Sohaila Abdulali, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape"

Sohaila Abdulali discusses her book, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape", at Politics and Prose at Union Market on 1/10/19.

The statistics are well known: one out of every six American women will be the victim of a rape or attempted rape in her lifetime, and a sexual assault occurs every two minutes in the U.S. Abdulali, a writer and activist, was gang-raped in Mumbai when she was seventeen, an experience she wrote about in a New York Times op-ed and expands on in this thought-provoking look at rape culture. Interviewing survivors from various parts of the world, Abdulali both celebrates the resilience of these women and asks difficult questions about the way we account for who gets raped and why. Above all, she approaches the topic from a personal, not a statistical stance, emphasizing that there is no one response to rape and that the necessary dialogue about this long taboo topic has only just begun.

Sohaila Abdulali was born in Mumbai. She has a BA from Brandeis University in economics and sociology and an MA from Stanford University in communication. She is the author of two novels as well as children's books and short stories. She lives in New York with her family.

Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at

Produced by Tom Warren