Extended Interviews

In late August 2016, WLRN volunteer Sarah spoke with Womens' Liberation Front spokeswoman Kara Dansky. Dansky filled us in on WoLF's legal challenge to the Obama administration's guidance on sex-based spaces for women, which essentially eliminated them. She also spoke about the difference between sex and gender and the risks women face when men (who may or may not "feel" that they are "women") enter female spaces.

Kara Dansky extended WLRN interview

Pippa Fleming is a butch lesbian performance artist, poet, writer, spiritualist and motivational speaker living and working in the bay area. Catina Hyman interviewed Pippa on October 4th for WLRN’s Black Lives Matter edition to get her perspective on the experience of black lesbians within the women’s liberation movement and civil rights struggles. In the interview, Pippa also discusses her upcoming book.

Extended Interview with Pippa Fleming

This interview was done by Elizabeth McKeown on June 30th of 2016.
Ruth Barrett is editor of the book 'Female Erasure: What You Need to Know About Gender Politics’ War on Women, the Female Sex & Human Rights.'

WLRN

Ruth Barrett talks about the release of the book 'Female Erasure'

Stripe Gandara, a butch lesbian who holds her PhD in Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of Nebraska, was a panelist in the discussion called "Between Butches: Maintaining Sisterhood, Survival, and the Specificity of Womanhood in a Post-Trans World." 

The discussion took place at the first annual Lesbian Film Festival in Paducah, Kentucky in September, 2016.

WLRN's Thistle Pettersen starts by asking her what it means to be in a "post-trans" world and is surprised by her answer. You will notice that Gandara, like other butch lesbians on the panel are truly feminist in their choice to embrace their womanhood and sisterhood, yet they are still trying to co-exist with transgenderism. Using a lot of academic language, they make it seem like co-existence and mutual support are possible, which is not the view of radical feminists who understand the violent nature of the take-over of women's spaces and culture by trans activism and ideology. To view the panel discussion in its entirety, click on this linkhttps://www.facebook.com/resin.rebel/videos/vb.100008977329477/1577114385931124/?type=2&theater

WLRN interview with Stripe Gandara

WLRN’s Catina Hyman interviewed Maya Dillard Smith on August 2, 2016 via phone. They discussed Dillard’s recent forced resignation as the chief officer of the Georgia ACLU in addition to her project, Finding Middle Ground, a civil rights organization committed to finding solutions to all civil rights concerns.

Dillard-Smith is an advocate for the rights of all. She has recently been labeled “hateful” for drawing attention to the rights of girls and women. She holds a Master’s degree from Harvard and a law degree from UC Hastings.

http://www.findingmiddleground.org/

Maya Dillard Smith WLRN extended interview

Jill Stein was on the campaign trail for her run for president in the 2016 US presidential elections when Thistle Pettersen met-up with her Madison, WI on April 15th. Ms. Stein agreed to an interview outside on the street in front of the restaurant where she had just given her campaign speech to a group of about 75 people.

Thistle Pettersen interviews Jill Stein 4/15/16

The second weekend of September, 2016, Thistle Pettersen traveled to Paducah, Kentucky to attend the first annual Cinema Systers Film Festival produced by Resin Rebel, owner of the beautiful farm where many women gathered throughout the weekend. Pettersen had the opportunity on the last day of the festival to talk with Resin Rebel to find out what her inspiration was for this only all lesbian film festival in the United States. 

In this interview, you will hear about the many films presented at last year's festival, how the films were submitted and how they were received at the festival. There is mention of Into the Ovid: An Ovella by Tina Brand and Gendercator by Catherine Crouch.

The festival will be held for the second time annually over Memorial Day weekend in 2017. For more details about this coming year's festival check out http://www.cinemasysters.com/.

WLRN interview with Laura Petrie (Resin Rebel)

Sekhmet She Owl interviews co-editors of the book "Dispatches from Lesbian America": Giovanna Capone, Xequina Berber, and Rome Smith.

Dispatches from Lesbian America Editors Interview

Interview with Trista Hendren

This was an interview done with Samantha Berg right before US citizens voted for Donald Trump or Hillary Rodham Clinton in November of 2016. Ms. Berg talks about the symbolic nature of voting in addition to what radical feminist women can do to counter the fear and divisions that inevitably come up around US presidential elections.

Interview with Sam Berg about US electoral politics

WLRN's Thistle Pettersen interviewed Sarah about her experiences as a college student getting involved and grappling with trans politics on her campus.

Interview with Sarah

Edition 13 deals with the debate among women regarding radical feminists who align with right wing forces, individuals & organizations to reach a narrowly agreed upon goal. It is always hard for us to decide what makes it in to our podcasts and what does not. We usually have far more material to include than we do space. What Ruth adds to this discussion is extremely valuable and we hope that women will listen to this in addition to all of the voices in edition 13. Thanks.

Ruth Greenberg on Coalition-building

Natasha Chart is a thinker, writer, and feminist activist and organizer who sits on the board of directors of the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) and writes for Feminist Current. In this interview with Thistle Pettersen on April 27th, 2017, Natasha talks about WoLF as an organization, its goals and structure as well as the outside influences that have shaped WoLF as a major radical feminist organization with hundreds of members.

In addition, Ms. Chart addresses head-on the question of WoLF accepting money to fight gender identity legal battles from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a right-wing advocacy group that is anti-gay and lesbian and against abortion rights.

Full Interview with Natasha Chart

Jocelyn Macdonald is a radical lesbian feminist who will perform her poetry during WoLF Fest in July 2017. She granted WLRN an exclusive interview about her work, her coming out as a gender-critical lesbian feminist and her ideas about how to attract more women to our movement.

Jocelyn Macdonald Full WLRN Interview

On July 9th, Thistle Pettersen got to sit down with Nedra Johnson at the National Women's Music Festival held in Madison, WI. She asked Nedra about her music career, MichFest & a t-shirt Nedra made and posted online using the misogynistic slur term TERF. Nedra's insights and stories about Michigan make this a gem in the treasure chest of our women's herstory.

WLRN interview with Nedra Johnson

In August of 2015 the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, a lesbian institution that existed for 40 years, closed its gates for the last time. There was no plan for the land upon which the festival took place and no plan to continue the festival in a different form. A group of women who had attended and worked at the festival got together to explore the possibility of buying the land from Lisa Vogel, the festival founder and owner. The We Want the Land Coalition (WWTLC) was born in 2016 and the land was purchased shortly after its formation. http://wwtlc.org/

In early August of 2017, WWTLC organized a gathering of women on the Land to discuss the logistics of renting out the space to interested parties starting next summer. Thistle Pettersen had the honor of attending the gathering and of capturing this interview with two of WWTLC's board members.

Karen Thompson is a first generation American, activist, black dyke and attorney who has spent much of her legal career representing individuals who are fighting for justice. As a staff attorney at the Innocence Project, her work centers around post-conviction litigation in seven states across the United States, including Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Arkansas. Karen has also fought for lesbians and gay men seeking asylum from unspeakable brutality and regularly lectures about wrongful convictions and mass incarceration at colleges, universities and high schools across the country. She previously served as a board member of FIERCE!: an LGBTQ youth-of-color organization dedicated to building leadership and consciousness and fighting police brutality in New York City. Karen’s fighting streak was honed by her two decades as a worker at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival where, among other things, she was one of four facilitators of the Allies In Understanding workshop series which addressed the strongly held opinions around womyn’s space by embracing, and not shutting down or running from difficult conversations and strongly held differing opinions.

Leslie holds a B.A. in Literature, Science and the Arts from University of Iowa, and she was the first person in her family to earn a 4-year degree.  An advocate for girls and women her entire adult life, Leslie served as a board member for the Emma Goldman Clinic, and worked at the Women’s Resource and Action Center and in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at the University of Iowa.  Her pursuit of feminist and anti-racist consciousness led her to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival in 2000, which she attended for 15 years.  Her devotion to the Festival was also evident in her cultivation of multitudes of community connections over the years.  In July of 2016, she literally woke up one day and said, “we need to save the Land.”  From there, her vision, immense organizational capacity and deep connections within the community catalyzed the formation of WWTLC.

Interview with Karen Thompson & Leslie Gallagher

Feminist blogger Renee Gerlich, who is based in New Zealand, interviews Gudrun Jonsdottir, one of the founders of Reykjavik rape crisis centre, Stigamot. Gudrun has been part of Iceland's women's movement since the famous 1975 women's march, so she talks about its beginnings and early development. Coming from New Zealand, where prostitution is considered legitimate industry, Renee also wanted to know about the Icelandic women's struggle to criminalise pimps and the purchase of women and abolish the sex trade in Iceland. Gudrun does not disappoint - her stories are awe inspiring.

Renee Gerlich Interview with Gudrun Jonsdottir

On August 26th, WLRN's Thistle Pettersen got to talk with Charlie Rae, journalist with the Fifth Column, a popular indie media news service online, and with Sam Reitger, also with Fifth Column, and co-author of Changing Minds: A Guide to Confronting Gender Doctrine. 

Relevant work by Charlie at Fifth Column: http://thefifthcolumnnews.com/2017/08/are-there-good-reasons-to-oppose-transgenderism/

And by Sam: http://thefifthcolumnnews.com/2017/07/liberal-silence-on-transgender-violence/

In the interview you will hear these two dynamic and articulate radical feminists debunk the claim that the trans movement is a civil rights movement, talk about how they came to question what they call the gender doctrine, and analyze the ideology behind the trans movement that fuels sexism and homophobia but also could potentially fuel ableism and racism as well. 

You won't want to miss a second of their sharp-cutting thought that aims to give you a glimpse of what they will cover in their book to come out in 2018.

Charlie Rae is a New Englander who now lives in the South. She goes to school to study Communication and is a member of the National Academic Honor Society, Tau Sigma. Rae was featured on WHUS Radio and in the Uconn Free Press for her writing on activism and coverage of the events in Ferguson. Rae also has an Associates Degree in Visual Fine Arts, and has worked as the Art Director for local campaigns. She now writes for independent news source The Fifth Column, running a feminist faction called The Fem Column with her working partner Sam Reitger. The two of them work remotely on a collection of projects, and their main endeavor is this work-in-progress book discussed at length during the interview. 

Sam Reitger is a California native and continuing student, presently seeking to complete her major in Sociology. She is a social critic and writer, working as a freelance journalist for The Fifth Column and assistant editor to Charlie Rae at The Fem Column. She founded and co-runs an online question and answer forum on Facebook called “Ask Radical Feminists”. She is also an aspiring videographer, and is working on a series of short videos that explore topics in radical feminist political theory. In addition, she works with Edgewater Press, where she plans to publish her upcoming video projects.

To contribute to their campaign to get this book published, click on this link: https://www.patreon.com/charlierae

WLRN interview with Charlie Rae & Sam Reitger about Changing Minds

On September 13th, at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London, transactivists swarmed a group of women meeting to discuss the meaning of the word "gender" and the Gender Recognition Act that is getting support from both the left and the right in the UK. 

A 60 year old woman was beaten by several of the male activists and police were called to Speakers' Corner before the conference took place. The women were determined to hold it despite the attacks and some managed to make it to a secret venue located near Hyde Park. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx9pyvI-V7M

Our featured picture is by Venice Allen and is of conference participants listening to one of the talks. 

In this interview, WLRN's Thistle Pettersen speaks with Julia Long, one of the speakers at the conference, and with Ruby & Trixie, two of the conference organizers. They talked about what motivated them to organize the conference and give a play-by-play account of what happened before it took place, during the conference and in the aftermath.

Dr Julia Long is a lesbian feminist, committed to building lesbian feminist community and politics. She currently works for a women's sector charity, supporting women who have experienced male violence. Until recently she was working in academia, and is the author of Anti-Porn: The Resurgence of Anti-Pornography Feminism. London: Zed Books. She is a long-time feminist activist, and has been involved in groups including the London Feminist Network, Reclaim the Night and OBJECT. She has organised and participated in numerous national and international feminist conferences and seminars.

Trixie is a 29 year old feminist artist, activist and general provocateur living in London. Her band, Daughters of God, is currently recording new material. http://cargocollective.com/ravenous. She got interested in learning more about gender politics via informal discussions with friends and through research online. She and her friends volunteered to organize the What Is Gender conference and contacted over 20 trans activists to participate as speakers but none of them, in the end, accepted the invitation.

Ruby was also an organizer for the conference and is new to radical feminism. The experience of co-organizing the What Is Gender conference has made her aware of just how contentious gender politics can be in 2017. She, along with the other organizers, has not given up. She is a novelist and this experience has made her think her next novel will be about trans activism and feminism.

Only two short weeks after the violence at Speakers' Corner, these organizers have put together another event called Debate Not Hate: We Need To Talk About Gender. It is scheduled to happen this coming Wednesday, September 27th. https://www.facebook.com/events/676435835895732/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%224%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%22308%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D

WLRN interview with Julia Long & Organizers of What Is Gender Conference in London

WLRN's Thistle Pettersen got to sit down with Riane Eisler, a prominent scholar who influenced Ms. Pettersen's thinking greatly in her youth. Dr. Eisler contributes much to conversations past and present about the status of women and how radical and lesbian feminists are on the cutting edge of the movement for a more humanitarian and just society. 

Riane Eisler is an eminent social scientist, attorney, and women’s human rights activist who pioneered the recognition of women’s rights as human rights. She is best known for her writings, including the international bestseller, The Chalice and The Blade, translated into 26 languages and now in its 57th US printing, with a new epilogue. She founded the first center on women and the law in the United States, wrote the Equal Rights Handbook on the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, and is the author of other award winning books as well as hundreds of articles and book chapters. 

Dr. Eisler is president of the Center for Partnership Studies (www.centerforpartnership.org) and editor in chief of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies housed at the University of Minnesota. Her book The Real Wealth of Nations was hailed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking,” by Gloria Steinem as “revolutionary,” and inspired the Center for Partnership Studies’ Caring Economy Campaign (www.caringeconomy.org) which offers online leadership training and has developed new Social Wealth Economic Indicators that demonstrate the enormous economic value of the work of care still largely performed by women worldwide. 

She consults to business and government about the partnership model introduced by her work, keynotes conferences worldwide, and teaches online courses about cultural and economic transformation.  She shows that the women’s movement is the leading edge of the partnership movement, and, as summarized in the title of talks she gave at platforms such as the US Department of State, that what’s good for women is good for the world. She has received many honors for her work for women’s and children’s rights and peace, and is the only woman among 20 great thinkers, including Hegel, Adam Smith, and Marx, included in Macrohistory and Macrohistorians in recognition of the lasting importance of her work. Contacts: www.centerforpartnership.org; www.rianeeisler.com; center@partnershipway.org 

Some of her pertinent works include: 

Riane Eisler. (2015). “Preventing Violence against Women: Four Strategies.” In Women, War, and Violence: Typography, Resistance, and Hope, Volume 1. Mariam Kurtz and Lester Kurtz, editors. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

 Riane Eisler. (2015). Nurturing Children’s Humanity: Partnership Education.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, 2 (2) Fall, Article 5. http://pubs.lib.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=ijps

Riane Eisler. (2015). “Can International Law Protect Half of Humanity? A New Strategy to Stop Violence against Women.” Journal of Aggression, Conflict, and Peace Research, 7(2), 88 - 100.

WLRN extended interview with Riane Eisler

Feminist news programming that seeks to provide the unique and under-represented voices of girls and women with a national and international venue to break the sound barrier.

Extended Interviews

Women's Liberation Radio News