Women's Liberation Radio News

In our April 2020 edition, hear timely world news as written and delivered by WLRN's Dana Vitalosova after Jenna's warm greeting to all of our listeners in this time of the virus outbreak. The focus of this show is on British feminists discussing their initiation and involvement in the women's movement, but our guests also talk about the virus outbreak and how it is possibly impacting the ways we think about ourselves, society and how we organize. Venice Allan is a woman’s rights campaigner who set up a series of talks on gender identity ideology, We Need To Talk, in 2017. She now works with Posie Parker at Standing For Women, a campaign to maintain the dictionary definition of ‘woman’ as an adult, human female. Thistle spoke with Venice via skype last week to hear about Venice's work in the UK and to get her take on the current British feminist movement. She speaks in great detail about the last event she helped organize before the lock down called "Women Say on Women's Day" at the historic Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London for international women's day on March 8th. After the interview with Venice, the listener is treated to a delightful three-way conversation Thistle had with young British feminists Naomi Bridges and Katy Worely of the Manchester based Make More Noise collective. DJ, activist and all round loud mouth DJ Lippy (AKA Katy Worley) is an accidental feminist who stumbled into the Gender Wars after one too many Twitter bans. She has used her experience as a club promoter to put on a series of events called "the elephant in the room" She also works with Naomi on the podcast series called Suffragette City Radio. Naomi is a committed feminist and armchair provocateur, interested in why what is happening is happening. When not running a mouthy blog, podcast and events with DJ Lippy she enjoys making armchair music. Cover design for this month's podcast is by our newest WLRN member, Kat Walker. Thank you Kat for your contribution! Photo credit goes to Marcia Matthews. Featured music in the podcast was recommended by Katy and Naomi and is Shay D with "Set Her Free" and Au Pairs with "It's Obvious."

Vaishnavi Sundar is an independent filmmaker, feminist, writer, and women's rights activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Vaishnavi is known for her work in the field of cinema and activism involving an interplay of feminism and filmmaking. She has written, directed, and produced all her films under her own production company, Lime Soda Films. She is also the founder of Women Making Films, a community known for its effort to break the glass ceiling within the fraternity of domestic and world cinema. To watch her latest film, follow this link: gum.co/bwwsw and read the blog about how your support will help. https://medium.com/@vaishax/heres-how-you-can-watch-but-what-was-she-wearing-9d8a562bfad4 Thistle caught up with Ms. Sundar via skype on March 11th to talk with her about her recent de-platforming by trans activists crying "transphobia." Ms. Sundar worked for three years to produce a film unrelated to transgenderism only to have her debut screening in New York City canceled, not due to the virus outbreak, but due to accusations against her character. In addition to learning about Ms. Sundar's amazing film career, you will also get to know a bit about where she grew up and her thoughts and opinions of what feminism means to her as a woman from India embedded in the Indian caste system. This lively interview will brighten your day in these dark times by introducing you to another woman warrior who will never give up on her own professional aspirations nor on her love for girls and women. There has never been a better time to be a feminist activist and STAY HOME to support a sister whose professional career as a filmmaker was damaged by trans activist bullying. Listen to this exclusive WLRN interview with the filmmaker and then donate to the cause by enjoying the film in your home. Thanks for staying tuned to WLRN, our community powered feminist radio station online. We are THERE for you, sisters! Drop us a line at wlrnewscontact@gmail.com to let us know what's going on in your world.

From Thistle: After nearly two years, I ventured back into WORT studios in Madison to record a music show with my friend, Lucy Kilpatrick. From beginning to end, this musical hour features my musical voice and stories of bicycle adventuring. My music is available for purchase here: www.thistlepettersen.com. It was tough getting approval from the station to allow my music to air due to trans activists complaining that I am "transphobic" and "hateful and bigoted." Because of these accusations, WORT leadership would not allow me to do the program live from the studio for fear that I may say something "hateful" or "discriminatory towards marginalized groups." Knowing I was perfectly capable of not "spewing hate" as I am accused of, I agreed to this restriction and recorded my show in the studio on December 28th, 2019 with no incident. Even though the news director told me immediately that I had passed the test and had uttered no wrongspeak during the recording, she also said that the entire board of directors, staff and volunteers at the station needed to review the recording before it would be approved. Finally, by the end of January, the news director at WORT, Chali Pittman, told me my show had been approved and would likely be airing sometime in February. She also told me that there would be no promo ad for the show leading up to it. The final date for the airing was Monday, March 16th, 2020, almost exactly two years after I aired my news program interviewing Meghan Murphy and Julie Bindel about gender identity, pornography and prostitution. You can listen to that program here: https://soundcloud.com/wlrn-media/interviews-with-julie-bindel-meghan-murphy-on-wort-899-fm-in-madison The night the music show aired, right afterwards, I called the station and the news director answered, reporting that there were an equal number of favorable and unfavorable calls to the station. When asked if the unfavorable calls were claiming I should not be on the air because I am "hateful and bigoted", the news director replied "basically, yeah. That's it in a nutshell." It is not too late to write to the news director after listening to this show to let her know that you appreciate me and my music and that you hope to hear more of it at the station. You can also thank her for allowing the music show to air. Please send an email to Chali Pittman at chali@wortfm.org. Thanks for staying tuned!

Poet Dominique Christina discusses the #SayHerName movement, black women's experiences in America, and the intention of the movement. The podcast also covers a Dragyn Ride event, unique oppression faced by black women, and how white women can support equality. Stay tuned to WLRN for more!

Thistle Pettersen interviews Dominique Christina, an award-winning poet and writer, discussing topics such as her journey from being a writer to a performer, the power and reclamation of the term 'bitch', the Say Her Name movement, the complexity of black women's identity, and the intricacies of whiteness and blackness.

This is a short interview Thistle did with a woman attending a feminist breakfast gathering the day of the Fighting the New Misogyny talk that she was also attending at the Seattle Public Library later on, only three blocks away from the location of the breakfast. About 15 women gathered for the event, some from outside of the region and others from the Pacific Northwest and Seattle. What is noteworthy about this woman's testimony is how she does not identify as "conservative" or "right wing" but that because she has an analysis of gender identity that is not in alignment with trans ideology, she was labeled a "TERF" and subsequently "conservative" and "right wing." It is important for major media to hear the voices of the women attending the Seattle Public Library event, and not just continue to point at WoLF's bipartisan attempts to get radical feminist views into the mainstream via associations with conservatives and conservative groups. Please listen to this interview and realize that there are hundreds of thousands of women like the woman featured here, but many of us have been bullied into silence and the media blackout means that many more of us do not even know about the erosion of women's rights taking place in 2020. Thanks for tuning in to WLRN. If you'd like to hear this month's podcast in it's entirety, click on this link. https://soundcloud.com/wlrn-media/the-battle-of-seattle-wlrns-edition-46-podcast

Thanks to our listener sponsors, WLRN was able to send Thistle Pettersen to Seattle the weekend of February 1st to attend the talk "Fighting the New Misogyny" featuring Lierre Keith, Meghan Murphy, Saba Malik and Kara Dansky at the Seattle Public Library. In this edition, you will hear exclusive coverage of events surrounding the main event that drew 350 people to the library to hear women speak about the harms of gender identity legislation and culture. There were supporters and protesters alike captured by the many media activists present though the absence of major media was glaring. First up, you'll hear the world news as written and delivered by WLRN's Dana Vitalosova right before hearing the Cranberries' song "Zombie" which is amazingly perfect for this month's topic. After the Cranberries song, WLRN's April Neault introduces the Seattle sound collage Thistle and Jenna co-created of the many voices of women attending the talk, offering their insights and statements about why they were there woven in between snippets of Thiste's song "Trans." The collage ends with "Song to the Sky" also by WLRN's Thistle Pettersen. Then, it's on to the clips Jenna chose to feature of the speakers, audience and protesters at the event including the "Let Women Speak" chant audience members broke into as transgender activists attempted to disrupt. "Let women speak" became a powerful phrase repeated by the audience as the cops arrested and dragged protesters out of the auditorium. Finally, enjoy stellar WLRN commentary by Sekhmet SheOwl as she reflects on free speech, the lack of media presence and more. Thanks for tuning in to WLRN, feminist community powered media. If you'd like to support this grassroots project, please consider becoming a listener sponsor by clicking on the donate button on our wordpress site and giving a monthly donation of any amount. Every little bit helps to keep us going as a collective of media activist women to bring you the news most media will not touch due to the censoring of feminist voices.

Delving into the ethics of sex robots and child sex dolls, the podcast challenges the objectification of women and children. It explores the link between pedophilia, pornography, and exploitation, advocating for a shift towards empathy and power dynamics. Addressing societal constructs of sexuality, the discussion emphasizes the importance of critical discourse and community engagement.

In this extended WLRN interview, Thistle Pettersen talks with Dawn Smith, organizer with the Michigan Framily Reunion, about this women-only cultural event that remembers and honors the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival that took place near Hart, Michigan for 40 years with the last MichFest happening in August of 2015.

One of WLRN's earliest interviews; In it, then-WLRN member Elizabeth talks with Ms. Hungerford about the Purvi Patel abortion/miscarriage case, among other cases, and their implications for women's reproductive freedoms.