Feminism

Filmmaker Doris Wishman. She's considered to be a pioneer of sexploitation movies, of the "nudie" and softcore sex genre films. Between 1960 and 1978 Wisman wrote, directed and produced 24 low budget films. Her films include "Bad Girls Go to Hell," "Nude on the Moon," and "Too Much, Too Often." Revivals of her films have recently been shown in Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York. In August she will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.

Michael Bowen is author of a forthcoming book on Sexplotation pioneer filmmaker Doris Wishman. He is a writer based in Brookline, Mass.

Fauziya Kassindja and Layli Miller Bashir have co-written "Do They Hear You When You Cry". It is published by Delacorte Press. The book is based on their experience. Kassindja fled Toga, Africa to escape female genital mutilation. Bashir as a law student fought for Kassindja's freedom. Bashir is the founder of Tahirih Justice Center, which assist women facing human rights abuses.

Mary Gordon is the author of several bestselling novels which are often about the conflicts facing contemporary women. Her novels include "Final Payments" and "The Company of Women." She's also the author of the memoir, "The Shadow Man: A Daughter's Search for Her Father" (Vintage Books, paperback). Gordon's newest novel is "Spending" (Scribner) about a woman painter who finds a patron, muse, and lover in a wealthy commodities broker.

Historian Ellen Carol Dubois teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles. She's the author of the new biography: "Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage" (Yale University Press). Blatch was the daughter of the famous suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. When her mother died, Blatch carried on her mother's work, encouraging women of all classes to participate. Dubois also edited "The Elizabeth Cady Stanton-Susan B. Anthony Reader" (Northeastern University Press)

Historian Barbara Goldsmith. Her new book is both biography and a history of the time. It tells the story of the 19th century feminist and spiritualist Victoria Woodhull, "Other Powers: The Age of suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull" (Knopf). Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for president. She was an ardent feminist who championed for women's rights, but her spiritualism put her outside the mainstream suffrage movement, as well as her attempts to blackmail her enemies.

Claire Tomalin, author of the biography "Jane Austen: A Life" (Knopf). The biography addresses Austen's world, family, and works, many of which in recent years have inspired popular film versions. Tomalin is also the biographer of Mary Wollstonecraft and Nelly Ternan.

Brigadier General William A. Moorman is Staff Judge Advocate for the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia. He talks about why Lt. Flinn was forced to resign and states the Air Force’s policy concerning sexual conduct.

Mahnaz Afkhami, executive director of the Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI), and Azar Nafisi, professor of English Literature at Tehran's Tabatabai University discuss this weekend's Sisterhood is Global conference in Washington D.C., a symposium addressing issues such as cross-cultural education and women's rights on a global scale. Afkhami has written a substantial manual for women's rights education in Muslim countries. Nafisi has conducted ongoing workshops in Iran, one of six SIGI world workshop sites, on women, their identities, and their rights.

NPR correspondent Margot Adler's commitment to political causes began in her childhood: she grew up in a household of communist sympathizers during the McCarthy era. As a student at Berkeley, she continued her activism. During this time, she exchanged letters with an American soldier in Vietnam. Her life in the sixties is the subject of her memoir, "Heretic's Heart: A Journey Through Spirit and Revolution." (Beacon Press) Adler is now an expert on witchcraft and paganism.

In her books and plays Bornstein, a transgender activist, argues the need for the acceptance of nontraditional gender roles, meaning those not defined as either male of female. In her book "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us," she writes about her sex-change experience and her view of society's conceptions of gender. She has also written the novel (with co-author Caitlin Sullivan) "Nearly Roadkill."

Jo Ann Kay McNamara talks with Terry Gross about her book "Sisters In Arms: Catholic Nuns Through Two Millennia." It is published by Harvard University Press. McNamara is a Professor of History at Hunter College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Wattleton headed the organization from 1978 to 1992. She was raised in a fundamentalist Christian family (her mother was a minister), and later studied to be a nurse. Her work as a public-health nurse exposed her to the hardship of women who tried to terminate their pregnancies in the days before legal abortion. Wattleton went on to be executive director of the local Planned Parenthood, and then president of Planned Parenthood nationally. Her new memoir is called "Life on the Line"

Associate Professor at Columbia University of Public Health Dr. Nahid Toubia. She is from Sudan, and was the first woman surgeon in her country. Toubia is director of "Rainbo" a research and information organization dedicated to the health and human rights of women, particularly women's reproductive and sexual rights. They've begun a campaign against female genital mutilation. Toubia has written a report: "Female Genital Mutilation: A Call for Global Action."

Laura Kaplan is the author of the new book, "The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service," (Pantheon Books). In 1969 this underground abortion service began operation in Chicago, four years before Roe v. Wade. The members of "Jane" were lay-persons who learned how to perform abortions themselves. Laura Kaplan was a member of Jane. She was also a founding member of a Chicago-based women's health-care center. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Writer Rebecca Walker. She's a contributing editor to Ms. Magazine, and is cofounder of Third Wave, a national, multicultural organization devoted to encouraging young women's activism. She has edited a new book of writings about feminism today, To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism. (Anchor Books).

Maureen Corrigan reviews Women on Ice: Feminist Essays on the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Spectacle (published by Routledge).

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem, by Carolyn Heilbrun (Dial Publishing).

Political scientist, specializing in women's studies, Amrita Basu. She teaches at Amherst College, and has just edited a collection of essays on women's movements worldwide, The Challenge Local Feminisms: Women's Movements in Global Perspective, (Westview Press).

Reporter Vicky Que is a reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, and is attending the NGO Forum on Women, and the Conference on Women in Beijing.

Mike Tyson returns to the ring Saturday night after a four year absence. Three of those years were spent in jail on a rape conviction. .Tyson continues to deny the charge. Commentator Gerald Early says that Tyson's release from prison sparked new questions about an old debate in the black community: tensions between the genders. Gerald Early teaches English at Washington University where he directs the program on African and Afro-American studies. He's the author of The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prize fighting, Literature and Modern American Culture.