THE CULTURE REFRAMED TEAM

Dr. Gail Dines

Dr. Gail Dines is Founder & President of Culture Reframed, and Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women's Studies, Wheelock College, Boston. Having researched and written about the porn industry for more than 30 years, Dr. Dines is internationally acclaimed as the leading expert on how pornography shapes our identities, culture, and sexuality. She is a consultant to governmental agencies in the U.S. and abroad, including the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Canada. In 2008, she co-founded the nonprofit Stop Porn Culture. As board chair, she elevated Stop Porn Culture’s international profile and helped it to develop into today's Culture Reframed.

Dr. Dines is co-editor of the best-selling textbook Gender, Race and Class in Media. Her book Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality has been translated into five languages and adapted into a documentary film. Dr. Dines is a regular guest on television and radio, including shows on ABC, MSNBC, CNN, BBC, CBC, FOX, and National Public Radio. She has appeared in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, The Guardian, Vogue, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, and The Huffington Post. She is also featured in documentaries, such as The Strength to Resist: Media's Impact on Women & Girls, Mickey Mouse Monopoly, and The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality & Relationships.

Samantha Wechsler

Samantha (Sam) Wechsler joined Culture Reframed in June 2016. In addition to providing leadership for organizations experiencing executive transitions, Sam runs her own coaching and consulting business, specializing in executive coaching, group facilitation, leadership and personal development, fundraising, and board development. Sam also designs and facilitates participatory trainings and workshops that draw people into engaging conversations about difficult topics, helping participants develop a deeper sense of themselves and their role in social change efforts.

Much of Sam's career has been devoted to creating, improving, and expanding programming for children and youth. In 2005, after serving as the Interim Director of a Mayoral initiative on after-school programming, Sam moved to Guatemala. While living there, she founded and directed Voces de Cambio (Voices of Change), an all-girls after-school program that uses creative expression to address issues of racism, discrimination, and gender equity. After returning from Guatemala several years later, she served as the Executive Director of Bikes Not Bombs, where she initiated and oversaw a major organizational turnaround. Sam is thrilled to be part of the Culture Reframed team.

Mandy Sanchez

Mandy Sanchez joined Culture Reframed as its Program Coordinator in the spring of 2021. She holds her doctorate in Sociology with a specialization in Criminology and Women’s Studies from the University of Hawai`i, and has been a professor of sociology and criminal justice since 2013. Mandy specializes in domestic and sexual violence; the intersectionality of gender, sexualities, place, and trauma; and justice-involved women and children. During her time in academia, she co-found and remains on the board of the Research Center on Violence at West Virginia University, coordinating efforts to inform progressive policies and practices on and off-campus. Mandy also has served as a Graduate Program Director and serves on a variety of campus and community boards and collectives dedicated to gender equity and social justice.

Mandy is a trained facilitator for the International Inside Out Prison Exchange Program, developing and coordinating programs on trauma/victimization in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. She also is the founder and facilitator of Voices United, the first female Think Tank in a female federal correctional facility in the U.S. As CR’s Program Coordinator, Mandy focuses on expanding, developing, and ensuring high quality, comprehensive, impactful programming for parents and adults who are influential in children’s and teens’ lives.

Nechama Katz

Nechama Katz has over three decades of experience in writing, planning, and organizational development within the nonprofit and public sectors. She specializes in program development and funds development—particularly grant writing—with a focus on increasing opportunities and social justice for low-income children and families. Katz holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University and a Bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University.

Maggie Daman

Mary (Maggie) Daman joined Culture Reframed in the summer of 2021 as the Operations and Development Coordinator. Maggie is a passionate nonprofit manager, having served as the Executive Director for a women’s immigrant and refugee organization, as well as spending time in nonprofits dedicated to ending sexual violence and advocating for victims. She graduated from Penn State with a Master’s in Community Psychology and Social Change, and a Bachelor’s in Sociology with a minor in Women’s Studies.

Maggie has a history of feminist activism and community service. When she is not working to promote social change, she is traveling, and enjoying time with her partner, four kids, and many pets in the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside.

Eric Silverman

Eric Silverman is a cultural anthropologist and former Research Professor at Wheelock College, Boston. Previously, he served as the Edward Myers Dolan Professor of Anthropology at DePauw University. During his academic career, he taught courses on gender, cultural diversity, masculinity, American studies, Jewish studies, art, and globalization. He has published two books based on his studies of gender, ritual, and modernization among a Sepik River society in Papua New Guinea, where he has conducted fieldwork since the late-1980s, and two additional books about the American and global Jewish communities.

Eric has also written many newspaper columns advocating for social justice, multiculturalism, and global awareness. He has also served on his local school board. Eris is affiliated with the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. He also works as a Senior Scholar at McAllister Olivarius, an international feminist law firm specialising in sexual misconduct and other forms of injustice.