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First, hear the We the Women promo WLRN created for that gathering happening in the Pacific Northwest this summer. More info at www.wethewomen.world/.
After the promo, we begin the show with Thistle’s special 8th anniversary greeting. Then, it is on to the world news with Mary O’Neill before we dive into our discussion of the Taylor Swift Phenomenon from the perspectives of Zinetta, Emily, KatyJean, and Jocelyn, and then from the viewpoint of authors Lierre Keith and Sheila Jeffreys.
What a way to celebrate our 8th year together as a collective of media activist women! We are so blessed to have these amazing guests on our program to help us reflect on and understand ourselves better in the context of the Taylor Swift phenomenon and how it impacts women. We hope these discussions contribute to our creation of a separate society of women speaking to women in an atmosphere of openness and mutual respect.
The three artists Sheila Jeffreys said would be on her list to hand to the DJ at a dance party of radical feminists are Angelique Kidjo, Alison Moyet, and Cesaria Evora. So add them to your next feminist dance party mix!
Edition 97 is almost three hours long and is packed with feminist community content. We are proud to present multiple PSAs this month for upcoming feminist events.
Kellie Jay-Keen will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 17th for a Let Women Speak event. Learn more at www.letwomenspeak.org/event-details/…speaknzjustice.
There is also a PSA for Feminist in Struggle’s (FIST’s) first national conference. Learn more at feministstruggle.org/ about that event happening the first weekend in July near San Diego.
WLRN is a place where we can take turns speaking and listening to each other to build ourselves up and into a movement powered by friendships and sisterhood. As Sekhmet says in her commentary this month, being part of a volunteer-powered collective is hard sometimes. Women don’t always like each other, agree, or get along, but at WLRN we have persevered because, as Sekhmet also says in her commentary, we are that loyal to the growth of feminism.
After the discussion of Taylor Swift, you’ll hear a new song by Thistle called “The Tide” that she wrote after listening to Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Folklore albums and getting inspired. She recorded it live in her apartment studio with a little “meow” right before she rocked it!
Emily also weighs in with a mini-commentary right before Thistle’s song with some final reflections on this month’s topic.
And finally, stay tuned as ever for Sekhmet SheOwl’s commentary at the end of the show. Thanks for listening.
This month’s cover art was created by WLRN’s graphic designer, Margaret. Below, find the cover and her statement. Thank you, Margaret!
For Edition 97 – I wanted to make the crowd (Taylor Swift’s fans) a large part of the image. Because she would not be who she is without the fans – without people who appreciate her music / and herself. I played with various ways of combining her with the fans and I realized that I didn’t want her face to get too obscured. With the final version – I feel like there is the sense that even while there is chaos all around – Taylor Swift maintains her composure.
I included a hint of the trans flag over some of her fans – because of her being a trans ally – and that being a part of the analysis. She does not seem to realize a person cannot be a trans ally without ignoring some of the rights that women have fought for. For women’s rights to exist – we have to be able to define women biologically – not as something anyone can be. I included the line, “And there’s nothing like a mad woman” because her ability to channel her anger into her songs is part of what makes her stand out. We at WLRN can relate. – Margaret
