Catered to your community:
College campuses
to faith communities
to activist groups 
to training social workers...

See past speaking engagements

PRESENTATION TOPICS

Other topics available, please contact for additional inquiries. 
​

• Sex & Relationship Self-Advocacy workshops
• ​​Community organizing (building power and creating social change through community action)
• Patriarchal violence and rape culture (exploring connections of power, gender, violence, culture, and systems of coercive control)​
• Trauma-informed response and how to support survivors of violence​​
• Preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation
• Women's sexuality
• Sexual violence
• Sexual communication and consent
• Domestic, dating, interpersonal abuse ​
• ​​Gender/power-based violence, abuse, and exploitation prevention
• The impact of pornography on relationships and culture​​​
• Commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking
• Policy models that benefit survivors of the sex trade

PROFESSIONAL TRAININGS

• Trauma-responsive care, supporting victim/survivors, and responding to student disclosures of violence/abuse in higher education settings
• Best practices for professionals working with survivors of sexual violence, relationship/intimate partner abuse, stalking, commercial sexual exploitation, prostitution, sex trafficking, and the sex industry
• ​Impact of pornography on youth, adults, relationships, sexuality, society, the brain, and the user
• Men Accountable for Sexual Exploitation Program for Offenders: Our model, what you need to know about "john schools," and best practices for male accountability/education programs​
• Moving beyond social service models to reach the root: social change and community organizing in non-profits and professional organizations/agencies
• Making Minnesota a Safe Harbor for All: Building power and making change through community organizing to pass Safe Harbor for All (prostitution partial decriminalization legislation)

​"She is able to pace her presentations with fastidious scholarship on these topics without alienating general audiences.  She handles questions effectively and steadfastly remains in her role as teacher and facilitator.

Evaluations of Kotz’s presentations by both undergraduate and graduate students indicate that
​attitudes and knowledge levels were profoundly changed in one 75 minute lecture." 
- Dr. Sudie Hofmann, SCSU Professor

"As a presenter, she was so thorough and clear in describing real life situations and the impact of systemic patriarchal violence on all of us... As an educator for over 37 years, teaching and school counseling from preschool through graduate school, I found this presentation to be one of the most significant and worthwhile in my career."

- Therese Olson, SCSU Professor

​"Rebecca Kotz is providing critical leadership... [she] reveals the social norms contributing to violence and exploitation in ways that unveil the behaviors we often accept as “normal,” that are routinely invisible, right in front of our eyes.

​She creates “ah ha” moments as she connects these behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs, directly to women’s pain and social subjugation. Then… she presents solutions. She raises the hope and aspirations of audience members..."
- Chuck Derry, co-founder of the Gender Violence Institute

​"Your training was a deep drink of truth."
-Pastor Orleen Haseltine, Marantha Church in Forest Lake

​"I came to your talk with my communications class and, to be honest, I probably wouldn't have come otherwise... I didn't think it really affected me and the people I surrounded myself with. After hearing you speak though I realized just how much it does affect me... Thank you for helping me realize the ideas that I need to change in my own mind."
- College of Saint Benedict student

"Very powerful... this speaker is dynamic!"
- St. John's University faculty member

"Your vision is contagious. Your presentation turned me into an activist."
- Saint Cloud State University student

​​"My eyes were opened to many things about our culture and how I fit into it. I was very interested in the story of our rape culture. Now I understand how I was apart of it and moving forward how I can change it.”  
- Male sex offender

"An amazing presentation that went by so fast with all your information... I have raved about your presentation!"
- Laura Smith,  Clinic Manager at the Central MN Mental Health Center

Social Change Approach

Truth-Telling &
​Myth-Busting

I believe we have a responsibility to face our past history and the various modern human rights emergencies of today.

​No euphemisms or sugar-coating.

I make it my priority to confront myths, de-mystify abuse and oppression, and break down complex topics in a digestible and deeply-informative way.

I integrate my personal, professional, political, and academic expertise. I blend the voices survivors and those with personal lived experience, best practices, latest research, media literacy, socio-political critical analysis, praxis, and grounded hope into every presentation.

Holistic & Root-Reaching

Too often, we become aware of surface-level problems without understanding how these problems emerged or what we can do to enact change.

I believe in taking intersectional and preventative approaches that confront the roots and work towards holistic, long-term social justice solutions. 

 I offer a unique and holistic perspective as a professional who has worked with highly diverse audiences.

I have a track record of bridge-building through identifying common values among a wide range of seemingly divergent audiences: Whether I'm speaking with socialist activists or conservative churches, therapists or police officers, victims or offenders, privileged or marginalized people. ​

Personal & Collective Power

I help people identify and understand how systems and social forces shape behavior while still addressing inter/personal responsibility.

I believe we can operate from a place of both empathy and accountability, and we don't have to choose between the two.

I aim to get people in touch with both their personal and collective power. I believe it is critical that we identify lies that normalize disempowerment and oppression.

We are often told, "this is just the way things are." I remind people: this is not the way things have to be. Social norms and systems were created by people like us; they can be created again and done differently. 

Ultimately, my experience and knowledge has shown me that our deepest power lies not in isolation or individualism but through connection, relationships, organizations, and social movements.

We are more powerful together.