Here is episode 109 on YouTube!
Happy nine-year anniversary to WLRN! That’s right! We have been bringing you a free, volunteer-produced feminist podcast for nine whole years since our humble beginnings in 2016. We couldn’t have done it without YOU, dear listeners, so please consider a “happy anniversary” donation to help with our costs to attend the FiLia conference. You can learn more about that fundraising campaign here.
First up, hear WLRN’s Mary O’Neill deliver the world news segment for the last time until further notice. Email info@wlrnmedia.com with your resume and cover letter if you are interested in taking over Mary’s job of collecting and reading the world news monthly. We love having new members join the team! Thank you, Mary, for your two years of service to the collective!
After the world news, enjoy the song “And Leave” by Solely before hearing an interview Freda did with two women who exited prostitution and contribute to the podcast Red Light Expose. Red Light Expose highlights the voices of women who have exited prostitution and combats the growing acceptance and endorsement of “sex work” ideology.
redlightexpose.com
Finally, Sekhmet SheOwl rounds off the podcast with her compelling commentary about women, sex, and sexuality. SheOwl emphasizes that it is not sex that is the problem; rather, it is male dominance and violence that ruin sex for women. She encourages us to explore our sexuality away from all the hype of the male gaze and to base our encounters on love and care.
Margaret’s artist’s statement:
For Edition 109, Prostitution & Pornography, we heard Freda interview Andrea Heinz & Sybil Jo of Red Light Exposé – a podcast critical of the sex trade. I used some imagery from the Red Light Exposé Facebook page – and combined that with an image of a woman and some ‘Procreate’ textures.
The defiant silhouette of a woman from Red Light Exposé, along with the words “Critical Voice”, overlaps the word ‘EXPO$E’ and the image of the woman. The textures I added – including drops and splatters, and a sort of cross-hatching are intended to suggest injuries – which could be visible or hidden. The sort of trauma that Sekhmet SheOwl describes in her commentary.
Thanks again for tuning in to WLRN.
Resources:
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol5/iss1/8/ – On Exiting from Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Insights from Sex Trade Experienced Persons Written by Andrea Heinz (interviewee on edition 109).
https://redlightexpose.com – A new platform for critical voices of the sex industry.
https://nordicmodelnow.org – The Nordic Model approach to prostitution (sometimes also known as the Sex Buyer Law, or the Swedish, Abolitionist, or Equality Model) decriminalises selling sex, provides support services to help those involved to exit, and makes paying for sex a criminal offence, to reduce the demand that drives sex trafficking.
womensliberationfront.org – Working to restore, protect, and advance the rights of women and girls.
https://rights4girls.org/ – Defending the dignity and human rights of young women and girls who experience gender violence and exploitation.
https://www.epikproject.org/ – Men working to disrupt the demand for commercial sexual exploitation.
https://clementine-megalodon-86hj.squarespace.com/ – The organization Wake Up Brother seeks to mobilize men to create a society free from prostitution and sexual exploitation.