This was a workshop facilitated by Ebru in Aghdzq, 2014
One volunteer is needed for this workshop. Everyone else takes a long enough piece of cloth that can be tied around any part of the volunteer’s body and writes a statement in their own language or in any language they see fit. The statement should refer to any words or phrases that are used in the given culture that refer to women, particularly with regards to women’s bodies or minds (marriage material, brainless, big mouth…). Once everyone writes a phrase they come up one by one and tie the cloth with the written phrase around the part of the volunteer’s body that they feel represents the phrase. Make sure the volunteer feels safe to have the cloth tied around them. The volunteer can be asked how she feels during the process of having different pieces of cloth tied around her.
Once everyone ties the cloth around the volunteer, the facilitator should ask everyone to come up to the volunteer one by one and untie one piece of cloth while uttering a wish for her to break free from the words and phrases that bind women in general.
After all the cloth is untied and the volunteer is free, everyone can discuss how the exercise felt for them and exchange their thoughts, ideas and emotions.