Stay ConnectedBreaking Down Patriarchy is a podcast for everyone! Learn about the creation of patriarchy and those who have challenged it as you listen to bookclub-style discussions of essential historical texts. Gain life-changing epiphanies and practical takeaways through these smart, relatable conversations.
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Copyright: © Copyright 2022 Amy McPhie Allebest
Amy is joined by Dr. Dee Mosbacher and Dr. Boden Sandstrom to discuss their documentary, Radical Harmonies, exploring the history of the women's music movement, Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, and how countless lesbian lives were transformed through lyrics and song.
Dee Mosbacher, M.D. Ph.D., is a psychiatrist and an Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker. Dr. Mosbacher has been an activist for women's health since the early 1970's. She has directed and/or produced a total of nine documentaries on homophobia, including Out for a Change, Addressing Homophobia in Women's Sports, All God's Children, De Colores, and No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. Dee and her spouts, who is also a psychiatrist, Dr. Nanette Gartrell, worked to eliminated homophobia in the DSM. Dr. Mosbacher is the founder and president of Woman Vision, a nonprofit organizations whose mission is to promote social justice through the production of educational films and video.
Boden Sandstrom, Ph.D., was the winner of the American Musicology Society Philip Brett Award. She was a leading sound engineer on the women's music circuit, and in 1975 she founded Woman Sound with singer Casse Culver. She toured with many performers, including Chris Williamson and Lily Tomlin, and did sound for the major women's music festivals and concerts at the time. She has a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, an M.S. in Audio Technology, and an M.L.S. in Library Science. Before retiring, Dr. Sandstrom was a lecturer and technical coordinator in the School of Music at the University of Maryland.
Amy is joined by creators Alex Masse & Frankie Gunn to discuss their podcast, I'm Feeling Queer Today, and explore the critical importance of listening to queer youth, plus Alex and Frankie share guidance for those questioning their identity and for those interested in becoming better allies to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Alex K. Masse is a writer, musician, and communications specialist from what is colonially known as British Columbia. Their work has been seen everywhere from the Scholastic Writing Awards to Autostraddle, as well as in collaboration with Penelope Scott, Vancouver Pride, Simon Fraser University, and more. They’re also a neurodivergent nonbinary lesbian, which greatly affects their process. When not writing, they’re making music, and when not making music, they’re writing. Occasionally, though, they can be seen working on their degree, or cozied up with their cat.
Frankie Gunn is a transmasc interdisciplinary artist, musician and producer, currently working as a gardener in the Hudson Valley in upstate New York. Having not attended a traditional 4 year college, Frankie has acquired an a la carte education, doing everything from hairdressing and sound engineering to farming and agriculture. The thread that ties their work together is a hands on approach and a love of all things beautiful.
Amy is joined by storyteller and founder of The Trevor Project, Celeste Lecesne, to discuss his incredible life of acting and activism, plus how a story can save a life, and exciting new ways our world is changing for (and thanks to) queer youth.
James Celeste Lecesne is an American actor, author, screenwriter, and LGBT rights activist, best known for the Academy Award winning short film 'Trevor'. Lecesne has written several books, including Absolute Brightness and Virgin Territory, and is also active in the entertainment industry as an actor and producer. In 1998 Lecesne co-founded The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention for LGBT youth.
Amy is joined by activist and advocate Troy Williams to discuss his incredible coming out journey from the Eagle Forum to Equality Utah, plus how changing our perspective can help turn enemies into allies, and why people of all identities are needed in the struggle for equality.
For the past two decades, Troy Williams has been a community organizer playing pivotal roles in passing laws and protections for the LGBTQ community in Utah, including the historic Utah Compromise, a statute against LGBTQ and racially inclusive hate crimes, and a ban on LGBTQ conversation therapy. In 2010, he co-wrote the award-winning play, "The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon" with the late Charles Lynn Frost, and has since worked on various movies and series centered around real-life stories and people from the Mormon faith. He became the executive director of Equality Utah in the fall of 2014 and was named one of the nation's 50 LGBTQ Champions of Pride in 2022 by The Advocate magazine.
Amy is joined by author Kara Loewentheil to discuss her book, Take Back Your Brain: How a Sexist Society Gets in Your Head—and How to Get It Out, plus strategies to change our thought patterns, break out of sexist social conditioning, and live our values from the inside out.
After graduating Harvard Law School, litigating reproductive rights, and running a think tank at Columbia University, Kara Loewentheil did what every Ivy League feminist lawyer should do: quit a prestigious academic career to become a life coach! Less than a decade after leaving the law, Kara has taught hundreds of thousands of women how to close the “Brain Gap” that keeps them feeling anxious and dis-empowered. Her work enables women to identify the ways that sexist social messages impact their brains and how to rewire their thought patterns to create true, authentic confidence from within. Her internationally top-ranked podcast, UnF*ck Your Brain, has been recommended by sources from The New York Times to the We Can Do Hard Things Podcast with Glennon Doyle.
Amy is joined by Sola Mahfouz & Malaina Kapoor to discuss their book, Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education, and explore the ongoing struggle for women's education in Afghanistan as well as Sola's remarkable journey from Kandahar to quantum computing.
Sola Mahfouz was born in Afghanistan and immigrated to the United States in 2016 to attend college. She is currently a quantum computing researcher at Tufts University Quantum Information Group. In her free time, she is focusing on reading and studying different styles of fiction, as well as writing about the rugged homeland he's left behind.
Malaina Kapoor is a writer from Redwood City, California. She previously served as a fellow at PEN America, where she advocated for international hu man rights, press freedom,. and election integrity. Kapoor served on the management team of a refugee resettlement organization an was the producer of In Deep, a nationally syndicated public affairs radio broadcast program. She as received national awards for her poetry, personal essays, and short stories, and will graduate from Stanford University in 2025.
Amy is joined by Dr. Randa Tawil to discuss the history of Palestine, how the ongoing atrocities in Gaza are a feminist issue, and the most effective ways for everyday people to take action for peace.
Dr. Randa Tawil is an assistant professor of Women and Gender Studies at Texas Christian University. She received her doctorate in the Department of American Studies at Yale University and she specializes in Migration and Mobility, Ethnic Studies, and Arab Middle Eastern Studies. Her manuscript, Race in Transit: Mobilities Between Greater Syria and North America, examines knowledge production around the "good" and "bad" migrant from Syria through the lens of mobility. She has articles published in academic journals, The Washington Post, and Open Democracy, and is a member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective.
Amy is joined by author Lisa Selin Davis to discuss her book, Housewife: Why Women Still Do It All and What to Do Instead, detailing the surprisingly recent invention of the 'traditional' housewife, plus laundry, lobotomies, and why modern day tradwives might have more equitable homes than we imagine.
Lisa Selin Davis is a critically acclaimed essayist and journalist whose work has appeared in major publications including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time, The Free Press, and many others. She is the author of Tomboy as well as two novels and she lives in New York City with her family. Her most recent book is Housewife: Why Women Still Do It All and What to Do Instead.
Amy is joined by Dr. Elora Shehabuddin to discuss her book, Sisters in the Mirror: A History of Muslim Women and the Global Politics of Feminism, exploring historical and contemporary misunderstandings of Muslim women, how Western and Muslim feminisms influence one another, and what each of us can do to live as better allies.
Dr. Elora Shehabuddin is a professor of gender and women's studies and global studies at UC Berkeley. Previously, she was a professor of transnational Asian studies and core faculty in the Center for Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University. Before that, she was an assistant professor of women's studies and political science at UC Irvine. She received her BA in social studies from Harvard and her PhD in politics from Princeton. Shehabuddin is the author of many, many articles and multiple books, including the award-winning Sisters in the Mirror: A History of Muslin Women and the Politics of Global Feminism, which was published in 2021.
Amy is joined by Jane Boulware to discuss her book, Worthy, plus her meteoric rise from being a used rug vendor to senior leadership at Microsoft, and how we can all learn to overcome our "un"s and pursue our ambitions.
Jane Boulware is a global business leader and former Microsoft Executive. Married to her high school sweetheart, Jane lives in Washington state and works to make a difference, serving on boards including Boys & Girls Clubs, writing, speaking, and consulting. Jane is passionate about helping people claim their worth and forge the future. Her joy is being outdoors with her family.
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