Archives: Episode

This podcast series seeks to explore key aspects of Townsville’s feminist history over the decades since 1975. Podcast 1:       Townsville Feminist Stories                            …tracing the feminist journey of three prominent Townsville feminists: Betty McLellan, Pauline Woodbridge and Nonie Harris.    Podcast 2:       … Read more

Here, Betty McLellan discusses the theme of Post-truth and implores feminists and others to reject the current trend toward the normalising of lies, half-truths and misinformation. She says: “To move away from having truth as a shared imperative is a deadly serious proposition” and calls for the restoration of sanity and justice in political decision-making.

Betty McLellan emphasises the importance of feminists finding their voices in protest against the growing influence of ultra-conservatism, and the hate speech that is justified by conservatives in the name of Free Speech. She insists that Free Speech must be Fair Speech.

In Freedom of Speech Part 2, Betty McLellan discusses the issue of “no-platforming”. Is the call to no-platform someone an affront to free speech, she asks, or a legitimate form of protest in a democracy?

This is the first in a series three podcasts in which Betty McLellan discusses aspects of the principle of Freedom of Speech. Here, Betty suggests that today’s heightened focus on individualism has rendered the concept of Free Speech farcical. Blame for this is laid at the feet of the economic philosophy of neoliberalism which has brought about a decline in democracy and democratic values. When free speech is seen to be an absolute right of the individual without any thought for the responsibilities that go with that, it is women and minority groups who are silenced. Free speech must be for all.

The #metoo campaign is enabling courageous women to speak out about the sexual harassment and abuse they have been subjected to in the course of their lives. Such courage is supported by radical feminists who have worked long and hard to break the silence around men’s sexual abuse of women. This podcast urges feminists, other women, and men of goodwill to see this as an opportunity to call for structural change as well as individual change. Individual perpetrators must change their behaviour, of course, but the unequal and unjust way that society is structured under patriarchy must also change.

“WomanRiver” focuses on the enormous amounts of information coming at individuals in today’s so-called ‘Information Age’ and encourages radical feminists to pause, to stand back and analyse, to take time to study the situation of women in past generations in order that present and future activism is well-informed and strategic. Click here for transcript

“Yet Another Challenge” is the first in the podcast series: Radical Feminist Reflections. It focuses on the role of radical feminism in the age of Donald Trump.