Women's Liberation Radio News

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.

Welcome back, sisters, to the first hour of Women's Liberation Music in 2020. It's been eight months since my last music show when I featured the writings of Andrea Dworkin. I can honestly say that the two deaths of well-known writers who have affected me the most have been Andrea Dworkin (who died April 5, 2005) and Mary Oliver who died a year ago today, January 17, 2019. So it seems appropriate that I return with another edition of my music show with a tribute to Mary Oliver. This month's varied music of international under-represented female artists will accompany my reading of some of Mary's poems, all of which celebrate nature, my most beloved muse. I went to visit Mary's hometown for 40 years, P'town, last Fall for a week and walked the beaches and trails she walked and wrote prolifically about, like around Blackwater Pond and the Pinewoods. It was a significant and magical time there; I felt Mary Oliver close, chiding me, for example, to wake before dawn so as to catch the first glint of the day on Blackwater Pond, to see the world through the awe that moved her. I met a small white maltese (who reminded me of pictures of her beloved dog) on the beach directly in front of the home she and her partner Molly Malone Cook lived and I sat in the corner booth at Fanizzi's restaurant next door where I imagined she sat, marveled at the tides and wrote on days she tired of her desk. I didn't seek these things out, they came to me or, I, to them. It was an honor 'being led' by Spirit in this way. I can't imagine better footsteps to trace. And so, I bring that comfort and awe to you, sisters, through this pairing of entrancing and gentle music with Mary Oliver's poetry. I hope you are nourished by this next hour wherever and however you are this midwinter here in the Northern hemisphere. Song List: Returning Jennifer Berezan Elle Mari Boine Karuna Stellamara Title Unknown Jennifer Kriesberg Lecieli Zurauli Laboratorium Piesni You Never Know Mari Boine Oh Love Ayla Nereo Ahccai Mari Boine Lihkahusat Mari Boine Give Me a Break Mari Boine Sorgblidni Eivor Balu BaDuel Go Vuoittan Mari Boine Kappee Laboratorium Piesni Rise Again (Instrumental) Poetry List What the Body Says, New and Selected Poems, vol 2 Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond, ibid Lead, ibid Climbing Pinnacle, ibid Ravens, ibid In Praise of Craziness, of a Certain Kind, ibid The Bleeding-heart, ibid The Best I Could Do, Why I Wake Early Life Story, A Thousand Mornings The Measure, New and Selected Poems, vol 2 Bone, ibid The Sweetness of Dogs, Dog Songs Those Days, Our World I Looked Up, New and Selected Poems, vol 2

Last month, WLRN's Dani Whitaker spoke with Emily Kaht, an athlete and feminist who recently completed a marathon while carrying a flag that read, "Save Women's Sports. Woman = Adult Human Female." As Kaht discusses, this courageous act garnered both support and criticism during and after the event. Kaht is a twenty-nine-year-old woman with a bachelor's degree in biology. She has been involved in sports throughout her life with a current focus on long-distance running, and is committed to protecting the integrity of women's sports so that other women and girls can enjoy the same fulfillment and opportunities that sports have provided her. In this interview, Kaht shares the motivation behind her recent activism as well as the importance of acknowledging biological sex and preserving women's spaces.