Another year has passed and the last evening of the festival will yet again be dedicated to the Bodeča Neža (thistle) award ceremony.  This dishonourable title can befall anyone who publicly attacks, degrades and offends others on the basis of one’s gender, sexual orientation and/or sexual identity. We believe that especially persons who are active in publicly exposed areas, such as politics, science, (pop)culture, art and media, have big responsibility for co-creation of an open, plural and tolerant society. Their position gives them the privilege to co-shape public opinion. If they are spreading sexist viewpoints and ideas, they are normalizing hate speech and legitimizing discrimination from a position of power, which is in opposition to the strivings for the society of equal opportunities.

Bodeča Neža award ceremony is the result of collaboration between Red Dawns collective and the editorial board of  the online portal site Spol.si. Of course, we cannot exclude the interested public, who can participate in the voting process at several different levels. Anyone who notices a sexist statement can report it at http://bodeca-neza.spol.si/ . A working group, composed of the editorial board of Spol.si  and collective of Red Dawns decides which nominated statements shall be published. A week before the festival, a questionnaire with the chosen statements will spread around the Internet, with the help of which five of the statements will get into the finals. The “winning” statement  will be voted through by the audience at the solemn award ceremony with loud boooooo-s.

In the Slovene language.

Co-organisation: Spol.si