Media headlines often focus on sensational cases of sexual abuse and online conspiracy theories about false child trafficking claims — while simultaneously ignoring the everyday realities of domestic violence and sex trafficking happening just beyond the headlines. In this episode, leading extremism expert Cynthia Miller-Idriss speaks to journalist and author Rachel Louise Snyder and activist Kaethe Morris Hoffer, Executive Director of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, about the real epidemic of sexual violence in the U.S.

Host:

• Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Founding Director of The Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University

Guests:

• Rachel Louise Snyder, Professor of Literature and Journalism at American University, New York Times Contributing Opinion Writer, author of No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us

• Kaethe Morris Hoffer, Activist and Executive Director, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) 

Read more in Miller-Idriss’s book, “Man Up: The New Misogyny & the Rise of Extremism” published in 2025 by Princeton University Press, available here.

If you believe you’re a victim of domestic abuse, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. If you believe you’re a victim of sexual assault, please call the national Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE. You can find more support and resources here.