World Without Rape (2022) | Joanna Bourke, Jess Hill, Sisonke Msimang, Saxon Mullins & Bronwyn Penrith

World Without Rape (2022) | Joanna Bourke, Jess Hill, Sisonke Msimang, Saxon Mullins & Bronwyn Penrith

Author: Festival of Dangerous Ideas March 6, 2023 Duration: 58:33

The last few years have seen courageous sexual assault survivors become heroines and heroes, conquering the forces that have silenced them for so long. While laws are changing and we continue to unravel the culture of shame that has protected perpetrators and punished survivors – how can we evolve the conversation? Can we ever get to the heart of the matter, and think about a world without rape? Or are our efforts doomed to failure as we tinker at the edges of an eternal crime?

Please note this session contains themes that may be sensitive to some listeners including discussions of rape and sexual assault. 

Joanna Bourke is a historian, academic and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. 

Jess Hill is a Walkley-award winning investigative journalist who's been reporting on domestic abuse for several years.

Saxon Mullins is Director of Advocacy at Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy. In 2018 Saxon appeared on Four Corner's episode I am that girl where she gave up her anonymity to tell the story of her 2013 sexual assault and the subsequent criminal trials and appeals.

Bronwyn is a Wiradjuri woman who has worked all her life for equality and the recognition of First Nations people and their rights. 

Sisonke Msimang is an award-winning writer whose long-form writing on money, power and sex has appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs the Washington Post, Lapham's Quarterly and a range of other publications. 

 

 


For more than a decade, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas has curated a space where provocative thinking isn't just welcomed, it's the entire point. This podcast is a direct line to that stage, offering an archive of talks that deliberately unsettle comfortable opinions and interrogate the stubborn problems we often agree to ignore. Each episode captures a live conversation from Australia's original disruptive ideas festival, presenting arguments that can be exhilarating, uncomfortable, and vitally important. You’ll hear from a compelling roster of festival alumni-including leading experts, intellectual troublemakers, and visionary authors-who share perspectives that conventional discourse frequently sidelines. The discussions here aren't theoretical exercises; they grapple with the pressing and difficult issues shaping our society and culture right now. Tuning in means granting yourself access to a decade-long tradition of intellectual courage, where the core assumption is that some truths are only reached by first entertaining a dangerous idea. It’s a chance to listen as boundaries are pushed, not for shock value, but for clarity. The result is a consistently challenging and refreshing audio experience that complicates simple narratives and expands what feels possible to talk about.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Festival of Dangerous Ideas
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