653: Sonora Jha: How to Raise a Feminist Son

Sonora Jha is the author of the memoir How to Raise a Feminist Son and the novel Foreign. After a career as a journalist covering crime, politics, and culture in India and Singapore, she moved to the United States to earn a Ph.D. in media and public affairs. Sonora’s op-eds, essays, and public appearances have featured in the New York Times, on BBC, and elsewhere. She is a professor of journalism and lives in Seattle.

I recently discovered Sonora and her book, How to Raise a Feminist Son, on Instagram. I got her audiobook and was hooked by the end of her introduction. Sonora is a phenomenal storyteller and truth teller. She is a magical combination of professor, comedian and friend as she digs into her life as a single mom who left India to bring her son to Seattle and raise him as a feminist as she built a family around them. I couldn’t be more excited and delighted to be sharing her with you all today. 

Listen in to hear Sonora share:

• How her 27 year old son is showing up as an activist for women’s rights today
• What inspired her book, HOW TO RAISE A FEMINIST SON
• How raising her son in the dark - at the movies - launched her and her son as a family unit into the world
• How she intentionally built a family around her and her son - that did not include blood relatives
• Why feminists can and should include men in their activism - and how we might need to check our biases and assumptions that men aren’t open to being feminists
• How she redefined motherhood in order to raise a feminist son
• Why it is important for men and boys to be intersectional feminists

Links mentioned:

• Connect with Sonora: sonorajha.com
• Book: How to Raise a Feminist Son by Sonora Jha
• Book: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
• Book: Inclusion on Purpose by Ruchika Tulshyan
• Sonora on Twitter
• Sonora on Instagram
• Sonora on Facebook

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