Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an award-winning Black feminist lesbian cultural worker, who, for over 25-years, has examined the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and sexual violence. Her lived experiences as a childhood and adult sexual violence survivor, and a 19-year Buddhist student and practitioner committed to healing, accountability and compassionate justice inform her cultural work and independent scholarship.

Presently, Aishah is a 2020 Soros Justice Fellow. She will complete her Black feminist trilogy of survivor-centered cultural works that utilize storytelling as a praxis for ending adult rape and childhood sexual violence without relying on the criminal (in)justice system.