Women's Liberation Radio News

This month's edition of Women's Liberation Radio News is our tenth so far, focusing on "Conflict, Self-Love & Sisterhood" within the independent women's movement. How can we strategize through the inevitable personal and political conflicts women's organizations face? How can we strengthen our resolve through self-love in a patriarchal world that benefits from women being alienated from themselves and their sisters? Listen on for advice from Ruth Greenberg who hit the ground running in her activism by forming a successful radical feminist collective in the UK soon after becoming radicalized herself, and from our very own Thistle Pettersen, a feminist folk singer from Madison, Wisconsin. In addition, Cathy Brennan talks about the new lesbian group, Bunch of Dykes. Thanks for tuning in to WLRN and be sure to check out our March Edition on the Women's Marches next month!

WLRN's 9th edition podcast is dedicated to the women of the Standing Rock struggle to protect the Missouri River and indigenous land from the Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access oil pipeline. Sekhmet She Owl presents compelling commentary as well as excerpts from her interview with Shannon Kring, creator and producer of End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock, https://www.facebook.com/endofthelinefilm/?ref=page_internal, a documentary featuring the voices of native women fighting against the pipeline. In addition, we hear from Christa Bruhn, mother of three Palestinian children growing up in Madison, WI and water protector activist who recently traveled to Standing Rock to cook in the kitchens and participate in the women's silent prayer march to the front lines where police are protecting the company's progress in building the pipeline. We also hear from CJ, a young radical feminist native woman who felt called to go to Standing Rock to be in solidarity with all of those there fighting for indigen

Interview with Trista Hendren by Staff

Sekhmet She Owl interviews co-editors of the book "Dispatches from Lesbian America": Giovanna Capone, Xequina Berber, and Rome Smith.

The second weekend of September, 2016, Thistle Pettersen traveled to Paducah, Kentucky to attend the first annual Cinema Systers Film Festival produced by Resin Rebel, owner of the beautiful farm where many women gathered throughout the weekend. Pettersen had the opportunity on the last day of the festival to talk with Resin Rebel to find out what her inspiration was for this only all lesbian film festival in the United States. In this interview, you will hear about the many films presented at last year's festival, how the films were submitted and how they were received at the festival. There is mention of Into the Ovid: An Ovella by Tina Brand and Gendercator by Catherine Crouch. The festival will be held for the second time annually over Memorial Day weekend in 2017. For more details about this coming year's festival check out http://www.cinemasysters.com/.

Jill Stein was on the campaign trail for her run for president in the 2016 US presidential elections when Thistle Pettersen met-up with her Madison, WI on April 15th. Ms. Stein agreed to an interview outside on the street in front of the restaurant where she had just given her campaign speech to a group of about 75 people.

WLRN's 8th edition podcast is dedicated to the topic of motherhood with subtopics including childbirth & fertility health, raising children, and lifestyle. Elizabeth McKeown interviewed Mary Lou Singleton, midwife, herbalist and member of WoLF, about her work and analysis of radical feminist maternity health issues. In addition, there are clips from an interview Thistle Pettersen did with Jai Kalidasi, mother of 6 children and radical feminist activist. Have you heard about our t-shirts campaign? https://wlrnmedia.wordpress.com/2016/10/05/help-wlrn-get-station-shirts/ In addition, we are recruiting more volunteer news reporters, script writers, editors, feature commentary writers, visionaries and feminist activists. Please consider becoming a volunteer with us! https://wlrnmedia.wordpress.com/apply-to-work-for-wlrn/ Thanks for tuning in! We rely on your likes, comments and feedback to stay strong as a grassroots media organization so as always, please like, comment and share widely!

WLRN’s Catina Hyman interviewed Maya Dillard Smith on August 2, 2016 via phone. They discussed Dillard’s recent forced resignation as the chief officer of the Georgia ACLU in addition to her project, Finding Middle Ground, a civil rights organization committed to finding solutions to all civil rights concerns. Dillard-Smith is an advocate for the rights of all. She has recently been labeled “hateful” for drawing attention to the rights of girls and women. She holds a Master’s degree from Harvard and a law degree from UC Hastings. http://www.findingmiddleground.org/

Stripe Gandara, a butch lesbian who holds her PhD in Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of Nebraska, was a panelist in the discussion called "Between Butches: Maintaining Sisterhood, Survival, and the Specificity of Womanhood in a Post-Trans World." The discussion took place at the first annual Lesbian Film Festival in Paducah, Kentucky in September, 2016. WLRN's Thistle Pettersen starts by asking her what it means to be in a "post-trans" world and is surprised by her answer. You will notice that Gandara, like other butch lesbians on the panel are truly feminist in their choice to embrace their womanhood and sisterhood, yet they are still trying to co-exist with transgenderism. Using a lot of academic language, they make it seem like co-existence and mutual support are possible, which is not the view of radical feminists who understand the violent nature of the take-over of women's spaces and culture by trans activism and ideology. To view the panel discussion in its entirety, click on this l

This interview was done by Elizabeth McKeown on June 30th of 2016. Ruth Barrett is editor of the book 'Female Erasure: What You Need to Know About Gender Politics’ War on Women, the Female Sex & Human Rights.'

Pippa Fleming is a butch lesbian performance artist, poet, writer, spiritualist and motivational speaker living and working in the bay area. Catina Hyman interviewed Pippa on October 4th for WLRN’s Black Lives Matter edition to get her perspective on the experience of black lesbians within the women’s liberation movement and civil rights struggles. In the interview, Pippa also discusses her upcoming book.

In late August 2016, WLRN volunteer Sarah spoke with Womens' Liberation Front spokeswoman Kara Dansky. Dansky filled us in on WoLF's legal challenge to the Obama administration's guidance on sex-based spaces for women, which essentially eliminated them. She also spoke about the difference between sex and gender and the risks women face when men (who may or may not "feel" that they are "women") enter female spaces.

WLRN was on the scene at the first annual WoLF Fest in September of 2016 to document this herstoric first fest. Jocelyn Macdonald led a discussion of political lesbianism with about 30 women from around the world. She began the discussion by posing the question "Where have you heard the term 'political lesbian' and how was it used?"

WLRN's 7th podcast focuses on what elections mean in the context of the American Empire - a capitalist, white supremacist, male supremacist state - and how we can make real change. Peace activist Cindy Sheehan particularly speaks to this in one of our featured interviews. We also hear from Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein, and feminist organizer and founding member of the Women's Liberation Front (WoLF), Samantha Berg.

WLRN's 6th edition podcast is focused on Black Lives Matter movement and Black Feminisms. We hear from Maya Dillard Smith, 3 black radical feminists based in the UK, Pippa Flemming and feature the classic song, Four Women, by Nina Simone that so brilliantly illustrates the unique oppression black women face coming from the brutal history of the African slave trade.

Women in Sports & the Olympics by Staff

WLRN's fourth monthly podcast examines the cultural phenomenon of female erasure with emphasis on the importance of women-only spaces. It is packed with input from influential and passionate women dedicated to female liberation, marking the one year anniversary of the end of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (MichFest)-- a notoriously woman-only event which took place yearly for 40 years. Thistle Pettersen visits the land and reports back with women's voices. Also featured: WLRN's Sekhmet She-Owl speaks with Sarah Jones, a WoLF (Women's Liberation Front) organizer, about WoLF Fest-- a women-only event taking place in September in California. Also coming out in September is the book Female Erasure, compiled by Ruth Barrett, who spoke with our own Elizabeth McKeown. You can also hear the music of former MichFest performer Nedra Johnson.

WLRN’s third edition monthly podcast explores gender identity politics and youth culture. We hear from youth who promote transitioning and youth who do not. Sarah Barr Fraas is a college student who talks about her professor requiring her to either stop speaking critically of gender politics & ideology in her women’s studies class or to “take the class from home.” We also hear from Catina Hyman, IT analyst & black lesbian mother of a youth growing up in today’s youth culture that is saturated with trans politics.

WLRN's second monthly podcast features Dr. Kathleen Richardson, a robotics ethicist with a background in anthropology. This program explores and discusses the social, legal and ethical implications of the mass production of child sex dolls, whose proliferation is of concern to women everywhere. Please share, comment and like widely. WLRN is committed to bringing grassroots coverage of feminist issues to women around the world.

Women's Liberation Radio News (WLRN) 1st Edition Podcast