Women's Voices

Dr Holly Lawford-Smith, radical feminist and associate professor in Political Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, reads her philosophical essay, Ending Sex-Based Oppression: Transitional Pathways arguing for the abolition of gender stereotypes, sometimes also referred to as sex roles. First published in Philosophia in November 2020.

Genevieve Gluck and Caroline Norma discuss rape impunity in India, women's day protests in Mexico, women garment workers demonstrating against the military coup in Myanmar, and guest Jen Izaakson comments on the murder of London woman Sarah Everard along with the public response.

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 she has recently released a four-part documentary titled Dysphoric, which explores the social, medical, and institutional construction of gender identity. Her film places women and girls front and center, and questions not only why they may feel uncomfortable in their sexed bodies, but also the myriad of harms involved in medical transitioning. The full documentary is available for free on YouTube.

A radical feminist in France -- who wishes to remain anonymous for her safety -- was part of a small group of women, including survivors of the prostitution industry, who organized a protest in Paris on March 7 in honor of International Women’s Day. During their demonstration, they were attacked and threatened with death by trans activists, who had planned their assault in advance. In addition to hitting the women and hurling eggs at them, the trans activists, most of whom were very young, also spray painted the message: “Kill a TERF, save a trans” on the monument where they had congregated. This attack on feminist activism, especially activism centered on women’s sex-based oppression and opposition to the sex industry, is an increasing trend globally. Similar attacks and countless death threats have been recorded in the US, Canada, the UK, and Spain, as gender ideology spreads out of academia and through social media, where such hostility and incitement to violence is allowed to be openly expressed, virtually unchecked.

In this episode, Genevieve Gluck and Caroline Norma discuss Larry Flynt, pornography's impact on women beyond Western societies, surrogacy, and gender identity ideology.

News for the week of January 29 to February 5, 2021, followed by discussion with Genevieve and Caroline.

A selection of international news stories pertaining to women's rights for the month of January 2021.

Genevieve Gluck and Caroline Norma discuss the Nordic model legislation proposed in New York and Malta; US bills to prevent minors from undergoing experimental "gender reassignment treatments"; deepfake pornography.

Caroline Norma is Lecturer at the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Her 2015 book, The Japanese Comfort Women and Sexual Slavery During the China and Pacific Wars explores the origins of the Japanese military's system of sexual slavery and illustrates how Japanese women were its initial victims. Campaigns for justice and reparations for 'comfort women' since the early 1990s have highlighted the magnitude of the human rights crimes committed against Korean, Chinese and other Asian women by Japanese soldiers after they invaded the Chinese mainland in 1937. These campaigns, however, say little about the origins of the system or its initial victims.

This was a talk given by Jo Bartosch on July 4, 2020, during a webinar titled: "Sex Tech, Robots & AI: A feminist Response," hosted by the Campaign Against Sex Robots.

campaignagainstsexrobots.org