“In 2007, on the occasion of the protest against the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, we founded the ›Antisexist Contact and Awareness Group‹. We provided a response tent and a shelter for the more than 15,000 people who stayed in the protest camps around Heiligendamm. We were on site with 40 people, alternated in shifts, were available around the clock and supported people who came to us because they had experienced sexualised violence or sexist discrimination at the camps or in the past or during the protests. By hanging up posters with the slogan “No means No” we started a debate about sexuality, setting boundaries and sexualised violence.
See Ann Wiesental, Antisexist Awareness - A Handbook, Unrast Verlag
2007 - 2012
The idea for the ›Antisexist Contact and Awareness Group‹ on the occasion of the protest came from Ann Wiesental, who was and is active within anti-racist, globalization-critical and queer-feminist movements. Ann initiated the group, recruited other activists and groups from the movement and she put a lot of work into the implementation. After 2007, Ann Wiesental created an approach from the term awareness. She did this in and with the movement and in interaction with many activities of activists and groups. Some of these groups are “re.ACTion Münster” (Antisexismus_reloaded, Unrast Verlag), “Antisexismusbündnis Berlin” (AS.ISM brochures), “Gruppe TAM” and “Campaign Definitionsmacht.tk”. The development of awareness into an approach was promoted, among other things, by the Antisexist Practices Conference every year from 2007 to 2012. This nationwide conference was initiated by Ann Wiesental and organized and shaped by feminist individuals and groups. During these years, Ann Wiesental traveled nationwide, gave workshops, spoke at events, wrote texts and pushed and shaped awareness as an approach. Awareness has been adopted as a practice for political camps, house projects, political organizations and solidarity parties.
2012
In 2012, Ann Wiesental founded the first Festival Awareness Crew for Fusion together with Fabian, offering awareness at a festival.
2012 - 2013
In 2012 and 2013, two conferences in Dresden by the group e*vibes led to the dissemination of the awareness approach. More and more feminist groups took up the approach. Ann Wiesental organized four nationwide networking meetings of awareness groups.
2017
In 2017 the Awareness Initiative Leipzig and rave*awarenress were founded in Berlin.
2017 - 2021
In 2019, the Awareness Initiative Leipzig organized a nationwide networking meeting "Free Spaces Safe Spaces". At this meeting it was established and discussed that the spread of awareness has unfortunately also led to the formation of new mainstream actors who have little to do with the movement and the awareness approach has become flattened. At this point, the Awareness Initiative Leipzig, rave*awareness and Ann Wiesetal considered further, in order to react to this development, they joined forces with activists and awareness initiatives from the movement and founded the Awareness Institute in 2021. More and more festivals are now picking up awareness, and this development is far from over.
Selected Works
Geschichte und GründungGrundlagen
History and foundationBasics
Parteinlichkeit und DefinitionsmachtGrundlagen
KonsensAwareness im Alltag
ConsentAwareness in everyday life
Kritische MännlichkeitAwareness im Alltag
Critical masculinityAwareness in everyday life
Strukturelle Gewalt an FLINTA*-PersonenGrundlagen
Structural violence against FLINTA* peopleAwareness in everyday life
