How to be assertive; Rural domestic abuse; Author Helen FitzGerald
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 September 2020
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the latest of our How to guides, we discuss the art of being assertive and explore why it can be so difficult for women to stand up for themselves, assert their own needs and make themselves heard. Jenni is joined by journalist and author of the Power of Rude, Rebecca Reid, Journalist, broadcaster and author of The Shift, Sam Baker, and actor, podcaster and writer Kelechi Okafor.
Recently we spoke to 16 year old Rhea in Shetland about the stories she had collected about sexual violence in her area. Last year, Judith, who moved to the Scottish Highlands from London, told reporter Kathleen Garragher about the culture of privacy and keeping yourself to yourself. When her husband became abusive she didn’t feel able to ask for help.
The author Helen FitzGerald on her latest domestic noir thriller – Ash Mountain – set in a small Australian town threatened by bush fires and the impact of historic sex crimes. Helen trained as a social worker in the probation service and her novel The Cry about the disappearance of a baby following a flight to Australia was adapted for BBC TV in 2018. How much of her life has been influenced by her own childhood experiences growing up in Australia? Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Henrietta Harrison
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts |
| 0:05.5 | Hello Jenny Murray, welcoming you to the Woman's Out podcast for Thursday, the third of September. |
| 0:11.7 | Good morning. |
| 0:13.0 | Helen Fitzgerald is best known for writing the television series The Cry. |
| 0:18.3 | Her novel Ash Mountain is described as a domestic noir thriller, setting a small Australian town threatened by bushfire. |
| 0:26.5 | How much of her work is influenced by her experience as a child growing up in a similar community? |
| 0:33.6 | A culture of privacy and keeping yourself to yourself for a woman who's being abused by her husband. |
| 0:40.0 | How difficult is it to ask for help in a remote rural area? |
| 0:44.6 | And the serial episode 4 of Anika Stranded. |
| 0:48.9 | Now throughout the summer we've had a series of how two guides ranging from how to change your career to how to end a relationship well. |
| 0:56.8 | And today it's how to be assertive. |
| 1:00.1 | How do you get what you want and what you think is right for you without leaving a trail of annoyance and hurt feelings behind you? |
| 1:08.4 | I'm joined by Sam Baker, the former editor of Cosmopolitan and Red and the author of The Shift. |
| 1:15.1 | Ghelechi Okafore, who's an actor, director and podcaster. |
| 1:19.6 | And the journalist Rebecca Reed, who's written The Power of Rude. |
| 1:24.0 | Rebecca, what do you mean by The Power of Rude? |
| 1:27.9 | So the Power of Rude is really about doing things that you might internally fear are going to perceive, just rude. |
| 1:35.5 | Even though very often they're not objectively rude. |
| 1:38.3 | And doing it because it's what you need or what you want. |
| 1:41.0 | And it can be as small as telling the hairdresser that actually they've taken three inches off more than you wanted. |
| 1:46.7 | Or as big as pushing a doctor when they ignore the symptoms that you're presenting when you see them. |
| 1:52.0 | What happened to put this idea of rudeness into your head? |
... |
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