Welcome to Episode 20 of the Social Justice Salon.

In this episode, we learn about the amazing Women’s Revolution that emerged in Rojava in Syria during 2010s. We discuss how the Kurdish women set up an egalitarian society at the same time as fighting the forces of ISIS. Marianne is joined by Rahila Gupta who has been to Rojava and learned all about this region first hand

Rahila is an author and activist. She is a patron of Peace in Kurdistan and on the management committee of Southall Black Sisters. She has authored a huge range of books, articles, short stories, poetry, essays, screenplays and plays for theatre, for names such as The Guardian, New Internationalist, Feminist Dissent, The Independent on Sunday, Asian Times, Spare Rib, Disability Now, The Lancet, and Poetry Salzburg. Most recently, with Beatrix Campbell, she has authored the book Planet Patriarchy a continent-crossing panorama of women’s rights, women’s oppression and women’s politics in the twenty-first century.

Marianne and Rahila discuss the context that the Rojava women’s revolution emerged in, the hideous threat that ISIS posed to women in the region, and how this new society instigated new values, new institutions and a new way of life in northern Syria. It is an episode not to miss.

Links and more info

Buy Rahila’s latest book Planet Patriarchy

Visit her website

Follow the podcast on Instagram

Follow Marianne on Instagram and TikTok

Become a member of Marianne’s Patreon

Music by Luke Fraser at The Tonic and Artwork was by Marianne

Welcome to Episode 19 of the Social Justice Salon.

In this solo episode, Marianne talks about ways of knowing and how the ideology behind our knowledge systems affects our work in social justice.

Marianne discusses how the men of the Scientific Revolution in 16th & 17th century set in stone the dominant ways of knowing that still impact how research and consultancy is done today. She outlines how certain methodologies have been given more respect and status and that this has influenced the way we all see the world.

Countering the dominant narratives are feminist, anti-racist, anti-colonial and queer methodologies which expose the power structures inherent in our accepted ways of knowing and propose new ways of doing things. Marianne takes us through these approaches and outlines practical ways to make sure social justice research is done in an equitable and ethical way.

Links and more info

Follow the podcast on Instagram

Follow Marianne on Instagram and TikTok

Become a member of Marianne’s Patreon

Music by Luke Fraser at The Tonic and Artwork was by Marianne

Welcome to Episode 18 of the Social Justice Salon.

In this episode, we explore how women in the Uk today have to navigate their public sexuality: as we exist in public places and online. Marianne is joined by the fantastic Fiona Vera Grey who gives us a rich insight into this with findings from her extensive research.

Fiona is a professor of sexual violence, activist and campaigner working on violence against women and girls. She comes from a practice-based background, working for over a decade in the Rape Crisis movement before moving into academia. She has authored three books including: The Right Amount of Panic: How Women Trade Freedom for Safety and Women on Porn. She is currently Co-Director of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University

Marianne and Fiona discuss the ‘safety work’ that women do to avoid sexual harassment and harm, the different intersecting barriers that demand us to be sexual but not too sexual, and the impact of the rise of hardcore porn and how it is shaping our desires.

Links and more info

Follow Fiona on Instagram

Buy her book Women on Porn

Buy her book The Right Amount of Panic

Buy her book Men’s Intrusion, Women’s Embodiment

Follow the podcast on Instagram

Follow Marianne on Instagram and TikTok

Become a member of Marianne’s Patreon

Music by Luke Fraser at The Tonic and Artwork was by Marianne