About AfroLez Productions

Founded in 1992 by Aishah Shahidah Simmons, AfroLez® Productions is a Philadelphia-based AfroLez®femcentric multimedia arts company committed to using the moving image, the written and spoken word to counteract the negative impact of racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism on the lives of marginalized and oppressed people with a particular emphasis on the lives of Diasporic African women and girls.
Presently, the primary project of AfroLez® Productions is to distribute its educational tools, which address intra-racial rape and sexual assault in African-American communities. This includes NO! The Rape Documentary the award-winning feature length documentary, which unveils the realities of rape, other forms of sexual violence and healing in African-American communities; Breaking the Silences the 2-hour supplemental video to NO!, which features compelling messages from women and men prevention advocates/activists; and riveting testimones from women who are multiple survivors of sexual violence; and Unveiling the Silence: NO! The Rape Documentary Study Guide a 100-page interactive study guide, which accompanies NO!.

The ongoing work of AfroLez® Productions' includes:
* Facilitating, teaching, and giving workshops, seminars, and lectures on the intersections of oppressions, on Black American women's lives; the process of using video to make central that which has been placed on the margins of mainstream society; and the process of grassroots alternative fundraising strategies for social change videos and films, at colleges/universities, conferences, high schools, rape crisis centers, battered women's shelters, film festivals, media arts centers, government sponsored events, juvenille and adult correctional facilities, locally, nationally, and internationally.
* Writing essays on the impact of the intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, and class on Black women's lives. Many of these essays are featured in anthologies and some of them have been translated into French and Italian.