The New Feminist

On December 7th The New Feminist joins forces with Deeyah Khan, Women’s Voices Now, Knock Out Abuse West and NYT best selling author and advocate Leslie Morgan Steiner for a special screening of Behind the Rage followed by a panel with the men and women who are fighting to end relationship abuse. Links and info about the event can be found on our website thenewfeminist.net.

From becoming an iconic MTV VJ, starring in Dumb and Dumber, writing a New York Times Best selling book, to being diagnosed with a life threatening disease today’s guest, my friend Karen Duffy has done it all and has wisdom and positivity in spades!

With her son Jack preparing to go off to college she wrote her new book WISE UP: Irreverent Enlightenment from a Mother who has been through it all. It’s a series of letters filled with funny, heartwarming, wise, and irreverent life lessons drawn from the wisdom of the old stoic philosophers.

It’s one of Oprah Daily’s most anticipated books. It’s a book every parent might want to give their kid as they graduate college, but only after first reading it themselves. I just read it …and it might just change your life for the better.

I saw this fantastic documentary at the Sundance Film festival called Victims/Suspects. The film follows Rachel de Leon, an investigative journalist at The Center for Investigative Reporting, and her incredible work to uncover a disturbing pattern in the US: A surprising number of legal cases involving young women who report their rape to the police, get charged with false reporting, and instead of receiving help get thrown in jail. Victims/Suspect just premiered on Netflix and while incredibly triggering, it’s riveting and a must watch! I’m thrilled to have Rachel de Leon on the show to talk about it.

Our guest today, super model and author Paulina Porizkova is one of the most visible women in the world, yet the last two years she has garnered a huge Instagram following sharing how invisible she feels as a middle aged woman. Something so many women relate to in youth obsessed America. Decades long ageism against women in advertisement and films has given us all a warped view of what we should perceive as beautiful, how middle aged women should act and what a mature woman really looks like. By Paulina bravely sharing her own struggles embracing aging and how society views middle aged women, she has become an inspirational trailblazer helping to reset the narrative. In her new book No Filter, Paulina writes about her marriage to rockstar Ric Ocasek, the heartache after his sudden passing, her thoughts and struggles. Luckily for us shares all the wisdom she learned on the journey.

Our guest today Jewell Baraka, is brave. She has survived horrors that are hard to imagine. Her father, a deeply religious man, was popular in his community in Portland, yet behind closed doors he was a sociopathic monster. When Jewell was only five years old, he started sexually abusing her. By the time she was eleven, he trafficked his own daughter in to prostitution and porn, selling her most school nights to the highest bidder at a child brothel. After years of healing, today Jewell is a passionate advocate for victims of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation for Journey Up and Dignity Health. Her story is difficult to hear, but it needs to be shared. Despite the darkness her life journey has brought her, she could finally find the beauty that does exist in this world.

Benji Nolot might just be the most effective arch nemesis online pornography has. He is the President of Exodus Cry, an organization that works to abolish sex trafficking and sexual exploitation while assisting and empowering its victims. They have led a tireless and successful campaign to reveal the horrendous abuses and misconceptions about the porn industry and together with other activists have helped change the cultural narrative. Benji is a prolific and talented filmmaker, his movies Raised on Porn, Beyond Fantasy and many others, powerfully unveil the disturbing reality of what goes on. He examines the reality of coercion and violence, the health impacts on those on screen and the destruction on kids it leaves in its wake. 

At 22 years old, Andrea Heinz found herself $60,000 in debt from a string of abusive relationships and entered into the commercial sex industry in Canada. She worked in prostitution for seven years and had over 4000 customer sessions. She even opened a brothel herself, hoping that the women she hired would suffer less abuse, but to no avail. Barely surviving the industry herself, she finally quit in 2013 and is now a writer, speaker and filmmaker working to raise awareness about sexual commercial exploitation and the harms of the “sex work is work” ideology. You can follow her on Twitter @heinzsight2020 to learn more about her work. 

Where are kids getting their sex education? Their smartphones? In this episode, Jill speaks to Amanda "Mandy" Sanchez, program coordinator at Culture Reframed, the first organization to address hypersexualized media and pornography as “the public health crisis of the digital age.” In this episode, Jill and Mandy discuss the work of Culture Reframed, and their research on the impacts of hypersexualized media on children and youth, the harms that young people are experiencing, as well as the predatory industries that take advantage of this status quo. You can learn more about Culture Reframed at https://www.culturereframed.org/ 

Jill talks to Rebecca Magnuson, vocal coach, singer and songwriter. After her 2015 divorce, Rebecca used her art to heal and tell her story. Her one-woman musical, She Sings, premiered in 2018. A television series based on the musical, “She Sings: Surviving the Narcissist” is currently in development with Paramount. 

Jill talks to Madeline Di Nonno, President and CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (@geenadavisorg), the only global research driven advocacy organization working within the entertainment and media industry to create gender balance, foster inclusion and reduce negative stereotyping in family entertainment media.

Jill talks to Academy Award and BAFTA nominated actress, producer and author Mariel Hemingway about her advocacy for mental health and the tools she uses to build mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.

Jill talks to Iliana Tavera, Executive Director at Haven Hillls, a nonprofit that provides shelter and services for domestic violence survivors and their families. In her role as ED, Iliana has been working to break the cycle of abuse and transform victims into empowered survivors. In this episode, Iliana and Jill discuss the cycle of abuse, and how it impacts all people who experience DV and their families, and how to spot the warning signs of a dysfunctional relationship. You can find resources and learn more about Haven Hills and their work at www.havenhills.org. 

In a special part two of "The Nightmare at Playboy," Jill Sorensen sits down to talk to Miki Garcia, a former head of promotions for Playboy's parent company, and PJ Masten, a "Bunny Mother" who managed the young women who worked at Playboy's clubs. You can hear more of their stories on “Secrets of Playboy” on A&E, a documentary series that uncovers the horrific reality behind the glossy façade of the brand and the man who controlled it. New episodes of “Secrets of Playboy” air Mondays at 9pm ET/PT on A&E.

Jill Sorensen sits down to talk to Sondra Theodore, a former Playmate and teenage girlfriend of the late Hugh Hefner to talk about her experiences at the Playboy Mansion. You can hear more of her story on “Secrets of Playboy” on A&E, a documentary series that uncovers the horrific reality behind the glossy façade of the brand and the man who controlled it. New episodes of “Secrets of Playboy” air Mondays at 9pm ET/PT on A&E.

Jill Sorensen sits down with entrepreneur, investor, and financial advisor Kathy Checchi to discuss “financial feminism,” the importance of taking charge of your financial future, and economic empowerment for women.  

In the Season 2 premier of The New Feminist Podcast, Jill Sorensen sits down with guest Fraidy Reiss to talk about her escape from a forced marriage, her Orthodox Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn, New York, and her fight to end forced and child marriage in the U.S. with her organization Unchained At Last.

Donald Hilton, MD, is a neurosurgeon and internationally recognized expert on the neuroscience of pornography. Jill and Dr. Hilton talk about the ways that pornography rewires the brain, and explore themes of addiction, domestic violence, and the way scenes in porn model sexual behavior. 

In this episode, host Jill Sorensen is joined by Somali-born Dutch-American activist, feminist, author, scholar and former politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali to talk about her new book, Prey. 

Actress Kelly Rutherford and Sara Ell share their experiences with the family court system, a system rife with sexism and abuse that traumatizes children and their families. Kelly talks about her own highly-publicized custody battle, and how she is navigating it as both a mother and a public figure who is now actively speaking out on the issue. 

Jill interviews her co-producer on The New Feminist Podcast, Sienna Jackson, about life, identity, and what feminism means to her. Sienna also shares her personal experiences working at The Weinstein Company, and the dawn of the #MeToo movement. What do two feminists from different countries, ethnicities and generations have to teach each other? Tune in to find out! 

In the wake of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the War in Afghanistan, Jill Sorensen engages in an insightful and raw dialogue with advocate and writer Shireen Qudosi, an Afghani-Pakistani advocate and writer who tackles extremism, radicalization, polarization and ideological wars. 

Our friend Carré Otis returns for the final episode of the season as we ask her about the lessons she’s learned from her own life experiences. Lived and Learned is a special conversation series with inspiring women that asks us to examine our own lives as we draw inspiration from others’. 

We meet Laila Mickelwait, creator of the viral #TraffickingHub campaign and the president and founder of the Justice Defense Fund. Her work in advocating for victims of human trafficking has put her in the crosshairs of one of the largest porn companies you’ve never heard of.

One of the few women in a business dominated by men, Cynthia Sexton shares stories from her career in the music industry, not only the obstacles she overcame, but the ways in which she’s used her experiences to create opportunities for women who’ve come after her. We also learn more about the importance of mentorship and building collective power. 

Leslie Morgan Steiner met the man of her dreams…or so she thought. Her fairytale relationship quickly turned in to a nightmare as her new husband became her abuser.  In this deeply personal episode, she shares her experiences with domestic violence, and her journey to free herself from her abuser and how to build a life after trauma. 

In this episode, we break down gender equity laws in Sweden and why they were an inspiration to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Jill shares what it was like growing up in a progressive, egalitarian society and how it shaped her life -- in comparison to her mother, who was born in a generation without these laws. We also meet Birgitta Dahl, a pioneer of women’s rights in Sweden.

It doesn’t matter where in the world you grew up: Hollywood has played an outsized role in shaping culture and cultural norms the world over. And what sort of norms has Hollywood perpetuated? This episode flips the script on pop culture with performances of classic scenes from film and television with the gender roles reversed.

Meet Dr. Gail Dines, a professor emerita of sociology and women’s studies and the CEO and founder of Culture Reframed, the first organization to address hypersexualized media and pornography as “the public health crisis of the digital age.” We learn how porn culture hijacks the narrative and its impact on women and youth.

Jill sits down with American model, actress and activist Carré Otis and Ebba Karlsson to talk about the unspoken dark side of the modelling industry. Fashion’s #MeToo confronts human trafficking and rampant sexual abuse of aspiring models, many of them minors, as well as an explosive legal case that against the Harvey Weinstein of the fashion world. 

Jill Sorensen gives the scoop on common sense feminism from a new perspective. Featuring in-depth interviews and satirical take-downs of pop culture, The New Feminist Podcast explores women's issues and gender inequality with humor and sincerity.