FiLiA

We are honoured to speak with the campaigner Zemzem Mohamed who is working to support women and children affected by the hidden humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Tigray region. This crisis is considered by many to be a genocide, in which Ethiopian authorities are accused of carrying out ethnic cleansing against minorities. Speaking to FiLiA Spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sánchez, the discussion cov...

Professor Jo Phoenix, Chair in Criminology at The Open University, a Trustee of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and the Co-Convenor of the Gender Critical Research Network at the Open University, joins Raquel Rosario Sanchez to discuss the rights of women in prison, her decades-long work in Criminology and her personal experience being in the centre of the fight to uphold academic freedom...

Three women from three different Abrahamic religions talk with host Gita Sahgal about their experiences growing up in and leaving fundamentalist expressions of faith. Yasmine Mohammed, an ex-Muslim; Frimet Goldberger, formerly an ultra-Orthodox Jew; and Alice Greczyn, an ex-evangelical Christian, share how their different stories overlap with common bonds. Unpacking how religion perpetuates patria...

In this episode, FiLiA volunteer Luba Fein meets Nicole, a sex trade survivor to discuss the University of Leicester’s recent publication, the “Student Sex Worker Policy and Toolkit” which details how best to support those who may turn to prostitution, online services and stripping. Transcript available on filia.org.uk

We are delighted to speak with a remarkable force of nature called Julie Macfarlane. A fierce advocate for survivors of sexual violence as well as survivors of institutional abuse, Dr Julie Macfarlane has spent her adult life teaching in law schools in four continents, researching and working on progressive causes that she feels passionately about. She is the author of Going Public: A Survivor’s J...

Ann Henderson was the second female Rector at the University of Edinburgh. During her three-year tenure, she experienced sustained targeting by trans activist students and staff members, while receiving minimal institutional support. In this episode, she speaks about her background as a campaigner in the labour movement, her work in the railway industry and her experiences leaving her mark in acad...

We speak to Gemma Aitchison from Yes Matters about the Yes Matters Commitment, an initiative to tackle rape culture in schools. Helping schools to show pupils and parents alike that they are taking rape culture seriously and that they are taking the well being, safety and social development of their child seriously, the project teaches educators about consent, respect, good mental health and emoti...

We talk to Halaleh Taheri, Founder & Executive Director of MEWSo, who is campaigning to ban Virginity testing and Hymenoplasty (hymen repair) and to expose it as the misogynistic practice that it is, which has no place in society today. In this episode, Halaleh talks about her life as an activist, the brilliant work of MEWSo and explains more about the campaign and how you can help to end this...

We listen to stories of survivors of prostitution/pornography, female sexual mutilation, rape... It is now time we confronted the reality of torture. Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald have compiled decades of activism against torture and testimonies of survivors in their forthcoming book Women Unsilenced: Our Refusal To Let Torturers-Traffickers Win. In this episode of the FiLiA podcast, Yagmur Uy...

In this episode of the FiLiA podcast, we speak to poet Sharena Lee Satti about her work and inspiration. Writing has never been optional for Sharena Lee Satti. Like eating and breathing, it’s something integral to her existence. Every day she is thankful to be able to make a small difference to society, sharing something she is deeply passionate about. In January 2020 a literary agent (The Verve P...

Birthing expert Milli Hill who was “cancelled” for suggesting violence in childbirth was committed against women rather than against “birthing people” talks to FiLiA Spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sanchez in this episode of the FiLiA podcast. Milli Hill, a bestselling author and an expert in women’s rights in childbirth and throughout their reproductive lives, found herself at the epicentre of a bully...

Dr Helen Joyce, author, journalist and editor at The Economist, joins the FiLiA podcast to discuss her newly-released book Trans. An in-depth exploration of the phenomenon of gender identity theory, Helen writes about how these ideas impact our ability to speak about biological sex and what these developments mean for society. Helen's work outlines how ideas that privilege subjective feelings...

Leading expert Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of Transgender Trend discusses Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria with two concerned mothers, Emily and Marie, who are involved with Genspect , an international alliance of parent and professional groups whose aim is to advocate for parents of gender-questioning children and young people.  They discuss current parenting struggles within the transgender movem...

We speak to Houzan Mahmoud, a Kurdish feminist, writer and anti-war activist from South Kurdistan. She was one of the speakers at the anti-war rally in March 2003 in London and is the co-founder of the Culture Project, a platform for Kurdish feminists, writers and activists. Houzan’s book, conceived as part of Culture Project's self-writing program, is essential reading for anyone who wants t...

This May, feminists around the world greeted the news that efforts to uphold women’s sex-based rights were being upheld both in the Spanish and German national Congress: On May 18th, Spain voted against attempts to introduce sex self-identification into Congress (in large part, thanks to the abstention of the left-wing PSOE political party). The next day, on May 19th, through a couple of legislati...

Discover the real, often hidden story of the legalised German sex trade. Manuela Schon and Elly Arrow are two abolitionists from Germany, a country famous for its vast legal sex industry. Many people believe that the German model proves the success of legalisation, arguing that the sex trade is safer when legalised. However, feminist researchers and activists from Germany have been telling a compl...

FiLiA volunteer Salonika, interviews Lierre Keith and Julia Barnes about their book and documentary film, ‘Bright Green Lies’. Lierre and Julia explain how the environmental movement has now been highjacked by the ideas that harm the environment, and what we can do to reclaim the movement. The discussion also highlights the relationship between the oppression of women and the destruction of the na...

Journalist, author, co-founder of Justice for Women and Feminist activist Julie Bindel and founder of SPACE International Rachel Moran discuss one of the most contested issues facing feminists, human rights activists and governments around the globe – the international sex trade. This episode of the FiLiA Podcast is the recording from the Audio Book Launch of Julie Bindel’s book ‘The Pimping of Pr...

In this episode of the FiLiA Podcast, Gill discusses how her new book, History and Memories of the Domestic Violence Movement , showcases the campaigning zeal on which policies, services and awareness-raising on male violence against women in the UK and across the world were built by the women of the liberation movement.

Professor Alice Sullivan joins FiLiA volunteer Sara on the FiLiA podcast to explain why we need accurate data on sex in scientific research (and how it is especially important for women and girls), what happened regarding the sex question on the UK Census in 2021, institutional capture, and the chilling effect in universities on this topic. Alice Sullivan is a Professor of Sociology and Head of Re...

Sharon Aitchison, Margaret Lynch and Dawn Fyfe, three Scottish sisters on the frontline of preserving the knowledge and expertise of the Specialist Women’s sector in Scotland speak to FiLiA trustee, Sally Jackson, after another service lost its contract to a generic provider. It’s a frank, passionate and honest account of the situation, the causes and what we can all do about it. They discuss the...

EcoFeminist legends Vandana Shiva, Farida Akhter, and Susan Hawthorne have highlighted the role of women in the ecological movement throughout their lives. In this episode of the FiLiA podcast, they discuss how environmental destruction is based on the patriarchal mindset, from the language we use to the way we relate to the natural world. The relationship between ecocide, genocide, colonialism an...

In this episode of the FiLiA Podcast, Raquel Rosario Sanchez interviews Professor Kathleen Stock about her new book ‘Material Girls’, a timely and trenchant critique of the influential theory that we all have an inner feeling known as a gender identity, and that this feeling is more socially significant than our biological sex. In Material Girls, Professor Kathleen Stock surveys the philosophical...

In this episode, FiLiA Spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sanchez speaks with Elizabeth Miller, the editor of new anthology Spinning and Weaving: Radical Feminism for the 21st Century . Spinning and Weaving: Radical Feminism for the 21st Century  seeks to raise up the voices of women around the world writing or creating from a radical feminist perspective, including scholars, journalists, political activi...

Listen to activist and LISG volunteer Maggy Moyo and writer and researcher, Jane Traies, discussing their new collection of interviews with lesbian and bi women seeking asylum in the UK and the campaigners working with them, which was published on this year’s International Women's Day. The book relays their own words stories of love, trauma, struggle and friendship, courage and solidarity.