Episode #5: What is Femtorship? with BJ Weaver
Femtorship, sister friendship, and the everyday practice of care In this episode of WTF: The Other F Word, Dra. Leslie C. Sotomayor II and Dr. Katy Ballard welcome **BJ Weaver** for a grounded conversation on femtorship, long-term friendship, feminist relationship, and becoming through care.
Episode #5 of WTF: The Other F Word centers on femtorship, sister friendship, and the everyday practices that shape feminist becoming. Leslie introduces BJ Weaver as a beloved friend of more than 20 years and names their relationship as part of her own feminist formation. Together with Katy, they explore how femtorship is lived not only as an idea, but as a daily practice of listening, texting, showing up, caring, and growing alongside one another.
About This Episode What does it mean to be formed by friendship? In this episode, Leslie and Katy welcome BJ Weaver into a conversation rooted in wondering, listening, and becoming. The umbrella theme is femtorship, with attention to how it is practiced in ordinary, intimate, relational ways. Leslie and BJ reflect on more than two decades of friendship, including the daily rhythms of talking, texting, and naming one another as sister friends. Leslie shares that her self-identification as a feminist began through her friendship and relationship with BJ, opening a conversation about feminist relationship as something lived, practiced, and sustained over time.
BJ introduces herself as a 55-year-old social worker by trade who currently manages money for people on disability through Social Security. She also shares pieces of her life as someone who has worked with single mothers facing homelessness, spent 10 years as a stay-at-home mom, raised two grown children, and lives as a partner, wife, friend, and sister friend. Together, they consider femtorship, mentorship, community, care, and the ways long-term friendship can become a site of feminist practice.
Key Themes - Femtorship and mentorship - Sister friendship as feminist practice - Centership in everyday relationships - Long-term friendship and becoming - Care, community, and mutual support - Feminism as something lived in relationship - The daily practices of talking, texting, listening, and showing up - Motherhood, partnership, work, & friendship as interconnected parts of life - Wondering, listening, and becoming through one another
Guest Bio
BJ Weaver is a social worker by trade who currently manages money for people on disability through Social Security. Her past work includes supporting single mothers facing homelessness. She was also a stay-at-home mom for 10 years and is the mother of two grown children. BJ identifies as a partner, wife, friend, and sister friend. She takes friendship and sisterhood seriously as guiding forces in her life, and brings a grounded, relational perspective to conversations about care, community, and feminist practice.
- Listen to Episode #5: Femtorship with BJ Weaver
Subscribe to **WTF: The Other F Word** for more conversations shaped by feminism, creative practices, decolonial thought, community, care, and centership.
Reflection Questions - Who has helped shape your feminist becoming? - What friendships have taught you how to listen, care, or show up differently? - How do you practice femtorship in everyday relationships? - Where does femtorship appear in your life, formally or informally? - What daily practices help sustain your sister friendships or chosen family relationships? - How might friendship be understood as a serious site of knowledge, care, and transformation?
Related Links Go to â wtftheotherfword.comâ and download the FREE episode #5 discussion guide.
