Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Women Around the World: Beverly Palesa Ditsie

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Women Around the World: Beverly Palesa Ditsie · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and don't go to
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  Speaker 1: stuff I've never told you production of I Heart Radio.
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  Speaker 1: All right, and you have a question for you. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: are you ready? I think so. As a kid, did
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  Speaker 1: you play any kind of dress up or pretend? Oh? Yes, yes,
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  Speaker 1: oh yes. I One of my mom's favorite stories to
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  Speaker 1: tell people is that when I was four, I made
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  Speaker 1: an office and I would go to work. I had
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  Speaker 1: like a little briefcase that I made and like these
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  Speaker 1: little sheets I would fill out and I would be,
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  Speaker 1: like my dad would come home from work, and I'd
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  Speaker 1: be like, good day, and like continue about my business. Um,
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  Speaker 1: and I would kind of dress up for that, and
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  Speaker 1: then I did do. I went through the period where
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  Speaker 1: I was pretty young and I was like wearing way
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  Speaker 1: too much makeup and like dresses and if anything I
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  Speaker 1: could find from my grandmother my aunts that I thought
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  Speaker 1: it looked cool from a different era. I was really
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  Speaker 1: into that. But yes, also, me and my best friend
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  Speaker 1: did a lot of Star Wars dress up where we
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  Speaker 1: would get in our robes and we had our lightsabers
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  Speaker 1: and return on Strobe light yeah, and play Duel of
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  Speaker 1: the Fates and have a lightsaber battle. I love it. Well. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and that goes to the second part. Do you feel
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  Speaker 1: like when you look back at some of the things
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  Speaker 1: that you would do or some of the things that
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  Speaker 1: you pretended or dress up as kind of reflect on
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  Speaker 1: who you are or who you wanted to be today
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  Speaker 1: or what you ended up being today. Yeah, definitely. Obviously
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  Speaker 1: Star Wars love. I would say I am a pretty
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  Speaker 1: hard worker. Um and I love I love dressing up
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  Speaker 1: and imagining. I still that's still one of my very
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  Speaker 1: favorite things is to cosplay, but also just like imagine
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  Speaker 1: things and me and my friend, aforementioned Jedi friend would
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  Speaker 1: we would go in the woods and we would um
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  Speaker 1: like come up with these really elaborate stories and scenarios.
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  Speaker 1: And that's something I still love doing, is writing or
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  Speaker 1: telling stories in whatever way I can. So yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: think so, I think so yeah. I don't have that
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  Speaker 1: many stories. I honestly, I don't know. My childhood was
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  Speaker 1: really weird, trying to just adjust to a new country,
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  Speaker 1: So I don't have those types of stories, but I
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  Speaker 1: think a lot of people do. And I was thinking
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  Speaker 1: about this Today's We're actually gonna be talking about activists
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  Speaker 1: and icon Beverly Pallesa Ditzi, who is a South African
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  Speaker 1: queer activist, a filmmaker and just an amazing artist in general.
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  Speaker 1: And we're gonna talk a little more about how growing
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  Speaker 1: up she realized, Oh, I now make sense of what
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  Speaker 1: I was doing or dressing up like as a kid
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  Speaker 1: to who I am today. It's like, oh yeah, and
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  Speaker 1: it made me think of that. But Ditzi, who we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about, was born in Sagunto, South Africa in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy one and was raised doing the hardships of apartheid
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  Speaker 1: and racial oppression, and added that her struggles as being
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  Speaker 1: a lesbian in you know, a very unwelcoming time like
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  Speaker 1: that was not a thing to be accepted, and it's
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  Speaker 1: still controversial to be a part of the LGBTQ plus
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  Speaker 1: community in general. But she was no stranger in just
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  Speaker 1: daring to be herself. Yeah. She related a story of
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  Speaker 1: learning what gay meant after hearing the term over the
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  Speaker 1: speculation of musician Boy George, and after learning what it meant,
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  Speaker 1: Um was elated to be able to identify a part
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  Speaker 1: of herself. She said in an article, I remember this
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  Speaker 1: confusion that I'd always had. I'd been trying to work
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  Speaker 1: out how I'd get over this thing. I always thought
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  Speaker 1: I was the only one. I thought, I'm just gay.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm just gay. Everything is okay. I'm
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  Speaker 1: just gay. She stated. Her and her friends but often
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  Speaker 1: dressed like the eighties group Culture Club, mimicking the styles
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  Speaker 1: of Ward George, living in the freedom they created for themselves,
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  Speaker 1: going past gender norms and dressing as they wanted and
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  Speaker 1: as way to represent themselves a bit more. Though freedom
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  Speaker 1: wasn't easily accessible living under the termoil of the country
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  Speaker 1: during the apartheid right, so did see. However, never stopped
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  Speaker 1: pushing and fighting. She talks about being a rebel very young,
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  Speaker 1: and she also talks about having good support from our family,
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  Speaker 1: even though they were worried and even though they had
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  Speaker 1: been attacked and threatened through her activism. But she continued
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  Speaker 1: to live and grow up in South Africa, and she
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  Speaker 1: joined clubs and organizations for activism and advocacy, and soon
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  Speaker 1: she met Simon ingle I. She stated, quote, my activism
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  Speaker 1: was born out of frustration. I was very lucky that
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  Speaker 1: I was also spending a lot of time with a
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  Speaker 1: group of beautiful queer boys, and together we attended the
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  Speaker 1: first meeting of Glow the gay and Lesbian Organization of
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  Speaker 1: the waters Rand, and as she was part of this organization,
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  Speaker 1: she had also met up with Simon ingle I. They
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  Speaker 1: together formed this group UM and it was through this
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  Speaker 1: group she would push for intersectionality and advocacy and ally ship.
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  Speaker 1: When she spoke of the group's work, including ingle I,
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  Speaker 1: she stated, Simon said, I am black, I am queer,
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  Speaker 1: and I cannot separate these into primary and secondary struggles.
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  Speaker 1: What is this if it's intersectionality ad women at poor
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  Speaker 1: and I found myself in those wards and then when
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  Speaker 1: I found that everything I did from then on was
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  Speaker 1: based on that, that was my spring board in goal.
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  Speaker 1: I had faced the death penalty with several others for treason,
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  Speaker 1: but was acquitted and released did C he was able
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  Speaker 1: to attend a meeting where he spoke of the rights
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  Speaker 1: for the gay community. She said, that's something I've never
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  Speaker 1: heard before, and coming from someone who was also a
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  Speaker 1: legitimate Antipartheide activists, it legitimized all my struggles and feelings,
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  Speaker 1: and continued saying, for the first time he included my
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  Speaker 1: queerness in the equation. So freedom was not just going
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  Speaker 1: to mean freedom for me as a black person, it
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  Speaker 1: would also be freedom for me as a woman, as
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  Speaker 1: a gay woman. Kali soon became her mentor and they,
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  Speaker 1: with several others started Glue and it was through this
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  Speaker 1: organization they put together the first Pride in their community.
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  Speaker 1: In Though there was some worry as to the turnout
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  Speaker 1: for the event, there were at least eight hundred protesters present.
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  Speaker 1: The event. Organizers even had paper bags ready for those
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  Speaker 1: who wanted to participate but not be identified, but no
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  Speaker 1: one wanted one and they were ready to protest proudly.
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  Speaker 1: Her activism continued as she became the first openly queer
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  Speaker 1: woman to speak at the fourth Annual UN Conference on
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  Speaker 1: Women in Beijing in nine She spoke about the importance
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  Speaker 1: of lesbian rights specific to empowering and uplifting women, and
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  Speaker 1: this was the first time for anyone to address to
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  Speaker 1: the UN the overall needs for including queer women in
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  Speaker 1: the protections of human rights. She stated in her address,
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  Speaker 1: if the World Conference on Women is to address the
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  Speaker 1: concerns of all women, it must similarly recognize that discrimination
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  Speaker 1: based on sexual orientation is a violation of basic human rights.
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  Speaker 1: And though she learned so much from the organization of GLOW,
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  Speaker 1: she eventually laughed when she felt that the organization refused
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  Speaker 1: to see and address the needs of queer women and
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  Speaker 1: those the disappointment for her to see that the needs
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  Speaker 1: of women were being ignored. She kept pushing, including speaking
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  Speaker 1: at the un which she stated was the last straw
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  Speaker 1: and why she left Glow because they were so unsupportive
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  Speaker 1: and not wanting her to do this. She even went
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  Speaker 1: on reality TV to bring attention and humanness for the
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  Speaker 1: gay community. And by the way, she is no stranger
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  Speaker 1: to television acting or any of that. Apparently, she was
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  Speaker 1: a child's actor and one of was one of the
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  Speaker 1: first child actors, and she often portrayed young boys, she said,
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  Speaker 1: so that was an interesting thing. Her mother was also famous,
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  Speaker 1: I believe, a musician, so she she knows a little
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  Speaker 1: thing about entertainment. But she did go on to this
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  Speaker 1: reality show and she stayed she wanted to be a
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  Speaker 1: part of the show to put a face and humanity
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  Speaker 1: behind what it is they don't know and be there
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  Speaker 1: to answer their questions. And she actually spoke of a
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  Speaker 1: specific person who was a part of the show with
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  Speaker 1: her who talked about how he used to beat up
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  Speaker 1: gay people because they didn't deserve to be in existence
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  Speaker 1: and she was able to change his mind and was
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  Speaker 1: able to become friends with him. Did she was invited
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  Speaker 1: to the tenth Glow Anniversary party where she was able
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  Speaker 1: to reconcile with longtime friend Golie. After Kali's death died
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  Speaker 1: of AIDS in she created a documentary titled Simon and I,
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  Speaker 1: which follows the life of Simon Incola I and Ditzy
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  Speaker 1: and their activism and also how the AIDS ofpidemic and
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  Speaker 1: Africa impacted them. And the documentary also talked of how
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  Speaker 1: their movement helped South Africa become the only country to
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  Speaker 1: include sexual orientation and its constitutional Bill of Rights. The
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  Speaker 1: film won several awards including International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam,
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  Speaker 1: Real Affirmation Film Festival, San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival,
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  Speaker 1: and A bunch More in dis herself has won several
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  Speaker 1: awards and accolies, including the Safe Space Community Icon Award
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  Speaker 1: in twenty the Feathers Award, and she also received an
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  Speaker 1: honorary doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in California, and then
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  Speaker 1: when she was presented with the doctorate, in the presentation,
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  Speaker 1: they stated as the first person ever to address gay
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  Speaker 1: and lesbian rights before the United Assembly, you call for
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  Speaker 1: the recognition of discrimination based on sexual orientation as a
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  Speaker 1: violation of human rights. As an advocate and key founder
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  Speaker 1: of the Gay and Lesbian Organization of the wit Waters
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  Speaker 1: and in South Africa's first Pride March, you have reminded
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  Speaker 1: us all that freedom of self expression and identity belongs
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  Speaker 1: to everyone. As a director and documentary filmmaker, you have
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  Speaker 1: used television and film to entertain and open minds, to
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  Speaker 1: educate and build bridges of understanding that are vital to
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  Speaker 1: our future. She talked about how this was just like
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  Speaker 1: brought tears our eyes and she was like, wow, I've
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  Speaker 1: never really thought of this. I am an icon and
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  Speaker 1: she absolutely is, and she's still doing some really huge
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  Speaker 1: things including uh working and as director for several different films.
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  Speaker 1: Her current release, I belief, was Lesbians Free Everyone the
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  Speaker 1: Beijing Retrospective, which I believe is out. She has been
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  Speaker 1: a part of the Project Runway of South Africa, so
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  Speaker 1: she's been really huge and she talks about how she
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  Speaker 1: loves participating and things like this to show a positive
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  Speaker 1: outlook on what the gay community, the QUICK community is
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  Speaker 1: and who they are and how they should be celebrated
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  Speaker 1: and and and again just being human in general and
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  Speaker 1: being acknowledged in their identity and how wonderful and how
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  Speaker 1: beautiful that can be. Yeah, absolutely very excited to check
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  Speaker 1: out her work. And also I was in South Africa
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  Speaker 1: a couple of years ago for a conference and I
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  Speaker 1: went to a session on the queer community. And also
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  Speaker 1: it was just interesting because they were talking about the
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  Speaker 1: how in certain languages and dialects there aren't words for
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  Speaker 1: things like transgender, and how how do we address that
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  Speaker 1: and pushing it that way. And you know, we've also
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  Speaker 1: had the conversation of how sometimes the labels can be damaging,
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  Speaker 1: are not completely accurate, and so we're always like coming
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  Speaker 1: up with new new words or new ways to identify.
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  Speaker 1: But at the same time, if there isn't a word
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  Speaker 1: to describe your experience, that's also problematic and difficult. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: very interested to see how that that conversation keeps going
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  Speaker 1: right And in the meantime, listeners, if you would like
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: to contact us, if you have any suggestions of women
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: we should highlight, please send them our away. Our email
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  Speaker 1: is the Stuff Media Mom Stuff at iHeart media dot com.
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  Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter, at mom Stuff podcast
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  Speaker 1: or on Instagram. And Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: as always your super producer Christina, thank you, and thanks
• 11:17
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