June 30, 2014: Lesbians Changing the World

Our Lesbian She-roes, Our Fore Mothers

Lorraine Hansberry

On this week's show, we'll listen to part of a herstory event organized by Old Lesbians Organizing for Change honoring lesbian she-roes of the past. Everyone knows about Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, but how many of us knew social welfare activist Jane Addams and playwright Lorraine Hansberry were members of the club? And many people may not even know the name Frances Perkins at all, even though we have her to thank for Medicare and Social Security.

Get MP3 or listen below. 24:59 min.




Also on this show: Clinic Buffer zones Are Not the Answer and Susan Chacin and Elana Dykewomon discuss the upcoming OLOC national gathering, "Lesbian Activism Changing the World."


Click here to listen to the entire show. 59:49 min.

January 13, 2014: Helping Ourselves, Helping Each Other, Doing It For Ourselves

Health and Wellness for Lesbians and Bisexual Women Over 40

DIFOBAYAREA.ORG

Mickey Eliason discusses Doing It For Ourselves, a health & wellness program for lesbian & bisexual women over 40.  How grassroots health educators turned the federal craze for stamping out obesity into an opportunity to promote community, self-love, fun and health at any weight, shape and size. DIFO's 12 week programs are open to all lesbian and bisexual women over 40 including trans-women who identify as lesbian, bisexual or queer. New groups are starting in late February or early March so check out the website to sign up or read the wealth of information there.

Listen.  19:15 min.

Click here to listen to the entire show including the interview with Tara Dorabji about Dear Sister, anthology of sexual violence survivors. 59:50 min

Monday, October 21: Honduran Elections; History of American Scrapbooks

Interview with Suyapa Portillo Villeda

Xiomara Castro de Zelaya

With the Honduran elections less than six weeks away, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, the candidate of the leftist LIBRE party, is leading in the polls.  Pitzer College professor Suyapa Portillo Villeda discusses the history of US involvement in Honduras, the coup of 2009 and the emergence of LIBRE as a broad popular coalition.  She also discusses the case against indigenous leader Berta Caceres. For more information about check out Free Berta Carceres.  30:12 min.


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History of Scrapbooks with Ellen Gruber Garvey

http://scrapbookhistory.wordpress.com/book/

Then Ellen Gruber Garvey, author of Writing With Scissors: American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance, talks about how people, especially women and African Americans, used scrapbooks to create their own narratives using the tools of mainstream media, just as news aggregators and bloggers do today. 23:08 min.



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Click here to listen to KPFA Women's Magazine. 59 min

June 24, 2013: Pinkwashing Apartheid and Dyke Disorders

"Pinkwashing," a term first used to refer to corporate profiteering off of breast cancer awareness, now has another meaning as well.  It describes the efforts of the Israeli government and its supporters to use progressive policies toward gay and trans citizens of Israel to build alliances with queer communities in the U.S. and Europe, and deflect criticism of its defiance of international law and repression of Palestinians - both citizens and non-citizens, queer and straight.

Lesbian activist, filmmaker and author Sarah Schulman's newest book is Israel/Palestine and the Queer International.  Schulman brought the concept of "pinkwashing" into the mainstream with an Op-Ed in the New York Times in 2011.

Lisa Dettmer talks with Sarah about pinkwashing and the personal journey which ended in her becoming a key spokesperson for the growing LGBT Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement targeting Israeli human rights violations.

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Learn more about pinkwashing

As controversy swirls around the newly released "DSM-5," which many say continues the tradition of overdiagnosing mental disorders, we speak with Mickey Eliason, Ph.Dyk, author of the Dyke Diagnostic Manual (ed. III, Revised).  Eliason sheds light on such little-known maladies as Femme Feline Fetish, Lesbian Fusion Disorder and U-Haul Syndrome.

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November 26th: Women in the Syrian opposition coalition; and gender on TV

Women's Magazine's Kate Rafael discusses the new Syrian opposition coalition with Afraa Jalabi of the Syrian National Council and Mohja Kahf, Professor of Literature and Gender Studies at the University of Arkansas.

courtesy:  Mohja Kahf

"This is not your father's revolution," says Mohja Kahf. There is an active and escalating non-violent, grass roots movement in Syria. Mohja and Afraa give a personal and political account of the Syrian revolution. There are over 33,000 prisoners of conscience in Syria prisons. 472 are women. They have been there for over a year without due process. Stay in tune with the grassroots movements in Syria through links on Stop the Killing Campaign Facebook page.

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"Brides of Peace": In the Middle of Madness, Four Women March for Nonviolence in Syria

By Mohja Kahf

Four young Syrian women staged a women’s march for nonviolence through the middle of Medhat Basha market in Damascus, Syria, on November 21, 2012. In the finest tradition of subversive street theater, all four dressed in bridal gowns and veils, carrying red banners... Read more

Television for the Discerning Feminist Palate

Is television shaping ideas about women, simply reflecting, or are the lives of television women completely divorced from the lives of real women? Next we dissect gender roles on some of the hottest shows on television (Nashville, Revenge, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Girls) with bloggers Camille Morgenstern of TurnUpTheSass and Anna Sterling of feministing.com. 27:02 min.

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Special note to KPFA members: Don't forget to vote for the KPFA board members. Your ballot is due in New York on December 11, so get it out early. And if you're not a member, please donate to KPFA and mention Women's Magazine. Thanks.

To listen to the entire show click here. 59:49 min.

How to Make a Revolution: "United in Anger"

UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP, which shows at Frameline36 on June 19, chronicles the last successful social movement in the United States from the perspective of those who made it happen. ACT UP - the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, was born in New York City in 1987 and quickly spread around the world. Producer, activist and author Sarah Schulman explains how this small group of people organized to save each other's lives and change the world. HIV prevention activist Cyd Nova shares the perspective of a younger generation of queers who have been waiting a lifetime for a movie like this.  24:37

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Learn more about the film.  Watch the trailer.

Get involved with ACT UP.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

Moving to the Head of the Line: Elana Dykewomon on Passing of a Literary Generation

Adrienne Rich
photo: Gypsy P. Ray

Also writer, teacher, and activist Elana Dykewomon reflects on the passing of Adrienne Rich and what it means to "move to the head of the line" of feminist writers. Elana describes Adrienne as part of the generation that was her direct first line and the first chapter into the world of feminism. 25:51 min.



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Purple Moon Dance Project present "Uhane"

Coming up this weekend, Purple Moon Dance Project celebrates 20 years with its most ambitious project yet, "Uhane." Ten unstoppable women over 60 share over 950 years of stories. Kate Raphael talks with artistic director and founder Jill Togawa and performer Susan Almazol.

Uhane premieres Friday-Sunday, April 13-15 at Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco. For info and tickets see http://www.purplemoondance.org. 22:28 min.



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For a quick analysis of "ObamaCare" and how it will effect heathcare for women and women's event calendar click here to hear entire show as it aired on KPFA.

Not Over: The Legacy of ACT UP

In March 1987, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) held its first action in New York.  But radical AIDS activism was not born at that time.  The AIDS/ARC vigil, a years-long encampment at the Old Federal Building in San Francisco's UN Plaza, had begun a year and a half earlier, and hundreds of LGBT activists and community leaders had been arrested in dozens of actions at that site.  The affinity group Citizens for Medical Justice and the larger direct action group AIDS Action Pledge followed in 1986.  In late 1987, the San Francisco AIDS Action Pledge decided to change its name to ACT UP to promote the unity of the national movement.

On March 24, 2012, long-time Queer activists came together with younger folks from Occupy SF and Homonomixx to discuss the legacy of ACT UP and its lessons for present and future activism. 

The group is organizing a Good Friday protest on April 6 entitled "AIDS is not over: The Resurrection March of ACT UP".

Panel participants included:

Kenyon Farrow - NYC based writer and activist, former executive director of Queers for Economic Justice and current communications manager for Housing Works.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca - queer activist who has been part of social and economic justice movements since the 70’s to today, currently organizing in campaigns demanding affordable housing for all.

Carol Leigh aka Scarlot Harlot - long-time activist, writer and videographer who was instrumental in the organization of the sex worker rights movement, as well as being part of ACT UP.

Cyd Nova - has been involved in the Occupy/Decolonize movement with queer economic justice group Homonomixxx. Organizer for transgender, sex worker and HIV prevention justice.

Dean Oullette - long time organizer with both ACT UP in San Francisco and in NYC. Advocate for sex workers.

Jorge Vieto - An HIV prevention worker for over 7 years and currently a staff member for STOP AIDS. Jorge has been a long time advocate for and member of the leather community.

Liz Highleyman (moderator) - freelance writer, editor, and health educator, ACT UP organizer and street medic for Occupy.

Listen to this excerpt from the panel (21:49):

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August 22nd: Film, Art and The Intersections Between Them

Viola Davis stars as Abilene in "The Help"

Whether or not you loved The Help you'll appreciate this perspective on the movie based on Kathryn Stockett's novel. Eryn Matthewson speaks with Dr. Brittney Cooper and others about the controversial film, "The Help." Check out Dr. Cooper's blog or contact her.
Read more of what African American feminists have to say about "The Help".
Get MP3 or listen now. 17:48 min.

Preeti Shekar speaks with Aniruddhan Vasudevan about his upcoming show Brinhalla, part of the Queer Eye South Asian LGBT film and art fest. Vasudevan talks about his personal experience as a cross-dresser in traditional Indian dance and many aspects of sexuality and gender in Indian society both political and cultural. His performance will be at the Women's Building in San Francisco this weekend, August 28th at 5PM.

Get MP3 19:37 min. or Listen now.

Kate Raphael talks with Lynn Hershmann Leeson about her documentary, "!Women Art Revolution." Lynn has been filming women artist for four decades and her film features 65 Feminist artists from the 70's, 80's and 90's. Be sure to check out the interactive gallery.  The film opens on August 26th in San Francisco.
Get MP3 or listen now. 17:39 min.

Click here for the entire show as aired on KPFA.

August 1st: Women's Magazine Replays Freedom's Warrior: The Life and Times of Marilyn Buck

It has been one year since Marilyn Buck's death. Women's Magazine honors her memory and reminds us how much she is still missed.


Click to hear the interview with Marilyn's friends and chosen family, fellow prisoners and lawyers.


To support KPFA and Women's Magazine click below:

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Click here for Womens's Calendar Events and to listen to today's show

July 11th: Women veterans use art to heal and Queer Women of Color Film festival Panelists speak about art and activism

Today on our show, we hear from women veterans about how art can help them manage and cope with the impact of deployment.  An exhibition at Shout, sponsored by Swords to Ploughshares ended June 30th but can be seen online. Two of the artists featured in interview are Vicki Hudson and Nicole Gim.

Later we revisit Queer Women of Color Film Festival and hear different perspectives on combining art and activism.

Also, Women's Events Calendar. 59:52 min.

Click here to listen to the entire show.  59:52 min.

July 4: Arab Lesbians Live! and "Beyond the Money Paradigm"

A few weeks ago, kidnapped Syrian American lesbian blogger Amina Arraf was unmasked as Tom MacMaster, a straight white guy from the U.S., now living in Scotland.  Then, the blogger who first promoted and later helped expose him was found to be ... you got it, another straight guy, leading John Stewart to comment "It turns out, the lesbians we care most about in the world are dudes!"

We talk about the meaning of all this with Lebanese American cartoonist Jennifer Camper, who says "I always assumed men were pretending to be lesbians, and I always figured they would end up talking to each other."  Turnabout is fair play, she says, so she created the blog hetwhiteboy where she, as an Arab lesbian, can pretend to be a white man pretending to be an Arab lesbian.  Also joining us is Alia Ghabra, an actual Syrian American lesbian, who talks about what's really happening for LGBT folks in Syria, and what the support for Amina says about the Arab queer community.  (cartoon at left (c) Jennifer Camper)

Listen here or Get MP3

To learn more about queers in the Arab world, check out these excellent sites:
Bint el Nas, online journal "designed to serve the needs and interests of women who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (including female-to-male and male-to-female trans* people in any state of transition), and who are identified ethnically or culturally with the Arab world"
Meem, a community of lesbian, bisexual, queer and questioning women and transgender people in Lebanon
Al Qaws for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Palestine
Aswat Palestinian Gay Women
Helem, Lebanese Protection for LGBTs

Jadaliyya, an independent ezine produced by Arab Studies Institute, a network of writers associated with the Arab Studies Journal
Now Lebanon, for up-to-date info about Arab Spring and political news from the Arab world

Listen to entire July 4 show, including "Beyond the Money Paradigm" from WINGS, and the Women's Community Calendar.

June 27th: Beyond Gay Marriage

This special one-hour broadcast is a documentary offering a radical Queers critique of the Gay Marriage movement and how it is driving a more assimiliationist gay politics. It is 40 years since the Stonewall rebellion generated the birth of the gay liberation movement, but the gay movement today is a far different movement than the radical politics of the 1960’s. While many have assumed that gay marriage is important to most Queers, this documentary challenges that myth and shows how the emphasis on gay marriage is part of the loss of a radical Queer critique. We discuss how we got to where we are and what kind of political work radical Queers are dong. You will hear the voices of many radical queers and academics sharing their perspective on what a radical Queer movement and politics could be.

This documentary includes the voices of:
Kenyon Farrow, Executive Director of Queers for Economic Justice
Brian Bassinger, Executive Director, Aids Housing Alliance of San Francisco
Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco
Professor Lisa Duggan, NYU
Professor Dean Spade , Seattle University School of Law
Professor Priya Kandaswamy, University of Portland
and many more dynamic and articulate voices for LGBT liberation in the context of all liberation.


Don't miss "Beyond Gay Marriage".




"Beyond Gay Marriage" was produced as part of Queer Radical Voices. For other groundbreaking documentaries on queer issues you don't usually hear about, check out http://queerradio.blogspot.com/.

To learn more about people and groups who are building a queer liberation agenda, see http://www.beyondmarriage.org/.

To hear today's Women's Calendar Events listen to entire show.

June 20th: Women's Magazine honors Juneteenth and Pride Month with two very important broadcasts.

This broadcast features two panel discussions held this year.


The first segment is a discussion on the criminalization of African American girls that took place at the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice in March with Rev. Dr. Toni Dunbar and Barry Krisberg.


The next segment's focus is how art and activism are tied to the Queer Women of Color Film Festival. It includes a panel with African-American writer Jewel Gomez and Chicana activist Olga Talamante. Get MP3. 1hr 32min.

We close with updates from the Women's Community Calendar. Click here to listen. 59:51 min.

June 13th: Why US women are rejecting marriage...And the unspoken risk of sexual violence against women journalist.

Are US Women Rejecting Marriage? and Why? Dr. Harriet Fraad author of The Great Recession and Gender Marriage Transformation talks about the disentegration of marriage in the US from an economic viewpoint.

Listen or Get MP3 36:01 min.




Lauren Wolfe of the Committee to Protect Journalists talks about the risks of sexual violence international women journalists face. Some news agencies are considering giving them rape kits to take into field yet many women still refuse to talk about their encounters with sexual abuse and sexual violation. The entire report can be found at http://www.cpj.org/reports/2011/06/silencing-crime-sexual-violence-journalists.php

Listen or Get MP314:26 min

To hear the entire broadcast including Women's Calendar Events click here

April 11th: Criminalization of queers in U.S. & queers in the Egyptian uprising

Kate Raphael interviews Kay Whitlock, Andrea Ritchie, and Joey Mogul authors of Queer (In)Justice The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. Their new book examines the perpertration of violence against Queer people by police and other law enforcement agencies in the US.

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In the second part of today's show filmmaker Maher Sabry talks about his life as a Gay man in the Arab world, his film All My Life, the role of LGBT people in the Tahrir Square uprising in Egypt and more.

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Click this link to hear the entire show, including Women's Calendar. 59:48 min.

April 4th: Gay suicide and DJing and gender dynamics.

Today we discuss suicide among gay teenagers and ways to address it with a Hayward High School student.

For more information check out gsanetwork and GLSEN.

Then we talk to the Sol Sistas - aka DJ Sol and Michelle - about the art of DJing and gender dynamics that accompany it.

We conclude with event updates on the Women's Community Calendar. 59:48 min

Listen to the show.

March 14th: Women's Magazine: The Future of the San Francisco Dyke March; the Artistry of Meshell Ndegeocello

Over 50,000 dykes and their friends attend the SF Dyke March and Rally every year. A one dollar donation from each person could more than finance this incredible event. Yet organizers still struggle to raise enough money. Listen to longtime organizers Mo Kalman, Happy Hyder, and Marcie Delgadillo describe the ins and outs of the San Francisco Dyke March. 19:07 min.

Listen or get wav

MeShell has been nominated for ten Grammys and has performed with artists such as: the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Alanis Morrisette, John Cougar Melloncamp, Zap Mama, Talib Kweli and Chaka Khan. If you didn't get enough of Meshell this week when she performed Prince covers in the Bay Area hear more of her music and listen to Meshell open up about her life, her music, her philosophy, the challenges and benefits of being a Queer Muslim, and being known as the desired Baby Daddy to many Queer Women in the Bay Area.

Listen to the entire show to hear the music and interview with MeShell and many more Women's Calendar Events.

Twice Censored: Underreported Women's and Gender Issues of 2010

The Project Censored List of Top 25 Censored Stories of 2009-2010 includes not one story related to a women's or gender issue. NOT ONE! Does that mean women's issues get lots of attention? We don't think so. Instead, it points to the masculinist bias of even the progressive media and media watchdogs.

So producer Kate Raphael has produced her own quite inexhaustive list of censored or underreported stories related to women and gender in the last year. See what you think. If you want to comment on one of her choices or suggest one of your own, please email us at kpfawomensmag@gmail.com.

Listen to the show, which also includes memorial tributes to Dorothy Height, Wilma Mankiller and Mary Daly.


The list below is not in ranked order, though Kate feels that Iraq does belong at the top.

-- The impact of 7 years of occupation on Iraqi women (Malihe Razazan of Voices of the Middle East and North Africa comments)

-- Sexual assault in the military hits epidemic proportion (includes excerpt of report by Scott Shafer of KQED TV)

-- New mammogram guidelines stir controversy (interview with Barbara Brenner of Breast Cancer Action)

-- Grassroots women's organizations are leading in the rebuilding of Haiti (interview with Yifat Suskind of Madre International [Malihe points out that Madre's website doesn't even mention Iraq!))

-- Pregnant women prisoners in California still face shackling, and thousands of abused women are still in prison for defending themselves (interview with Karen Shain of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children)

-- Victoire Ingebirre Umuhoza was the leading challenger to Rwandan president Paul Kagame, except instead of being allowed to run, she was imprisoned (Ann Garrison interviewed Ingebirre for WINGS)

-- Many women political prisoners in Iran are held in solitary confinement and without access to lawyers, families or medical care (interview with Malihe Razazan)

-- Global gatherings like the Cancun climate conference, the G20 and the U.S. Social Forum were covered from start to finish by progressive media, but several major international women's gatherings didn't even rate a headline. These included the 15 year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, the Global Maternal Health Conference and the third African Feminist Forum (interview with Nigerian feminist scholar Amina Mama).

-- Year of the Disabled Lesbian (interview with Laura Rifkin, founder of the Fabled Asp project)

-- Disabled women led the fight against cuts to In-Home Support Services and other social welfare programs, with ArnieVille, a tent city in Berkeley (Jean Stewart, Jan Santos and Hannah Jo Karpalo talk about the creative protest known as ArnieVille).

-- More bad news for women workers: Republicans in the Senate filibustered to block passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have required employers to prove that wage disparities were job-related, not gender based.

-- Did you know there were women working on oil rigs and leading the clean up of the Gulf? Coastal Women for Change is one of a number of women's organizations that sprung into action when the Deepwater Horizon well blew up. (Merle Savage, general foreperson on the Exxon Valdez cleanup, begs President Obama to make BP give the Gulf cleanup crews respirators and tell them the truth about the risk.)

-- Same sex marriage and Don't Ask Don't Tell were all over the media, both mainstream and progressive, but where were the voices of queers who aren't interested in heteronormative marriage or seeing queers join the imperialist military? (Excerpt from the documentary "Beyond Gay Marriage" by Women's Magazine's Lisa Dettmer)

August 23rd: Women's Magazine examines Islam and women in Iran, families and homophobia as a pathology and a tribute to Abbey Lincoln

Minoo Moallem, professor of Women's and Gender Studies at U.C. Berkeley, challenges the mainstream stereotypical representation of Islam and Muslims as backward, fanatical, and premodern by showing how Islamic nationalism and fundamentalism are by-products of modernity. Using magazines, novels, and films, she offers a feminist transnational analysis of contemporary Iranian culture that questions dominant binaries of modern and traditional, West and East, secular and religious, and civilized and barbaric.

In this interview with Iranian American Simin Yahaghi, Moallem explains that veiling, like other signifiers of national and cultural identities, needs to be understood in the context of both Iran's own nation-building traditions and Orientalism and colonial attitudes toward Islam and feminism. She discusses how the Iranian women's movement has navigated complex identities, and calls on us to challenge both religious and secular forms of absolutism
Simin Yahaghi talks with Minoo Moallem, author of the book Between Warrior Brother and Veiled Sister: The Politics of Patriarchy in Iran. Audio, 22:39
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Well-known lesbian author and activist Sarah Schulman speaks with Lisa Dettmer about the possibility of recognizing homophobia in families as a pathology, rather than pathologizing gay people. They also discuss the relationship between familial homophobia and the demand for same-sex marriage.


Interview with Sarah Schulman, author of Ties That Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences. Audio: 16:16



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Singer, songwriter, actress and civil rights activist Abbey Lincoln died last week at the age of 80. She was best known for her collaboration with Max Roach on the Freedom Now Suites in 1960, but she also wrote the song "Caged Bird" which inspired the title of Maya Angelou's . This piece includes short selections of Lincoln's powerful music and an interview with KPFA's Gabrielle Wilson.



A tribute to jazz songstress Abbey Lincoln, with interview by Gabrielle Wilson. Audio: 11:43



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