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Episode 8: Rape culture in the time of #MeToo

By Rachel Bauldree

Amy Jones is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor and the CEO of the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center- an organization that provides counseling, crisis intervention and advocacy for those whose lives have been affected by sexual violence. Our conversation today focuses on Rape Culture, a concept that first surfaced in the 1970s, notably in the publication of the work “Rape: The First Sourcebook for Women,” put forth by the New York Radical Feminists Collective in 1974, and then further explored in depth in the 1975 documentary Rape Culture. The term Rape Culture remains popular still, and recent films like Duma (doo-muh) have explored the impact of rape culture around the world. Today, Rape Culture is broadly defined as sexual violence being treated as the norm, wherein victims are blamed for their own sexual assaults. Over the past several decades the discussion of rape culture has endured and become more organized and may have finally found a collective, universal voice within the #MeToo movement which is becoming an effective catalyst for changing how we as a society think about rape and women’s rights (2020).

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Episode 5: Intersectionality & working with survivors of color

By Rachel Bauldree

Gretta Gordy Gardner is the Deputy Director for Ujima., Inc.: a project of the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence at The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community. An attorney, Ms. Gardner’s career as a legal advisor for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking was inspired by her early work as a prosecutor in the Domestic Violence Unit of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office. She has worked for over two decades to help shape guidelines, policies, and procedures that jurisdictions can use to end intimate partner violence and develop best practices for prevention and intervention in legal systems and community-based programs, which includes training and education on implicit bias. Today’s episode explores intersectionality, a concept introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, that provides a theoretical framework for understanding how aspects of a person’s social and political identities (e.g., gender, race, class, sexuality, ability etc.) might combine to create unique modes of discrimination. Content warnings for this episode include: physical and sexual violence (2020).

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Episode 3: Why strangulation matters

By Rachel Bauldree

Kelsey McKay is a nationally recognized expert on strangulation who developed a critical protocol for strangulation and domestic violence response and treatment. A former prosecutor from Travis County Texas, McKay founded McKay Training & Consulting to collaborate with leaders in fields of law enforcement in order to strengthen how communities collaborate, investigate, treat and prosecute strangulation and intimate partner cases. Her protocol – The Asphyxiation Assessment – is transforming the role of first responders in cases of crimes against women. This episode tackles the subject of strangulation – what it is, what it is not, and best practices in the fields of response, investigation, and prosecution. Content warnings for this episode include: abuse, physical and sexual violence (2020).

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Episode 2: No visible bruises: Examining the data of DV

By Rachel Bauldree

Award-winning journalist Rachel Louise Snyder examines the impact of her research in No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us a year post publishing. An outspoken journalist on issues of domestic violence, Ms. Snyder’s work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times magazine, Slate, Salon, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the New Republic, and others. No Visible Bruises was awarded the prestigious 2018 Lukas Work-in-Progress Award from the Columbia School of Journalism and Harvard’s Nieman Foundation. Content warnings for this episode include: abuse, suicide/self-harm, and violence (2020).

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Episode 10: Why doesn’t she leave? An officer’s perspective on domestic violence

By Rachel Bauldree

Our guest today is Mark Wynn, 21-year member of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department who served as Lieutenant to the Domestic Violence Division and as a member of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team for fifteen years. A trainer, advocate and specialist in the field of domestic violence for law enforcement, Mark Wynn is the recipient of no less that 121 commendations and 51 awards for his work, including the 1995 National Improvement of Justice Award and the 1998 Nashvillian of the Year Award. Content warnings for this episode include: physical violence and abuse (2020).

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