Episode 111: en(gender)ed Reflections on the gendered impact of COVID-19

On this episode of the en(gender)ed podcast, guest host Pamela Shelden interviews  Pam Munter, author of Fading Fame:  Women of a Certain Age in Hollywood.  Their conversation explores Pam’s book and its themes of the systemic misogyny that has dominated Hollywood throughout its history.  They also address how women on the screen, victimized in a variety of ways, from predatory men on casting couches, to the process of aging itself, continue to be victimized today and how we as viewers can recognize those patterns and stop the cycle.

Pamela Shelden, a member of the Engendered Collective, holds a Ph.D. in English/American literature. She has taught both at the university level (including Brooklyn College, City University of New York) and the high school level (including Stuyvesant High School). Today, she continues teaching through her business, College Counseling and Tutoring Services (CATS), while also mentoring young people to advocate for issues, particularly those affecting the lives of women and children. Dr. Shelden also serves on the Board of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Peninsula Section, where she coordinates several advocacy programs, including a popular advocacy-focused film series. 

During our conversation, both Pams referenced the following resources:

• "Institutional discrimination" or sexism in media
• Fading Fame women including Mary Pickford, Doris Day, and many more

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On this episode of the en(gender)ed podcast, guest host Kerri Holt speaks with Lizzy Hershberger and Molly Maeve Eagan to discuss their book Behind Blue Curtains, A True Crime Memoir of an Amish Woman’s Survival, Escape and Pursuit of Justice.  Their conversation will explore Lizzy’s struggle to survive the abuse, support herself, marry and raise her own family, and seek justice.  Themes covered also include the role of religion and community in the survivor’s life, its role in shaping gender norms and expectations, with particular emphasis on enabling, excusing, or permitting men’s violence over women and the survivors’ healing from trauma. 

Kerri Holt, a member of the Engendered Collective, is a Domestic Violence Victim Advocate for a community-based non-profit (and a Credentialed Advocate through NOVA (National Organization for Victim Assistance).)  Kerri answers calls on a 24/7 hotline with survivors and police with the goal of survivors attaining safety from a current or former partner.  She also provides survivor-centered advocacy in a non-crisis capacity through community prevention and education programming.

During our conversation, Kerri, Lizzy and Molly referenced the following resources:

• The grooming process
• WIsconsin v. Yoder Supreme Court case
• The work of Dr. Zuleka Henderson on trauma and healing

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On this episode of en(gender)ed, guest host Roman James interviews feminist lawyer, human rights activist, political philosopher, columnist and author, Rafia Zakaria about her newly released book, Against White Feminism, Notes on Disruption.  Roman speaks with Rafia about the historic domination of the feminist lexicon by upper middle-class white women, the de-centering of Black and Brown voices, and the role that patriarchy plays in perpetuating white supremacist, capitalist, imperialist feminism which often subjugates the very populations it asserts to be empowering.

Roman James is mama to the most wonderful, generous, and intelligent light being she ever met. Additionally, she serves as an activist and resistor of the violence imposed on women and children in the archaic American family court system having been radicalized by the institutional betrayal of the legal system. Her purpose is to thrive in her self-possession, rise above the systemic failures and leave everyone she comes in contact with better off for having met her.   

During our conversation, Roman and Rafia referenced the following resources:

• Rafia’s journey to becoming a feminist.
• Rafia’s perspective on women being tasked to be disrupters.
• 1893 World’s Fair’s showcase of the “White City” and the exclusion of Black people and communities
• The controversy behind ESPN reporter Maria Taylor and Rachel Nicols
• The double standard and racism behind “culturally-coded crimes”

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Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast!

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On this episode of the en(gender)ed podcast, our guest is Dr. Karen WIlliams, a psychiatrist based in Australia, with an interest In PTSD and cPTSD , social justice and public health. Karen is the Founder of Doctors Against Violence Towards Women, a group of 700 plus doctors from across Australia and New Zealand committed to combating domestic abuse against women, in all of its forms.  We speak with Karen today about her work, her organization’s mission, and its advocacy to reform the health care system including lobbying the government to provide better, evidence-based support for the domestic violence sector and coordinating with other advocacy groups in the child welfare, education, and/or legal sectors.

During our conversation, Karen and I referenced the following resources:

• How Karen came to found Doctors Against Violence Towards Women
• The gendered difference in how society and the medical industry treats men with trauma versus women with trauma
• The pathologization of women’s trauma
• The Dirty John Netflix series
• The abuser disinformation tactic of “PAS” or responding to victims’ claims of abuse by counterclaiming “Parental Alienation”
• The lack of regulation of forensic evaluators not just in Australia, but all over the English-speaking world (Listen to our interview with Nancy Erickson for more on this crisis)

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Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast!

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On this episode of the en(gender)ed podcast, our guest is Roz Davidson, Director of The Positive Parenting Company Ltd and a National Consultant and Trainer in the UK implementing "CODA" a 12-week therapeutic program for women and children recovering from domestic abuse which focuses on providing skills to the Mother to support the child, and addresses self-blame, attachment, what abuse is, and emotional regulation across themed sessions.  We speak with Roz today about coercive control, its signs, impact, and what she and other advocates in Britain are doing to ensure that domestic abuse is taken seriously and perpetrators are held to account.  Roz is currently enrolled in a program to receive her Masters in Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence at Goldsmiths University.

During our conversation, Roz and I referenced the following resources:

• Roz Davidson’s interview Episode 133: Domestic Violence Awareness Month Community Conversation on Domestic Abuse and Child Abuse
• How Roz uses “CODA” to help children exposed to domestic abuse by addressing their behavior instead of the cause.
• Britain’s “Domestic Abuse Bill”
• Safety planning
• Objectives of the CODA program
• The “Timekeeper” PSA and training tool on coercive control of children Roz served as an advisor on
• The “Freedome” Program, “Caring Dads” Programs
• Domestic abuse is and as coercive control and intimate partner terrorism
• Timekeeper’s “Grounding” techniques and trauma-informed content

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Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast!

Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium.

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Greetings Podcast listeners…I’m your host, Teri Yuan.

You’ve probably been wondering why the podcast has been on pause for the past several months.  Well, rather unexpectedly, I had to deal with some personal stuff and more importantly, members of the Engendered Collective rallied to organize and plan the first International Coercive Control Conference.  We will be launching tomorrow this all virtual two-day event that will feature luminaries from around the world, from a variety of sectors ranging from health and medicine, academia, law, advocacy, and government, to name a few.  This conference was entirely conceived and executed by our tireless members and our awesome intern, Abbie.  There is still time to sign up.  If you can’t make all the sessions, register anyway and access the recordings later.  We will also be publishing the sessions as future podcast episodes.  Use the code “PODCAST2021” when you check out to get a 40% discount.  In the meantime, we are working with a great intern, Linda, to help us launch our podcast episodes.  If there are any listeners out there who want to volunteer to edit the podcast and help us keep to a regular publishing schedule, please reach out to me at engenderedpodcast@gmail.com.

Stay tuned for a whole bunch of new episodes and guest hosts interviews coming out soon.  In the meantime, see you at the conference!

On this episode of the en(gender)ed podcast, our guest is Wendy Murphy, a former child abuse and sex crimes prosecutor who teaches at New England Law School in Boston and heads the Women’s and Children’s Advocacy Project under the Center for Law and Social Responsibility. Wendy specializes in the representation of crime victims, especially women and children. She also writes and lectures widely on victims' rights and criminal justice policy, and published an expose of the American legal system, And Justice For Some, in 2007. We speak with Wendy today about the ERA, its implication for women, especially with respect to Title IX, and the need for a feminist revolution in public policy, law, and in our collective consciousness.

During our conversation, Wendy and I referenced the following resources:

• Big Love's misuse of "consent" as an analytical framework for polygamy
• The difference between the use of "consent" versus "autonomy" in crimes involving sex-based violence
• The discrepancy between how the law treats sex-based harm and other forms of harm, and how "consent" is used as a criteria, versus civil rights criteria of "unwelcome"
• Data manipulation of gender-based violence
• Dawn Wilcox's work in creating a femicide database
• How proponents of "Restorative Justice" and decriminalization of prostitution use "consent" as a justification for coercion and exploitation
• The impact of "de-sexing" of language
• An analysis of the policy impact of conflating "sex" and "gender identity"
• The inability of women to talk about "sex" as a political class
• TItle IX and Title VI and the Equality Act's implications for members of the transgender community and for cis women
• The Biden Administration's tacit and explicit opposition to the ERA
• Wendy's support for a new "Women's Party" or union

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Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast!

Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium.

Join our feminist community of survivors, advocates and allies!

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On this episode of the en(gender)ed podcast, our guest is Christine Cocchiola, a licensed Clinical Social Worker and a tenured professor at a Connecticut community college, teaching in the Pre-Social Work Program for over 18 years. Christine began her career in social work as Certified Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Counselor for Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury at the age of 19 where she remains a volunteer today.  She is currently a doctorate candidate in Clinical Social Work at NYU studying coercive control.   We speak with Christine today about her research on coercive control, the impact that this abuse has on adult and child victims, and the advocacy and systems reform that she supports in order to generate greater accountability for abuse. 

During our conversation, Christine and I referenced the following resources:

• Why Christine prefers the term "domestic abuse" instead of "domestic violence" in order to reduce reliance on the violent-incident model
• The difference between "coercive control" and "situational violence"
• The importance of calling "MRA" members, "male supremacists"--the sex/gender equivalent of "white supremacists" and not create a false equivalence between a systemically oppressed and unequal group and one with structural privilege
• Susan Weitzman's book, Not to People Like Us:  Hidden Abuse in Upscale Marriages
• An example of terroristic misogyny where gunman kills ex-girlfriend for allegedly not getting an invite to birthday party and why gun violence reform needs to address the root cause of sexism and misogyny
• Christine's testimony in support of "Jennifer's Law" for the Connecticut State Legislature

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Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast!

Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium.

Join our feminist community of survivors, advocates and allies!

Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable.

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On this episode of the en(gender)ed podcast, our guest is Elle Kamihira, a multi-disciplinary director whose work has focused on using storytelling as a tool to spark conversation about women’s lives and gender inequality.  We speak with Elle today about one of her current projects, Jennifer 42, an animated documentary that takes a close look at the role of coercive control in the true story of the murder of Jennifer Magnano and Elle’s advocacy work supporting “Jennifer’s Law,” a related proposed legislation under consideration by the Connecticut legislature.

During our conversation, Elle and I referenced the following resources:

• How coercive control impacts victims and children
• How society blames women for everything, as depicted in a recent episode of A Million Little Things
• The public hearing for "Jennifer's Law" in March 2021 which includes testimony for over 11 hours from survivors and advocates in support of coercive control legislation
• How members of the "Domestic Violence Industrial Complex" are opposing the Jennifer's Law legislation that would update definitions of domestic violence to be holistic and increase accountability for abuse
• The distinctions between the new legislation the DV agencies in Connecticut are proposing and Jennifer's Law
• How some advocates who refer to themselves as victims advocates are actually "abuser apologists" or "abuser sympathizers"

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Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast!

Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium.

Join our feminist community of survivors, advocates and allies!

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On this episode of en(gender)ed, our guest is Rachel Landis, a National Policy Director at Generation Ratify, the young people’s feminist movement.  The organization is a youth-led movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and advance gender equality in the United States of America.  We speak with Rachel today about her work, the Equal Rights Amendment, and how we can and must build a coalition of young people across the country to lead an intersectional feminist revolution.

During our conversation, Rachel and I referenced the following resources:

• How the ERA benefits not just women but all people
• The documentary on the ERA called Equal Means Equal
• How the healthcare industry is sexist and needs the ERA to enforce policy and practice that treats women fairly
• The sexist and racist history of gynecology and obstetrics
• Our letter to the Attorney General about the ERA
• The connection between sexism, misogyny, masculinity and other fights against oppression--ecofeminism, anti-racism, gender equality
• How gender oppression, sexual assault/rape impact women's educational outcomes

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Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast!

Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium.

Join our feminist community of survivors, advocates and allies!

Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable.

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