Episode Details

Some stories change the shape of a life. This one changed the shape of a movement.

As we release this episode, four women and girls were killed in four days in Australia. Thirty-seven women and seventeen children have been killed since January 1st this year. That number is likely higher. Undercounting is part of the story Sherele Moody has spent a decade trying to fix. And whenever you are listening to this, the number will have changed again.

That is exactly why this conversation exists. Because we believe that the stories a culture tells about itself determine what it can and cannot see. And we will keep telling them until the number is zero.

Sherele Moody is a journalist, founder of Australian Femicide Watch and the Red Heart Movement. She grew up in a home marked by domestic violence. As a teenager, she learned her stepfather had murdered a nine year old girl, her cousin's daughter, Stacy Ann Tracy. From that came two of the most significant tools this country has for tracking and confronting violence against women.

In this episode, Sherele talks about what it means to carry resilience you never wanted, why ending femicide is not women's work to do, the small activisms that actually make a difference, and what it took to turn personal tragedy into a national movement.

This episode discusses domestic violence, child safety, and loss. We have approached it with sensitivity and care, and we would ask that you do the same.

Listen when you feel ready.

Support is available. Lifeline 13 11 14 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732.