“Proud to Stand My Ground” – Raquel Rosario Sánchez
Raquel Rosario Sánchez is a writer, campaigner and researcher from the Dominican Republic. She is currently pursuing a PhD with the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at the University of Bristol. Raquel’s academic specialism is violence against women, and her PhD work focuses on online communities of men who pay for sex. In 2018, when she chaired a meeting for the organization Woman's Place UK, she began to be targeted by transgender activists on campus.
For two years Raquel endured bullying and harassment from gender identity ideologues while the University not only failed to protect her, but treated her like a perpetrator. She was subject to cross examination in front of one of the trans activist students who was leading the charge against her. She was ignored and blamed, as well as subject to questioning of her feminist beliefs. She tells me that she could never have accepted the University’s offers to settle the matter with money, and she is instead proudly standing up for women everywhere by bringing a legal case against the University.
We discuss what it feels like to momentarily be at the center of the gender war, how to weather the storm of being mobbed, and how we think the tide may be turning. The story of such an intelligent, clear-thinking feminist woman being subject to this level of abuse is deeply chilling. If you’re looking for a modern day feminist hero, look no further than Raquel.
Colin Wright is Managing Editor of Quillette, an evolutionary biologist, and an outspoken critic of the ideology he calls “the new evolution denialism.”
This episode is special because we hear from a teenager who goes against the grain, who is a true independent thinker. Amy describes the culture of her some of her peers as one of silencing and thought-policing:
Mary Kate (M. K.) is a feminist writer, activist, and engineer. She is the Founder and Editor in Chief of 4W and the Co-founder of Spinster.xyz. M.K. joined me to compare our experiences of being fired after expressing our gender critical views. We also discussed censorship, radical feminism versus liberal feminism, the left’s problem with class and free speech, and more!
"They are trying to redefine us out of existence and that does make me rather angry. And they’re denying that they do it. So I am just going to keep repeating myself that this isn’t ok. And if they hear that as aggression, which they seem to, well that’s their problem not my problem. I will remain non-aggressive but just saying ‘no.’ No is a complete sentence.” -Helen Joyce
Harriet Fraad, a Mental Health Counselor and Hypnotherapist, joins us to discuss feminism and class. Dr. Fraad writes articles and has a podcast on the intersection of politics, economics, and personal life. Her podcast, Capitalism Hits Home, is produced by Democracy at Work.