115. Dismantling the Fear About Sharing Our Stories featuring Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD

Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about dismantling the fear about sharing our stories, finding the freedom to give voice to what we experienced, recognizing when the culture is the problem not us, unexpressed anger and chronic pain, memoir as a way to help family validate our experiences, the unseen messages girls and women get, why we must always follow up on queries, building platform, believing what we have to say is important, and her new book Sexism and Sensibility.

Also in this episode:

-beyond girl power

-making sure the pain we write about is processed

-gender bias

Books mentioned in this episode:

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

Girls and Sex by Peggy orenstein

Why Does Patriarchy Persist by Carol Gilligan

Blow Your House Down by Gina Frangello

Recollections of My Nonexistence Rebecca Solnit

Girlhood by Melissa Febos

Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD, a clinical psychologist, trained at Harvard University and Northwestern University and now maintains a private clinical practice rooted in an understanding of how bias, social justice, and mental health intersect. An expert blogger for Psychology Today, her work has been highlighted in The New York Times, The Harvard Business Review, Women’s Health, Oprah Daily, and on HuffPost and CNN. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, and Your Teen, among other publications. Dr. Finkelstein has served on the board of the Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women, volunteered for Planned Parenthood PAC, and was an organizer for the Chicago Women’s March. She lives in Chicago, Illinois with her family and two beloved dogs.

Connect with Jo-Ann

Website: joannfinkelstein.com

Substack: https://joannfinkelstein.substack.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannfinkelstein.phd/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086974203277

X: https://twitter.com/finkeljo

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Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and lives in Seattle with her family where she teaches memoir workshops and is working on her next book.

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Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography

Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers