Writer Larysa Denysenko submitted an application to leave PEN Ukraine after the general meeting decided by a majority vote to keep writer Yuriy Vynnychuk in the organization.
" I also announced my withdrawal from PEN Ukraine. I am very sorry if this decision will affect the work of the Executive Board, which united wonderful writers, scientists, advocates of Ukrainian culture, intellectuals, volunteers. Women and men ," she wrote on her Facebook page.
Denysenko explained her decision.
" My act may be perceived as selfish, but I value my personal reputation. I work on the topic of protecting women's rights, the inadmissibility of sexualized violence. In correspondence communication among members of the organization, I saw not only an unacceptable form, but also a devaluation of women's voices, especially young women, a demonstration of amazing privileged deafness, enjoyment of one's freedom, emancipation, freedom of expression, speech, and denial of the vulnerability and pain of others.
I function differently. I am sorry that despite attempts to change the general tone and stop the insults, despite attempts to point out a broader perception of this problem, pain points, the intonation did not change. And here the question arises of one's own ability and the need to be in an intellectual community where vulnerable voices do not simply remain in the minority, as is more often the case, but are so poorly supported that they simply drown in the aggressive attacks of colleagues.
And to protect these voices, it is probably more honest not to remain in the community, but to offer external protection. Which is what I will do ," the writer wrote.
Earlier , writer and Ukrainian Armed Forces officer Illarion Pavlyuk submitted an application to leave PEN Ukraine.
Recall that the discussion around Yuriy Vynnychuk arose because of his column "There Was Once a Depraved Era." He wrote it as a reaction to the suspension of the LNU lecturer Yosyp Los, who was accused of harassment. In the text, Vynnychuk said that in his youth, sexual harassment was supposedly the norm, and sex with a "drunk, almost unconscious girl was the order of things" and was not considered rape. After that, the executive board stated that Vynnychuk's public statements contradicted the values of the organization and damaged its reputation. Therefore, the organization was forced to convene a general meeting - 74 people out of 116 registered voted against the writer's expulsion, 42 supported it.