Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Kaplan, Claire N (cnk2r)" <>]

Dear Colleagues:

 

I want to share a project that I’m working on, and some aspects that may be of interest to you.

 

Katie Koestner (www.katiekoestner.com) and I co-host a podcast (along with two other co-hosts, Kavita Ajmere and Sandra Miles, who have recently joined the team), titled “Dear Katie: Survivor Stories.” Years ago,  Katie became famous for fighting against her college and the “system” for failing to support her in her case against her rapist, a man that she had been dating. This was 1991, and survivors of acquaintance rape were struggling to gain any recognition at all that their assaults were “real” rape. She wound up on the cover of TIME Magazine, on numerous television talk shows (Oprah among others) and began her life journey to educate the world about this issue. She has spoken around the world to numerous audiences, founded Campus Outreach Services and started the Take Back the Night Foundation to support groups that are organizing TBTN events. 

 

We launched “Dear Katie” two months ago to offer a platform for survivors to tell their stories. Each podcast combines the reading of one of the thousands of letters she has received over the years and an interview of a survivor who shares their story and their truth.  In addition, we interview activists, experts, and leaders doing amazing work to end gender-based violence. These episodes are scattered in with the survivor stories. In some cases, the experts are also survivors themselves and sometimes share their experiences as well. Among the experts we have interviewed are:

Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan (Sexual Citizens)-November 18th

Gordon Braxton (Empowering Black Boys to Challenge Rape Culture)- December 16^th

Anthony Edwards (actor, survivor and President, 1in6 Board)-December 23 (drops tomorrow)

 

Upcoming “expert”episodes (release dates TBA):

Aishah Shahidah Simmons (No! The Rape Documentary and Love with Accountability)

Liz Securro (Crash Into Me)

Salamishah and Scheherazade Tillet (A Long Walk Home; and multiple other projects)

Angela Shelton (Searching for Angela Shelton and Finding Angela Shelton; Safe Side Superchick!)

Others in the works

 

We invite you to listen to the podcast. You can see a list of episodes and the links to those that have been released so far at www.katiekoestner.com/podcast. Please share information about the podcast with others—we believe that these stories can be helpful to survivors, advocates, mental health practitioners, and significant others of survivors.  

 

Also, if you have any suggestions for future guests, we would welcome those! The link to submit one’s own survivor story (if they want to be on the podcast) is on the page above. Please note that we are very careful and work to ensure survivors’ safety; if we feel that sharing their story in such a public way is not a safe or productive idea, we let the survivor know this and help them find other resources if they need them. As for experts, we are still working through my personal wish list 😊but let me know who you think would be a wonderful guest—which could be you! We are especially looking for folks who can speak to the experiences of marginalized communities: indigenous people, BIPOC, immigrants/undocumented people; trafficking survivors; LGBTQ+ people. 

 

Thank you all for your time and if you got this far in my email, thanks for reading the whole thing!!

 

Best,

Claire Kaplan

 

-----------

Claire N. Kaplan, Ph.D.

She/her/hers

Independent Consultant

Former Program Director, Gender Violence and Social Change

Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center, University of Virginia

434-242-9734

@clairskyk