10 Comments
Nov 10, 2022Liked by Lauren Wolfe

Thank you for all the work that you do. Funding as soon as I can make it work for me.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you!

Expand full comment

I’m glad you called him out and walked out. It sends a message to both participants - as your editor was complicit.

Expand full comment

I loved this, great dialogue. Seriously, you are both a journalist and a "war correspondent" and

an activist. Thank you,

Expand full comment

Utterly infuriating. It sounds much like my experience in combat aviation-- and frankly other fields as well, and it's the most subversive form of dismissal, cloaked in smaller actions and supposed misunderstandings. Thank you for sharing it, and I'm sorry you experience this.

Expand full comment

Oh, Lauren, I’ve been working on an essay about this. It’s infuriating and heartbreaking and has been throughout the entirety of human existence.

Your work is powerful in a way most men cannot be powerful. They can be strong or brave and sometimes evolved beyond what they have been given, but for the most part, they cannot do what you do. They don’t have the software for it. They, too, are victims of misogynism. It gives them hardware but that’s pretty much it.

Stay strong, stay in the fight, don’t give up. Look at the assholes in your profession with a smirk on your face. And maybe every now and then, when you find one who is not yet fully formed, one with a big heart, talk to him as you do when you encounter other victims. It’s another thing we women do so well – planting seeds.

When I was young, I thought there was nothing more noble than being a journalist. You are a hero. You are appreciated deeply for not betraying what I believed journalism was.

Expand full comment

Sadly, this everyday belittling of women is true for so many occupations, not just journalists. Sexism is alive and still flourishing in every industry.

The first thing that came to mind when you wrote of the dive bar encounter is that it’s your journalistic talent that inspires activists. Informing the public is great, but reaching them in a place where they want to be agents of change is a whole different level.

Thank you for all you do.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you. But honestly, I rely on them to inform me so I know what still needs to be reported. That requires building trust, which I try to show all my sources—that I will not violate their boundaries.

Expand full comment
Nov 11, 2022Liked by Lauren Wolfe

It is amazing how you build that trust with people in trauma who you’ve just met, and can’t even speak to in their language. How do they know how much you care? Could it be possible that the sources instinctively trust you more BECAUSE you’re a woman?

Expand full comment
author

I always go through a local NGO to meet my sources in such situations. They know who can speak without falling apart, and help me to arrange a meeting that is digitally and otherwise safe.

Expand full comment