FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | FEBRUARY 21, 2023
On the Issues with Michele Goodwin is a popular, issues and policy-focused podcast featuring feminist analysis, insightful conversations and exciting guests. This is the first podcast from Ms. magazine, a legacy feminist publication. In each bi-weekly episode, host Dr. Michele Goodwin and special guests will tackle the most compelling issues of our times, centering feminist concerns about rebuilding our nation and advancing the promise of equality.
A new episode—The Fight for Our History (with Roderick Ferguson)—is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and MsMagazine.com.
In this episode, Dr. Goodwin delves into the banning of our American history—from book bans to book burnings and right-wing censorship of all kinds. Dr. Goodwin is joined by Prof. Roderick Ferguson—whose very own books have been banned—to unpack Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ recent attempts to ban an Advanced Placement course in African American studies, and larger issues of American fragility and the drastic consequences of this censorship. They ask: what does this mean for our constitutional rights—matters like free speech, and the First Amendment—and when the government infringes on our fundamental constitutional rights, how can the American people fight back?
A full transcript of the episode may be found here, as well as a few excerpts below:
“What you learn from this moment is that this is a very fragile enterprise, right? It’s a very vulnerable enterprise. We can’t take anything for granted. We cannot take reading for granted. We cannot take writing for granted, that those things have become part of a very dangerous political theater.” — Roderick Ferguson
“The work that we do—the work around race, the work around gender, around feminism, the work that is critical of the big entities of the state and capitalism, the histories of slavery and empire, these things are part of the public good. So, it can be a moment for us to revise our understanding of education as a public good, and that part, I find really necessary and inspiring.” — Roderick Ferguson
Meet the Host of On the Issues: Dr. Michele Goodwin is a frequent contributor to Ms. Magazine and on MsMagazine.com. She is a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Irvine and also serves on the executive committee and national board of the ACLU. Dr. Goodwin is a prolific author and an elected member of the American Law Institute, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Hastings Center. Her most recent book, Policing The Womb: Invisible Women and The Criminalization of Motherhood is described as a “must read.”
About Ms. Magazine: Co-founded by Gloria Steinem in 1972 and published by the Feminist Majority Foundation since 2001, Ms. magazine has been a trusted, popular source for feminist news and information in print and online for nearly 50 years. Ms.’s time-honored traditions of an emphasis on in-depth investigative reporting and feminist political analysis have never been more relevant, bringing a new generation of writers and readers together to share news, analysis, research and strategies for fighting back and moving forward, for shaping the future.
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If you would like more information on the On the Issues with Michele Goodwin podcast, or to schedule an interview with Host and Executive Producer Michele Goodwin or Executive Producer & Ms. Executive Editor Katherine Spillar, please email press@msmagazine.com.
