The Revelation Project - Episodes Tagged with “Oppression”

Episode 145: Priya Assal - Enough is Enough: The Revolutionary Women of Iran

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

As we have been witnessing the protests raging across Iran after the brutal death of Mahsa Amini, we are also hearing of intensified violence against the women there.
In order to more deeply understand the current climate, I reached out to my Iranian friend and sister Priya Assal and invited her to join me for an interview.

If you want to hear why what is happening in Iran should matter to us here in America and all over the world, then I urge you to listen to Priya’s revelations and her personal story of love and longing, and her passion for women’s rights in Iran and beyond. Priya Assal is an Educator, Writer, Artist and Women’s Community Organizer.

She is the founder of Inner Journey Practices, an educational non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of Farsi-speaking women worldwide. Priya holds a BFA from the California College of Arts and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is also a certified Holistic Health teacher, a certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor and a certified Women’s Rite of Passage Facilitator in the lineage of Sarah Durham Wilson.

In her Medium article she writes:

"Today’s Iranian “Women, Life, Freedom” slogan is 1969’s American “My body my choice”, and is exposing yet again the shadow of the old beast at play: Patriarchal Tyranny.
Patriarchal Tyranny is a global curse inflicting violence upon most of the world’s population, including the citizens of seemingly free countries. The fact of the matter is that nearly everyone is oppressed by the corrupt systems born of this beast; systems that define the norms and shape the worldview of human beings. In countries like Iran, Patriarchal tyranny is in your face. It’s undeniable and felt at every corner and in every room. However, in countries like the United States or in Europe, it’s cleverly disguised under pretend freedom and comforts, and therefore harder to recognize and defeat.”

Priya is an artist, activist, writer, educator and a Mature Feminine Rites of Passage Practitioner. She is passionate, determined and committed to using her gifts and voice in service to the liberation of Iranian women, and all women. As the founder of Art of the Inner Journey Education her work serves to provide free education, transformation and Inner liberation to Iranian women so that they may experience reclamation and healing from patriarchal and terrorist rule.

Please support Priya’s work to assist Iranian women by donating here

Priya shares some of the history on the Hijab and how it has changed over the last 43 years.
How Mahsa Amini has become the most used hashtag and really what it means to be a Key code
How Iran was considered the Paris of the middle wast in the 60’s and what happened after that
We discuss how oppression exists all around the world and some is very hidden and some is in plain sight
How consumerism and capitalism affects us at a very deep level - increasing the poverty aspect
We speak of the loneliness that exists in particular in the United States versus in Iran and how we need to find our joy and comfort in community
Iranian women are putting everything at risk because they have nothing left to lose; when everything has been taken away from you life isn't worth living anymore
How curiosity and education about Iran or other cultures helps to expand the ability to identify with other women
For transformation there are three key aspects:
- Absolute honesty with yourself
- Courage
- Humility
We need to prevent a repeat of history.
What is the symbolic nature of hair cutting that many Iranian women are doing

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Episode 144: SUMMER SERIES: Amy McPhie Allebest - Breaking Down Patriarchy

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 00:00:00 -0400

In 2016, Amy Mcphie Allebest published her piece "Dear Mormon Man,” which went viral during the #metoo movement, helping crack the foundation of deeply rooted inequalities within her church and worldwide.

The feminist awakening started long ago, yet part of the issue we face in making progress as daughters of the patriarchy is that our vast repository of herstory isn’t shared widely, taught, or easily accessible. Still, Amy McPhie Allebest is changing all that with her podcast Breaking Down Patriarchy, An Essential Texts Bookclub, which I believe is one of the most important podcasts of our time.

Amy has always been drawn to asking the deeper questions that revealed the oppressive social systems at play in her university studies. Her questions always led her to more questions that piqued her interest in how these systems impacted women over time.

Amy is no stranger to agitation and frustration about oppressive systems in her own life. When she found that she could not find a comprehensive women’s studies program, she decided to create one that would help her to illuminate her own struggle. So began an essential texts book club podcast where Amy invites her listeners and readers to tune in each week as she and one of her guests break down the patriarchy. Their conversations are about seminal feminist texts written over the ages that chronicle a deep, rich, and rewarding herstory highlighting the many remarkable ideas, observations, and work of female pioneers who are the foremothers of a most incredible movement to liberate, amplify, and celebrate the independent, sovereign and essential roles of women as co-equal partners in a world that has always sought to oppress and control them.

This podcast is a project for the whole human family, and I urge all of us to tune in and become active listeners to this body of work that Amy has worked so hard to make available.

It’s filled with incredible history, conversations, insights, and poignant and powerful revelations that offer alternative ways of imagining what might be possible if we were to succeed in joining hands with the men we love to build a more equitable system that benefits and liberates everyone from the oppressive and unjust systems that have dominated the world for the past 5,000 years.

It’s just as important for men to listen in and participate in breaking down patriarchy because ultimately, men are still in power, and patriarchy harms everyone.
It’s also deeply important because we love the men in our lives, and Patriarchy hurts the men we love as well as hurts women.
We don’t actually know the true nature of women because she has always been subjugated.
All human beings have both masculine and feminine energies, and all human beings benefit from cultivating both.
Men are taught to be good men by being defenders of women, and while there is a lot of beauty in that, it can also be very condescending and limiting for the women in their lives.

Listen in as we talk about her podcast responses from both women and men across the country, how Amy sees her role as she continues to steward this project, as well as what her vision for the future entails.

Episode 94: Amy McPhie Allebest - Breaking Down Patriarchy

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 00:15:00 -0400

This podcast is a project for the whole human family, and I urge all of us to tune in and become active listeners to this body of work that Amy has worked so hard to make available.

It’s just as important for men to listen in and participate in breaking down patriarchy because ultimately, men are still in power, and patriarchy harms everyone.
It’s also deeply important because we love the men in our lives, and Patriarchy hurts the men we love as well as hurts women.
We don’t actually know the true nature of women because she has always been subjugated.
All human beings have both masculine and feminine energies, and all human beings benefit from cultivating both.
Men are taught to be good men by being defenders of women, and while there is a lot of beauty in that, it can also be very condescending and limiting for the women in their lives.

Links:

Episode 81: Dr. Valerie Rein - Patriarchy Stress Disorder

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 -0400

When I first heard the term “Patriarchy Stress Disorder,” I had a gestalt moment. In an instant, it seemed, I experienced a revelation of magnitude in which I could see the formerly invisible structure that I had existed within and that had impacted me for my entire life, but for which I had no name.

Listen in as Dr. Valerie Rein exposes the system of oppression the majority of us have been impacted by, but few of us have a context or a name for. Hear for yourself why her work is being hailed as the most important work of our time.

Dr. Valerie Rein has discovered Patriarchy Stress Disorder (PSD) and created the only science-backed system for helping women achieve their ultimate success, happiness, and fulfillment by healing the intergenerational trauma of oppression. She holds an EdM in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University and a PhD in Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Her bestselling book, “Patriarchy Stress Disorder: The Invisible Inner Barrier to Women’s Happiness and Fulfillment” has been heralded by Amazon reviewers as "the most important body of literary work of our modern times" and "perhaps the most important book of the century for women." Her cutting-edge programs have helped thousands of women shift from survival to thriving and master the game of "How good can it get?" in their work and personal lives.

PATRIARCHY STRESS DISORDER (PSD) is generational collective trauma or oppression that women have experienced in the patriarchy for thousands and thousands of years. It manifests in multiple ways but ultimately creates an invisible barrier to women’s ultimate success, happiness, and fulfillment.
Most of us are socially conditioned to be “Good Girls,” “A Good Wife,” and “A Good Mother,” and as long as we live a life of compliance, we don’t experience a lot of friction.
Most women are not in touch with our desires; we simply follow the tracks laid down by the Patriarchy in terms of what roles we can fill and how we can live.
However, once we can see the invisible barrier, we begin the “jailbreak” journey, where we start to reach for our authentic desires and access our inner liberation.
One of the most significant issues women face is not having role models of women living fully actualized lives who have stepped fully into their own sovereignty and feeling whole in all areas of their lives.
Women may have mastered their lives in one area but still have trouble relaxing, being playful, or considering themselves successful. They can’t identify what’s wrong or what’s holding them back, and this is when the psychology of PSD really begins to get interesting because this oppression lives in our nervous systems, and it must be released and expelled.
When women go from surviving to thriving, once this hidden system of oppression has been revealed, a daily practice and community are essential to keeping the work alive.

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Episode 52: Sage Polaris - Work, Life, Love

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 00:00:00 -0500

Patriarchy stress disorder, pandemic parenting, and creating a wildly successful and profitable business from a place of pleasure and desire - these topics are just the tip of the iceberg in this incredible episode with my esteemed guest, Sage Polaris.

Many of you may already know that I am a lover of language, words, naming “it," synchronicity, and mysticism. I knew that the name “Sage” already intrigued me, and so of course I had to go digging below the surface, feeling into the deeper essence of what it means:

Sage.
noun

a profoundly wise person; a person famed for wisdom.
someone venerated for the possession of wisdom, judgment, and experience.

adjective, sag·er, sag·est.

wise, judicious, or prudent:
sage advice.

It did not take me long to recognize that Sage is aptly named, but then the name “Polaris” also had me Googling!

Polaris: Also known as the North Star. Polaris lies nearly in a direct line with the Earth's rotational axis "above" the North Pole—the north celestial pole—Polaris stands almost motionless in the sky, and all the stars of the northern sky appear to rotate around it.

I mean, can you stand it?
Sage Polaris.

Her name got me thinking about what it takes to be "sage." What I know about wisdom is that it's often gained by having faced tremendous trials, difficulty, and extreme challenges.

There is a reason for instance, that Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, has the companion totem animal of the owl. An owl is a symbol of wisdom and is known to “cleave” through the darkness, able to view things from a higher perspective.

I am loving the wisdom, perspective, and “Sage" offerings delivered in this episode. Listen in as we dive deeply into work, life, and love, and what Sage is doing to invite women to join her in seeking higher perspectives that bring more love and pleasure to our businesses and lives. I think you'll be amazed by what you hear.

Thank you for your time, Sage! You are a gem!

Sage Polaris has written high converting copy for more than 350 clients earning them millions of dollars. She helps personal brands and service providers sell more of their service or offer with the words on their website.

She has worked with Chrisette Michele, James Wedmore, Rick Mulready, and Amber McCue. Basically, she makes money for the “internet famous” people we all look up to.

*Show Notes: *

Sage has created her business by design, "If you share my values, I can work with you.”
Pandemic parenting + entrepreneurship has meant that Sage gets to show up authentically, sometimes with kids crawling all over her, while knowing that she's chosen to work with the clients who understand that this is part of where we all are in this moment.
Women are showing up for work differently, and not just during the pandemic. We have been evolving towards more work-life balance and honoring each other in this duality, of women who are out in the workforce and mothering at the same time and bringing that together in a way that feels supported.
Sage takes 4 months off each year, consistently doubles her revenues each year, and she does so unapologetically.
Sage writes “copy that converts” but really her job is to create “resonance” using language and words, and integrity to communicate the essence of her clients' offerings which she also calls "the sixth sense of copywriting."
Using this method, Sage has had upwards of 1.2, 5 million in revenues in a single launch for her clients.
All industries have a gritty and sleazy side, but if you are aware of your values aligning with your clients' values, it can be a magical marketing experience for both you and the customer.
Valerie Ryan is the author of the book, Patriarchy Stress Disorder and Sage has all of her students read it as a reminder that we are in a system that was built to oppress many people, particularly women, and that this is at the core of how we “work” and do life.
As women, we have to be aware of how we burn ourselves out because when we do that we can’t affect positive change in the world.
We have to pay attention to how we place conditions on ourselves as women, even withholding love from ourselves because we don’t realize that we’ve loved ourselves with conditions based on how we “perform” in our business.

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