Joy Keys chats with Author Aisha Shahidah Simmons: love WITH Accountability

Aishah Shahidah Simmons (she/her) is an award-winning Black feminist lesbian cultural worker who has examined the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and sexual violence for over 25-years. A survivor of childhood and adult sexual violence committed to healing and non-carceral accountability, Aishah is the editor of the 2020 Lambda Literary Award-winning anthology, love WITH accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse (A.K. Press), and the producer/director of the 2006- released, Ford Foundation-funded film, NO! The Rape Documentary. Aishah has received numerous awards and fellowships, including selection for the 2022 Changemakers Authors Cohort and a 2020 Soros Media Fellowship. She is a 20-year Buddhist student and practitioner, formerly in the S.N. Goenka tradition for 17-years and presently in the Insight tradition.