A closing note for the year

The past weeks (and the entire year) have been intense. I feel like I’m repeating myself, cause really it’s been like that for years now.

I started writing on Substack in March this year, sharing some of my views on the gender identity shift within the Left — as a longtime activist, human rights advocate and former Green politician. I began documenting what was happening to me as I faced yet another wave of attacks within the Greens. I looked closely at the dynamics unfolding inside the party and eventually shared my decision to leave because I simply couldn’t take it any longer. And because, long overdue, I drew a boundary.

I also wrote about some of the broader cultural discussions taking shape in the gender-critical sphere, including the trend towards broad-brush rejections and a descent into a rhetoric that increasingly resembles a new form of groupthink. One that, in many ways, isn’t all that different from what many of us have already experienced from those we would now recognise as authoritarian.

And then, eventually, we birthed Athena. She came into being slowly and then suddenly. I did not have a long envisioned strategy but gradually, everything came into focus. Over the past weeks, I became completely immersed in building our new organisation. And as I move into 2026, I’ll be doing everything I can to keep it alive.

I’ve done dozens of interviews in recent weeks, maybe you’ll feel like listening to one or two of the podcasts over the break. I especially enjoyed my conversation with Mr Menno at this year’s Battle of Ideas.

I also had great discussions with the Women’s Rights Network and with Finnish podcaster Milja Mansukoski on M-podi: Social issues with a critical mind.

And this riveting talk with radical feminist podcaster Zsófi Balogh from Partizán, Hungary’s leading independent media platform.

There are many more interviews scheduled for next year and I’ll keep saying my part until I no longer have to.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way, here on this Substack and also with Athena. I appreciate it deeply. I never expected this kind of resonance and it lifts me every time.

There are a few things I still believe in. Representation, for one. Even if it’s become fashionable to badmouth the concept, I know it matters. Our identities are complex. We don’t suddenly have to fall silent about this just because others are now flying identity-flags in their war against everything. As humans, but especially as women and as lesbians, we carry so much shame. Deep-rooted, unwarranted and unproductive shame with so many reasons behind it. For being as we are. For not being enough. For being a disappointment to those around us. Parents, partners, children.

Shame for having done something condemnable. For not living up to our own standards of perfect. For having wronged someone. For having been cast out, rejected, abandoned. For being unloved, unlovable, or unable to love.

I’m not saying that seeing yourself in someone else erases that. But it helps to recognise greatness, goodness, courage or beauty in someone else, and to be able to relate oneself to them. To begin to see it in yourself. Tentatively. Delicately. Perceiving a part of yourself with appreciation. Letting parts of yourself be appreciated.

I also still believe that Christmas is the best holiday. Even if it, too, can stir up shame. Old patterns resurfacing at family gatherings, persistent insecurities and an incorrigible habit of hoping. A holiday for inner celebration as much as for gift giving and daytime drinking. Reaching inward with intent and care, allowing ourselves to be at peace with who we are, without concern for those who only look to judge.

I set up Athena to be that: a representation. An anchor. The strength in all of us. To dare to shed what’s keeping us small.

As I prepare for the holidays, blessed to spend them with a small one who wants to chase down every possible gift bearer (Christkind, Santa Claus or any of the elves), I’ll be pausing this Substack indefinitely.

Thank you again to all of you who supported me with a paid subscription this year. It truly means a lot. If you feel like it, please move over to Athena and consider supporting my work there. In any case, please do subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with what we’re doing.

I may return to this space when I feel there’s something I want to say that fits here.
In the meantime, I’ll be channelling my rage, my hope and my love through Athena. And I’d be glad if many of you chose to come with me into this next part of the journey.

Have a wonderful Christmas time!