Fierce Voices: Young women speak out

Women have been historically underrepresented and misrepresented in mainstream media. The arrival of the Internet, and blogging in particular, gave women and girls an unprecedented way of telling their own stories using their own voices directly to their audience.

However, online spaces have had a tendency to reproduce the same systems of oppression that exist in the real world. Women who speak out, especially on feminism, are vulnerable to bullying, trolling and silencing.

In order to address this specific issue, rabble.ca partnered with Women Transforming Cities to develop the #Fierce Voices events in Vancouver. The goal of these events was to help young self-identifying women and their allies build skills to engage with media and develop their own voices.

The final #Fierce Voices event took place on May 23 at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. This excerpt features keynote speakers from that event: Romila Barryman, creator of media publication Textbook, and Anne Theriault, of The Belle Jar Blog. It's followed by a question-and-answer session with further discussion on how to be an outspoken woman on the Internet.

This event was cosponsored by rabble.ca

Please note there is coarse language in this podcast. Listener discretion is advised.