Breaking Down Patriarchy

How do you feel about beauty pageants? In 1968, the feminist group New York Radical Women organized a picket of the Miss America Pageant and paraded sheep around the area to protest models being judged like animals at a county fair. These activists refused to talk to male reporters, which forced newspapers to call in women reporters from their usual assignments covering second-tier stories. And then they set up a freedom trash can and they piled in their bras and false eyelashes and put in copies of magazines such as Playboy and the Ladies Home Journal. These demonstrations at pageants spread to many other countries, including to the Miss World pageant held in England in 1970, where protesters threw flower bombs and disrupted the event with football rattles. And then in Scotland in 1975, a large group of women called the students signed up for a beauty pageant. And then on the day of the contest, they all stormed in together wearing overalls and no makeup, essentially hijacking the event. Whatever listeners think about beauty pageants, it's about to get more complicated. On today's episode, we hear a fascinating essay from Holland Allebes Anderson, granddaughter of the very first Miss World Kiki Hawkinson.Holland Allebes Anderson grew up in Southern California. She is currently a student at Brigham Young University Provo, studying to become a Landscape Architect with an emphasis in urbane farms and edible parks. Holland is an artist of many mediums such as oil paint, ink, digital art, installation art, chalk art, performance art, and poetry. Her art and thinking are shaped by her faith (Church of Jesus Christ), parents, gender, plants, and her humor.

On today’s episode, we interrogate the tradition of patronyms and, in the process, exploring the history of coverture laws, marital customs, and more as our guest—Amelia Hapgood—delves deep into the question of “what’s in a name?”Amelia Hapgood is a BYU student, a newlywed, a devout feminist, and a wanna be runner. She is from Arkansas, and loves being in a family of all girls!

Welcome to BDP! I’m AMA, and today we’re airing a special episode in response to the Supreme Court ruling on June 24, 2022, which eliminated the constitutional right to abortion. The right had been granted in 1973, by way of the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, when the justices ruled that the decision of whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term was covered under the “right to privacy” clause of the 14th amendment. Nearly fifty years later, conservative judges appointed by Donald Trump led the court to revoke women’s right to make this choice for themselves. In response, the three liberal justices on the court wrote that the court had done grave damage to women’s equality and to its own legitimacy.They wrote, “With sorrow — for this court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent.”To help make sense of this issue, we are re-airing an episode from Season 1 that looks in depth at the original Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade. And to make it this episode easier to share with others, we condensed two long episodes down to just one 45 minute piece. So please, whether or not you heard it in 2020, give it a listen now, and then share it with anyone you know who may be struggling to figure out how they feel about this topic. I know it took me a lot of time researching for me to come to my own conclusions about abortion rights, so I have a lot of compassion for people who find this issue challenging. My hope is that more people will do honest-hearted, open-minded research, starting with  reading Roe v. Wade itself. But in the meantime, here’s a review of this essential text.I want to thank my sister Lindsay again for her wisdom and for the beautiful and tender way that she approached this topic. When we recorded this episode, we could not have imagined that Roe v. Wade would actually be overturned, but since we live in a new world now, I want to close with some ways that you can take action to restore this fundamental right.Talk to Friends and FamilyShare information with the people in your life, including well-sourced articles, personal stories, and this episode of the podcast. We recommend you approach discussion openly and authentically. Helping to educate and sway minds in your community can lead to larger changes in social trends such as funding and voting behaviors. Volunteer on a Local LevelThis week’s episode by Theresa Beauchamp and Del Ruhl was particularly inspiring to me because these two people had such different temperaments and different gifts to bring to the table. Think about what you can offer, and do something. You could volunteer to escort folks to your local abortion clinic, you could become become a talk-line advocate for people weighing their reproductive options, or you could find an abortion clinic office where you can volunteer by looking up Trust women.org. Whatever your skills are, chances are they can be helpful during this crisis. ProtestLook up “Reproductive Rights protest near me” and you’ll find lots of options.-Donate to Abortion Access FundsThere has been an outpouring of donations since the overturning of Roe v Wade, but if you find yourself unable to engage directly, donations can still make a difference. People will need transportation, time off work, and cash flow to travel if and when they need an abortion. Your money can ensure they get there safely and without emptying their wallets in the process. We advise identifying an abortion fund in your area or a nearby area experiencing restricted access. The National Network of Abortion Funds can be a helpful resource in identifying these funds.  I also encourage support for Planned Parenthood, which does more than any other organization in preventing unwanted pregnancies, and Keep Our Clinics, a campaign that raises money for independent abortion clinics (which provide the majority of abortions in this country at present).~Beyond these suggestions, we encourage you to continue to vote for and advocate for candidates and legislation defending abortion access. Elect leaders who trust women.

Where are we today? Where do we want to be in the future? How do we get there?On today's episode we hear stories from Theresa Beauchamp and Delin Ruhl, two people who've taken action in moments of injustice. Our guests share their remarkable tales of standing up against oppression, whether that confrontation happens behind the lines of a phone bank or face to face in the streets.Theresa Beauchamp (she/her) is a retired family practice Physician Assistant and full-time political activist focused on reproductive and racial justice and the fight against voter suppression. Boogie boarding, e-biking with her husband, live theatre, hiking in the Sierras and playing with her grandchildren rejuvenate her along her journey as a lifelong activist.Delin Ruhl (they/them) is a musician and storyteller based out of Portland, OR. Locally, Dell plays alto saxophone for the Carroll Raum Swing Orchestra, and flute for the group Jump Up Pup. They have also played whistle and bodhran with the group Possibly Irish at Enchanted Forest, and enjoy performing original sets at venues like The Ranger Station and Floyd’s Coffee. Theater credits include Is He Dead? and The Glass Menagerie (Hawai‘i Pacific University), for which they received a Hawai‘i State Theater Association Po‘okela Award for Leading Actor. Regional theater credits include A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre), Circle Mirror Transformation; Mauritius (Hawai‘i Repertory Theater), and Someone Else’s Slippas (The Arts at Mark’s Garage). Offstage, they can often be found debating with their parrot, snuggling their 20-pound Flemish Giant rabbit, or writing limericks.

Dr. Nanette Gartrell and Dr. Dee Mosbacher have been pioneers in the struggle for LGBTQIA+ civil rights for over forty years, contributing essential research, political action, and groundbreaking documentaries on gay and lesbian experiences. On today's episode, I'm honored to sit down with these personal heroes for a conversation about their lives, their activism, and their love.Nanette Gartrell, M.D., is a Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the Williams Institute and holds a Guest Appointment at the University of Amsterdam. Previously on the faculties at Harvard and UCSF medical schools, she is the principal investigator of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), which since the 1980s has been following a cohort of planned lesbian families with children conceived through donor insemination. She has published extensively on this topic, including in the New England Journal of Medicine. Her investigations provide information to specialists in healthcare, family services, education, and public policy on matters pertaining to sexual minority parent families. Dr. Gartrell graduated from Stanford University (B.A.), University of California (M.D.), and completed a psychiatry residency and fellowship at Harvard Medical School.Dee Mosbacher, M.D., Ph.D., is a psychiatrist and documentary filmmaker. She was a producer/director of the Academy Award-nominated “Straight from the Heart” and eight other award-winning documentaries. As a public sector psychiatrist, Dr. Mosbacher specialized in the treatment of the severely mentally ill, including many who were homeless. Dr. Mosbacher served as San Mateo County’s Medical Director for Mental Health, on the board of California Pacific Medical Center, and on the faculty at UCSF. She has received many awards, including a NOW Women of Power Award and a John E. Fryer Award from the American Psychiatric Association.

As new generations increasingly have the knowledge and social acceptance to explore their identities, the number of openly transgender people in our world—especially transgender youth—is rapidly rising. Yet despite these recent spikes— the transgender community is still comparatively small: making up roughly 0.6% of the global population. As a result, many cisgender people (meaning those of us whose gender aligns with the one we were assigned at birth) have little to no lived experience interacting with transgender people. What we’re exposed to instead is whatever our media, political, and social leaders choose to tell us about them, resulting in a perilous gap between actual transgender people and a series of cultural stereotypes. This gulf in our understanding not only endangers the trans population, it harms all of us, discouraging marginalized demographics from working together, making it even more difficult for us to dismantle oppressive structures, and denying cisgender people the chance to love their trans neighbors. Fortunately, some transgender people are stepping forward to help bridge this divide, sharing their personal stories, dispelling dangerous myths, and helping us envision a more egalitarian future for all. On today’s episode I’m happy to say we’ll be joined by two such voices: Sam Rose Preminger and Domi ShoemakerSam Rose Preminger (they/them) is a trans-nonbinary, Jewish writer and publisher. They hold an MFA from Pacific University, serve as the Editor-in-Chief of NAILED Magazine, and are a contributing editor at Lightship Press and Write Bloody Publishing. Their poetry has appeared in numerous publications online and in print. Their debut collection of poems —'Cosmological Horizons' — is forthcoming from Kelsay Books (Summer 2022). They live in Portland, OR, where they've acquired too many house plants. www.sampreminger.comDomi J Shoemaker (they/them) is an Idaho-born gender flexer who founded the quarterly reading series, Burnt Tongue, after cutting teeth in Tom Spanbauer’s Dangerous Writers workshop. While finishing an MFA in Writing in 2015, author Lidia Yuknavitch asked Domi to help her create the Corporeal Writing Seasonal Workshop Series. With a resounding yes, Domi is now the Corporeal Writing Seasonal Workshop Co-Facilitator. Domi has published at [PANK], Nailed Magazine, Unshod Quills, Gobshite Quarterly, and has a story in the anthology, The Night and The Rain and The River, from Forest Avenue Press. They were recently featured in the literary radio theatre podcast, Storytellers Telling Stories.www.domishoemaker.com

It’s not exactly a secret that the Church of Latter-Day Saints and gay rights haven’t gone hand-in-hand historically. In fact, for many decades now the Church has vocally campaigned against marriage equality, making it one of the leaderships pre-eminent political concerns and codifying heteronormativity in Church doctrine. While some discriminatory policies have changed over time (for example, the Church no longer teaches that same-sex attraction can be ‘cured’ and no longer requires children of same-sex couples to denounce their parents, as it did until 2019) it would still be inaccurate to imagine that the Church is embracing the queer community to its fullest.In fact, if you go to the official website for the LDS Church right now you can read a statement where they claim that same-sex attraction itself is not wrong, but it is a ‘challenge’ and that acting on those feelings is a sin. Gay members of the Church who choose to publicly kiss and embrace the person that they love may face punishments including probation, disfellowship, or (for those who refuse to repent) excommunication—a total severance from the bonds of their community and faith. Official Church statements refer to same-sex relationships as ‘transgressions’ ‘temptations’ ‘wickedness’ and ‘sin’. The Church emphasizes the importance of marriage and family as absolutely essential for human happiness and salvation after this life, and yet it unequivocally prohibits marriage and family for gay people, condemning them to a life of celibacy and solitude. On today's episode we hear from two guests — Colette Dalton & Autumn McAlpin — who share their experiences with queer identity and the LDS Church. On today's episode we hear from two guests — Colette Dalton & Autumn McAlpin — who share their experiences with queer identity and the LDS Church. Colette Dalton (she/her) is a therapist in Utah and specializes in working with people around faith transitions and sexuality. She co-hosts a podcast called Called to Queer, which holds space for queer Mormon women, genderqueer, and intersex folks. In her free time, she enjoys practicing Pilates, reading, and listening to wayyyy too many podcasts.Autumn McAlpin (she/her) is a writer, filmmaker and dedicated voice of advocacy and equality for our LGTBQIA+ population—in particular in the LDS space. Autumn pens the weekly LGBTQIA+ family profile stories at liftandlove.org, and is also an active supporter and fundraiser for Encircle, which provides safe spaces, friendship circles, classes, and subsidized therapy to LGBTQIA+ youth.

Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Chloe Agyin and Lakshan Lingam.Chloe and Lakshan are members of a nonprofit organization called Encircle. Their mission is to bring together family and community to enable queer youth to thrive. Encircle provides services like support groups, educational and creative programs, and accessible mental health services in a safe and beautiful environment. In cities throughout Utah and other states where queer youth are most at risk. We're so happy to feature this casual candid discussion between Chloe and Lakshan when they were together at the Encircle house in Salt Lake City, discussing identity, gender, orientation, and the power of representation.Chloe Agyin (they/them) is a queer multiracial social worker in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the moment they work as the Home Director of an LGBTQ+ Family and Youth Resource Center. Chloe has had the privilege of working with LGBTQ+ individuals in a variety of capacities, and they hope to continue this life-saving work. Chloe’s dream is to open up a queer bookstore in the South that is focused on amplifying voices of QBIPOC authors and provides a safe space for everyone that enters. When Chloe is not working, they enjoy being outside it in the sun exploring the beautiful landscape that is Utah.Lakshan Lingam (he/they) is an undergraduate student pursing a degree in Gender Studies and Arts Technology at the University of Utah. As Executive Assistant, they help oversee the day-to-day administration and operation of Encircle. In their spare time, they enjoy searching for new music and spending time with their brother.Visit the Episode Page here.

Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Sebastian Stuart-Johnson and Kylee Shepherd, two members of The Black Menaces.The Black Menaces started in February, 2022. The group made a reaction video to a BYU professor’s insensitive comments about black people in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the video instantly went viral on TikTok. The Black Menaces are a group of five friends; Sebastian, Kylee, Rachel, Nate, and Kennethia. Rachel and Nate are recent BYU alumni, Kylee and Kennethia are entering their senior years, and Sebastian is finishing his junior year. The goal of the Black Menaces is to shine light on the problems and issues that happen at predominantly white institutions and enact change. They hope for a better future for any and all minorities that are mistreated and underrepresented. Visit the Episode Page here.

As women and our allies continue to share knowledge, resources, and take action to dismantle oppressive structures, the progress we make is being met by oppositional movements. Here in America, the MRA Movement (or Men’s Rights Activism) continues to expand its reach and intensify its rhetoric, with prominent MRA leader Matt Forney going so far as to say “Women should be terrorized by their men; it’s the only thing that makes them behave better than chimps.” Meanwhile, crimes targeting women and girls have only continued to increase world-wide. The picture this paints seems clear – some men are aggressively pushing back to protect a repressive status quo and when women voice frustrations with the situation or – yet it is not uncommon to hear cultural and political leaders continuing to claim, as Sen. Josh Hawley did only a few months ago, that “men are under attack.” And believe it or not, I’m going to agree with Senator Hawley on that point…Men are under attack, but not from feminists and others fighting for equality; men are under attack from the very same patriarchal institutions which diminish the rest of us. They are taught that there is a small box of acceptability that they must fit into or be shamed (or worse). Most damaging of all, men continue to be taught not to speak up against other men in situations of injustice, not to upset the normativity of a repressive system which ultimately serves none of us.But if all of us work together, we have the collective power to put a stop to these systems and build a world that works for people of all genders. And that’s why today I’m excited to be bringing men’s voices to the table – men who are ready to pull away the wool patriarchy has draped over their eyes and speak out about injustices they’ve observed and even participated in. We’re so grateful to share their courageous voices with you today.Andy Dunn (he/him) co-founded menswear brand Bonobos and served as CEO until its 2017 acquisition by Walmart. As an investor, he has backed more than eighty startups, including Warby Parker, Coinbase, Away, Glossier, Real, Parade, SeatGeek and Alula. His memoir, Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind, explores the intersection of entrepreneurship and mental illness.Ian McAllister (he/him) is a father and small business owner in Portland, Oregon. When he’s not chasing his two year old daughter around you can usually find him at a farmers market, on the ski slopes, paddling the rivers of the Pacific North West, or cheering at a college football game.Visit the Episode Page here.