Peace by Piece

Join us for a very special episode of our podcast Peace by Piece, where we chat with law students Catherine Avrutin and Anna Shin, as well as supervising attorney Anju Fujioka, to talk about memory loss, trauma, intoxication, and sexual assault trials. How does memory loss and trauma impact a trial? What biases around intoxication might show up for the judge or jury? What do survivors need to know about moving through a legal process? You won’t want to miss this one!

BDSM can be so much more than what you do in the bedroom. Kink can be playful, supportive, intimate, liberating, and community-based. Our Host AnnaLise talks to Mx Eve and Dreamy about the expansiveness of kink and its connection to queerness and queer spaces.

Contrary to popular belief, the A in LGBTQIA+ does not stand for ally. In our hyper-sexualized world that puts romance on a pedestal, asexuality and aromanticism are frequently forgotten and misunderstood. Join us as we chat with Heidi about queerplatonic relationships, couple’s privilege, and the challenges and joys of being aro/ace.

Have you ever wondered about polyamory? In this episode I chat with Jacob about polyamory and the abundance of love that is possible when we step off the relationship escalator and build intentional relationships with respect, openness, and lots of communication.

July is Pride in London! Pieces of Pride is a special mini season of our Peace by Piece podcast where we’ll be talking about who is included in Pride, who gets left out, and why. Whose identities are made palatable by mainstream narratives, and whose are excluded, disparaged, or just plain ignored?

This first episode is a conversation between host AnnaLise and her wife, Holly. They discuss how we’ve had marriage equality for almost two decades now, have by many measures achieved gay inclusion, and how when people think of gay folks now, they think of AnnaLise and Holly’s life: two white women, married with a kid and a house and dog and porch to sip wine on. They discuss how this is homonormativity, and how even though they encounter issues and exclusion, even though the world is still not built for them, they are the goal of so much of Pride organizing. But there are so many other ways of queer living and queer loving that are not palatable to mainstream, that are not understood or recognized. Ways of queer being for which there is no straight counterpart, no direct translation. These will be the focus of the following 3 episodes this month. Stay tuned!

Abortion has been legal in Canada for more than 30 years but it is still a strangely taboo topic in our culture.  Robyn Schwarz, a local activist for reproductive justice in SW Ontario, offers us a practical understanding of Canadian abortion laws, and the realities of navigating reproductive healthcare in our current culture.

An open conversation that supports informed decision making for us as individuals and as advocates for accessible healthcare. Content warning: this episode discusses not only abortion but pregnancy loss.

When we witness gender-based violence it can be tricky to know how to respond, even when we really want to help.  Using the 5 D’s of Bystander Intervention, this episode offers practical tools to help identify when and how to respond in a way that is safe and supportive.  We all have a part to play in creating a culture of accountability that doesn’t tolerate acts of gender based violence.

Content warning: this episode contains references to sexual assault from the perspective of a perpetrator

We cannot end sexual violence without working with those who cause harm, the perpetrators themselves. In this episode, our host Dr AnnaLise Trudell has a raw and at times emotional conversation with a man who has perpetrated sexual violence. Using Mia Mingus’s four-part model of accountability, they discuss the ongoing process of self reflection, what apology and repair looked like it in his particular case, and how he moves forward with changed behaviour. They also work through some messiness and nuance around “cancel culture”, and discuss his decision to come forward for this interview while remaining anonymous. This is a heavy episode. You will hear both the guest and our host process through some difficult concepts and emotions. Accountability, like healing, is a journey rather than a destination. We invite you to sit with us in the messiness of this process, but we also want to remind you to take care of yourself.

Content warning: this podcast contains references to sexual assault.

May is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) and this can’t be missed episode will help you gain a better understanding of the issue, the causes and the prevention tactics that work (and those that don’t).

1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives.

If you need help, we’re here for you. Call our 24/7 Crisis and Support Line: 519-642-3000

Period, that time of the month, on the rag… whatever you call it, menstruation is when the lining of the uterus sheds and leaves the body through the vagina. While everyone who menstruates will experience it in their own way, each face many layers of inequity simply because they menstruate (hint – it’s way more than financial). Rachel Ettinger (she/her), is the founder and advocate of Here for Her, a social enterprise that focuses on menstruation education and awareness. We talk about why menstrual equity is essential, harmful myths and shame that persists around menstruation, and the impact these have on gender-based violence. This episode provides some tips and tricks on how you can help normalize menstruation.

Rape fantasies or ravishment fantasies involve acting out “non-consensual” sex (in a way that everyone has consented to). Are they normal? YES! Many people have them, of all genders. We talk about what ravishment fantasies are (consensual) and what they are not (harmful) and address some of the shame we may feel around having such desires. We leave you with some helpful tips and tricks to safely explore power play with consent communication.

Disclaimer: At Anova, we support a world without gender-based violence and in no way condone sexual assault.

From “woke” to mainstream, the practice of offering your pronouns and respecting those of others still has its critics. This episode will skill you up for when you hear “we have gone too far” (insert eyeroll). Matthew Sereda (He / Him), Thames Valley District School Board’s Learning Coordinator for Equity and Inclusive Education (@MatthewSereda @TVDSBEquity), tells us how pronouns are being supported within the school system, the challenges with this work and what’s at stake if we don’t do this work well! Creating a future without violence by allowing individuals to determine their own gender identity and how they want to be addressed.

Embracing differences, learning to rethink weaknesses and strengths, inter-generational trauma and more. We are unpacking Encanto and telling you why we think this is a must see for kids (and adults)!

Today, we are talking homelessness with housing stability & health equity researcher and professor at Western University, Abe Oudshoorn, RN, PhD. We start by defining what homelessness is, what causes it and explain how it is gendered. Abe provides us some insight on how women and nonbinary individuals are driven to homelessness for a variety of reasons, such as gender-based violence, and how they experience homelessness differently and exit it differently. We talk about strategies to end homelessness and what you can do to support those. They are probably different than you think!

November is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. When most people hear the words “abuse” or “domestic violence,” they think of physical or sexual violence. But the truth is, it can manifest in many other ways – ways that are difficult to recognize. On this bonus episode of Peace by Piece, Anova’s Public Education Coordinator, Allison Preyde talks about abuse and unhealthy relationship dynamics, and lists 8 red flags to keep a lookout for.

It’s our last guest of the season! We talk to lawyer and activist Naomi Sayers about how to create change with a specific lens on utilizing the law, personal stories and the media. You can expect some pretty great takeaways from this conversation. Naomi Sayers is a lawyer with extensive experience in advising a range of entities and governments on privacy issues, Indigenous rights and governance issues.  Naomi is recognized nationally and internationally for her advocacy work around sex workers rights and for changing the narrative around indigenous women and girls in the media.

We are joined today by the amazing Elana Johnson. Elana is a fierce advocate for midwives and her work in having midwifery recognized, funded and fairly compensated is nothing short of inspiring. We talk with Elana about how the field of midwifery has changed over the trajectory of her career and discuss why perinatal care is important.

Ericka Hart, M.Ed., D/s, pronouns: she/they, is a black queer femme activist, writer, highly acclaimed speaker and award-winning sexuality educator. In this can’t be missed episode, we chat fatphobia and body neutrality, anger and racism, kink at pride and police at pride. We absolutely love this conversation with Erika and we hope you do too!

Aren’t we in a world that is past the need for women’s only spaces? No. Public spaces are still very much dominated by men, and women often feel unsafe by the constant threat of harassment and objectification. Today we will hear from two very different organizations that see the incredible inclusive power of creating spaces for women and non-binary folks.

When it comes to toxic masculinity, we all lose. In this episode, Everyday Girl Dad creator, Mike Reynolds and former professional football player, Chuck Winters talk with Annalise about vulnerability, self-awareness and challenging learned masculinity

*Content warning: this podcast contains references to sexual assault.* May is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This episode focuses on the healing journey from the perspective of a survivor of sexual assault and the Anova sexual assault counsellor who helped her cope with her experience.

In this episode we talk to Clinical Sexologist and registered Psychotherapist, Carlen Costa about feeling good about feeling good! We chat openly about sex, the value of sex positivity, the healing powers of an orgasm, and so much more.

Dr. Sam Brennan is Dean of the College of Arts at the University of Guelph and co-founder of the blog Fit is a Feminist Issue. For women, fitness and the fitness industry has so often been about guilt and getting thinner, rather than celebrating how strong our bodies are. In this episode, we talk feminism and explore how fitness can and should be for everyone, no matter their age, size, gender, or ability.

In this episode, we are laying the foundation with Dr. Nadine Wathen, Western University professor and Canada Research Chair in Mobilizing Knowledge on Gender-Based Violence. AnnaLise and Nadine identify what gender-based violence (GBV) is, what causes it, emerging research in the field, and how confronting GBV means supporting those who have experienced it and doing upstream prevention work.

A sneak preview of what's to come in the following weeks. Stay tuned!