Monthly Media
Check out what advocacy related media our lab members have been into this month! Featuring books, podcasts, journal articles, films, documentaries, and social media accounts to follow. Click on the images to view the media.
September 2024
Honor
By Thrity Umrigar
As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past. While Meena’s fate hangs in the balance, Smita tries in every way she can to right the scales. She also finds herself increasingly drawn to Mohan, an Indian man she meets while on assignment. But the dual love stories of Honor are as different as the cultures of Meena and Smita themselves: Smita realizes she has the freedom to enter into a casual affair, knowing she can decide later how much it means to her.
Pleasure Activism
By Adrienne Maree Brown
How do we make social justice the most pleasurable human experience? How can we awaken within ourselves desires that make it impossible to settle for anything less than a fulfilling life? Author and editor adrienne maree brown finds the answer in something she calls “pleasure activism,” a politics of healing and happiness that explodes the dour myth that changing the world is just another form of work. Drawing on the black feminist tradition, she challenges us to rethink the ground rules of activism. Her mindset-altering essays are interwoven with conversations and insights from other feminist thinkers, including Audre Lorde, Joan Morgan, Cara Page, Sonya Renee Taylor, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Together they cover a wide array of subjects—from sex work to climate change, from race and gender to sex and drugs—building new narratives about how politics can feel good and how what feels good always has a complex politics of its own.
Know My Name
by Chanel Miller
Know My Name is a memoir by Chanel Miller that details her sexual assault, the legal proceedings that followed, and the mental, physical, and emotional aftershocks of this in her own life. Its commitment to portraying the details of her experience in their complete mundanity is profound.
AUGUST 2024
The Retrievals
Listen on Spotify
The patients in this story came to the Yale Fertility Center to pursue pregnancy. They began their I.V.F. cycles full of expectation and hope. Then a surgical procedure called egg retrieval caused them excruciating pain.
Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee
Beginning in 1910 during the time of Japanese colonialization and ending many decades later in 1989, Pachinko is the epic saga of a Korean family told over four generations. The family’s story starts with Hoonie, a young Korean man born with physical deformities, but whose destiny comes from his inner strength and kindness. Hoonie’s daughter, rather than bring shame on her family, leaves their homeland for Japan, where her children and grandchildren will be born and raised; yet prejudice against their Korean heritage will prevent them from ever feeling at home.
Women Behind Bars Are Often Survivors of Abuse. A Series of New Laws Aim to Reduce Their Sentences
Read on US News
Advocates for domestic violence survivors in Illinois celebrated earlier this month when Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law making it easier for those who are incarcerated to get reduced sentences.
August 2022
A Domestic-Violence Helpline for Abusers
If a perpetrator reaches out, it shows they want to do better. But what happens after they hang up?
I’m Glad My Mom Died
by Jenette McCurdy
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
JULY 2022
Are Screening Tools for Identifying Human Trafficking Victims in Health Care Settings Validated? A Scoping Review
Read through the Empower Lab’s most recent publication in Public Health Reports. This study examined the tools used in health care to screen and identify for victims of human trafficking.
Interactive Map: US Abortion Policies and Access After Roe
The Guttmacher Institute has created an interactive map of the United States describing the abortion policies in each state after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Hiding in Plain Sight
Written by Sarah Kendzior, this book describes Donald Trumps rise to power in the last several decades and the impact on American liberties.
Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
This book by Shrayana Bhattacharya details the different lives of Indian women who are united by their adoration of actor Shah Rukh Khan.
June 2022
Consent or Coercion? Media and messages about the sex trade
Mitha Choudhury (Program Coordinator at the EMPOWER Center), Esperanza Fonseca (Strategic Advisor for World Without Exploitation), Maria Elisa Escobar (Social Media Director for the WorldWE Youth Coalition), and Erin Regan (an author and educator) were featured on this panel, hosted by the World Without Exploitation Youth Coalition. Panelists discussed the media’s influence on sex trafficking. Click the image above to view the recording of the event.
Pain that only she must bear: on the invisibility of women in judicial abortion rhetoric
Dr. Francesca Laguardia published an article in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences. This paper examines the rhetoric used when discussing abortion and abortion rights in legal cases. It was found that the consequences of pregnancy on women’s health and well-being was excluded from legal rhetoric.
February 2022
Bending the Arc
Bending the Arc is a documentary that follows the creation of Partners In Health, a medical humanitarian organization that aims to make healthcare accessible to those in low-income countries.
Unchain Podcast
Unchain is a podcast mini-series created by Partners in Health and was released in 2020. The podcast discusses the history of the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital.
What my Mother & I Don’t Talk About
Edited by Michelle Filgate, What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About includes a series of essays from 15 different women who describe their relationships with their mothers.
January 2022
tHE BODY KEEPS SCORE
Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy—and a way to reclaim lives.
UNBOUND
Unbound is a memoir written by Tarana Burke, the founder of the “me too.” Movement. It explores her journey as an advocate for Black women and sexual abuse survivors.
the hunting ground
The Hunting Ground is a documentary directed by Kirby Dick that investigates sexual assault on college campuses and the poor responses by college administrations to tackle the issue.