TW: This episode discusses trauma, particularly sexual violence, which may be triggering to some.

In Women Unsilenced, public health nurse advocates and human rights defenders Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald detail their 28 years of working with, and advocating for, women who have been victims of Non-State Torture (NST). The book explores the complex interrelationships between patriarchy, and political, health, and justice systems which work in synchrony to revictimize and silence the voices of women and girls who have been victims of NST. Through raw first-person testimonies and images, Jeanne and Linda unsilence the voices and experiences of these women throughout their book while immersing the reader in the bone-chilling realities of human evil in our communities. Nurses and nursing students alike will be especially drawn to this book for its guidance on NST victimization traumatization informed care and incorporating a feminist social justice lens in their practice. In this podcast, we talk with Jeanne and Linda about their book Women Unsilenced and we discuss what constitutes NST, the role of nurses and health care in the healing process for victims of NST, and how nurses, nursing students, the profession of nursing, and civil society can advocate for social recognition and justice for victims of NST.

Women Unsilenced: https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000164461020/Jeanne-Sarson-and-Linda-MacDonald-Women-Unsilenced

The Witness podcast is affiliated with Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse (https://witness.journals.yorku.ca/) and is intended for knowledge mobilization and dissemination. Witness is a Canadian peer-reviewed scholarly and open-access nursing journal which invites critical discourse regarding health rooted in social justice and advocacy.

Catherine Larocque, RN, MScN is a PhD(c) in nursing at the University of Ottawa and the host, editor, and producer of the Witness podcast.