Sociologist Nicole Bedera joins co-hosts V.V Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the Cornell 7 and her book, On the Wrong Side: How Universites Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence. She explains how the Cornell case, in which a student said she was gang-raped at a fraternity party at the Ivy League institution, falls into a long tradition of universities mishandling reports of sexual violence. Bedera describes the history of Title IX, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, and pinpoints how sexual violence came to fall under its framework. She considers how Title IX’s effectiveness has fluctuated since its establishment in 1972, and especially under the Trump administration, which during its first stint shifted regulations in a way that made it easier for universities to avoid accountability. Bedera discusses what universities stand to gain from improper handling of sexual violence cases and why administrators insist on referring to such cases as isolated, rather than representing systemic problems. She also addresses common misconceptions about sexual violence and Title IX investigations. Bedera reflects on her time as a victim advocate, using her experience to conduct fieldwork at an anonymized Title IX office, and how Title IX could be reimagined as a state agency to be more effective. She reads from On the Wrong Side.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, AJ Abernathy, Sienna Hoopingarner, and Grace Workman.

Nicole Bedera

• On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpatrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence
• “A New Title IX Rule Essentially Allows Accused Sexual Assailants to Hide Evidence Against Them”

Others

• Jane Doe says she did not feel supported by Cornell’s president. | The New York Times

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Acclaimed writer Yiyun Li returns to the show to talk about her new novel, Music Against the Night, with co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. Li explains how she first became interested in fictionalizing the lives of married musicians John Field and Adelaide Percheron and reflects on the limits, challenges, and opportunities of conducting historical research for fiction. She discusses the role grandparents play in her characters’ lives and how older mentors can shape an artist’s personal and professional growth. She also shares how she chose to structure two wide-ranging life stories within one novel, and how her characters illustrate disparities in opportunity among equally talented peers. Li considers how her characters define failure and success, and how these definitions affect John and Adelaide, neither of whom achieve fame. She reads from Music Against the Night.

Yiyun Li

• Music Against the Night
• Encountering the Past in “Music Against the Night” | The New Yorker
• Things in Nature Merely Grow
• The Book of Goose
• Wednesday's Child
• Must I Go
• Where Reasons End
• Kinder Than Solitude
• Gold Boy, Emerald Girl
• The Vagrants
• A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
• Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life

Others

• A Life and Times: Fryderyk Chopin | Dr Alan Walker
• A Confession and Other Religious Writings | Leo Tolstoy
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 42: Yiyun Li on Complicated Friendships Real and Imagined

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Award-winning fiction writer T. Geronimo Johnson joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about his new novel, The Occidental Book of the Dead. He discusses how the book addresses white supremacy and the United States’ deep-seated and racist mythology through the perspective of George Washington Jonson, a black police officer working in a fictional version of Atlanta. Johnson talks about researching police work but almost entirely avoiding depicting scenes of it on the page, and also explains why the book transitions from third to first person. He reflects on how structures of The Egyptian Book of the Dead and other classics are incorporated into the story. He reads from The Occidental Book of the Dead.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Whitney Terrell, Archer Walsh, Elizabeth Willis, and Eric Thong.

T. Geronimo Johnson

• The Occidental Book of the Dead
• Hold It 'Til It Hurts
• Welcome to Braggsville

Others

• A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
• The Egyptian Book of the Dead, translated by E.A. Wallis Budge
• The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
• Confessions by St. Augustine

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.