Rebecca Kotz began speaking and educating on issues of men's violence over ten years ago and has trained thousands of professionals, students, and community members.
Kotz's academic focus explores the intersections of women's liberation, anti-neoliberalism, lesbian feminism, critical theory, queer theory, abolition, transformative justice, radical politics, and community organizing/social movement praxis. Her work examines interpersonal, systemic, and state-sanctioned violence with a particular focus on ending the most normalized systems of patriarchal violence: systems of prostitution/sexual exploitation, the prison industrial complex, capitalism, and militarism.
She currently works as an interim director at a university women's center and focuses on gender-based violence prevention, egalitarian relationships and sexuality education, advocacy, and support for student victim/survivors, leaders, organizers, and activists.
In the past, she has worked for various of social justice and anti-violence organizations providing services and advocacy for/with survivors of trafficking, sexual, and domestic violence. Kotz has a decade of experience in sexual assault and relationship abuse counseling, facilitating programming with men who harm, community organizing, victim/survivor group facilitation, consulting, program creation, curriculum development, technical assistance, professional training, policy and protocol development, research, advocacy and analytical writing, lobbying, criminal/legal systems change, classroom presentations, and liberation education.
Kotz's academic focus explores the intersections of women's liberation, anti-neoliberalism, lesbian feminism, critical theory, queer theory, abolition, transformative justice, radical politics, and community organizing/social movement praxis. Her work examines interpersonal, systemic, and state-sanctioned violence with a particular focus on ending the most normalized systems of patriarchal violence: systems of prostitution/sexual exploitation, the prison industrial complex, capitalism, and militarism.
She currently works as an interim director at a university women's center and focuses on gender-based violence prevention, egalitarian relationships and sexuality education, advocacy, and support for student victim/survivors, leaders, organizers, and activists.
In the past, she has worked for various of social justice and anti-violence organizations providing services and advocacy for/with survivors of trafficking, sexual, and domestic violence. Kotz has a decade of experience in sexual assault and relationship abuse counseling, facilitating programming with men who harm, community organizing, victim/survivor group facilitation, consulting, program creation, curriculum development, technical assistance, professional training, policy and protocol development, research, advocacy and analytical writing, lobbying, criminal/legal systems change, classroom presentations, and liberation education.
Kotz created the first Safe Harbor program in central MN for youth and adult survivors of the sex trade and trafficking. She also created and facilitated the court-ordered, feminist-rooted accountability program for men convicted of soliciting prostituted/trafficked individuals: Men Accountable for Sexual Exploitation (MASE).
Rebecca is an organizer, writer, and educator within the prostitution partial decriminalization movement to shift social norms and ultimately abolish all forms of sexual objectification, commodification, and exploitation against both youth and adults.
Partial decriminalization of prostitution is a survivor-advocated policy and service model that works to end the criminalization of survivors of the sex trade, expand housing and services to survivors, educate professionals and the public on sexual exploitation, and end men's entitlement to bodies for sexual abuse.
This policy model is known locally in MN as Safe Harbor for Youth (currently enacted in MN) & Safe Harbor for All (yet to be enacted in MN), known nationally in the US as the Equality Model, and known internationally as the Nordic/Swedish/Abolitionist model of partial decriminalization of prostitution.
Kotz has her Master's degree in Social Justice & Community Organizing from Prescott College. Her thesis, entitled Towards a Consistent Ethic of Social Justice: Confronting Prostitution Exceptionalism in Abolitionist Discourse is a (rather long) love letter to the prison abolition movement: a critique and an invitation to join forces with the prostitution abolition movement to work together to end all forms of patriarchal violence, including sexualized violence, without exception.
Rebecca's Bachelor's degree is in Political Science and minor in Human Relations & Multicultural Education. She earned multiple scholarships for her undergraduate work and was awarded the School of Public Affairs Honor's Research Graduate Distinction for her academic achievement and defending an additional graduate thesis, "Legal Practices, Policies, and Programs Curbing the Sex Trade."
As an undergraduate student, Rebecca was a student activist who founded Students Against Trafficking & Sexploitation (SATS), the first student organization in Minnesota to solely address these topics. As a student, she was also the president of a campus ministry and organized around issues of ending voter suppression, homelessness, economic justice, racial justice, immigrant rights, environmental protection issues, and GOTV (get out the vote).
Kotz has authored viral articles such as "Dear John: A Letter from an Advocate to the Men Who Buy Women for Sex" and "A Church in Crisis: Pornography and Patriarchy" that have tens of thousands of views and shares. She was a regular writer for CBE International on topics of feminism, egalitarian relationships and sexuality, eradicating patriarchy in the church, and men's violence against women. Her blogs have been featured in multiple websites. Kotz wrote two chapters on sexual violence and healthy intimate relationships in the book Created to Thrive: Cultivating Abuse-Free Faith Communities (book released in 2021).
In 2012, Rebecca co-founded an outreach for women working in local exotic dance clubs. She also founded and chaired an interdenominational church coalition that takes action against trafficking, sexual, and domestic violence.
Rebecca is an organizer, writer, and educator within the prostitution partial decriminalization movement to shift social norms and ultimately abolish all forms of sexual objectification, commodification, and exploitation against both youth and adults.
Partial decriminalization of prostitution is a survivor-advocated policy and service model that works to end the criminalization of survivors of the sex trade, expand housing and services to survivors, educate professionals and the public on sexual exploitation, and end men's entitlement to bodies for sexual abuse.
This policy model is known locally in MN as Safe Harbor for Youth (currently enacted in MN) & Safe Harbor for All (yet to be enacted in MN), known nationally in the US as the Equality Model, and known internationally as the Nordic/Swedish/Abolitionist model of partial decriminalization of prostitution.
Kotz has her Master's degree in Social Justice & Community Organizing from Prescott College. Her thesis, entitled Towards a Consistent Ethic of Social Justice: Confronting Prostitution Exceptionalism in Abolitionist Discourse is a (rather long) love letter to the prison abolition movement: a critique and an invitation to join forces with the prostitution abolition movement to work together to end all forms of patriarchal violence, including sexualized violence, without exception.
Rebecca's Bachelor's degree is in Political Science and minor in Human Relations & Multicultural Education. She earned multiple scholarships for her undergraduate work and was awarded the School of Public Affairs Honor's Research Graduate Distinction for her academic achievement and defending an additional graduate thesis, "Legal Practices, Policies, and Programs Curbing the Sex Trade."
As an undergraduate student, Rebecca was a student activist who founded Students Against Trafficking & Sexploitation (SATS), the first student organization in Minnesota to solely address these topics. As a student, she was also the president of a campus ministry and organized around issues of ending voter suppression, homelessness, economic justice, racial justice, immigrant rights, environmental protection issues, and GOTV (get out the vote).
Kotz has authored viral articles such as "Dear John: A Letter from an Advocate to the Men Who Buy Women for Sex" and "A Church in Crisis: Pornography and Patriarchy" that have tens of thousands of views and shares. She was a regular writer for CBE International on topics of feminism, egalitarian relationships and sexuality, eradicating patriarchy in the church, and men's violence against women. Her blogs have been featured in multiple websites. Kotz wrote two chapters on sexual violence and healthy intimate relationships in the book Created to Thrive: Cultivating Abuse-Free Faith Communities (book released in 2021).
In 2012, Rebecca co-founded an outreach for women working in local exotic dance clubs. She also founded and chaired an interdenominational church coalition that takes action against trafficking, sexual, and domestic violence.
Rebecca has also been a lead organizer for the End Demand 2020, Stop Traffick & XXXploitation anti-porn protest, the Women's March, Take Back the Night, and other marches, demonstrations, and activist events in the community.
Rebecca is a trained and certified group facilitator of many renowned anti-violence/trafficking curriculums in the field: Ending the Game, Safe Dates, #NotANumber, My Life My Choice, and more. She was a statewide trainer-of-trainers to certify professionals in Love146's #NotANumber sex and labor exploitation/trafficking prevention curriculum and GEMS's Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children 101 training and Victim-Survivor-Leader training.
Kotz is a member of multiple state, regional, and local county anti-violence and sex trafficking task forces, and has acted as an advisor for many Minnesota Department of Health Safe Harbor and sexual violence prevention initiatives and consulted on primary prevention, victim service practices, and offender accountability efforts statewide and nationally.
Rebecca has committed to use her voice as an activist, speaker, consultant, educator, writer, and community organizer to defend women's liberation, global social justice, and ending all forms of men's violence.
Kotz was the 2017 recipient of CBE International's Micah Award "for courage, creativity, and tenacity in opposing abuse and advancing justice for women and children."
Kotz lives in central Minnesota.
*Click HERE to see past speaking engagements.
Rebecca is a trained and certified group facilitator of many renowned anti-violence/trafficking curriculums in the field: Ending the Game, Safe Dates, #NotANumber, My Life My Choice, and more. She was a statewide trainer-of-trainers to certify professionals in Love146's #NotANumber sex and labor exploitation/trafficking prevention curriculum and GEMS's Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children 101 training and Victim-Survivor-Leader training.
Kotz is a member of multiple state, regional, and local county anti-violence and sex trafficking task forces, and has acted as an advisor for many Minnesota Department of Health Safe Harbor and sexual violence prevention initiatives and consulted on primary prevention, victim service practices, and offender accountability efforts statewide and nationally.
Rebecca has committed to use her voice as an activist, speaker, consultant, educator, writer, and community organizer to defend women's liberation, global social justice, and ending all forms of men's violence.
Kotz was the 2017 recipient of CBE International's Micah Award "for courage, creativity, and tenacity in opposing abuse and advancing justice for women and children."
Kotz lives in central Minnesota.
*Click HERE to see past speaking engagements.