Gender-based and sexual violence are pervasive symptoms of a larger violence issue in this country. This reality is exemplified by recent reports that some insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on January 6 have histories of violence against women, including domestic violence and sexual assault. Of course, we also remain in mourning for the lives lost to gun violence in America—most recently the horrific killings of eight people, including six women of Asian descent, in Atlanta, and 10 people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.
 
What do these events convey about the U.S. and our culture of sexual violence? What connections can we make from gender-based violence and sexual violence to a broader culture of violence in the U.S.? How does gender-based violence intersect with race and racism? What can we do to begin to disrupt this culture? 
 
Helping us to sort out these questions and more are very special guests:

• Carmen Vasilio Balentine has spent 25 years working in the public sector to empower youth and to help them tell their stories.  He is the founder of CVB Wellness, which promotes wellness, equity and healing in underserved communities.  Most recently, he served as major gifts officer at American Foundation for AIDS Research.   
• Dr. Terrion Williamson, associate professor of African American and African studies with appointments in gender, women and sexuality studies and American studies at the University of Minnesota, as well as a Ms. contributor. Her research has tracked the serial killings of Black women. Her current book project, which builds upon work started in the last chapter of her first book, Scandalize My Name: Black Feminist Practice and the Making of Black Social Life, is a victim-centered study of the more than 60 cases throughout the U.S. in which Black women have been the sole or primary targets of serial killers since the 1970s. 

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