Calling In the Call-Out Culture with Loretta J. Ross

We're living in a time when collective solutions and open dialogue are needed more than ever, but the rise of call-out and cancel-culture has left many important conversations silent. This week, I welcome the absolutely iconic feminist and activist, Loretta J. Ross. Loretta is flipping the script with her newly coined term, "Call-In Culture," and on today’s episode, we learn exactly what that term means and its impact on cancel culture. Loretta is a trailblazer in the reproductive rights movement, and we speak about the major phenomenon she calls "horizontal canceling" and its impact on the effectiveness of movements. Hopefully, this conversation expands your understanding of how we can connect and influence, rather than silence, to create change. 

Aviva and Loretta discuss: 

• The incredibly challenging obstacles Loretta faced growing up, including sexual abuse and an unintended pregnancy at fourteen, and how these experiences led to her work in reproductive rights, becoming one of the first African American women to direct a rape crisis center and coining of the term reproductive justice.
• How Loretta defines calling-in, her take on why people tend to go after more vulnerable targets, and the impacts of fierce individualism on community well-being
• How calling-out is showing up in the reproductive rights movement, the risks of horizontal canceling, and what we can do about it  
• The meanings of the "woking dead" and “circles of influence” and the impacts both have on our culture  

Loretta J. Ross is a fierce and formidable women’s health rights activist for over four decades now and co-coined the term reproductive justice. She currently teaches courses on white supremacy, human rights, and calling in the calling out culture at Smith College's Program for the Study of Women and Gender. Loretta was the National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and the National Co-Director of the 2004 March for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C., the largest protest march in U.S. history at that time. She founded the National Center for Human Rights Education and launched the Women of Color Program for the National Organization for Women. She has co-written 3 books on reproductive justice and has a forthcoming book called Calling In the Calling Out Culture. 

Find out more about Loretta and sign up for her courses at lorettajross.com. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to tune in to your body, yourself, and this podcast! Please share the love by sending this to someone in your life who could benefit from the kinds of things we talk about in this space. Make sure to follow your host on Instagram @dr.avivaromm and go to avivaromm.com to join the conversation. Follow Loretta @LorettaJRoss.