The Feminist Swearing Night is coming to Dublin for the first time this May, with a little bit of partnership and comedy from the Funny Women team.
This is an open-mic event that offers an opportunity for women to sound off about patriarchy, politics, inequality and injustice. Participants are free to share their personal stories, rhymes, songs, general rants or any other means of expression.
I spoke to Rosa Merilainen, co-founder and director of the feminist think tank, Hattu, where the idea of the Feminist Swearing Night developed and asked her what to expect.
Catherine Royle: Rosa, you are one of the founders of the feminist think tank, Hattu. Can you tell me what Hattu is all about and what lead you to begin this journey?
Rosa Merilainen: Me and my friend, Dr Saara Särmä, were in desperate need to do something fun together. Activism is always important, but sometimes it sucks out all your energy and joy like those horrible creatures in Harry Potter. We liked to do things without problematising everything beforehand: you can just do things and think later what the point was. That was the basic idea for our feminist think tank: to do things in a light minded way and laughing. We started with Swearing Nights because it’s fun to swear with likeminded people and with a, “Congrats, you have an all male panel” -blog, which is also a pretty hilarious international phenomenon”, which you can check out here.
CR: What were your first projects and what changes have you seen as a result of Hattu?
RM: We’ve produced books. We keep School of Daring and the blog has been hugely popular worldwide. We hope our latest project on the internet of hate and loathing will make the world a safer place for all women.
CR: One of the things Hattu tries to do is break the prejudice and help the understanding of feminism through comedy. Do you think that comedy has a strong impact when it comes to discussing feminist issues?
RM: Laughter and empowerment go hand in hand. Joy makes you feel capable and comedy can be radical if you laugh at the right phenomena.
CR: The feminist swearing night is coming to Dublin, Ireland for the first time. Where has this been run before and what impact has this event had in the past?
RM: We’ve held tens of swearing nights across Finland. The northernmost night was in Rovaniemi, Lapland, where even reindeer said they don’t like to be bullied by the patriarchal Santa Claus. We’ve also had a couple of swearing nights in Brussels, where it was especially wonderful to see friend groups who after the fun night, thought that they should start their own project on feminist comedy! Do fun things together and be powerful!
CR: What are your favourite swear words?
RM: Vittu. It means “cunt” in Finnish. I’m sitting on it and can feel the power inside me.
CR: What are some of the things that make you swear?
RM: Sometimes I feel so good, that it’s hard to find out what pisses me off. But if I just look at the internet or society, I can pick up any topic easily!
CR: Why is now the right time for the feminist swearing night to come to Ireland?
RM: Women are human beings in Ireland, and you should have the basic human right to control your own bodies. Your struggle on abortion is our struggle.
CR: Who would you encourage to come to this event and why?
RM: If you have ever felt lonely and weak, if you’ve ever felt that nobody cares. Come to feel the warm embrace of feminism, come to feel the mutual respect and shared joy. Then you’ll know that we can change the world.
CR: What are you looking forward to the most about the night?
RM: I’ve heard that women in Ireland are really bad-mouthed and frank!
The Feminist Swearing Night takes place on Wednesday 16th May at Chaplins Comedy Club, Dublin. Tickets are €6 and available here.
