Episode 13: A Library Full of Pulp Porn Novels

This week I am joined by Soraya Chemaly. Soraya is an award-winning author and activist, she writes and speaks frequently on topics related to gender, social justice, inclusivity, free speech, & sexualized violence. The former ED of The Representation Project and Director and co-founder of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project, she has long been committed to expanding women’s civic and political participation. Soraya is also the author of Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, which was recognized as a Best Book of 2018 by the Washington Post, Fast Company, Psychology Today, and NPR. It has been translated into multiple languages. She is a contributor to several anthologies, most recently Free Speech in the Digital Age and Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change The World.

In this episode we talk about the hyper sexualization of women, how blanket censorship policies online suppress women’s free speech, why these censorship decisions are always deeply political, why sexual violence/harassment aren’t the same thing as sex, withholding healthy information as an expression of power/dominance in culture, why learning about social and emotional intelligence is sex education, the importance of representation, the necessity of community support in rejecting social norms, and more.

You can follow Soraya and her work on Twitter @schemaly, on Instagram @RageBecomesHer, and on her website sorayachemaly.com.