This Ends Now

Across April and May I am going to swim the width of the English Channel in a swimming pool to fundraise for This Ends Now. The Channel is 33km wide, 33,000m and the pool is 16m long so I will be swimming 2063 lengths in 61 days - averaging 34 lengths everyday for 2 months straight. 

Why am I doing this? I am sure I will be asking myself this question a lot during the next few months. On a personal note I have never seen a plus size person do a sporting challenge like this on social media, I rarely see content of plus size people at the gym - I know they work out just as I do, but fitness content is dominated by slim people. I think this supports the fatphobic idea that plus-size people are lazy. I’ve had a back problem since I was 12 years old, it meant I couldn’t do much PE at school and I have genuinely no idea what my limits are, I am constantly surprised by what I can do in the gym because the fatphobic association with weight and laziness is one I have internalised. Society has told me I should not be able to exercise as a plus size person. I want to prove them wrong. 

This Ends Now is a non-profit that I volunteer for, it is entirely volunteer run and we work hard to change the discourse around male violence against women and girls. Any money you are kind enough to donate to support this challenge will go directly to This Ends Now - you can read more about the organisation below.  

Who we are 

This Ends Now is the first protest-lobby non-profit organisation dedicated to exposing patriarchy and ending sexual violence. Our mission is clear: to create a world where patriarchy no longer exists. And our aims are to: 

• Change public opinion around sexual violence. 
• Encourage men to challenge misogyny. 
• Dilute the effect of the patriarchy.

Why we are different 

So many incredible people have campaigned, marched, and produced vital reports calling for change and highlighting how it can occur. However, attempts at change are criticised for adopting an 'us versus them' approach i.e., women versus men. We believe the next wave of feminism must include men. 

• Our #AllMen campaign invites men to become actively involved in deconstructing the patriarchy and creating lasting change.
• Our Police Misogyny campaign is about ensuring the learnings and reports are placed on statutory footing (i.e. they are legally enforceable) and as a result, the police receive the funding necessary to carry out the recommendations and are held accountable for seeing them through.
• Our Words Matter campaign is about changing the language used by the UK police and media when handling and reporting sexual offences to end victim blaming and misogyny. 
• Our How Do I Report This? campaign seeks to ensure that UK universities adopt a standardised process for students to report incidents of sexual misconduct. 

What patriarchy does today

Since the beginning of 2023, we have seen the BBC give Andrew Tate airtime to express his misogynistic views, women and girls murdered by their husbands and fathers, and court backlogs for rape hit a record high. More than 50 MPs are facing allegations of sexual misconduct and the vote on barring MPs charged with sexual offences has been delayed and deprioritised. Women are being jailed for taking abortion pills after the 'legal' limit. These are just a few examples of patriarchy manifesting itself in our society to the detriment of those who identify as women and girls.

For context, a patriarchal society consists of a male-dominated power structure throughout organised society and individual relationships, creating a systemic bias against women. Men are also victims of the patriarchy, told they must meet harmful gender stereotypes, making many men unable to cry, express emotion, or talk about their feelings. Suicide is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK.