Today’s Fine Feminist Hour brought together two women whose work I deeply admire: Zuri Stevens, the Substack writer behind We Need a Black Woman in Charge, and Zulfina from Letters from a Feminist, writing feminist analysis from Dubai.
And it was exactly the conversation this week demanded.
We opened on a heavy news cycle: Eric Swalwell’s accusers coming forward, Andrew Tate landing on Substack’s bestseller list, and just last night, CNN’s breaking exposé on an “online rape academy” built around drugging and raping unconscious women and sharing the footage as trophies. We sat in all of it and didn’t look away.
From there we got into the why: the far-right radicalization pipeline, how male loneliness becomes a recruitment tool, and what it actually means to raise boys right now when Tate is what “be a man” looks like to a generation of kids.
Zuri spoke powerfully about what it’s like to navigate ageism, racism, and sexism simultaneously as DEI gets rolled back — including the surreal experience of a company literally hiding her face in meetings for fear of being accused of DEI. Zulfina brought her lens from Dubai, where the hierarchy of exploitation she’s witnessed shapes everything she writes.
We closed the way Fine Feminist Hour should: with a charge from our community. “Keep kicking at the darkness.” (with thanks to DarBid 🇨🇦)
If you’re not already subscribed to Zuri Stevens and Letters from a Feminist on Substack, go fix that.
Thank you Cat: Poli-Psych, LeftieProf, Yanni Hamburger, Jai C. Porter🇨🇦, Rey, DarBid 🇨🇦 and many others for tuning in—with immense thanks to Karen Marie Shelton and Yanni Hamburger for moderating the Substack and YouTube chats.
We love you, mean it!
