have been threatened against women and girl environmentalists in an attempt to silence them.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, “threats and sexual violence such as rape are often used to target environmental activists to undermine their status within the community, and to prevent other women from working to preserve the environment” (Cwienk).

It is not new that women who pose a greater threat to male dominance are more likely targets of harassment

Since “the domination of women and the degradation of the environment are consequences of patriarchy and capitalism” (Buckingham), consequently women and girl environmentalists pose a significantly large threat to male dominance, as their power is rooted in, and thrives off of power structures such as patriarchy and capitalism. Fionnuala Braun is a 19 year old climate activist who has received rape threats because of her environmental activism.

Words from Fionnuala Braun: “I have gotten rape threats before,” she said. “This happens to young female activists all the time. If we spent time reporting every single time someone said something sexualizing or threatened us online, we would spend all our time in the police station.” (McIntosh)

According to a campaign group's report, a record number of activists working to protect the environment and land rights were murdered last year. According to Global Witness, 227 people were killed worldwide in 2020, the highest number recorded for a second consecutive year. According to the organization, four activists have been killed each week since the Paris Agreement on climate change was signed in 2015. An example of this is Fikile Ntshangase. She was a 65 year old woman environmentalist who was shot dead in her own living room.

Greta Thunberg Poses Such A ‘Threat’ That She Is Depicted Being Raped

The illustration shows a naked girl from behind with long, braided hair being pulled back by a pair of hands that seem to belong to the X-Site company. The name "Greta" is written across her back.

The X-Site employees 'apologized' for this disgusting behaviour. However, no one was ever held accountable because it was not technically child pornography since it was a drawing. Arguments were also made that she was 'not a child' because she was a 17 year old 'woman'. Fionnuala Braun, who organized a petition calling for the X-Site employees responsible for the sticker to resign, described the apology as a "token gesture" that fails to address the underlying issue. In a phone interview Tuesday, she said that young female climate activists are frequently subjected to misogynistic and sexually explicit messages (McIntosh).

References:

McIntosh, Emma. “Company's Apology for Explicit Greta Thunberg Sticker Isn't Good Enough for Petition Organizer.” Canada's National Observer, 4 Mar. 2020, https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/03/04/news/companys-apology-explicit-greta-thunberg-sticker-isnt-good-enough-petition-organizer.

Cwienk, Jeannette. “Climate Change Leads to More Violence Against Women, Girls.” DW.COM, 27 Feb. 2020, https://www.dw.com/en/women-climate-change-sexual-violence-iucn/a-52449269.

Fury for the Sound (Documentary) https://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/6933/Fury-for-the-Sound--The-Women-at-Clayoquot