Women's Liberation Radio News

The podcast explores the vital role of anger in the fight against oppression and encourages listeners to vocalize their feelings. It tackles sexism, racism, and other societal injustices, advocating for solidarity and resilience. Through powerful music and spoken word, it champions female empowerment and the reclaiming of identity. The speaker reflects on their heritage, honoring the strength of women in their family. Metaphors of storms and boxing illustrate the struggle against adversity, inspiring collective action and self-expression.

Samantha Berg, a radical feminist journalist, Julie Bindel, a prolific writer and co-founder of Justice for Women, Sabrinna Valisce, an experienced advocate against prostitution, and artist Renee Gerlich share impactful insights. They tackle the male-driven exploitation industry, advocating for the abolitionist model. The conversation highlights personal journeys, critiques of pornography, and the urgent need for women's rights. The guests call for solidarity and accountability while revealing the complexities of female oppression in the context of sex work.

Phoenixx is a WLRN listener with a large women's music collection she would like to share with her sisters. Take a listen to this 2nd episode of the WLRN Music Hour! Playlist for WLRN Music with Phoenixx October 2, 2017 Body Hair, Anne Seale, sample record with Hotwire, Jan 1993 A Touch of Menopausal Anarchy, Carolyn Hillyer, Weathered Edge Sway of Her Hips, Teresa Trull, Playtime, 1997 Womanly Way, Linda(Tui) Tillery, album same name, 1977 Brown Like Me, Washington Sisters/June Millington writer, Understated, 1987 Big, Big, Woman, Regina Wells, Rashida Oji Bledsung Live at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Polly Wood, Music for Metaformic Theory, 2008 The Bloods, Debbie Lemke, Berkley Women’s Music Collective, 1977 Ode to a Gym Teacher, Meg Christian, I Know You Know, 1974 Tomboy Girl, Tret Fure and Cris Williamson, Radio Quiet, 1999 Untitled, Pat Parker, Every woman’s blues, Women’s Prison Concert Collective, 1976 Feral Children, Beth Orton, Comfort of Strangers, 2006 3000 Miles, Tracy Chapman, Where You Live, 2005 Be Careful, cover by Cris Williamson (written by Patti Griffin), Motherland, 2017 Old Woman, Linda Shear, A Lesbian Portrait, 1975 Phoenixx is a 50 year old, post-menopausal, able-bodied, middle-class white Dyke/Lesbian Separatist of Spirit. I love wimmin and our Radical Feminist music through Time, as it foregrounds the Gynocentric Background (Mary Daly’s articulation) and pushes back the onslaught of phallocentricity that pitifully tries to pass as everything. I offer these bi-monthly arrangements of Women’s Liberation Music as Female magic to continue to undo what has been done to all of us through time and space for millennia under male supremacy and to link us to the Gynocentric Goddess-honoring world that came before. "The connections between & among women are the most feared, the most problematic and the most potentially transforming force on the planet." Adrienne Rich

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

In a compelling discussion, two radical feminists dive deep into the complexities of transgender activism and its implications for women's rights. They challenge the narrative that the trans movement is a civil rights crusade, exploring the moral ambiguities involved. The conversation highlights the risks of medicalizing gender nonconformity in minors and the reality of violence faced by women voicing dissenting views. They also touch on reclaiming controversial terms like 'TERF' to strengthen feminist discourse, advocating for respectful dialogue in these contentious arenas.

Listener volunteer, Phoenixx, created this hour-long music show to contribute to what WLRN does in the femisphere! Take a listen and write to us at wlrnewscontact@gmail.com with any requests for future shows.

Linda Conroy, a practicing herbalist and founder of Wild Eats, champions natural healing practices, advocating for women's health through herbal education. Jeanna Hoch, founder of CannaMama Clinic, emphasizes the empowering role of cannabis in motherhood. They discuss the systemic issues women face in healthcare, the importance of self-advocacy, and the need for a supportive community. They explore how traditional medicine often overlooks women's specific health needs, urging a shift towards holistic and inclusive approaches.

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.

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.

WLRN’s Edition 16 podcast focuses on the money behind the medicalized transgender movement and the impact that the movement has on the lesbian community. We were inspired to these topics by the canceled Left Forum panel that was set to explore them in detail. Our interviewees were all involved in that panel, and WLRN is proud to give them a platform after Left Forum silenced them. Mary Lou Singleton is a lifelong women’s liberation activist. She practiced as a homebirth midwife for 20 years and now works as a family nurse practitioner. She has served on the boards of directors of the Midwives Alliance of North America, the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives, the Stop Patriarchy Abortion Rights Freedom Ride, and the Women’s Liberation Front. Jane Chotard is a former attorney whose specialty was regulatory healthcare, including Standards of Care and Informed Consent. She participated in the formation of California Lawyers for Human Rights, as well as the Women’s Committee at GLAAD in the 1990’s. Currently, she is the mother of two teenage boys and works in the area of Contemplative Care for those facing end-of-life issues. Taylor Fogarty is a Brooklyn-dwelling freelancer who writes about feminism, politics, and anything else she has an opinion on. She also tweets a lot: @theloudlesbian. You can check out her website at www.taylorfogarty.com WLRN staff member Nile Pierce wrote this edition’s commentary, exploring how and why the powerful men in the US-based pharmaceutical industry profit from the transgender movement. This edition’s music spots are Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies” and Ali Bee’s “Look How the Money Rolls In.” Photo credit goes to Alix Dobkin for our featured image of two lesbians in the 70s, Louise and Liza Cowan. As always, this month’s podcast was sound mixed by our resident audio magician in chief, Jenna Di Quarto.