en(gender)ed

In our introductory episode of en(gender)ed, we address the what, how and why en(gender)ed exists and the purpose it serves in illuminating and informing our listeners of the myriad of ways gender-based violence and oppression is manifest in our society. We will address how we hope hearing from survivors, advocates and policy makers about these issues can be used as a source of information, inspiration and action for our listeners.  Thank you for visiting us and we hope you can stay with us on this journey of learning and discovery. --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider supporting en(gender)ed because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!  

On this episode, our guest is Evan Stark, a sociologist and forensic social worker who has been working at the interface of feminist activism, child welfare, health research and justice reform since he and his wife Anne Flitcraft, MD helped found one of the earliest Shelters for battered women in l970's. His prize winning book Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life (Oxford, 2007) helped stimulate the new crime of "coercive and controlling behavior" throughout the United Kingdom and helped broaden the conversation in the United States.   His new book "What about the Children?" documents the many ways that abusive partners coercively control children and how children respond, holding that it is imperative to treat coercive control as a spectrum.  We will be speaking with Evan about domestic violence and coercive control and unpack some of the myths of domestic abuse and how batterers harm. We hope you will find this helpful in understanding those in your who may be engaging in these tactics and how best to respond and to stay safe. You can read more about Evan's background here and download a summary of his work on coercive control here. --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider supporting en(gender)ed because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!  

On this episode, our guest is Phyllis B. Frank, the Senior Director of VCS, a mental health counseling and family service agency located in Rockland County, with an anti-racist, social justice mission.  Phyllis has dedicated herself to the battered women’s movement for the past 40 plus years, starting the first NY Model for Batterer Programs. Phyllis shares with us her journey over the past four and a half decades from volunteer counselor to battered women's activist to social justice legend.  She is here to talk to us about the program and its impact, shortcomings of the program, and other ways in which we can strengthen our systems to hold abusers accountable to their actions and keep survivors and their children safe. During our show, Phyllis and I spoke about a variety of topics and thought it would be helpful to share links to those references and resources: Effectiveness of Batterer Intervention Programs Best Practices for Batterer Intervention Programs The Emerge Website explaining why Anger Management is not appropriate for Batterers/Abusers --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!  

On our show today, our guest is Ruth M. Glenn, the CEO and President of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV).  Previously Ms. Glenn was employed by the Colorado Department of Human Services for 28 years and served as the Director of the Domestic Violence Program (DVP) for the last nine of those years.  Ruth has worked and volunteered in the domestic violence field for over 25 years and holds a Masters’ in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Colorado Denver, Program on Domestic Violence, as well as a BA in Communications. Ms. Glenn has served on many domestic violence program and funding boards, provided hundreds of presentations on domestic violence victimization and survival, testified before the Colorado state legislature and the United States Congress, and provided consultation, training and technical assistance on a local and national level on victim/survivor issues as they relate to domestic violence.  As a survivor, Ruth also often shares her experience to bring awareness about the dynamics of domestic violence. She is here with us on this episode to talk to us about the work she does at the NCADV and to debunk commonly held myths of survivors and abusers and how survivors and advocates like herself can play a vital role in the crafting of a national narrative in this work that is inclusive, empowering and impactful.  We will be speaking with Ruth about the NCADV’s role in the creation of the DisarmDV website and partnership which will address gun violence prevention and reform in America, the role of the media in reporting on domestic violence and in particular, its role in gun violence, and her thoughts on the intersection of race, class and gender as it has played out in the NFL’s DV and kneeling policies. Here are links to some of the references we discussed in the course of our conversation: LA Times headline for the Santa Fe Shooting And here is a tweeter commenting on the #genderbias in the reporting of the incident: ...and the media's downplaying of the shooter's abusive childhood, which is often minimized or erased as part of #massshooter media coverage.   Here is the letter that Ruth wrote to Sarah Palin when her son, Track, was arrested on domestic violence charges and Ms. Palin blamed President Obama and mental illness as the reason for his behavior. --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!  

On this episode, our guest is Michelle Carroll, Director of Campus Projects at the NYS Coalition Against Sexual Assault.  In May 2017, Governor Cuomo signed into law New York's groundbreaking "Enough Is Enough" Law, NY Education Law Title 129-B,  and the guidance the law offers, which requires that all colleges and universities in New York adopt a set of comprehensive procedures and guidelines related to domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and sexual assault, to ensure the safety of all students attending colleges in the state. Michelle speaks about her work implementing the law in college campuses across New York State, responses from advocates and its impact on students so far.  In our conversation, Michelle also addresses about Title IX, implications on its enforcement given Department of Education's interim guidelines under Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, and responses from parents of accused sexual assault assailants.   Here is the "Dear Colleague Letter" that the Department of Education issued in September 2017, withdrew previous Obama-era issued guidance, effectively lowering the evidentiary standard for campus sexual assault investigations and rescinding the sixty day time limit to complete investigations.  Our conversation also included reflecting upon rape and sexual assault in general,  student protests of case mishandlings, #MeToo and the post by a woman who wrote about her date gone wrong with Aziz Ansari. During our conversation, we referenced some information and resources I am sharing with you below, including: Myths and actual rates of false reporting in sexual violence cases and the original research paper from a 10-year study by David Lisak et al. CUNY's Sexual Violence Campus Climate Survey, including rates at which intimate partner violence negatively impacts student persistence and success Finding your local NYS community rape crisis center, the NYS Office of Campus Safety, and the full audit result from the audit of 440 NYS universities (Note:  You can search by school name to see if your school was compliant) The NYS Trooper Campus Sexual Assault Unit Hotline:  (844) 845-7269 For immediate help in NYS, call the NYS Hotline for Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence at:  (800) 942-6906 Outside of NYS, the National Sexual Assault Hotline is:  (800) 656-4673 If you are experiencing an emergency, you should call 9-1-1, for immediate assistance. Also, if you are a college student (or graduate student!) in New York State and are interested in sharing the work that you are doing on campus or in your community, please join the New York State Campus Consent Consortium’s Student ONLY working group! Or, if you are interested in learning more about the working being done by the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the New York State Campus Consent Consortium, please join their free listserv!  If you want to get in touch with Michelle, you can find her on her blog, Michelle Carroll blog. --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

On this first episode of the series we call #SurvivorStories, we introduce the hashtags #abusertactics, #signsofabuse and #upstandertips to shed light on the multitude of ways in which abuse, power and control, or coercive control dynamics can manifest in a relationship.  Our goal is to help develop a cultural literacy around recognizing abuse of power. A common vocabulary and language can help all of us act more effectively and more responsibly when survivors in our lives reveal themselves to us.  By understanding better the ways in which oppression is manifest in personal relationships, we can better recognize it when it shows up in our schools, in our workplaces, in our churches, in our popular culture and news, and in the rhetoric and practices that come from our elected officials and in law and in policy.    If we connect the dots, we can see the intersectionality and roots of all oppression, linked.  We can better recognize it in ourselves.  It will help us better parents, supervisors, daughters, sons, friends, and neighbors.  Hopefully, this greater awareness will create more compassion, more understanding, and deeper connectedness in our relationships.  It will, in turn, move us further into the light.  We will, then, become the solutions that we seek. --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider supporting en(gender)ed because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!  

On this episode, our guest is Nancy S. Erickson, (J.D. Brooklyn Law School, LL.M. Yale Law School, M.A. Forensic Psychology John Jay College of Criminal Justice), a consultant on issues relating to law and psychology, particularly child custody evaluations and domestic violence.    Nancy’s career spans over a decade of teaching law at top law schools in the country, eight years at Legal Services, and decades in private practice representing survivors of domestic violence. Nancy has written books and articles on family law, including domestic violence, child support, custody, marital property, attorneys for children, custody evaluations, and adoption. She is currently researching and writing on custody issues, especially custody evaluations, laws regarding custody in cases where there has been domestic violence, and the use of parental alienation theories against parents who are attempting to protect their children or themselves from abuse.  We will be speaking with Nancy about her work and research on child custody evaluations, due process challenges the evaluations pose, and its impact on shaping safety outcomes for women and children in court.   We will also be speaking with Nancy about a recent case she contributed to that, on its surface, has positive implications for both same-sex parents and for domestic violence victims. Here are some of the links to the articles we discussed on our show, including the same-sex custody case Nancy contributed to: Gender Bias in the Family Courts and the epidemic of courts giving custody of at least 58,000 children a year to abusers ProPublica article on the Lack of Oversight of Child Custody Evaluators ProPublica article on how NY parents fight lack of right to see 'expert' custody reports The Brooke SB v Elizabeth CC case --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

Greetings en(gender)ed listeners: We are sharing a new format episode where my friend Michael joins me as we reflect back on the first six episodes of the podcast.  Michael and I used to work together and served many students who were not in school or not working and were looking to develop skills to go back to school or to find a job.  The young people we were helping often had their systemic barriers exacerbated by personal conflict in their lives that were difficult to manage, such as parents who didn't prioritize their education or work over their care-taking responsibilities, or romantic partners who were not helping to parent, didn't support their efforts to better themselves, and/or engaged in deliberate patterns of behavior to sabotage their school and/or work.  I was interested in Michael's perspective on the topics covered in our shows so far, especially since the majority of listeners are, not suprisingly, female.  I hope you will find this episode engaging and, for the male listeners, an entree into your own exploration of what en(gender)ed has to offer you. --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because yoursupport is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

On this episode, our guest is Joan Meier, Professor of Clinical Law at George Washington University Law School, and the Founder and Legal Director of the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP).  DV LEAP provides a stronger voice for justice by fighting to overturn unjust trial court outcomes, advancing legal protections for victims and their children through expert appellate advocacy, training lawyers, psychologists and judges on best practices, and spearheading domestic violence litigation in the Supreme Court. Professor Meier is here to speak us today about DV LEAP and her research findings from a 4-year empirical study of family court outcomes in cases involving “parental alienation” and child abuse. This study is an update to a 2017 publication called “Mapping Gender: Shedding Empirical Light on Family Courts’ Treatment of Cases Involving Abuse and Alienation.” We will also be speaking with Professor Meier about the intersection of domestic violence and child abuse and new policy reforms such as H. Con. Res. 72, a child safety resolution which she co-authored. During our show, we referenced the following articles and resources which are listed below: Joan's article in the Huffington Post called "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics" which addressed the... ...The Wilcox and Wilson OpEd, citing marriage as a solution to end violence against women The Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect that Joan cited to debunk the Wilcox and Wilson OpEd And a powerpoint of the initial results of Joan's Family Outcomes Project:  Empirical Analysis of Custody Cases Involving Abuse and Alienation Joan recently gave a talk about her research findings which can be found in YouTube The NYC Administration for Children's Services new protocol for Investigative Consultants to help "identify and intervene" in domestic violence cases  --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog onMedium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us onTwitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

This episode of en(gender)ed features guest, Barry Goldstein, an internationally recognized domestic violence author, speaker and advocate.  He has worked in the DV movement since 1983 and served as an instructor in a NY Model Batterer Program since 1999.  He is co-editor of two volumes of Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody with Dr. Mo Therese Hannah, Representing the Domestic Violence Survivor co-authored with Elizabeth Liu, Scared to Leave Afraid to Stay and The Quincy Solution: Stop Domestic Violence and Save $500 Billion.  Barry is the Research Director for the Stop Abuse Campaign and Co-Chair of the Child Custody Task Force for NOMAS, the National Organization for Men Against Sexism. Barry is here to speak with us today about his work in the courts, gender bias, the Stop Abuse Campaign and the Safe Child Act, a comprehensive legislative solution to the child custody crisis.  If you would like to get in touch with Barry, please email him at info@stopabusecampaign.com. --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

On this episode, our guest is Kathleen Russell, Executive Director of the Center for Judicial Excellence (CJE), a non-profit based out of California whose mission is to protect vulnerable children in the family court system and to strengthen the integrity of all courts by creating judicial accountability.  The organization’s strength is rooted in its unique mix of public education, media and judicial advocacy.  We are here today to talk to Kathleen about CJE’s current work in judicial reform, how CJE is using the U.S. divorce and child murder statistics to inform media oversight and education efforts, and some of its past victories. During our conversation, Kathleen refers to the term "protective parent"--a parent, usually a mother, who makes allegations of abuse, child abuse, and/or child sexual abuse against the other parent and is not believed.  Often the parent is retaliated against for making such allegations by having custody given to the abuser and limiting the time or access the protective parent has with the abused child.  Joan Meier of DVLEAP shares her research about this issue in en(gender)ed Episode 9.  You can also reference earlier episodes of the family court crisis in Episode 7 when we speak with Nancy S. Erickson on Custody Evaluators and Mental Health Evaluations and with Barry Goldstein in Episode 10 about his proposed legislative actions. Kathleen also referenced: The California Protective Parents Association The California Bill, AB-2044, which requires the court to consider domestic violence in making custody determinations Article by journalist, Laurie Udetsky, on "Custody in crisis:  How family courts nationwide put children in danger" The Judge Aaron Persky Recall   --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!  

On this episode of en(gender)ed, our guest is Tom Digby, author of Love & War: How Militarism Shapes Sexuality and Romance. The book, Love and War, provides a new way to view heterosexual love, as well as the impact of misogyny in the everyday lives of men and women. Tom’s work has been widely shared in numerous public presentations about the intersections of masculinity, militarism, love, sexuality, and feminism.  Tom Digby is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Springfield College and has served as U.S. Advisory Editor of the journal Men and Masculinities since it was founded by Michael Kimmel in 1998. His previous book was Men Doing Feminism (Routledge). Digby's early publications were on Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Kant, and ethical theory, but for the past 30 years he has written, lectured, and taught primarily about gender topics. Tom will speak with us today about the concepts in his book, including heterosexual love, the construction of gender in our society, the interplay of gender and militarism and its role in shaping our understanding of masculinity, sexuality, romantic love, misogyny, and even war itself. We will also discuss the role of the 2016 election in influencing identity and cultural institutions and cultural norms and our discourse on gender and masculinity. During our conversation, Tom and I referenced many resources that we share with you below: Sandra Bartky and her book, Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of Oppression Cordelia Fine who writes about the "gender binary" Friedrich Nietzsche and his characterization of heterosexual relationship dynamics, also featured prominently in Kate Millet's Theory of Sexual Politics The Undefeated documentary available on Netflix Hillary Clinton's Beijing Speech on Women's Rights in 1995 Scholar Gail Dines and her work on "gonzo porn" The Twitter Clown Face-Painting incident and how the impact gender stereotypes have on future male violence and parenting as a form of advocacy The J Crew "I am a feminist too" t-shirt for boys --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

On this episode, our guest is Allen Corben, co-chair of NOMAS, the National Organization for Men Against Sexism.  Allen also works as the Assistant Registrar of Fuller Theological Seminary, where he received his Master of Arts in Theology.  We will be talking with Allen today about his work at NOMAS--what it means to be a pro-feminist, anti-racist, LGBTQ affirmative male ally and how it relates to reproductive rights, pornography/sex trafficking, intersectionality, and how we can integrate religion and our spiritual practices and beliefs in a post-2016 election world. During the show Allen shared a lot of resources on a variety of feminist and social justice topics. Here is a partial list that Allen shared that he suggested listeners explore to obtain a better understanding of feminism and some of the issues discussed: Michael Kimmel An article reflecting on Andrea Dworkin's contribution to feminism Carolyn Osiek's Beyond Anger:  On Being a Feminist in the Church Barbara Ehrenreich's books The Bechtel Test for women in movies Michelle Goldberg's NYT Opinion:  "Want More Babies?  You Need Less Patriarchy" An article addressing the "Nordic Model" of sex work Gail Dines' website on pornography Catherine McKinnon's work and research on feminism and on pornography The Sojourners' website and Jim Wallis Robert Jensen's Getting Off:  Pornography and the End of Masculinity Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza's In Memory of Her:  A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins Letty Russell's Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective:  A Theology Judith Butler's Gender Trouble:  Feminism and the Subversion of Identity Jill Radford's Femicide:  The Politics of Woman Killing You can contact Allen at info@nomas.org and you can join the NOMAS conversation on Facebook here. --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed website and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

On today’s episode, our guest is Ben Atherton-Zeman, a public speaker and comedic performer on issues of violence prevention.  His one man show, “Voices of Men” has been performed in over 46 states and around the world, including four continents.  Ben has spoken and performed at military installations, colleges, high schools, public theatres, conferences, houses of worship and juvenile detention facilities.  For almost thirty years, Ben has worked as a prevention education for rape crisis centers, domestic violence programs and state coalitions.  He is an advisory board member for the White Ribbon Campaign in the United Kingdom and a blogger for Ms. Magazine. Ben will speak with us today about what it means to be a “recovering sexist” and how he uses his comedy and performance art to help every man recognize and challenge violence and sexism in the world and in themselves.  He will also speak with us about his hashtag, #menlistentowomen and how he envisions we can use it as a starting point to create meaningful dialogue about issues of male privilege, sexism, misogyny, and healthy relationships amongst the sexes and across the gender spectrum.  --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

On this episode, our guest is Dr. Tonya Leslie, an educational consultant who has worked for over 20 years in educational publishing. Dr. Leslie talks about creating educational content that engages students and youth in developing a cultural consciousness as a force for understanding ourselves and our society. She has also worked with school districts nationally providing workshops and seminars to help educators integrate this belief into their practice. We speak with Dr. Leslie about her work on around literacy, academic resilience and culturally responsive content and pedagogy, and how literacy might facilitate resilience in vulnerable school groups and, in particular, in children of color.   In our conversation, Dr. Leslie and I spoke about the following: The Little House on the Prairie books and TV series The concept of books as "mirrors" and "windows" as coined by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop Dr. Tann, in the Little House Series and the controversy about how race is represented in the series A description of Dr. Alfred Tatum's concept of the "textual lineage" of a teacher to teach tolerance The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston W.E.B DuBois' The Brownies' Books Diversity gap in children's books as measured by the CCBC Multicultural Statistics in 2017 We Need Diverse Books Website The work of Geneva Gay and Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings in influencing Dr. Leslie work in culturally responsible pedagogy The children's book George and Becoming Nicole, two texts, Dr. Leslie has used in her trainings The Doll Test (original) and the CNN retest Jessica Love's children book, Julian is a Mermaid Abby Wambach's commencement speech at Barnard College this May 2018 (transcript available here) The College Board's proposed changes to the AP World History course and its subsequent reversal adding 250 more years --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

Greetings en(gender)ed listeners: This is the second "Reflections" episode where I examine a series of interviews with my friend, Michael.  He joins me as we reflect back on episodes, 7 (Nancy S. Erickson), 9 (Joan Meier), 10 (Barry Goldstein), 11 (Kathleen Russell), the first set of episodes on the first family court crisis.  Michael and I used to work together and served many students who were not in school or not working and were looking to develop skills to go back to school or to find a job.  The young people we were helping often had their systemic barriers exacerbated by personal conflict in their lives that were difficult to manage, such as parents who didn't prioritize their education or work over their care-taking responsibilities, or romantic partners who were not helping to parent, didn't support their efforts to better themselves, and/or engaged in deliberate patterns of behavior to sabotage their school and/or work. I was interested in Michael's perspective on the topics covered in our shows so far, especially since the majority of listeners are, not surprisingly, female.  I hope you will find this episode engaging and, for the male listeners, an entree into your own exploration of what en(gender)ed has to offer you. During our reflection, we talked about these additional resources: Leadership Council data estimating the number of cases annually where children are placed with abusers NY Model for Batterer Programs Chris Fabricant's work at the Innocence Project on Eyewitness Testimony Adam Ruins Everything's episode on bad forensic science and its dangers when applied n the family court system setting NPR's episode on Innocence Deniers and Kym Worthy's work on the Davontae Sanford case in Michigan Jon Freeman's psychology and neuroscience lab at NYU and his Mouse Tracker software Dartmouth study on how more "feminine" looking female politicians are more likely to win elections Radiolab Presents: More Perfect - One Nation, Under Money and how that episodes' description of how the Commerce Clause was used, unsuccessfully, protect women from gendered crimes. Estimating the economic costs of gender-based violence ($500 billion annually correction, not million, as shared in the recording) The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study and its origin as an obesity study and its subsequent findings and connection with childhood incest --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

On this episode of en(gender)ed, we speak with Autumn, a junior at Cornell University studying English.  In the summer of 2015, when she was 18 years old, Autumn realized that she is a transgender woman, and since then her work and writing have focused on articulating the experience of being transgender.  After graduating from college, Autumn hopes to improve the understanding of mental illness and LGBT issues in Asian communities, especially in Korea. We speak with Autumn today about her journey of self-discovery and growth and gives #UpstanderTips on how we as parents, and as members of our larger community, can be affirming and supportive of gender non-conforming children and students and how we can contribute to their mental health and to their developing a positive self-image and sense of belonging.  Autumn shares her vision of how we can create a society of true diversity, inclusion and acceptance. During our conversation, Autumn and I talked about the following topics: Netflix's Sense8 show and how the Wachowski siblings serve as positive role models for her Jeffrey Tambor's harassment of Jessica Walters on Arrested Development, and subsequent harassment claims on the show Transparent Backlash to Scarlett Johansson's acceptance of a role as a transgender man in the new film, Rub and Tub, and her subsequent withdrawal from the role.  Since the recording of this episode, Autumn has read more about the casting decision and no longer thinks that Scarlett Johansson should have been cast in the Rub and Tub role. A link to an article describing the term "LGTBQIA" and the differences between "gender identity," "gender expression," "biological sex" and whom you are "attracted to" and the more updated and complete list which is included in the "gender unicorn," including "sex assigned at birth" which replaces "biological sex" and breaks out the former "attracted to" into two further categories--"physically attracted to" and "emotionally attracted to." Why you should always use "transgender" instead of "transgendered" --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

On this episode of en(gender)ed, our guest is Laura Fernandez, the Clinical Director at Sanctuary for Families, a leading service provider and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking and related forms of gender violence in New York City.  At Sanctuary, Laura provides leadership, management, and strategic direction for all clinical services citywide, including individual and group counseling, crisis management and intervention, and a program for survivors who serve as mentors for others.  More than 5,500 individuals receive life-saving clinical services at Sanctuary each year. We speak with Laura about the work she does with survivors, how to recognize symptoms of abuse in survivors, and how each of us may better support survivors in our own lives. During the show, Laura and I touched upon the following topics: Sanctuary for Families' Vacation Cutting Bill that makes it illegal to send your child out of the country to get female genital mutilation (FGM) procedures The need for future laws to make it illegal to send your child outside of the country for forced marriage Current child marriage laws in NYS and across the country Sanctuary for Families' current advocacy efforts with regard to child marriage, FGM, trafficking, strangulation, etc. How they use Jackie Campbell's "Danger Assessment" for safety planning of victims The various Power and Control Wheels used for psycho-education of the survivor to help her understand the dynamics of abuse, including the post-separation power and control wheel and the abuse of children wheel Their guiding framework of crisis to stabilization to self-sufficiency My reference to the Deborah Epstein resignation from the NFL as a domestic violence consultant and her interview with NPR sharing examples of how the NFL cultivates a culture of misogyny --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

On this episode of en(gender)ed, our guest is Lisa Fischel-Wolovick, an attorney who has represented battered women for almost thirty years. She is also the author of numerous publications including her recent book: Traumatic Divorce and Separation:  The Impact of Domestic Violence and Substance Abuse in Custody and Divorce, just recently published by Oxford Univ. Press, this past March.  Lisa also helped to organize the first Criminal Court that specialized in domestic violence. Before becoming an attorney, Lisa obtained her Master’s in Social Work and worked in hospital social work which included advocacy and counseling for battered women. Lisa also currently teaching courses in Family Violence and Child Maltreatment at the City University of New York, in John Jay’s Graduate Program in Forensic Psychology. Lisa speaks with us about her new book and how divorce impacts families differently, especially for those experiencing high-risk factors of domestic violence, mental illness, and/or substance abuse and the risks and harms that they face in the process.  We will also explore the recommendations and conclusions she has to improve our family and criminal court systems and practices and policy reforms she believes is necessary to see real, significant, positive change. In our conversation, Lisa and I touch upon the following topics: The difference between domestic violence and high-conflict cases vs. "traumatic divorce and separation" The impact of traumatic divorce and separation on survivors and children Judith Herman's book, Trauma and Recovery How survivors and children from the US Border migrant children crisis and from the US family court crisis are at similar health risks from the trauma of separation Lundy Bancroft's book, The Batterer as Parent Evan Stark's interest and research into how batterers are using coercive control on children The problems with Kelly and Johnson's Typology of Domestic Violence which fail to take into account the history and pattern of coercive control The research of Kathleen Kendall-Tackett on how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) from trauma and domestic violence puts children at greater risk of adult illness Gender bias in family courts and the task forces that attempted to study it. Legal Momentum has a guide for establishing them. Family court gender bias studies from the Voices of Women Organizing Project and from the Wellesley's Center for Women and its report The work of Dr. Kathleen Faller and of Viola Vaughn-Eden on how child welfare workers and other professionals should assess child sexual abuse Ross Cheit and his book, The Witch Hunt Narrative:  Politics, Psychology and the Sexual Abuse of Children Daniel Saunders' study published for the National Institute of Justice/DOJ, entitled, "Child Custody Evaluators’ Beliefs About Domestic Abuse Allegations:  Their Relationship to Evaluator Demographics, Background, Domestic Violence Knowledge and Custody-Visitation Recommendations" --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

In this episode, we speak with survivor, Rosaura Torres Thomas, author of the book: Abuse Hidden Behind the Badge--a memoir of her life living suffering from the abuse and coercive control of two police officers--one a highly ranked Officer in Philadelphia and, another--a Pennsylvania state trooper.  Our guest, Rosaura, suffered two (2) retinal detachment surgeries stemming from her experiences with domestic violence and has since become an avid activist speaking out against domestic violence and more specifically “The Code of Silence” within police departments.  My conversation with Rosaura explores not only the impact domestic abuse and coercive control had on her, but also, the impact and lasting effects it has had on her children.   Listeners may recall that In Episode 4 of en(gender)ed, we spoke with Ruth Glenn, CEO and President of the NCADV about rates of domestic violence and how certain groups of people commit higher rates than others. National trends show that law enforcement professionals are one such group. Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence in contrast to 10% of families in the general population.   Below are some resources about police and domestic violence: National Center for Women and Policing's "Police Family Violence Fact Sheet" An Atlantic article entitled, "Police Have a Much Bigger Domestic-Abuse Problem than the NFL Does" The "Abuse of Power" website which has resources about police domestic violence for survivors and families A HuffPo article entitled "The Super Predators:  When the Man Who Abuses You is also a Cop" A research article estimating the rate of domestic violence perpetrated by law enforcement A USA Today article entitled, "Domestic abusers:  Dangerous for women and lethal for cops." --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!