Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller

In the post-#MeToo era, men who would never consider saying a harassing word or venture a grope are now asking themselves “can I hug a co-worker anymore?” ****

“Can I put my arm around someone in a photo?”

“Can I have dinner with a female co-worker...alone?”

For the most part, workplace sexual harassment training includes the same rote video, awkward role-playing scenarios or yawn-inducing speaker, and is not remotely equipped to end a culture of enabling harassers or dismissing claims.

Listen to my convo with Mercer as we discuss why corporate sexual harassment training has for the most part failed women, and how immersive experiences like virtual reality may be the key to unlocking empathy, action and change.

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Last season on Inflection Point, we explored the concept of empowerment for women. And one of the many things we learned is that we can’t hope to achieve equality if only one gender is doing the work. Since I recorded that episode a new report came out from the American Psychological Association about the harms of ‘traditional masculinity.’ Yet not everyone is ready to accept this finding. So... what else needs to change in our culture, to enable boys and men to see women as their equals, and for women to see men as our allies?

My guest today is Dr. Michael Reichert, a psychologist with a specialty in work with men and boys, author of the new book, “How to Raise a Boy” and the co-founder and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives, which is connected to the University of Pennsylvania.

The study of gender--especially masculinity--as a social construct is "radical" because it challenges the entrenched belief that “boys will be boys.” Then again, it was considered radical to study the earth's orbit around the sun because it challenged entrenched belief that the earth was the center of the universe.

But it turns out that boys--like most humans--are just really really good at adapting to their environment...an environment we adults create for them.

So...while we are spending lots and lots of time and energy ‘empowering’ women---are we writing off the good that men are capable of because we believe ‘that’s just how they are’ or can we help empower men as well--but in a new way? That will take a radical shift in thinking.

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Times like these call for radical ideas.

But is being a radical a positive thing? And if so, why are so many radicals seen as dangerous?

I invited Rad Women book series’ creators Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl to talk about how to spot a radical, because if anyone knows what a radical looks like and what it takes to be one, it’s them.

This special episode features my live conversation with activist, writer and feminist organizer, Gloria Steinem and Oakland-based artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez.

The legendary Gloria Steinem is the author of several best-selling books, was a founding editor of and political commentator for New York Magazine and a founding editor of Ms.

Favianna Rodriguez’s art and collaborative projects address migration, economic inequality, gender justice, and ecology. Favianna is also the Executive Director of CultureStrike, a national arts organization that engages artists, writers and performers in migrant rights.

Gloria, Favianna and I spoke on stage at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on February 21st, 2019 as part of Women Lit, a program of the Bay Area Book Festival. Gloria’s book of essays--now in its third edition--and the occasion for our conversation--is called “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions”--and there is no better or more timely theme! In this conversation we talked about the ongoing fight for equality, how much has changed--or not--since Gloria wrote those essays between the 1960s and the 1990s...and how to create the future we envision!

This live event was made possible in part by EO essential oils bath and body care products and of course, my home station KALW in San Francisco, and PRX.

Giving is a radical act. Help keep these podcasts coming:inflectionpointradio.org/contribute.

This season I’m introducing you to the radical geniuses who are reshaping the systems as we know them. But according to today’s guest, we can all be radical geniuses by embracing a mindset of flexibility and resilience.

Subscribe to “Inflection Point” to get more stories of how women rise up right in your feed. Here’s a radical idea: contribute to Inflection Point and help us keep telling more stories! inflectionpoint.org/contribute.

And when you’re done, come on over to The Inflection Point Society, our Facebook group of everyday activists who seek to make extraordinary change through small, daily actions.

Thank you to our sponsors their support!

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This season Lauren introduces you to the “radical” people who are reshaping the systems as we know them--to get us closer to an equal society.

New episodes every other Wednesday.

Support our production with a tax deductible contribution. Click here. You contribute. We produce more episodes. Change happens.

As we finish up the first month of 2019 and embark upon the rest of what will no doubt be a tumultuous year, let’s hear some words of wisdom from a couple previous guests on how to be more intersectional in our feminism and what small, radical acts women and men can take to accelerate change.

I’m revisiting advice that will give us hope and motivation in our march toward our goal of equality, while I work on my next season for you.

Subscribe to “Inflection Point” to get more stories of how women rise up right in your feed on Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher and NPROne.

And when you’re done, come on over to The Inflection Point Society, our Facebook group of everyday activists who seek to make extraordinary change through small, daily actions.

Support Inflection Point with a monthly or one-time contribution here.

Khalida Brohi was a teenager when she learned that her uncle had murdered her cousin to restore his family’s honor. Her cousin’s crime: falling in love with a boy who she wasn’t betrothed to marry.

Since 2008, Khalida Brohi has been working to end honor killings and domestic violence in the indigenous communities of Pakistan. Her work has led to raising awareness abroad and at home and pressuring the Pakistani government to close loopholes in the law that allowed men to get away with the murder and violence against women in the name of honor.

She also works in the villages to change the mindsets of men like her uncle and women like her grandmother. People whose dignity she must respect while helping them loosen the grip honor has had upon their sense of worth.

Listen to my conversation with Khalida Brohi, author of I Should Have Honor in a special episode, recorded at the Women Lit event in San Francisco.

And when you’re done, come on over to The Inflection Point Society, our Facebook group of everyday activists who seek to make extraordinary change through small, daily actions.

While you’re here, subscribe to “Inflection Point” to get more stories of how women rise up right in your feed.

Fox News has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to silence women who were sexually harassed and assaulted while working there. The story of former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes’ rise to power and eventual downfall is the story of enablers: people who are willing to look the other way when a predator abuses people, and who are willing to step in and muzzle the victims he leaves in his wake. This story is still happening every day.

Listen to my conversation with Alexis Bloom, the filmmaker behind the award-winning documentary, Divide & Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes.

And when you’re done…consider a contribution, click here.

Join The Inflection Point Society, our Facebook group of everyday activists making extraordinary change here.

After asking the question all season: "Does all this female empowerment we’re striving for really lead to actual power?" The kind of power that puts women in charge of our bodies, our workplaces, our laws, and our futures... And asking people working in politics, business, tech and media who have a lot to say about empowerment to weigh in on these questions, I have an answer--sort of! Spoiler alert: the answers they gave led to more questions. But really, really important questions. Listen to this season wrap-up to find out what needs to happen next in the quest for equality.

And when you’re done, come on over to The Inflection Point Society, our Facebook group of everyday activists who seek to make extraordinary change through small, daily actions.

Subscribe to “Inflection Point” to get more stories of how women rise up right in your feed on Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher and NPROne.

(Please note, this episode was marked explicit because there are three unbleeped swear words.)