The sexist state

In 2015, Sister’s Uncut, a feminist direct action group, turned the fountains of Trafalgar Square red. ‘They cut, we bleed,’ they chanted. They marked the closure of over 30 women’s refuges since 2010 as a direct result of austerity measures. The state organises our lives. It defines the parameters of the way we live, from what is legal and illegal, to the medical, social and political services we can access. The state refers to a central organisation that is in charge of everything from welfare and law, to housing and policing. The state is everywhere; its main mouthpiece is the