The SPIN Newsletter: new books and a special ebook offer

Fifteen years after its original release in Swedish—and twelve since Spinifex Press published the English edition—we’re pleased to announce a new, updated edition of Being and Being Bought: Prostitution, Surrogacy and the Split Self by Kajsa Ekis Ekman. This brilliant book remains relevant for new generations of readers grappling with the commodification of women’s bodies.

As Kajsa writes in the new preface: “I have now debated three generations of handmaidens. I look forward to debating many more. We, the feminists, will continue the struggle until we finally abolish the exploitation of women and girls.” (A sentiment that could well serve as the Spinifex credo—though our timeline stretches back even further!)

Source: The SPIN Newsletter: new books and a special ebook offer

Open letter to UN Secretary-General | Women’s Platform for Action International

In March 2025, the UN Secretary-General announced that the United Nations was launching an initiative UN801 aimed at reforming the United Nations system. Read WoPAI´s open letter here.

Source: Open letter to UN Secretary-General | Women’s Platform for Action International

Veriditas – Episode 3: Petra Bueskens Navigating Women’s Rights and Gender Identity in Australian Law with Anna Kerr

Source: Episode 3: Navigating Women’s Rights and Gender Identity in Australian Law with Anna Kerr

How Europe Lost the Plot on Women’s Rights | Compact

If you live in Europe, your country is likely a member of the Council of Europe, a 46-member body founded in 1949 that ostensibly promotes democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. The council has had a profound impact on international law through frameworks including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Istanbul Convention on violence against women, which are now embedded in the laws of European states.

One of the council’s latest initiatives, the Gender Equality Strategy 2024-2029, should have been a clear roadmap for women’s rights. Instead, it is a fog of ideological confusion, where the meaning of “gender” drifts between reality and ideology, leaving women’s rights at the mercy of wordplay.

The Council of Europe now pushes “gender equality” beyond its original meaning, blurring biological sex with socially constructed gender while expanding to include diverse gender identities and expressions.

This isn’t a mistake—it’s a deliberate ideological shift. The strategy enshrines gender-identity ideology into policy under the guise of women’s rights. In this new world, gender is both a harmful social construct and an innate identity—something to be dismantled and protected all at once.

Perhaps the most troubling part of the strategy is its treatment of “gender-critical” feminists—those who argue that biological sex matters, especially in spaces where women’s safety and dignity are at stake. The Council of Europe lumps them together with “anti-gender” activists, in order to associate them with far-right politics and reactionary views on women’s rights. The document claims that gender-critical narratives are used to “justify discriminatory practices” and “undermine the understanding of gender as a social construct.” The message is clear: Only the Council of Europe can say what makes a woman and redefine gender, and any feminist who disagrees will be cast as an extremist.

The Council of Europe is peddling an ideological agenda that no longer serves women. And as Europe sleepwalks into a world where words have no meaning and women’s rights are whatever fashionable delusion is currently in favor, the council will have played its part in making sure women pay the price.

Source: How Europe Lost the Plot on Women’s Rights | Compact

Kajsa Ekis Ekman: There is a two-front war against the women | Kajsa Ekis Ekman

The woman in the West faces a major dilemma: no contemporary political force is advocating for her interests. One side wants to abolish her rights, while the other wants to erase her name. The conservative right wants to strip her of the right to abortion, sexuality, and freedom of movement. The liberal left, on the other hand, argues that there are no women at all, wants to open women’s sports and female prisons to men, and has launched a campaign to remove the word “woman” from public documents, replacing it with terms like “uterus-bearer.” The most recent attempt to remove the word “woman” from the Swedish abortion law—fortunately stopped—is just one example.

Not only do both sides oppose feminism, they don’t even recognize its existence as an independent ideology. In the eyes of the conservative right, we are “cultural Marxists” responsible for society’s decay. In the eyes of the liberal left, we are “far-right” and “exclusive” if we don’t center men and their needs. Both accuse us of being the other side. No side acknowledges classical feminism as its own autonomous position. This makes it almost impossible to debate women’s issues at all. Just try saying “Women have the right to abortion,” and one side will shout “baby killer!” while the other will shout “not only women have abortions!”

Faced with this two-front war, some feminists have felt compelled to choose sides. Those who choose the liberal left are allowed a certain freedom of movement as long as they don’t organize as women and as long as they prioritize other groups. Their role in the movement becomes nearly maternal—they are to care for and nurture everyone else but without thinking of themselves. “It doesn’t matter,” the progressive woman might think, “What’s in a name, after all?”

The thing is, a name is everything. What would Black Lives Matter have been without the word “Black”? That’s right—a watered-down All Lives Matter. Every oppressed group needs to know what it’s called, because without a name, it’s impossible to organize. Without a name, the oppressed group exists in itself but not for itself, to borrow from Marx. If you remove the word “woman,” you remove the very possibility of fighting back and, consequently, cannot organize against the right-wing attacks on abortion rights.

. . .

The consequence is that women’s issues are subordinated to other political ideologies and cease to be an independent force. This is what is so devastating, because the women’s issue cuts across all political parties, countries, ages, and backgrounds. The women’s issue exists because women exist. We are not a minority, we are half the world’s population. Every human who has ever existed was born of a woman. Gender is the single biggest factor determining what a woman’s life will be like in most countries in the world. This is not a small matter to get caught up on.

Source: Kajsa Ekis Ekman: There is a two-front war against the women

Press Release: Launch of WoPAI | Women’s Platform for Action International

Women’s Platform for Action International, WoPAI, is holding its global launch in New York on 10 March 2025 to coincide with the 69th Commission on the Status of Women and the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action.

Source: Press Release: Launch of WoPAI | Women’s Platform for Action International

Home | Women’s Platform for Action International | WoPAI

WoPAI: Women’s Platform for Action International. A unified voice for a global women’s movement. We put women and girls first: Together, we act for a world in which women’s human dignity is respected and we fully exercise our rights and freedoms as a foundation for a human agreement of our global future.

Source: Home | Women’s Platform for Action International | WoPAI

‘I got rape threats over claims I put a feminist symbol in a video game’ | BBC

Young male gamers had taken issue with a single frame in the trailer, in which the female character could be seen holding her thumb and forefinger close together.

They thought it resembled a hand gesture used by a radical online feminist community almost a decade ago to poke fun at the size of Korean men’s penises.

Darim had become the latest victim in a series of vicious online witch hunts, in which men in South Korea attack women they suspect of having feminist views. They bombard them with abuse and try to get them sacked.

This is part of a growing backlash to feminism, in which feminists have been branded man-haters who deserve to be punished. The witch hunts are having a chilling effect on women, with many now scared to admit they are feminists.

This is forcing the movement underground, in a country where gender discrimination is still deeply entrenched. South Korea has the largest gender pay gap in the OECD, a group of the world’s rich countries.

The backlash began in the mid-2010s, following a surge of feminist activism. During this time, women took to the streets in protest at sexual violence and the widespread use of hidden cameras that secretly film women using toilets and changing rooms – around 5,000 to 6,000 cases are reported annually.

There is evidence the authorities are also capitulating to the anti-feminists’ demands. When Darim reported her abuse to the police, they refused to take her case.

They said because the finger-pinching gesture was taboo, it was “logical” that she, as a feminist, had been attacked. “I was astonished,” she said. “Why would the authorities not protect me?”

A 2024 IPSOS poll of 31 countries found only 24% of women in South Korea defined themselves as feminist, compared to an average of 45%, and down from 33% in 2019.

Source: ‘I got rape threats over claims I put a feminist symbol in a video game’