Pagan Kennedy — The Secret History of the Rape Kit - with Hanna Rosin

In 1972, Martha "Marty" Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline, counseling girls who had been molested by their fathers, their teachers, their uncles. Soon, Marty was on a mission to answer a question: Why were so many sexual predators getting away with these crimes? By the end of the decade, she had launched a campaign pushing hospitals and police departments to collect evidence of sexual assault and treat survivors with dignity. She designed a new kind of forensics tool--the rape kit--and new practices around evidence collection that spread across the country. Yet even as Marty fought for women's rights, she allowed a man to take credit for her work. When journalist Pagan Kennedy went looking for this forgotten pioneer, she discovered that even Marty Goddard's closest friends had lost track of her. As Pagan followed a trail of clues to solve the mystery of Marty, she also delved into the problematic history of forensics in America. The Secret History of the Rape Kit chronicles one journalist's mission to understand a crucial innovation in forensics and the woman who championed it. As Pagan Kennedy hunts for answers, she reflects on her own experiences with sexual assault and her own desire for justice. PURCHASE BOOK HERE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593314715?ic_referral=3CBLAZgM2xvrxosJvICulY2w9dB2LTMpNY9nM8k7jB0wM0EdwZdT9uIiwfR6glwj2-4isxCq935gm5hn50eoWKKQGQBjO33P8Lmbugp43F4eQIAgvWak_ZRFbWcMdIjuM55AHg Pagan Kennedy is the author of eleven books. Her journalism has appeared in dozens of publications, and she has worked as a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, and The Village Voice. She has co-produced and authored a serial podcast for Radiotopia network that won a Webby Award. She has also been awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT, an NEA Fellowship, a Smithsonian Fellowship, and two Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowships. Kennedy is in conversation with Hanna Rosin, a journalist and podcast host, currently of Radio Atlantic. Previously she was the editorial director of audio at New York magazine. She started her audio career at NPR, serving as co-host of Invisibilia. Prior to making the switch to podcasts, she was a magazine and newspaper outlets like the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Atlantic and New York magazine. She is also the author of two books, most recently The End of Men. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her partner, teenage son and a ragtag collection of pets with human names. She recently started doing pottery, badly.st served seating. *recorded 1/16/2025