Author: Katey Zeh

January Resource Review: 5 Titles to Add to Your 2019 Reading list

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Did you know that reading more books ranks as the seventh most popular New Year’s resolution that people make? That’s one goal that we can get behind! Whether you have committed to reading more in 2019 and are looking for books to add to your to-read list–or if you simply want to gain a better understanding of the issues that impact women and girls in our communities –we’ve compiled a list of highly recommended books that we suggest you pick up this year. (Looking for more recommendations? Check out our other reading list we put together in 2017.) 

 

Birthing Hope: Giving Fear to the Light  by Rachel Marie Stone

This award-winning memoir about birth, death, and the spaces in between will send tingles down your spine. Stone’s artfully-crafted reflections on faith and our reproductive decisions call us all to deeper, more intentional conversations about life’s greatest complexities. Weaving together lessons and errors from ancient texts, modern learning, and personal stories, this book includes discussions of contraception, abortion, disability, and AIDS.

 

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower  by Brittany Cooper 

Both raw and personal, Cooper’s collection of essays about life as a Black woman in America is required reading for everyone. She explores topics like growing up as a Black girl in the South, the power of friendship, and Black feminism. Cooper also dives into her encounters with the church and how they have shaped her sense of self–for better and at times, for worse. 

 

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds  by adrienne maree brown

Fans of Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturism will devour Brown’s book–a hybrid of tactics, self-reflection prompts, personal stories, and group exercises aimed at doing the work of changing the world in a truly collaborative fashion. Advocates and activists, this would be an excellent book for your organization to discuss as a group and to consider how you might integrate some of her strategies and tactics into your work. 

 

 

Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free  by Linda Kay Klein

An unapologetic critique of the “purity industry,” Pure dives into the damaging, long-lasting effects of purity culture on the lives and relationships of those who were immersed in it as young people. Klein argues that “purity” is not a product of the evangelical Christianity alone, but one that secular culture upholds alongside the church.

 

A Spark of Light  by Jodi Picoult 

In her latest novel Picoult’s harrowing story of an anti-choice terrorist who enters Mississippi’s last remaining abortion clinic reads more like fact than fiction. Hour-by-hour, Picoult explores the thoughts, beliefs, and fears of those who oppose abortion, those who provide abortion care, and those who are desperate to terminate a pregnancy. One of the characters, Dr. Louie Ward who travels to the clinic to provide abortions, was inspired by our friend and colleague Dr. Willie Parker.

 

Is there a book you’d like for us to feature in a future Faith in Women book club discussion? Would you like our help in starting a book club of your own featuring one of these books? Please send us an email. We’d love to hear from you!  

Our 2018 Letter from the Director

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As the end of 2018 draws near, I have spent some time reflecting on all that Faith in Women has accomplished over these last twelve months. In doing so, I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity to lead this organization and to work alongside you all.  At such a time as this– when, yes, threats to our health and rights are intensifying– I continue to be inspired by the brave, tenacious activism of our leaders, partners, and supporters. Thank you.

Celebrate with us as we remember the strides we have made together in making our state a more healthy and compassionate place for our women and girls. Here are just a few highlights from 2018:

Tech2Empower Training in San Francisco

“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can!” Beth Kanter, Master Non-Profit Trainer

Faith in Women was one of thirty-six organizations invited to participate in the first-ever U.S. Tech2Empower gathering hosted by Wake International.This week-long training brought advocates from fifteen states together in San Francisco to learn from technology experts based at Slack, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Symantec, Mozilla, and Youtube about how we can use technology to strengthen our movements for long-term, sustainable social change.

Space for Grace: Compassionate Care Trainings

“I left the training feeling hopeful and invigorated by the work ahead of us.” Rev. Susan Chorley, participant

In partnership with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), Faith in Women co-hosted two Compassionate Care Trainings in Jackson and Lambert, MS. These trainings created space for more than 25 faith leaders to build deeper understanding of the myriad issues surrounding reproductive decision-making while exploring what it it means to bring compassion into everyday ministry. We were thrilled that our newest Faith in Women board member Hope Crenshaw, Executive Director of Teen Health Mississippi, joined us to co-facilitate our training in Lambert.

Called to Resist: Honoring the Legacy of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion

“Even the use of the word ‘abortion’ was illegal. We lived in the realm of knowing we could be in trouble.” Rev. Bill Kirby, speaker

In September we hosted “Called to Resist: The Pre-Roe Faith Movement that Saved Women’s Lives,” co-sponsored with RCRC.  More than forty local clergy, churchgoers, health educators, and representatives of Mississippi-based reproductive health and rights organizations gathered in Jackson to learn about the history of the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS) and how its legacy continues to inform the prophetic work of reproductive health, rights, and justice advocacy today.

 

These are just a few of the ways that you, our Faith in Women friends and supporters, showed up to learn and engage on the issues at the intersection of faith and reproductive health, rights, and justice. We also know that many of you used your voices to influence policy this year, by attending Women in the Halls lobby days at the State Capitol, writing letters to the editor, and contacting your representatives to share your concerns. Your actions are meaningful and inspiring!   

With gratitude,

Ashley Peterson, Executive Director

Paying for Child Care in Mississippi

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$4,863. That was the average annual cost of child care for Mississippi parents back in 2014. For full-time workers paid the state’s minimum hourly wage of $7.25, infant care would account for more than 30% of their monthly income–and that’s before taxes. With this high price tag coupled with no national paid parental leave policy, parents in Mississippi are often forced to choose between maintaining their livelihood and ensuring their children receive the care they need.

The Mississippi Child Care Payment Program (CCPP) is a voucher system designed to lessen the financial burden that child care costs create for low-income parents. By making child care more accessible to these families, the positive rippling effects of CCPP are felt not just by parents, but by everyone in the state: increased employment, reduced poverty, reduced absenteeism and turnover for employers, higher contributions of tax revenue into the general fund, and improved school readiness in children. But despite its benefits, CCPP currently serves just a fraction of eligible children. For too many low-income families, child care remains out of reach.

That’s why Carol Burnett, Faith in Women Board President, formed the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative (MLICCI)— to address this gap in coverage that prevents parents, most of whom are women, from maintaining steady employment. Since 1998 MLICCI has focused on securing women’s economic security by advancing policies and direct service models that work to increase the availability of affordable child care for low-income working parents, to achieve gender equality in the state workforce, and to make the social safety net work for women. MLICCI tenaciously works to increase the number of low income working mothers served by the CCPP, to make access and retention of CCPP services easier for them, and to strengthen the financial viability of the child care centers that serve them.

Because of their deep relationships with low-income single mothers and providers, MLICCI witnesses the many ways in which systematic racism and sexism impact the state’s current child care assistance climate.  Single mothers face an inequitable workforce, and they comprise the majority of adults reliant on public safety net programs. All of these factors obstruct women’s economic security. In response to these realities MLICCI works at the intersection of racial justice and gender justice to advocate for policies and investments that strengthen women’s economic security.

The Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative recently celebrated its 20th Anniversary. More than 100 MLICCI friends, supporters, and child care center directors from across the state joined us for the event where MLICCI released of a report detailing the 20-year history of the state’s Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Their key observation was this: “[W]hen Mississippi spends more on direct services, it serves more children and more parents can work or attend training or education.” In other words, an investment in affordable child care is an investment in Mississippi’s future.  

To learn more about MLICCI, visit www.mschildcare.org

Called to Resist: Honoring the Legacy of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion

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Pictured: (l-r) Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson; Dr. Gillian Frank; Rev. Bill Kirby; Dr. Willie Parker; Ashley Peterson

The faithful activism of Rev. Bill Kirby, a United Methodist pastor who helped lead the Missouri Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, is tied to his long-held belief that God is love. Guided by Jesus’s commandment to “Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself,” Rev. Kirby felt called to assist nearly two thousand women experiencing unplanned pregnancies in the early 1970s, at a time when abortion was illegal, offering them non-judgemental, compassionate counseling known as All Options. “Even the use of the word ‘abortion’ was illegal,” he said. “We lived in the realm of knowing we could be in trouble.” If a woman in his care chose abortion, he and his colleagues made sure she could get one, even if it meant arranging a secret round-trip flight from Missouri to New York, where abortions were performed safely by trained physicians.

Rev. Kirby was one of three featured speakers at Faith in Women’s September event, “Called to Resist: The Pre-Roe Faith Movement that Saved Women’s Lives,” co-sponsored with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).  More than forty local clergy, churchgoers, health educators, and representatives of Mississippi-based reproductive health and rights organizations gathered in Jackson to learn about the history of the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS) and how its legacy continues to inform the prophetic work of reproductive health, rights, and justice advocacy today.

Historian Dr. Gillian Frank, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Program in American Studies at the University of Virginia, gave a brief overview of CCS’s history. At a time when abortion was a punishable crime, more than 2,000 Protestant ministers, Jewish rabbis, and dissident Catholic priests and nuns banded together to fight publicly for reproductive rights and to counsel hundreds of thousands of women on how they could access safe, compassionate abortion care. The underground networks they formed were robust: members were active in 40 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and in the city of Tokyo, Japan.

Why were these faith leaders willing to risk so much–their careers, their livelihood, even their freedom–for these women? They saw the devastating impact that illegal abortion was having on their communities. Back-alley abortion providers took advantage of desperate women, charging exorbitant fees to terminate their pregnancies and even worse, they often endangered their health and their lives in the process. “It became increasingly clear to clergy across the country that abortion restrictions were not preventing abortion,” noted Dr. Frank. “Rather, they were creating a public health crisis.”

The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was a landmark moment for the CCS, whose members had advocated tirelessly for the legalization of abortion. But in Rev. Kirby’s eyes, it was also a moment when the CCS made a strategic error.  “Once we got Roe, we quit. And that’s the mistake we made,” he commented.  “We need to recover the moral high ground. We’ve given it up, and we can reclaim it.”

Dr. Willie Parker, a Christian abortion provider and author of the bestselling memoir Life’s Work, offered his insight as to how we reclaim our prophetic voice in this moment when the future of reproductive rights in the United States seems increasingly tenuous:  

Let’s say hypothetically…that Roe goes away. Our task still doesn’t change. Women don’t lose their right to bodily autonomy and safe management of pregnancy. The question becomes what do we do next? If it’s non-negotiable that women have a right to safe termination of pregnancy and control of their lives, how creative are we going to be as people of goodwill?

Dr. Parker also emphasized that the intersectional analysis of the reproductive justice movement continues to be central in responding to the relentless political destruction of reproductive health and rights that has occured since the Roe decision. This expansive framework, he said, lends itself to the kind of coalition building we need right now—and that we will continue to need in the future.

Audience reaction was overwhelmingly supportive. For many attendees, the event was their first introduction to the history of the CCS. “I continue to be surprised to learn just how deeply involved faith leaders have been in this movement from early on, including advocating for safe, legal abortion and helping to provide care when it was still illegal in most states,” said one Jackson-based United Methodist minister. “I was also impressed with how strategic the CCS was in crafting an incredibly holistic movement that spanned several states and accounted for every detail of the process to help women have as smooth and safe an experience as possible. It was an amazing operation!”

Others considered their own faith perspectives as they listened to the speakers. “It’s so easy to lump all religious perspectives into one belief system or moral understanding of faith, grace, and health and healing. The movement is lead by people who are doing the work not in spite of their faith, but because of their faith,” commented one attendee. “That most resonates with me and my approach to life.”

To learn more about the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, check out RCRC’s interactive timeline.

 

Partner Highlight: Planned Parenthood Southeast

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At Faith in Women we advocate for full access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare and information for all of Mississippi’s women and young people. This month we are highlighting our partners at Planned Parenthood Southeast (PPSE), who work tirelessly to ensure that these critical health services are readily available and affordable for our communities, and who advocate for policies that uphold “the fundamental right of each individual… to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual’s income, marital status, race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, or residence.”

From the time Faith of Women started, PPSE has been a key partner of ours. In 2016, we worked together with PPSE and the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund to screen the documentary TRAPPED in cities across the state.  And earlier this year Felicia Brown-Williams, PPSE Mississippi State Director, hosted a lunch and learn in Jackson to share her expertise about the state’s legislative process with Faith in Women supporters. She is also a frequent participant in Faith in Women programs, such as this spring’s Compassionate Care Training. We are grateful for this strong working relationship with Planned Parenthood in our state.

Planned Parenthood Southeast works on many levels to improve the lives of women and young people in our community. Continue reading to learn more about what they do and how you can get involved.

Health Services 

The Planned Parenthood Health Center located in Hattiesburg offers a wide range of reproductive health services, including birth control consultations and prescriptions, pregnancy tests, pelvic exams, and testing for sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). Thanks to a grant from a generous donor, these services are available at low-cost or even no-cost to patients.

To learn more about services offered at the Hattiesburg center or to make an appointment, visit their website.

Healthy Neighborhood and Voter Canvassing

Planned Parenthood staff and volunteers have been traveling to communities around the state to increase voter awareness about health issues in their areas and to register individuals to vote. For example, in late August a group distributed information about gynecological cancer, passed out ribbons made by a volunteer, and registered voters in Gulfport.  Several of these events have been in partnership with the NAACP of Biloxi.

Want to pledge to vote in the upcoming election? Click here.

#SaveSCOTUS

Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates, the 501(c)(4) division of PPSE, has been engaging constituents throughout the region on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. From phone banking to in-person letter writing events, Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates has reached hundreds of voters with its campaign to #SaveSCOTUS.

To learn how to get involved, visit Planned Parenthood’s  #DearSenators campaign site.

Remembering the Pre-Roe Faith Movement that Saved Women’s Lives

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An Evening to Honor the Clergy Consultation Service

It’s a busy time for Faith in Women! You may remember that last fall, Faith in Women hosted more than 70 activists, faith leaders, and students for a dynamic evening with Dr. Willie Parker at Milsaps College. Building on the theme of courageous callings, next month we are partnering with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice on an evening event to honor the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS), a national underground network of clergy who risked everything to help women access safe, compassionate abortion care in the years prior to the legalization of abortion.

Event: Called to Resist

Our September event held in Jackson, MS  will feature a number of special guests, including:

  • Historian Dr. Gillian Frank
  • CCS Member Rev. Bill Kirby
  • Christian Author and Activist Dr. Willie Parker

During these turbulent times, as the future of reproductive rights becomes increasingly uncertain, there is much that we can learn from those who came before us. By exploring the legacy of the Clergy Consultation Service and its stunning example of faithful resistance, we find wisdom, hope, and inspiration as we discern our own roles in ensuring that every woman and girl lives in a world in which she is safe and free to make decisions about her body, her life, and her future.

This event will be by invitation-only. If you would like to request admission, please contact a member of our staff.  Pre-registration is required for all attendees.

About the Clergy Consultation Service

Beginning in New York City in 1967, more than 1,400 clergy came together to form the Clergy Consultation Consultation with the mission to ensure that women in their communities could access safe abortion procedures from reputable providers across the country. Some faith leaders even personally accompanied women across long distances to locations where they could obtain safe terminations. In addition to their clandestine work with women in need, members of the Clergy Consultation Service were public advocates for the legalization of abortion. To learn more about the CCS, visit RCRC’s interactive timeline featuring historic footage and interviews with several CCS members.

Hear from Rev. Finley Schaef, a founding member of the CCS, about how the movement began.

 

Finding Hope in Troubling Times + Book Giveaway

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Finding hope in troubling times is essential to our well-being and sustains our energy as we engage  in the long work of resisting oppression and creating sustainable, positive change in the world. This month we want to share with you some of the innovative tools, inspiring events, and uplifting work happening now that gives us hope, heals our hearts, and strengthens our resolve to continue working for a more just, compassionate world. Be sure to enter our book giveaway. Information is at the bottom of the post. 

We want to hear from you! 

What gives you hope right now? Join the conversation in our Facebook group!

ResistBot 

Contacting our legislators doesn’t have to be a headache. Built and operated 100% by volunteers, ResistBot is a multi-platform tool that takes the headache out of contacting Congressional offices and other elected officials. If you’re having trouble getting in touch with a Congressional office about your concerns, ResistBot can ensure that your voice is heard by delivering your message on your behalf.

Anyone with a smartphone can text the word RESIST to 50409, and ResistBot identify your senators and representative. You can also connect with ResistBot through Twitter or Facebook messenger.  Type any message, and using simple commands, ResistBot will send your message for you and confirm that it has been delivered. It can remind you to take daily action, give you resources on what topics to write about, and even send your letter to your local paper for publication.

Learn more at resist.bot.

Mississippi Teens Advocating for Better Sexuality Education 

Young people are such an inspiration these days! Current Mississippi law requires sexuality education in public schools, but the quality of that education leaves a lot to be desired. A group of Mississippi teens, organized by our partner Teen Health Mississippi, is working to change the current law to ensure that all sexuality education curricula are medically-accurate, evidence-based, and cover a wide-range of ages.

The teens involved with Mississippi Youth Council, or MY Council, were recently featured in an MTV News segment on their Facebook page. Watch as these young folks organize, strategize, and advocate with their elected officials to change Mississippi law to ensure every young person has the information and support needed to make healthy decisions about their sexuality.

To learn more about MY Council, visit Teen Health Mississippi’s website.

Mississippi Book Festival

Sometimes we need a break from the digital world and just want a good, old-fashioned book. On August 18th at the Mississippi State Capitol hundreds of authors will join thousands of book-readers for a celebration of books, reading, and learning. Launched in 2015 by literary activists the annual Mississippi Book Festival has reached more than 6,400 people. This completely free event will feature panel discussions as well as music events and activities for kids. This year’s speaker line-up includes award-winning novelist Jesmyn Ward, author of Sing, Unburied Sing which won the 2017 National Book Award.

To learn more, visit msbookfestival.com.

In honor of the Book Festival, Faith in Women is hosting a book giveaway

We’d like to help spark a little more joy in the world, so we’re passing on some good reads to our friends. If you’d like to be entered to win a free copy of Cecilie Richard’s Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead–My Life Story or Austin Channing Brown’s I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, please fill out this form by July 31st. The winners will be notified in August.

 

 

Highlighting Our Faith + Reproductive Justice Partners

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Everyday we’re inspired by the tireless efforts of so many advocates to improve the lives of women, girls, and families in Mississippi and beyond.  To honor that work, this month we are highlighting three of our colleague organizations working at the intersections of faith and reproductive health, rights, and justice: Exhale, the Religious Institute, and SisterReach. Read on to learn about their prophetic leadership in these areas, and how you can get involved with their ongoing work.

Exhale 

With its uniquely “pro-voice” approach, Exhale honors the breadth of abortion experiences and uses storytelling to shift the public conversation away from divisive labels and towards compassionate listening. Exhale’s Executive Director Rev. Susan Chorley, an ordained Baptist minister, preaches about her abortion experience to congregations around the country as part of Exhale’s Pro-Voice Tour.

In an interview with SELF magazine about the tour,  Rev. Chorley said, “[Abortion] feels like an area that I’ve recognized the church is lacking in terms of supporting women’s experience—not that churches have to be supportive of abortion, but more that this is a reality for some women that are sitting in the pews.” By addressing the stigma surrounding abortion from the pulpit, Rev. Chorley brings visibility to a common, but invisibilized experience that many religious women have been too ashamed to name in their faith communities.

To learn more about Exhale and how you can support their work, visit exhaleprovoice.org.

Religious Institute 

The Religious Institute advocates for sexual, gender, and reproductive justice both within faith communities and beyond them. With a network of more than 8,500 people, they equip religious leaders and people of faith to bring their prophetic voice to the public square on issues concerning gender, sexuality, and our reproductive lives.

Abortion + Faith

In partnership with the Texas Freedom Network, Just Texas, and the Afiya Center, the Religious Institute has convened a series of trainings for clergy and lay leaders in Texas called Abortion + Faith. The training develops participants’ theological, pastoral, and congregational competency in the areas of reproductive access, reproductive justice, and abortion.  Guided by theological reflection, informal presentations, and hands-on activities, the Abortion + Faith curriculum aids faith communities as they discern their call to advocate for reproductive justice in a hostile political and religious environment.

Webinars to Engage, Equip, and Inspire

Last summer the Religious Institute presented a webinar series entitled “Religious Resistance and Reproductive Justice”  that focused on four thematic areas: Pastoral Care, Liturgy, Religious Education, and Preparation for Preaching. In partnership with subject matter experts, these webinars helped maintain faith leader advocacy engagement after what had been an exhausting six months of attacks on reproductive health, rights, and justice at the federal level. Recently the Institute presented a webinar entitled “When Seminaries Aren’t Safe: Sexual Assault and Harassment in Graduate Theological Education”  that was facilitated by Rev. TiShaunda McPherson, a civil rights attorney, seminary graduate, and elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. You can view the webinars on the Religious Institute Youtube page.

To learn more about the Religious Institute’s work and to stay up to date about their latest campaigns, visit religiousinstitute.org.

SisterReach 

Founded in Memphis in 20011, SisterReach was the first Reproductive Justice organization established in the state of Tennessee. Through advocacy and education, SisterReach strives to support the reproductive health and rights of all women and young people through community conversations and engagement with faith communities.

Faith & Advocacy Toolkit

As part of their interfaith advocacy work, SisterReach has developed  free resources for faith leaders and their communities to engage them in the movement for reproductive justice. The EDUCATE! Toolkit is designed with seminarians, clergy, and other people of faith in mind while the ADVOCATE! Toolkit is for community partners that might be interested in partnering with religious organizations and their leadership. You can download these free toolkits by signing up on their resources page.

To learn more about SisterReach’s mission in Tennessee and beyond, visit sisterreach.org.

Is there another organization doing this work that we should know about?

Send us an email, and we’ll highlight them them in a future post.

Compassionate Care Training in Jackson

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Photos: Chauna Lawson, RCRC

In partnership with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), Faith in Women co-hosted and co-facilitated a two-day training called “Space for Grace: Compassionate Care for Reproductive Decision and Loss” in Jackson, MS.

The training curriculum was developed by RCRC as both an expansion and adaptation of previous training programs that historically centered on “pastoral care” and generally was offered only to clergy and faith leaders. The framework of compassionate care opens up the space for professionals across various sectors, including health care, advocacy, social work, and religion, to come together for a time of learning, skill-building, and networking.

Facilitators Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson and Rev. Katey Zeh

More than a dozen participants representing organizations from across the South attended the training to gain new skills and understanding around how to be both a compassionate presence and prophetic witness for reproductive health, rights, and justice in their communities.  Among the cohort were nurses, activists, practitioners, non-profit leaders, scholars, and clergy, all of whom contributed valuable expertise and insight from their respective disciplines.

Rev. Susan Chorley, a Baptist minister and the Executive Director of Exhale, traveled from Boston to participate in the training. “The depth of the conversation among participants was impressive and the facilitation allowed us to create connection and community in a very short amount of time,” she remarked. “I left the training feeling hopeful and invigorated by the work ahead of us.”

Like Rev. Chorley we at Faith at Women are energized by the openness and commitment to justice we witnessed at the training. Though our challenges are many, we are heartened by the number of people working to improve the lives of Mississippi’s most vulnerable women and girls.

How To Get Involved

If you’re interested in attending a future training with Faith in Women and RCRC, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email, and we’ll be in touch.

 

April Resource Review: The Latest Podcasts We Love

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With new podcasts launching every single day, the sheer volume of available content can be overwhelming to navigate. To help you out we’ve curated a list of some of our current favorite podcasts to listen to that inspire us, ground us, and educate us about the intersections of faith, reproductive rights, and social justice.

What exactly is a podcast again? A podcast is a form of audio or video media that can be downloaded and listened to on-demand at your own time and pace. Podcasts may feature a solo host, one-on-one interviews, or conversations among several people. The best part about podcasts is that nearly all of them are completely free, and you can watch or listen to them on your phone, tablet, or computer. For those in need of a Podcast 101, check this guide out to get you started listening today.

 

Recommended Podcast Subscriptions

 

rePROS Fight Back

Main Topic: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 

Description: “From the frontlines of issues like abortion, birth control, sex education, women’s rights, and LGBT rights, rePROs Fight Back features interviews with the leaders who are fighting back against those who would deny or restrict our reproductive health and rights. New episodes debut every other Tuesday, and every episode gives you an insider’s perspective so that you can be the world’s best advocate.” 

Episode to Try: “The Maternal Health Crisis Facing Black Women“

 

She’s All Fat*

Main Topic: Body Positivity 

Description: “We noticed an increase in fat visibility,  but a lack of spaces for fat women and femmes to tell their own stories in a conversational setting — a place to literally hear our voices. We hope that our little pod is a fun, entertaining, body posi space entirely devoted to fat stories.We cover current events, popular culture, personal experiences, and awesome guest interviews. Join us for a weekly half-hour all about body positivity,  radical self love and chill vibes ONLY.”

Episode to Try: “She’s All Fat Goes to the Doctor” 

 

Kindreds

Main Topics: Faith, Feminism, Friendship 

Description: “Kindreds is a podcast for soul sisters, hosted by Ashley Peterson and Katey Zeh. In each episode we take on all things faith, feminism, and friendship from our homes in the South. 

Episode to Try:  “Ashley Easter on Ending Abuse in the Church”

 

For A Just World 

Main Topics: Current Events, Advocacy, Justice 

Description: “The goal of the podcast – to equip clergy and people of faith to read the story of God in the streets of where we live in the world today, to make deep connections between faith, justice and  community building.” 

Episode to Try:  “Alive! In Our Sexuality and Faith”

 

The Liturgists

Main Topics: Art, Faith, Science 

Description: “The Liturgists are a global community working to subvert the barriers our society builds around religion, race, gender, ability, and sexuality. Our work is centered around compelling discussion, non-judgmental community, and thoughtful, evocative art. We believe there is room at the table for all who are hungry.

Episode to Try: “Embodiment” 

 

Unladylike

Main Topics: Feminism,  Intersectionality 

Description: “Cultivating our best selves and dreamiest lives is un-equally accessible for women, girls and gender-nonconforming folks everywhere. But by better understanding our unique identities, diverse lived experiences and underlying injustices, we can claim our space and make more room for others as well. That’s our Unladylike mission: To make inclusive, credible media that moves.” 

Episode to Try:  “How to Be a Mormon Feminist”

 

Still wanting more? Be sure to check out our post from back in November with more of our recommendations. 

 

*Includes explicit language