Monday, July 13, 2020: Violence against Black Women and Girls

Today at 1-2 pm on KPFA Radio’s Women’s Magazine we discuss violence against black women and girls and in addition violence against black women by police with Janelle White, Executive Director of San Francisco Women Against Rape and author and police misconduct attorney Andrea J. Ritchie.  And we will also talk to Regina Y. Evans who is creating art installations on Oakland’s International Blvd in response to the enormous amount of sex trafficking that proliferates there.

Andrea J. Ritchie

Andrea J.Ritchie is a Black lesbian, immigrant/police misconduct attorney, and organizer whose writing, litigation, and advocacy has focused on policing and criminalization of women and LGBT people of color for the past two decades. She is currently Researcher in Residence on Race, Gender, Sexuality and Criminalization at the Barnard Center for Research on Women, where she recently launched the Interrupting Criminalization: Research in Action initiative. She is the author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color  

Janelle White

Janelle White has been the executive director for San Francisco Women Against Rape for over a decade.  SFWAR  is a community-based, anti-sexual assault, social justice, women of color-led organization. Located in San Francisco’s Mission District, SFWAR has been serving the residents of San Francisco City & County for over 46 years. SFWAR provides support to sexual assault survivors, their families, and communities, and uses education and community mobilization as tools of rape prevention. And at SFWAR, they believe that ending all forms of oppression is integral to ending sexual assault.

Regina Y Evans

Regina Y Evans who is  a native of Oakland, California, is a Poet, Playwright, Actor, Entrepreneur, Modern Day Abolitionist and a Survivor Leader in the fight against sex trafficking. She is the Owner of Regina's Door, a vintage boutique located in Oakland, Ca. Regina's Door is an artistic safe haven and healing sanctuary for at-risk youth, homeless youth, young Oakland Creatives and survivors of human trafficking. As a Modern Day Abolitionist, Ms. Evans volunteers with Love Never Fails, a Bay Area Anti-Trafficking organization founded by Vanessa Marie Johnson Russell.  She is also a member of the S.H.A.D.E. Movement (Survivors Healing, Advising and Dedicated to Empowerment), a survivor run consulting/advocacy organization. For more info and to be involved contact Regina at Evans.Regina@gmail.com.


Click here to listen to the show. 59:50 min

Monday, September 2, 2019: Athar Zia and Maneja Jehan on Women's Resistance in Kashmir

Courage takes many forms. For some it's telling our truths and denying those who tell us to shut up. For others, it's organizing to resist the densest military occupation in the world.

This Labor Day, September 2, on KPFA Women's Magazine, Preeti Shekar and Tara Dorabji speak with scholar Athar Zia, author of the book They Gave Us Blood: Normalcy, Sacrifice, and Terror in Kashmir, and Menaja Jehan, a local organizer with Stand with Kashmir, about how women are organizing to oppose the Indian military occupation in Kashmir in the wake of the Indian government's surprise announcement rescinding the autonomy of the contested Muslim majority region.

Click here to listen to the entire show. 59:50 min

Also on today's show:

Brooke Warner on Writing with Courage

Monday, April 30, 2018: Embrace Your Voice

Sharon Sobota produces and hosts today's show. Women of different generations and backgrounds share their stories and what inspires them.

Tarana Burke, founder of #metoo talks about her decade long work against sexual violence and healing.

Kathy D'Arcy is a poet and youth organizer living in Ireland, writing political poetry, women's rights and reproductive health care. Find her books through her website.

Shanthi Sekaran author of Lucky Boy talks about her non-linear path to writing and her now novel about immigrants from Mexico living in Berkeley, CA.

Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest National Park ranger and blogger, reads from her memoir Sign My Name to Freedom and talks with Sharon about her amazing life.  Betty says, "I am now living in the future that I helped to create."


Click here to listen now. 59:59 min

Monday, February 5, 2018: Creating Cultures of Consent and Safety in Bolivia

Creating a women's movement through land ownership and music

We look at the culture of gendered violence in the US and Bolivia, and hear from feminists working to shift the perceptions about survivors. The recent reports of a woman's harrowing night with Aziz Ansari has sparked debates around consent and agency. Feminist activists and scholars are pointing out the gaps in understanding of the relationship between sexual repression and sexual violence.

Photo from BBC News March 2014

In the second half of the show, we hear from feminist activist and scholar Leny Olivera Rojas from Cochabamba, Bolivia. Today Bolivia has the highest rate of sexual and physical violence against women in Latin America - and femicides are multiplied by the numbers of women dying from illegal abortions. Olivera-Rojas is part of a grassroots movement to end femicides in Bolivia and create an autonomous women's movement through collective land ownership. For more information, contact her at lenyoliverarojas@gmail.com.

Hosted by Kate Raphael and Corinne Smith

Click here to listen to entire show. 59:50 min


Also on today's show:
US - Creating Cultures of Consent and Safety

Monday, November 13, 2017: Cynthia Enloe on Militarism and Sexual Harassment

What does the ever increasing militarism of our society have to do with the pervasiveness of sexual violence and misogynist harassment in our society? I consider the intersection of mass killings, endless US war and Veterans' Day, and look back to a conversation with Cynthia Enloe, one of the foremost theorists of the links between militarism, masculinity and misogyny in our culture, about pervasive sexual harassment in the military. Though the events we discuss took place four years ago, the conversation is highly relevant to the revelations of the last few weeks.

This interview aired on May 27, 2013. Click here for audio file. 24:13 min

Click here to listen to the entire show. 59:50 min

Also on today's show:
Women Resist Disappearances in Kashmir

Monday, July 4, 2016: Cynthia Enloe on gender and militarism

Militarism, Feminism and Nationalism

Now listen to part of an interview with Cynthia Enloe, perhaps the foremost U.S. scholar on gender and militarism.  Enloe is the author of many books including Does Khaki Become You? The Militarization of Women's Lives, Bananas, Beaches, and Bases, and Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link.  As the Pentagon announces that it is now open to transgender soldiers, we discuss the role of the military in enforcing cultural ideals of masculinity and how the integration of women into units has - and has not - challenged that.

The interview with Enloe was aired on May 27, 2013. Click to listen now. 24:13 min.

Freedom from Fat Shame! A Reading + Discussion
North Branch, 1170 The Alameda
Saturday July 2nd
7:00pm-9:00pm
Virgie Tovar has assembled a group of incisive writers and activists for an evening of body liberation with readings and personal stories. Let their words smash your feelings of fat-shame and help you foster acceptance in yourself and celebrate diversity your community!  Featuring comic artist Casey Gilly, Co-Managing Editor for Everyday Feminism Jezebel Delilah X, poet Baruch Porras-Hernandez, burlesque performer Irene McCalphin, and Dr. Kjerstin Gruys, author of Mirror, Mirror off the Wall.



Click here to listen to entire show. 59:50 min.

Also on today's show:

Chivvis Moore discusses her new memoir

Tribute to Pat Summitt

Monday, May 9, 2016: She's Beautiful When She's Angry

Dear Friends,
This Monday on KPFA Radio's Women's Magazine we will be offering the inspiring  new feature documentary SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY as a premium.  This moving film  resurrects the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women’s movement from 1966 to 1971.  SHE’S BEAUTIFUL takes us from the founding of NOW, with ladies in hats and gloves, to the emergence of more radical factions of women’s liberation; from intellectuals like Kate Millett to the street theatrics of W.I.T.C.H. (Women’s International Conspiracy from Hell!).  Artfully combining dramatizations, performance and archival imagery, the film recounts the stories of women who fought for their own equality, and in the process created a world-wide revolution.  SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY captures the spirit of the time --- thrilling, scandalous, and often hilarious.

A story that still resonates today for women who are facing new challenges around reproductive rights and sexual violence, as the film shows present-day activists creating their generation's own version of feminism. Described by the Village Voice as one of the best films of the year, SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY is a film about activists who have changed the world as we know it.

Click here to listen now. 59:50 min.

Secure donations can be made at KPFA.org. Thank you for your pledge and please mention Women's Magazine.

Monday, March 14, 2016: Violence and Youth

We talk to Lina Buffington, the Executive Director of MISSSEY, about their work Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting & Serving Sexually Exploited Youth and  Professor Teiahsha Bankhead,   Associate Director of Restorative Justice For Oakland Youth, who provide alternatives to punitive school discipline and juvenile justice policies. We look at how black girls and women are uniquely affected by state and personal violence and the solutions they are offering to interrupt those cycles of violence.

Click here to listen to entire show. 59:50 min

Also on today's show:
Celebrating Grace Lee Boggs

Monday, February 29, 2016: She's Beautiful When She's Angry

Dear Friends,
This Monday on KPFA Radio's Women's Magazine we will be offering the inspiring  new feature documentary SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY as a premium.  This moving film  resurrects the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women’s movement from 1966 to 1971.  SHE’S BEAUTIFUL takes us from the founding of NOW, with ladies in hats and gloves, to the emergence of more radical factions of women’s liberation; from intellectuals like Kate Millett to the street theatrics of W.I.T.C.H. (Women’s International Conspiracy from Hell!).  Artfully combining dramatizations, performance and archival imagery, the film recounts the stories of women who fought for their own equality, and in the process created a world-wide revolution.  SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY captures the spirit of the time --- thrilling, scandalous, and often hilarious.

A story that still resonates today for women who are facing new challenges around reproductive rights and sexual violence, as the film shows present-day activists creating their generation's own version of feminism. Described by the Village Voice as one of the best films of the year, SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY is a film about activists who have changed the world as we know it.

Click here to listen now. 59:50 min.

Secure donations can be made at KPFA.org. Thank you for your pledge and please mention Women's Magazine.

Monday, February 8, 2016: "When White Men Rape"; Feminists not voting for Hillary; New Anthology of LGBTQ Voices

Lisa Dettmer talks to writers Roqayah Chamseddine about her article "Rejecting  Bourgeois Feminism"  which looks at the criticism of  women for not supporting the election of Hillary Clinton. Roqayah Chamseddine is a researcher for teleSUR's EmpireFiles, and a freelance writer. You can follow her on Twitter at @roqchams.

We also talk to Bobby London, who in her article "When White Men Rape" looks at the double standard afforded David Bowie and other white celebrities who rape. Bobby London is co-host of On Resistance Radio on our sister station  KPFK radio in Los Angeles and she is a  also a writer and journalist. You can find her writing on ThisIsBobbyLondon.com and on CounterPunch.org.  She wrote an for the website For Harriet called When White Men Rape.

Lisa Marie Rollins talks to Helen Klonaris and Amir Rabiyah, the editors of the new anthology "Writing the Walls Down- A Convergence of LGBTQ Voices."

Listen now. 59:50 min.

Monday September 14, 2015: Ellen Bravo

This Monday, September 14, on KPFA Women's Magazine We talked with three women who are exploring ways to make their commitments to social justice and transformation more accessible: novelists Ellen Bravo and Diana Block and dharma teacher and musician Eve Decker.

What happens when young rapists grow up to be powerful men?

Ellen Bravo is the author of Again and Again, which looks at the issue of date rape on college campuses, moving back and forth between 1979, when date rape was a new and little understood concept, and 2010, when the rapist is running for Senate.

Ellen will be speaking about her book at the end of September. Info about these events can be found at http://ellenbravo.com/events/.

Go to Know Your IX: empowering students to stop sexual violence to find out more information about rape on college campuses.

Listen now or Get MP3 19:50 min.





Click here for links to the entire show, events and to donate to KPFA.

Also on today's show:
Diana Block
Eve Decker

Monday, March 30, 2015: India's Daughter

New Film: India's Daughter

Tara Dorabji discusses the controversial new film, INDIA'S DAUGHTER, with filmmaker Leslee Udwin and feminist journalist Padmalatha Ravi.

India’s Daughter, a new documentary of the 2012 brutal gang rape of a 23-year old woman on a Dehli bus who died from the injuries caused from the assault. The film sparked massive debate—India banned it and many feminists critique the work. Padmalatha Ravi, Indian film maker and journalist, discusses her response within the context of India’s feminist movement.

Listen now or Get MP3. 23:33 min.

"This is not an Indian problem, this is a global problem."

India's Daughter and Ravi's film, Good Girls Don't Dance are available on You Tube.

Click here to listen to entire show. 59:50 min.

Also on today's show:
Rhodessa Jones' "Birthright?"

Monday, February 16, 2015: Joan Little and the Right to Self-Defense

Who Was Joan Little? What Happened to the Right to Self-Defense?

On Black History Month, we discuss the groundbreaking 1970s trial of Joan Little in North Carolina - called "The Trial of the Decade" by the Chicago Tribune.  Feminist and civil rights organizations came together to fight for Little's freedom after she killed a white jailer who sexually assaulted her. We also look at the cases of Inez Garcia and Dessie Woods, with journalist, author and activist Victoria Law.

Joan Little (left) on the day of her acquittal.

The tale of Joan (pronounced “Jo-Ann”) Little is one replete with the hardships of a young African-American woman struggling to survive in a world that has been unkind to her gender. Coupled with the harsh realities of her upbringing, crime became a refuge for Little. Despite this, Little would become the first woman to be acquitted of murder by way of justifying killing in the name of self-defense against sexual assault on August 15, 1975.

Victoria Law is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women, which won the 2009 PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) award. She frequently writes and speaks about the intersections between mass incarceration, gender and resistance.

Kate Raphael of Women's Magazine asks Victoria why don't we see the support of women who act in self-defense today as we saw in these earlier cases, specifically Marissa Alexander, Kelly Savage and the New Jersey Four. To find out more about Kelly Savage go to www.womenprisoners.org. Click here to sign a petition in support of Kelly.

Click here to listen to entire show. 59:50 min.

Also on today's show:

Elmaz Abinader on Body, Home and Memory

Pass It On:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support of Women's Magazine. If you didn't get a chance to pledge during our last two show you can still donate at KPFA.org.

This week's Calendar of Events:
Dance: ODC Presents Dance and Diaspora
Featuring Jill Parker & The Foxglove Sweethearts and Danica Sena
Feb 20-21, 2015 8pm 3153 17th Street in San Francisco
TICKETS $25 General, $35 Arts Patron

Film: They Were Promised the Sea
Thursday, Feb 18, 7 PM
South Berkeley Senior Center
2939 Ellis Street in Berkeley
Presented by Jewish Voice for Peace

Monday, December 22, 2014: Campus Rape in Context

"Any sexual assault is a problem." says Janelle White, Executive Director of SF Women Against Rape in conversation with Kate Raphael that we should all be having.

Sexual assault has been all over the news recently, but is this helping or hurting our understanding of rape culture? We explore the myths and realities of sexual violence on and off college campuses, the Rolling Stone/UVA fiasco and the accusations against Bill Cosby, with Janelle White, Executive Director of San Francisco Women Against Rape.

Janelle White

Listen now:



or Get MP3 (29:15)


Janelle is Executive Director of San Francisco Women Against Rape. She has been active in the movement to end violence against women for over ten years working with the University of Michigan Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, the YWCA Rape Crisis Program of Greater New Orleans, INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, the Hate Crimes Project of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans, and as Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and Director of the UNO Women's Center. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan. Her doctoral work examines US based Black women's mobilization to confront sexual and domestic violence.

SFWAR is a women of color led, volunteer-based organization that has provided rape crisis services to survivors of sexual assault for over 30 years. As the primary provider of rape crisis services in San Francisco, we also offer support to friends and families of survivors and provide expert advice, training, and assistance to healthcare workers, medical professionals, educators, law enforcement officers and other professionals throughout the city. Our prevention programs have reached young people in classrooms in schools serving every area of San Francisco, and provided information and resources to people of all ages through community programs, social services, and numerous community events. All our services are confidential and free of charge.

SFWAR Rape Hotline number is 415-647-7273.

Listen to entire show. 59:50 min.

Also on today's show:
A tribute to Chinosole

Monday, October 27, 2014: Gone Girl and Rape Myths

Examining The False Rape Narrative

Kate Raphael discusses Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, and the blockbuster film based on the book. Is Flynn's portrayal of a serial rape fabricator a transgressive reversal of gender stereotypes or a promotion of dangerous sexist myths?

Violence against women is real. Gone Girl is a male fantasy of a woman's fantasy disturbingly created by a woman.







We also cover the San Francisco vigil demanding justice for Jennifer Laude, trans Filipina killed by a U.S. Marine.







Listen to the entire show. 59:50 min.

Also on today's show:
Fracking for the Cure?
BAD FEMINIST Roxane Gay

Monday September 1, 2014: Drop the Charges on Rasmea Odeh

Rasmea Odeh, Chicago feminist community leader and torture survivor, faces prison.

Rasmea Odeh was arrested and sexually tortured by the Israeli military in 1969, eventually confessing to a crime she didn't commit.  After ten years in Israeli prison, Rasmea created a new life in the U.S., helping to found the Arab Women's Committee, a 600-member organization that helps immigrant Arab women learn English, find their voices, and support one another.  Now the U.S. government is threatening to strip her of her citizenship and send her to prison for another ten years because of her past as a political prisoner.  We talk about the case with Professor Nadine Naber, author of Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics and Activism.

Call Tuesday, September 2nd to stop the deportation of Rasmea. Go to www.stopfbi.net for phone numbers. Click here to sign petition to drop the charges against Rasmea.

Rally for Rasmea on September 8th.

Listen now or Get MP3: 32:21 min.

Click here listen to entire program. 59:50 min.

Also on today's show:
Domestic Workers Organize in the US