Women of the Provincial Federation of Women's Associations Flora Tristán in a demonstration in 1983 through the streets of Madrid
In little more than two years, a fantasy of pedagogical aspirations and sown with overflowing irony called ** Feminism for Clumsy ** has broken its own records – audience and laughter.
On the threshold of a promising 8M , the architect of it, the journalist Nerea Perez de las Heras , has transformed this hilarious statement of contemporary feminism into the book namesake featuring the next March 4 in Madrid.
Coinciding with her editorial launch, the Madrid comedian takes stock of a key year for the global feminist movement and draw a map geographic and emotional – so as not to get lost in the immensity of a collective euphoria that, fueled in many cases by contradictory messages, does not finish locating the new challenges faced by the women of our age .
Nerea Perez de las Heras
The best thing about this Madrilenian is that she has 37 years. And because? Because, throughout those 37, a pressing need for feminist outreach it has been gestating inside an overwhelming personality.
And everything, of course, subscribed to in a very refined way: "I began to explain feminism with real puppets . And it's not a metaphor. They were socks to which a friend sewed eyes. One was about patriarchy and the other about the first two waves of feminism ".
It was in September 2016, during the first edition of the **Furious Party (Matadero)**, when Feminism for dummies It went from being a spontaneous network of private jokes, between shouts and wines, and with a prominent load of pedagogical aspirations, to being the embryo of a show that has sold out seats in all the rooms where Nerea, and hers, incombustible actors Luis Miguel Rios and Laura Jabois , review the uses and customs of the perennial machismo of our very modern century.
In one of her first forays onto the stage, she provided some black rimmed glasses and under the influence (or not) of a Sumial, the humorous facet of the author spread her wings and prevailed with the force of the seas in each and every one of her later scenic interventions.
Months later, the Nerea jokes have conquered the public (not clumsy at all) of their bowling Madrid –La Casa Encendida, Fiesta Furiosa, La Juan Gallery, Sala Equis and, today, at the Teatro del Barrio – and in a star appearance at The Thermal of Malaga.
Journalist by vocation, humorist by birth and social rights activist ("Clearly what I'm good at are jokes, not chemical weapons"), Nerea injects, without censorship and without fear of reprisals from her 'dear' haters of hers, a string of truths that would tear out the collective unease and tears if it was not for him humorous high voltage that tempers, at times, the anger of her viewers.
The illustrated version of Feminism for Dummies more than fulfills the parody that, today, continues to sell out the localities (every two Wednesdays) of the Teatro del Barrio.
For those who have attended one of her live shows, reading this devastating manual of contemporary feminism takes us to a staging that is a declaration of principles: she orchestrates, with her remote control, a parade of the creamiest of the heteropatriarchal representation of today in slides.
Meanwhile, Laura Jabois and Luis Miguel Ríos illustrate with data, unique artifacts, toys and paraphernalia typical of a puppet theater, the reality that 'empowered' women face day after day:
"I think that with humor you create a relaxation gap through which important messages can enter, with humor you use the back door of consciences. I try to address all of that with close examples, scenes and anecdotes to talk about the way in which that capitalism engulfs social movements, how we have fallen into the trap of an empowerment that has us overloaded and exhausted ".
This thing about breeching comes from the cradle of Nerea. She at the crib and at dinner with her friends: "I didn't think that what she did with us, in almost any circumstance, she was going to end up doing on stage."
Nerea Perez de las Heras
Another adds: "I thought she was more than ready to make a wild course on feminism . What I didn't expect is that this wild course was going to be so successful."
And in this one wild ride through contemporary feminism , she imposes her predisposition to the evangelizing adventure: "I have tried to make my book mix education with humor , to my readers and my readers I want to speak to them as I speak to that friend that your boyfriend brings you one day that he has achieved reaching 2019 without knowing very well what feminism is and why it is necessary. I think it's a book that is respectful of the reader's intelligence and deals with deep issues."
ROUTE OF FEMINISM (NOTHING) AWKWARD
I am quite hooked on Madrid. Plus I am a cat: my four grandparents were born here. Here are some events and places linked to feminism in the city:
- caixaforum
The conference cycles 'Neither they muses, nor they geniuses' of Caixaforum, organized by the association Classics and moderns. They are exciting talks that reveal many shadowy geniuses of history.
And along these lines, what I would like to be understood from my book is that feminism is far from being harmless to the system. It's a social movement and a critical way to face the world that goes through all the injustices, those that happen in your house, in your head, in the street, the economic ones.
- The lit house
The exhibition of the artist Bobby Baker, with his reflection on domestic work, can be seen at La Casa Encendida until April 21.
The lit house
And until March 31, the cultural space offers a tour of the work of another woman artist: Maya Watanabe. On the occasion of ** Arcomadrid 2019 **, in which Peru is the guest country, the audiovisual project Liminal by this Peruvian artist, and winner of the P Han Nefkens Foundation-ArcoMadrid Award 2018 , glosses the investigation of the 6,000 unexhumed mass graves and more than 16,000 disappeared persons, as a result of the Peruvian internal armed conflict.
- Reina Sofia Museum
In the Reina Sofía Museum there are feminist tours. It is wonderful to see the Madrid of always from the point of view of women who have always been understood as secondary. In any case, the Madrid art gallery offers a prodigious range of temporary exhibitions such as cutting-edge networks. Amauta and Latin America, 1926-1930’ , a tribute to the Peruvian artistic avant-garde magazine and a plural platform for debate on the incipient modernity of the 20th century.
- Bookstore Women
Here there are not only books but also wonderful meetings and presentations. It is located in a street near the Plaza Mayor . With several decades behind it, the Librería Mujeres (la Libre) is the project of a group of women from a wide range of generations fascinated by activism and literature written by women.
Visits to the box of the year until midnight
- X room
During the year 2018, the show of 'Feminism for Dummies' sold out all the tickets at the Sala Equis cinema. The last show, in front of 120 people in your square , had a barbaric impact. And this is where I return to present the book this Monday, March 4.
Throughout the year, and especially this March, Sala Equis offers a program that includes cycles around women in cinema , to transsexuality, to genre cinema and to the social movements that have been dramatically silenced throughout the last century in Spain and, even more so, in the world of cinema.
- (More) laugh-out-loud shows
There are many comedy shows in Madrid. Pay attention to two: **The Axis of Evil (in the Palace of the Press) ** and the Riot Comedy . When it comes to festivals, keep track of conumor , the first Feminist Humor Festival, organized by the Gender and Diversity Policies Area of the Madrid City Council , Next to the Feminist Humor Association , is a kind of lesson in feminism sown with humor in abundance. It is in **Casa de Vacas (El Retiro)** and it is free.
- Walks along the trails of feminism
I share two plans on foot: feminist tours of the city the liminal they recover the history of Madrid linked to women and, along the same lines, the activities and workshops of **Herstóricas** are essential.
WITHOUT GUIDES THERE IS NO PARADISE
To undertake any self-respecting adventure, the Madrilenian recommends stuffing your luggage with a generous catalog of leading feminists and intellectuals:
"I'm lovin 'it Marina Garces, Sounds like an intellectual bomb to me. My friend and filmmaker Alice Waddington, who just finished his first feature Paradise Hills , and which has passed through the Sundance festival, is for me a benchmark of tenacity: she has taught me how difficult it is to be behind the cameras as a woman, "she confesses.
"Fiction writers, like Zadie Smith, Leila Slimani or Margaret Atwood , they are able to talk about the deepest issues that concern women through fiction and without explicitly mentioning feminism, "she concludes.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
HUMOR AS A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION: DIRECT, CLEAN AND DIRECT
Walk, stroll, (re)run solo world. She, like others before and now, travels in the company of herself: "I don't just travel alone, I love. Of course, it is different for women: three women traveling together, it is said that they travel 'alone' as if the absence of male companions made them minors".
"You take twice as many precautions and there are countries where what could be pleasant directly turns into hell. I like to dive and I often travel alone to do it, the last time I was in the Galapagos alone, on a dive boat, accompanied by a family that was going to snorkel. I came out of the water euphoric because I had seen several hammerhead sharks and I started talking to the family, I was delighted, they were so amazed, yes, how brave, yes, how adventurous until they asked me and I told them that I was alone. They went from admiration to utter pity in a second! But what is this girl doing looking for sharks if what she needs is a husband!
THE PRESENTATION OF 'FEMINISM FOR TORPES'
The first week of March is key in the journalist's agenda. For those who want her signed copy of her, Nerea Pérez de las Heras will present the book and she will chat with the audience on Monday, March 4 at the Sala Equis cinema.
She will follow her book launch on March 8: " It will be a very particular 8M , we are experiencing a macho reaction, something that has happened in each and every one of the feminist waves. They want to stop us from moving forward. But his discomfort is a sign that we are doing well, "she concludes.