A model, designer, and single mom Jill Sorensen is one of the most beautiful and distinguished faces of Modeling Agency “IconicFocus.” Besides her modeling and acting career in 1993 Jill with her friend Cheryl Masri founded Knock Out Abuse Against Women with a desire to band women together to help other women. A charity to raise awareness and funds for victims of domestic violence and their children. Knock Out Abuse (https://knockoutabusewest.org/ ) was launched in 1993, and Knock Out Abuse West was founded in Los Angeles in 2018. Since its inception, Knock Out Abuse has raised more than 12 million to provide transitional support to more than 35000 women and children whose lives have been shattered by abuse, poverty, and homelessness. Now Jill runs her podcast The New Feminist www.thenewfeminist.net, as she says – “I created The New Feminist as a place to gather all thoughts on fair and common-sense feminism. We have an amazing team of women behind the podcast all committed to creating positive change. We invite you to step outside the imaginary boundaries that your culture taught you about your gender. I hope you sign up, listen, reach out and share The New Feminist with your friends.”
How did the idea of helping women come to Jill and what is her view about changing statistics of domestic violence for better? She answers all these questions during conversation with Nina Tsipuria.
You’re encouraging many women from all over the world. I’d start our interview by asking you about “Knock Out Abuse”, founded 25 years ago. Who inspired you to found this organization? Your story, or someone else’s?
I co-founded Knock Out Abuse in 1993 when two friends of mine told me about horrific abuse they suffered at the hands of their boyfriend and husband. One was hit with a chair and locked in a closet all day, my other friend was hit so hard her husband broke his arm hitting her on her back. It was a wakeup call for me. I had just gotten married and moved to Washington DC and decided I needed to get women to come together to help other women. We decided to help women and children who are victims of domestic violence and have today raised over 12 million dollars and helped over 35,000 women and children rebuild their lives after abuse.
“During 25 years the dismal statistics have not changed. One in three women globally still become a victim of sexual and domestic violence.” – you said. In Georgia, we don’t have good statistics about domestic violence. How does your organization help women?
Normally, we do a big annual event in Washington DC with 2000 people and also a smaller one in Los Angeles where raise awareness about domestic violence and raise funds for shelters and programs for victims. Since covid we changed our approach and have focused on targeting laws and cultural sources that contribute to a society with violence against women. If nothing is done to look at what contributes to it in our society, we will never change the statistics. We had a yearlong protest against Pornhub and the violence and torture porn they promote and target children with, which is now the biggest thing on the internet. I also have a podcast The New Feminist (which you can also listen to in Georgia), its on all major platforms. On the podcast we speak to thought leaders on a variety of women’s issues and dissect how popular culture, media, etc. in its current patriarchal form unknowingly contribute to domestic violence. With TNF and KOAW we also have a speaker series in Los Angeles and a series of online screenings of movies doing the same. We also help redesign interiors of shelters so that victims can come to a place that is welcoming and safe.
Could you tell a story that encourages women?
With the Pornhub protest we were joined with people around the world and mainly the Traffickinghub movement. Together we were able to have the company remove 10 million videos from their platform and the CEO to step down. They had been monetizing real rape and violence against women girls in their pornography as well as promoting severe strangulation and suffocation of women calling it sex. At least it was a partial victory with lots of press against a massive abuser. With the events and programs we have done for almost 30 years helping women and the most amazing thing is to see how many wonderful women and men there are in this world who come together and help. KOAW just offers a platform where people can do so.
I can talk about domestic violence endlessly to help women, but now I would like to continue our conversation about your film Marmalade. You wrote the scenario with Jennifer Kusner.
I just finished writing a satirical TV series about a gender flipped world, a matriarchy run amok called WE-MEN with my co-writer Julie Simone. It’s winning screenplay contests and film festivals around the world so we are really excited to see where it lands! Through this series, someone found a movie I wrote many years ago with Jennifer Kusner. It’s an independent film called “Marmalade” about a fashion model being put out to pasture and facing agesim in the industry at only 30 years old. We just signed a distribution deal and there will be screenings in New York and Los Angeles as its surprisingly current for today and dealing with #metoo many years before it happened. Both projects are comedies as I believe humor is a great vehicle to create change.
“I was born in Sweden, one of the most gender equal countries in the world. I was raised to be independent, have a career, and my own income. I was taught to dream about what I was going to do, not whom I was going to marry. As a Swedish woman I was simply taught I didn’t need to be saved by a man, I was in charge of my own life and destiny.” That’s your words. Which Swedish traditions do you mostly like? And are there countries having traditions that are horrible? Please tell one example of mostly liked traditions and mostly disliked traditions?
In Sweden, almost 100% of all women work and have a career so they are financially independent which creates a more even dynamic in relationships and marriages. We have free child care so women have help and can go to work. We also have paid paternity leave so fathers are very involved in child-rearing and and domestic duties. Men and women in Scandinavia are raised to know women and men have equal rights and power. This creates true freedom for women to be strong and independent and it makes the men better men. Countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, Somalia and many many more around the world where women are considered secondary and and child marriage, honor violence etc. are the norm are terrifying. It’s even legal to hit a woman to make her obey.
I think perhaps honor violence is the worst form of domestic violence. It’s not only a husband abusing and controlling a woman in her own home, it’s an entire family who abuses and controls a girl. In 2023 a woman’s own home is still the most dangerous place got her to be and the place where she has the highest risk of being killed.
At the end of our interview, what you’d say to women in Georgia who are victims of domestic violence and still hesitating to leave abusive husbands?
If your boyfriend or husband hits you, leave. The violence will with statistical certainty increase and you can be at risk of being murdered. 70% of all abuse victims report near fatal strangulation. Abusers don’t stop being abusers, they will only get worse. Please tell anybody what happened, a family member, a friend even a stranger – don’t keep it a secret. 50% of the men who hit their wives and girlfriends also will hit and abuse their children. So protect your children by leaving. Call a domestic violence hotline, there is lots of help to get. Remember you are not alone. Make a plan for your escape. This does not have to be your life.
