Feminist Current

The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on everyone. But imagine if you were impoverished, a migrant, or living in close quarters with no way to socially isolate. What if you were a prostituted woman? A domestic worker? What if you were trapped in an abusive relationship, with nowhere to go? How have the pandemic and the lockdowns impacted the most marginalized among us? And how have exploitative industries — like the porn industry — profited? How have women, in particular, been impacted? How could we better support these women? Can we really continue to pretend as though sex is a social construct, rather than a material reality, considering the different ways males and females are impacted by coronavirus?

This week, I talk to Anna Zobnina, coordinator of the European Network of Migrant Women, a migrant-women led platform of NGOs that works, in the spirit of intersectional feminism, for the rights of migrant women in Europe; a member of the executive committee of the European Women’s Lobby; a former research analyst with the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies; and a selected expert with the European Institute for Gender Equality.

Read her article, “Global Feminist Perspective on the Pandemic: What ‘normal’ do we expect when the crisis is over?” at migrantwomennetwork.org

Michelle Mara is a British-born survivor of the sex trade in New Zealand. She is a single mother of four who writes and speaks about her experiences in prostitution in New Zealand, including as a madam, during prohibition as well as after the trade was fully decriminalized. Michelle has been a refugee support worker for Somali women in Wellington, a foster parent for Native American (Lakota) children in South Dakota, a mental health and disability advocate, social support advisor for young families during the aftermath of 9/11 in the U.S Military, and has voluntarily housed numerous at risk teens. She advocates for the Equality/Nordic model and co-founded Wahine Toa Rising NZ, a survivor-led organization supporting sexually exploited women and girls, currently working towards establishing exit supports and services, as well as a refuge/safe house for vulnerable women wanting to exit prostitution.

I spoke with her from her home in New Zealand on March 25th, 2020.

Last month, a scheduled screening of Vaishnavi Sundar’s film, But What Was She Wearing? was abruptly cancelled. Vaishnavi was told, a week before the screening, that the event was cancelled because of her “transphobic” views. This was in reference, she discovered, to some tweets she had posted about gender identity politics online, including questioning whether males who identify as transgender should be allowed to complete against and with women in sport, be transferred to female prisons, or use women’s change rooms. Vaishnavi had spent three years on the film, interviewing women in India about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. She published an article about the ordeal in Spiked earlier this month, titled, “I was cancelled for my tweets on transgenderism.”

In it, she writes:

“I grew up in Avadi in the south of India. I have spent most of my life working with marginalised women. But I was simply not the right flavour of woke for the postmodern, queer-theory espousing desis of Manhattan.

I have since confronted the editors of the publications that blacklisted me. It appears that Indian trans-rights activists googled my name and wrote to every outlet I had ever been published in, telling them about my ‘TERFy’ tweets.

By being outcast, I was essentially being told that the feminism I live by — the feminism of Mary Wollstonecraft, Emmeline Pankhurst and Andrea Dworkin — was exclusionary because it rejected males in female safe spaces. My intersectionality wasn’t expansive enough to accommodate men. My feminism did not embrace the ‘choice’ of carrying water for patriarchy. Advocating for women’s safety was ‘anti-trans’, the meaning of which I am still struggling to understand. I am not ‘anti’ anything except the endless derivative forms of misogyny.”

Vaishnavi Sundar is an independent filmmaker, feminist, writer, and women’s rights activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She is the founder of Women Making Films and Lime Soda Films, and is currently conducting research for a new film about the effect of microfinance on women.

I spoke with her over the phone this week.

To watch But what was she wearing, visit: https://gumroad.com/vaishax

Over a decade ago, Julie Bindel was the first to report on the so-called “grooming gangs” exploiting working class girls in a number of towns in Northern England. Thousands of victims were sexually abused and sold to adult men, yet the police and the media didn’t want to address it. Because the gangs were made up of Pakistani men, media and the authorities claimed they didn’t want to touch the issue for fear of being accused of racism. Two recently released reports revealed social workers and the police in South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester knew girls were being abused, yet failed to take action. How and why did this fly under the radar for so long?

In this episode, I speak with Julie Bindel, a journalist, prolific author, and feminist campaigner, from her home in London, to learn more about the issues surrounding the scandal.

Born in 1933, in Oklahoma, Carol Downer is nothing less than a legend. She is not only a lawyer and an author, but she revolutionized the women’s health movement, learning how to perform abortions and vaginal self-examinations, and teaching other women how to, as well. In the early 70s, at a time when abortion, birth control, and fertility information was not widely available to women, Carol and some other women developed the practice of menstrual extraction, offering women a means to take control of their reproduction. She and her group, which incorporated as the Feminist Women’s Health Center (FWHC) post-Roe v Wade, and travelled around the United States, equipped with vaginal speculums, teaching women about their  bodies and reproductive systems. The FWHC also established the Women’s Abortion Referral Service, the first of its kind to offer pregnancy screening.

In 1981, Carol was the editor of A New View of a Woman’s Body, and an editor of a companion book, How to Stay Out of the Gynecologist’s Office. In 1984, she assisted in writing Woman-Centerd Pregnancy and Birth, in 1992, she wrote, A Woman’s Book of Choices with Rebecca Chalker. Carol is on the board of directors of the Feminist Women’s Health Centers/The Women’s Health Specialists of California and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Abortion Federation. She is currently working on her next book in which she advances the belief that women’s collective efforts to achieve their sexual and reproductive liberation is a fundamental strategy for social change.

I spoke with Carol shortly after meeting her in New Mexico in the fall, where she gave a talk about reproductive sovereignty.

We know that companies have been putting toxic chemicals in things like cigarettes, and are beginning to get tuned into the fact many other products we buy and use also contain carcinogens. But to what extent? Many women wear up to 20 products a day — from lotions, to makeup, to hair products. But do we know what’s in the things we put on our faces and bodies daily? The frightening truth is that many of us slather on 1000s of chemicals every morning, many of which are toxic. Companies know this and governments know it, yet are doing little to stop it.

In 1982, world renowned epidemiologist, Dr. Daniel Cramer, linked Johnson & Johnson baby powder to ovarian cancer. Since the 60s, the company allegedly knew the risks and did nothing. Last July, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay US$4.7 billion to a group of women who said the company’s baby powder caused ovarian cancer. J&J is still facing lawsuits from more than 100,000 plaintiffs, yet the product continues to be sold across North America.

A new documentary, scheduled to air on CBC’s documentary channel on January 5 2020, explores the consequences of Johnson & Johnson’s lack of concern for their customers’ health, and the impact on women, in particular. Toxic Beauty delves not only into the dangers of talc-based products, but of the many other ingredients used in beauty and personal care products many people use daily, assuming they are safe.

In this episode, I speak with Phyllis Ellis, director of Toxic Beauty, about the extent of the problem, and what we can do to take action.

There have been a rash of media reports, in recent years, about women who were killed due to “sex gone wrong.” As of August, there were 57 women in the UK killed by men who used the excuse of “sex game gone wrong” as part of their defence. In some cases, judges have determined that, even in cases of horrific violence, “consensual” sex somehow vindicates perpetrators.

In response to the short sentence given to Natalie Connolly’s partner, John Broadhurst, who left Connolly to die at the foot of a staircase, after having inflicted more than 40 injuries upon her, Fiona Mackenzie launched the We Can’t Consent To This campaign — a UK-based project cataloguing the women and girls killed and injured in what was claimed to be “consensual” sexual violence, and challenging lawmakers and authorities to hold the men responsible accountable.

In this episode, I speak with Fiona about her project and why this defence is both accepted and popular.

Despite all of our modern medicine and science, knowledge about the female body is seriously lacking. Myths abound, and even women themselves often don’t understand how their bodies work, thanks to men’s takeover of what is now known as the medical establishment. It is because of these myths and misunderstandings — everything from the idea that that pubic hair is dirty to the belief that having sex while pregnant could “hurt the baby” to the trend of “steaming the vagina” — that Dr. Jen Gunter recently published a book called, The Vagina Bible. In it, she covers everything from STDs to yeast infections to “feminine hygiene.”

In August, Gunter spoke out after Twitter banned advertisements for her book due to the use of the word “vagina.”

In this episode, I speak with the Canadian OB/GYN, women’s health advocate, and New York Times columnist, not only about vaginas, but about all sorts of ways we are sold unhelpful products for and information about our bodies.

“Coercive control” is something we’ve only just begun to hear about, yet it plays a key role in domestic abuse. Campaigner and journalist Julie Bindel reports that “Coercive control is now the most common form of abuse for which female victims seek help at domestic violence charities.” But when people think about abusive relationships, their imaginations often limit their understanding to the overt violence. But it’s more complicated than that.

Psychological and emotional abuse is often what keeps women from leaving, and can torment them even more than the physical blows. There are clear red flags in terms of men’s behaviour towards their victims that could be noted and addressed in order to potentially save women from further violence or even death.

Jennifer, 42 is a feature length animated documentary that tells the true story of Jennifer Magnano, a Connecticut mother of three, who spent 15 years in a brutally abusive marriage, and attempted to escape with her family. The film delves into the nature of coercive control as well as the broader cultural forces at play. Jennifer, 42 is scheduled for release in April 2020.

In this episode, I speak with the director of the film, Elle Kamihira, and executive producer, Laura Richards, a criminal behavioural analyst and the producer of Dirty John, The Dirty Truth.

Kamihira is a multi-genre director, producer, and writer working in installation media and documentaries. Her credits include the award-winning introductory film Who We Are at the Lelawi Theater at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, signature films for The Museum of the American Revolution, The Harley-Davidson Museum, The Heard Museum, The Chickasaw Cultural Center, and The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame NY Annex.

Richards is an award winning and world renowned criminal behavioural analyst who worked for a decade at New Scotland Yard as head of the homicide prevention unit and head of the violent crime intelligence and analysis unit. She is also world-leading victim advocate who has trained and addressed thousands of police officers, frontline, and specialist professionals across the world in identifying, intervening in, and preventing this form of male violence against women. Richards spearheaded the Domestic Violence Law Reform Campaign to criminalize coercive control, and developed and delivered the first training on the new law in the UK. She is also the author of Policing Domestic Violence. Follow her on Twitter @LauraRichards99.

Massive social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have come under criticism, of late, for censorship, as well as for failing to support women’s interests. Recently, Twitter has taken to suspending users for criticizing gender identity ideology and for discussing basic biological facts about men and women. We do not have a public social media platform where we are free to challenge and ask questions about the impact of gender identity legislation and ideology on women and girls. People are afraid to speak out, for fear of being targeted, bullied, threatened, fired, or worse, and companies like Twitter are reinforcing this. But Mary Kate Fain has come up with one hopeful solution: Spinster — a woman-centered social media platform that does not allow users to use the term TERF as an insult, but does allow users to say that men aren’t women…

The platform launched on Monday, and has been overloaded by users signing up.

Mary Kate is the founder of Spinster, a writer, and an engineer. She is currently writing a book on radical feminism for young women, and volunteers with the Women’s Human Rights Campaign. Find her online at marykatefain.com or @[email protected]. (And find me @[email protected]!)

In this episode, I speak with Mary Kate about losing her job for writing critically about gender identity ideology and about Spinster — why it matters, what its purpose is, and where she hopes it will go.