Aishah Shahidah Simmons featured guest on WHYY’s Radio Times
August 12, 2011
Aishah Shahidah Simmons & Rebbecca Traister talk about SlutWalk with host Marty Moss-Coane on WHYY’s Radio Times
On August 4, 2011, award-winning filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons and noted journalist and author Rebecca Traister engaged in a very lively dialogue with host Marty Moss-Coane and callers about the SlutWalk movement on WHYY’s Radio Times. Philly hosted their first SlutWalk on Saturday, August 6, 2011.
Many of the poignant issues raised and discussed on the program are very relevant to anyone interested in addressing and ending all forms of gender-based violence globally.
Click here to listen to this very provocative program.
http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2011/08/04/slut-walk-feminists-fight-back-against-rape/
SlutWalk Philadelphia
July 24, 2011
Aishah Shahidah Simmons joins SlutWalk Philadelphia Stage with Stephanie Gilmore and Qui Alexander
Recently, I was invited to be a speaker at SlutWalk Philadelphia, which will be held on Saturday, August 6, 2011. After quite a bit of thought and deliberation; and in spite of my many conflicting feelings as a Black feminist lesbian whose contemporary reality and ancestral lineage has been rooted in name calling/marginalizing/denigration of mind/body/spirit for centuries without too much recourse, I accepted the invitation to be a speaker. I accepted the invitation because I want to see an end to the victim blaming in my lifetime. No, victim blaming is not going to stop because I agreed to participate in SlutWalk Philadelphia. If only it were that easy. However, I believe it is important that the faces, voices, and perspectives of women of color (inclusive of all sexualities) and trans people of color are seen and heard. More often than not, it is our bodies who catch the most hell not only by the State but by people in and out of our communities (however we define them). It is our bodies who have a demonstrated track record of being on the frontlines of the movements to end all forms of oppression.
I?m absolutely positively thrilled and honored to share the SlutWalk Philadelphia stage with Stephanie Gilmore who is a radical feminist scholar/activist and Qui Alexander who is a radical trans activist/educator of Color. These two individuals have a demonstrated track record of tackling those issues that very few of us want to tackle and address. I believe that SlutWalk Philadelphia’s invitation to each of us shows their understanding of and commitment to ensuring that both this ?Walk? and the issues addressed are not seen as only relevant to mainstream (read White and heterosexual) feministS. It is not until the margins of the margins are centralized that any of us will truly be free.
No One Is Free While Others Are Oppressed
Aishah Shahidah Simmons & NO! featured on Ms Magazine Blog
July 24, 2011
Rape Is Still Rape, And No Still Means NO!
On May 19, 2011, Black feminist writer and professor Jennifer Williams, Ph.D., wrote on the sobering prevalence of rape, sexual assault, and other forms of gender-based violence in the United States for the Ms. Magazine Blog. Using NO! The Rape Documentary as the backdrop to this peace (piece), Professor Williams delved into the victim blaming coverage of the Cleveland, TX gang rape of an adolescent girl, the growing incidences of sex trafficking; and the successful ?feminist campaign to get colleges, universities, and K-12 schools to take take preventative measures against sexual violence.
Following is the excerpt of the article…
“It took filmmaker and activist Aishah Shahidah Simmons 13 years to fund, produce, direct and release her inspirational and defiant NO! The Rape Documentary. NO! brings together archival footage, testimonies of rape survivors, performances and interviews with activists and scholars to examine rape in African American communities through a black feminist lens. The international acclaim for the film?it?s been screened in Africa, Asia and Europe as well as South and North America?confirms that black women?s stories resonate across all borders. In spite of differences in culture and language, many women see NO! as telling their own stories.
NO! isn?t a new film?it came out in 2006?but in a climate in which rape makes daily headlines as a tool to subjugate and terrorize women, it?s as timely as ever. When DOXA invited Ms. magazine?s global editor, Robin Morgan, to guest curate a film for this spring?s festival in Vancouver, Canada, she immediately chose NO! And when the Spring issue of Ms. magazine challenged the FBI?s dangerously narrow definition of rape in bold neon letters, I too thought of NO! and Skyped Simmons to talk about her groundbreaking film, the FBI?s archaic definition of rape, the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl in Cleveland, TX, sex trafficking and many other issues.
‘NO! gives voice to the experiences that the majority of us have had ?and I speak as a victim and survivor of acquaintance rape,’ said Simmons during our conversation…”
CLICK HERE to read the article in its entirety.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/05/19/rape-is-still-rape-and-no-still-means-no/
Aishah Shahidah Simmons on Cocoa Mode with Shawna Renee
July 24, 2011
Aishah Shahidah Simmons’ take on Rihanna’s ‘Man Down’ music video
On June 9, 2011, Aishah Shahidah Simmons was the featured guest on Shawna Renee’s “Cocoa Mode” radio program, which is hosted on SiriusXM Satellite Radio 128. During the 45-minute interview, Shawna Renee and Simmons discussed the controversy surrounding Rihanna’s ‘Man Down,’ and NO! The Rape Documentary. The interview ultimately turned into a wonderful opportunity to really engage in an in-depth dialogue between Ms. Renee and Ms. Simmons; and with calls from listeners about gender-based violence.
CLICK HERE to (re)view Rihanna’s music video and to listen to the archive of the radio program.
http://cocoamode.podbean.com/2011/06/14/icymimandown/
Aishah Shahidah Simmons and The Consensual Project
July 24, 2011
Aishah Shahidah Simmons on Consent
“How have you explored discovering and understanding your own pleasure in your life?” ~ The Consensual Project
“As a survivor of incest, molestation, and rape, discovering and understanding my own pleasure has been and still is a work-in-progress. For the most part, throughout adulthood, I?ve been fortunate to have partners who I was able to consensually explore my own and their own pleasure. This has occurred through talking about pleasure and what that means in the context of being a survivor, where certain acts can trigger me. My understanding my own pleasure occurred during consensual trial and error to see what worked and what didn?t work.” ~Aishah Shahidah Simmons
This interview was conducted in May 2011, which is ancient in this fast paced social media world. However, the fundamental human right to consent is still viewed as rocket science. Therefore, this interview and more importantly, The Consensual Project is as relevant as ever.
CLICK HERE to read the interview in its entirety.
Robin Morgan Guest Curates | NO! The Rape Documentary | 2011 DOXA Film Festival
April 11, 2011
Robin Morgan Guest Curated NO! The Rape Documentary
at 2011 DOXA Film Festival
Feminist activist, prolific author, and former editor of Ms. magazine Robin Morgan guest curated NO! The Rape Documentary for the 2011 DOXA Film Festival. DOXA is Western Canada’s largest documentary film festival. This is an important honor for NO! for two major reasons. One, founder/leader of US contemporary feminism, Robin Morgan has also been a leader in the international women’s movement for 30 years and counting. She has published over 20 books including the now-classic anthology Sisterhood Is Global. In her essay, “NO! A Film of Sexual Politics – An Art,” Morgan writes:
“…Since the invitation to be a guest curator, I’ve thought of so many films crucial to the flowering of global feminism, to the coming to voice of women -more than half of humanity- that my list was more than enough for a complete festival… But at heart I knew from the first what my choice was going to be: an extraordinary, feature-length documentary 11 years in the making, the creation of one stubborn, visionary woman, Aishah Shahidah Simmons. Simmons conceived, wrote, directed and produced NO! The Rape Documentary, a ground-breaking film that explores the international reality of rape and other forms of sexual assault…”
Two, it is really an honor for Robin Morgan, an esteemed and internationally known feminist activist/author/activist/organizer to curate NO! for DOXA, a highly respected international documentary film festival five years after NO!’s world premiere at the 2006 Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Click HERE to read “NO! A Film of Sexual Politics – and Art,” by Robin Morgan.
Aishah Shahidah Simmons will present NO! The Rape Documentary at DOXA on Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 4pm at the Vancity Theatre.
For more information about the presentation of NO! at the 2011 DOXA Film Festival, click HERE
Reading the Language of Rape Culture | State of Things
April 11, 2011
Reading the Language of Rape Culture
The State of Things | WUNC Public Radio | 91.5FM
Most cases of rape and sexual assault never make the news. But in recent weeks, horrific stories about victims of sexual violence have created national headlines. Some language used in the reporting of these cases and public reactions to them has caused controversy. How we articulate ideas about rape sheds light on American perceptions of violence, gender and race. On Wednesday, April 6, 2011, Host Frank Stasio discussed the language and the law surrounding rape with a panel of guests including documentary filmmaker (NO! The Rape Documentary)?Aishah Shahidah Simmons; Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African and African-American Studies at Duke University; Melissa Harris-Perry, associate professor of politics and African-American Studies at Princeton University; and Mary R. Block, associate professor of history at Valdosta State University.
Listen HERE
NO! The Rape Documentary | Ford Foundation | JustFilms Collection
April 11, 2011
NO! The Rape Documentary included in the
Ford Foundation’s JustFilms Collection
In February 2011, the Ford Foundation launched JustFilms, which is both a new initiative; and new online archive of social justice films that Ford has supported over the past 30 years. NO! The Rape Documentary is included in this prestigious collection, which represents the Foundation’s “commitment to groundbreaking documentaries that inform, inspire and advance change.”
The goal of the archive and new initiative is “to advance social justice worldwide through the talent of emerging and established filmmakers.”
For more information about JustFilms, please click HERE
Addressing Sexual Violence at Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church
October 20, 2009
Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church Silences Sexual Violence
From the early evening of the 16th of October until the early afternoon of the 18th of October, I was very fortunate to be able to participate and attend the historic Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church’s her/historic (founded in 1867), groundbreaking, transformational, uplifting Holistic Hurt, Wholistic Healing: The Church’s Call to Silence Sexual Violence conference in Richmond, VA.
I was raised Sufi Muslim and I practice Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagi U Ba Khin. My most recent ancestral maternal and paternal roots, however, are grounded in the Baptist and African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) Churches. Through my journey called life, I have witnessed and experienced the universality of the Ultimate Truth. As a result, I embrace all spiritual and religious traditions that teach and practice the Ultimate Truth.
I have been fortunate with countless opportunities to attend and present at numerous amazing and life changing conferences throughout the United States and internationally in Europe, Africa, and Asia. For the first time, however, I was invited by a Church to share the literal and metaphorical sacred space with Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, who as the first African American woman ordained by the Presbyterian Church, is a ground breaker, mapmaker, trailblazer who has paved the way for so many womanist/feminist Religious Scholars, Ethicists and Theologians globally; and my Sister Survivor Rev. Dr. Monica A. Coleman whose visionary text The Dinah Project: A Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence, is being used at churches, colleges, seminaries, universities, throughout the United States.
This conference was the embodiment of Rev. Dwylene Butler’s Master’s Thesis “Holistic Hurt, Wholistic Healing: The Dance of Redemption for Survivors of Sexual Violence,” which she developed and wrote under the guidance of Rev. Dr. Cannon, who was her advisor at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. In 2008, when Rev. Butler shared her Thesis with Pastor Tyrone Nelson, he asked Rev. Butler to host a conference so that their church could break its silence about rape and other violations of women.
In less than 14-months, an entire weekend, which included a performance of “The Heart of the Matter: A Journey Toward Healing” Monologues,” followed by a discussion facilitated by Rev. Patricia Jones-Turner; a screening and discussion of NO! The Rape Documentary, an interactive healing talk/presentation, led by Rev. Dr. Monica Coleman, on The Dinah Project, eight workshops facilitated by clergy, rape crisis counselors, cultural workers, scholars, and activists from which participants were able to attend three, The Dance of Redemption- Mimes, Liturgical and Praise Dancers from Richmond and surrounding areas gathered to minister in movement to songs of healing, strength, deliverance, and redemption; the entire conference concluded with the morning worship, where Dr. Katie Cannon as the guest preacher gave a powerful sermon titled “Project For A New Day.”
Women and Men were active participants with the organization of this conference, which, from my point of view, ran seamlessly… There wasn’t a division of labor based on the traditional gendered norms. That is to say, that Men played an active role in providing childcare and helping with the preparation of the food. Women played an active and visible leadership role throughout the weekend.
During Sunday morning’s worship service, the liturgy was taken from Sister Rev. Dr. Monica Coleman’s powerful “Dinah Project.” Statistics about rape, domestic violence, and other forms of violence against women and children we talked about from the pulpit during worship service on Sunday morning. Pastor Nelson invited both Sister Rev. Dr. Monica and I to offer some additional words about our work from the Pulpit during Sunday morning’s worship service. We both spoke to the entire congregation about our healing work from the perspective of survivors of sexual violence.
Equally if not more important Pastor Nelson declared a commitment, from the pulpit, on the part of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church to be an active participant of the movement, in Richmond, VA, to addressing all forms of violence perpetuated against women and children. He stressed that the work had just begun at Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church with the conference while being explicitly clear that this work would be an ongoing effort. This would not be something that only happened once a year at an annual conference but a consistent effort because violence against women doesn’t only happen in October during Domestic Violence Awareness Month and April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
The Holistic Hurt, Wholistic Healing: The Church’s Call to Silence Sexual Violence was truly an inter-generational conference where people who participated and attended ranged in age from teenagers to over 70-years of age. What was especially powerful for me is that the visionaries for this conference Rev. Butler and Pastor Nelson are both several years under 40-years old. This is very important to note because the ongoing lack of respect for the visions of leaders/visionaries who happen to be young adults is still very pervasive in this country in all communities regardless of race/culture/ethnicity. And yet, I would argue that it is precisely because of Rev. Butler’s and Pastor Nelson’s ages, in this moment and at this time, that they had the vision for this conference. I want to be clear that the conference was made possible through a collaborative effort of many who are very diverse in age. In fact, it was Sister Rev. Dr. Katie Cannon who strongly encouraged Rev. Butler and Pastor Nelson to invite Monica and I to present at their conference. So, this is not about not honoring/paying homage to those who are our elders. It is solely about recognizing that vision/knowledge/wisdom isn’t solely based on one’s age.
It’s very important to underscore that this entire conference was FREE. This included free day care and free food for everyone. Everyone was welcomed and no one was turned away.
The main plenary sessions were videotaped. The workshops/small group sessions were not recorded out of respect for people’s privacy/confidentiality. If/when those sessions that were recorded are made available to the public, I will most definitely spread the word.
To say that I was moved the entire weekend by what I witnessed and experienced is a major understatement. The reality that most victim-survivors never go to a rape crisis center or seek therapy own their own. If they are religious, they tend to turn to their places of worship to try to find solace. Based on this, I believe it’s critical and should be non-negotiable that all leaders of religious institutions (Churches, Mosques, Synagogues, Temples) should take a very vocal and visible stance against all forms of sexual violence perpetuated against women, men and children. Then perhaps from there victim/survivors will not view going to a rape crisis center or seeking therapy as an “either/or” with regards to their spiritual/religious practice. It is a fact that victims take much longer to heal if they do not receive the proper support and tools that they need.
Through their demonstrated actions this past weekend and expressed commitment from October 18 forward, The Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond, VA took a bold, courageous and necessary step in playing a direct role in ensuring that victims of sexual and domestic violence receive all of the help and support that they will need on their journey to becoming survivors.
I am grateful, honored, and humbled to have been both a witness and a participant.
While it took a village to make the conference a reality, I want to personally express my heartfelt gratitude to Rev. Dwylene Butler, Pastor Tyrone Nelson, Sister Regina Pettaway, Sister Lynne Lancaster for their direct, metaphorical hands on support of my and NO!’s presence at the conference.
The Church’s Call to Silence Sexual Violence
September 26, 2009
Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church Calls For An End to Sexual Violence
From October?16 – 18, 2009, the historic Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond, VA, will host the her/historic, groundbreaking “Holistic Hurt, Wholistic Healing: The Church’s Call to Silence Sexual Violence” conference. The featured keynote presenters are Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, who is a leading Christian ethicist in United States, and the first African American woman ordained in the United Presbyterian Church (USA); Rev. Dr. Monica A. Coleman, is an ordained elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Chruch and the author of The Dinah Project: a Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence; and Sister Aishah Shahidah Simmons who is the producer/writer/director of NO! The Rape Documentary.
THIS CONFERENCE IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
While NO! The Rape Documentary has definitely been purchased by and used as an educational healing tool in Churches and Mosques across the United States and internationally, this conference is the FIRST time that Aishah Shahidah Simmons has ever been invited by a church or mosque to both present NO! and engage in dialogue about the critical role that religious institutions must play in addressing and ultimately ending sexual violence. She is both honored and humbled that Rev. Tyrone Nelson, Pastor, and Rev. Dwylene Butler, Church Business Administrator, invited her to present with Drs. Cannon and Coleman; and to participate in what she believes will be powerful, soul stirring, and healing weekend.
“October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. October 16-18, we invite you to Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church for a life changing conference. Join pastors, ministers, Women’s Ministry leaders, Youth leaders, college students and others in this conference exposing the prevalence of sexual violence in our communities and what we can do to silence sexual violence.”
For detailed information about this FREE conference,?please click here?(http://holistichealing.weebly.com).
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