As part of The Pixel Project’s Read For Pixels campaign, we interview authors and poets from genres as diverse as Science Fiction and Fantasy to Romance to Horror about why they support the movement to end violence against women and girls.
For Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2025, we present an interview with Read For Pixels poet Geneve Flynn who contributed her original poem She Chi Grows to our 1st charity poetry collection, UNDER HER EYE. Geneve is a speculative fiction editor, author, and poet. She is co-editor of Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, the anthology which launched the grassroots movement in Asian women’s horror writing. Geneve is also a two-time Bram Stoker Award winner, Shirley Jackson and Aurealis Award winner, and 2022 Queensland Writers Fellowship recipient. Read more at www.geneveflynn.com.au.
Inspired to support The Pixel Project’s anti-violence against women work? Make a donation to us today OR buy our 1st poetry collection, UNDER HER EYE, that is published in partnership with Black Spot Books. All donations and net proceeds from book sales go towards supporting our campaigns, programmes, and initiatives.
1. Why is ending violence against women important to you and why did you decide to support The Pixel Project by contributing your poem She Chi Grows to UNDER HER EYE which is The Pixel Project’s first charity poetry collection published in partnership with Black Spot Books?
In 2021, thousands around Australia marched in protest against gendered violence and allegations of sexism and misconduct in Parliament. The response from the Australian prime minister?
“Not far from here, such marches, even now are being met with bullets, but not here in this country. This is a triumph of democracy…”
Meanwhile, Our Watch, the leading organisation in the primary prevention of violence against women listed this damning statistic: on average in Australia, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner.
A triumph of democracy indeed.
Ex-prime minister Scott Morrison’s self-congratulatory comment displayed the ignorance and disconnect of policy makers with the reality of gendered violence. It is this disparity that drives me to write about this issue and to support important projects like UNDER HER EYE and The Pixel Project.
2. What do you think poets can do to help with the cultural change needed to stop violence against women and girls?
Poetry has a unique capacity to inspire action and change, and has long been a powerful vehicle for protest. A poem can transform complex ideas and emotions into impactful, concise imagery, capturing the heart of an issue in just a few lines. A poem can encapsulate an injustice and make the reader feel it in their bones.
We, as poets, can drive cultural change by wielding our verse to amplify the voices of women and girls, raise awareness of the prevalence of violence, and highlight the societal and political conditions which engender abuse.
3. Any final thoughts about why everyone should support stopping violence against women?
Everyone should support stopping violence against women because it is an issue which affects everyone. It kills women and girls; it devastates children; it destroys homes; it brutalizes men and boys; it breaks our society. The conditions which create an environment where women and girls are abused are conditions which damage everyone.
Listen to Geneve read She Chi Grows here: