On Ancestry: Calling In the Calling Out Culture

with Loretta J. Ross, Reproductive Justice Activist, Author and McArthur Fellow

The incomparable Loretta J. Ross is an activist, public intellectual, scholar, and author of the upcoming book Calling In the Calling Out Culture. She is also one of the founders of the Reproductive Justice movement in the USA, Associate Professor at Smith College and recipient of the 2022 MacArthur Foundation “genius” award. As the third director of the first rape crisis center in the country in the 1970s, she helped launch the movement to end violence against women that has evolved into today's #MeToo.

Tune into this episode for the MOST fascinating conversation about the fuzzy line between trauma and activism, between calling someone out versus dehumanizing them, and the ways in which we sacrifice potential justice allies in our need to be right. Loretta shares her early foray in activism, how she went from working with rape survivors to rape perpetrators, and ultimately how belonging can only be found in community—the ones we come from or the ones we make.

For more on the theme of ancestry, read the story “Sky Dancing”in my upcoming book Bones of Belonging (now available for pre-order).