Finding Our Voices invites Maine women to uplift and empower each other with an online book club discussion of The Bonobo Sisterhood with the author Diane L. Rosenfeld, and a statewide cold water-dip. Finding Our Voices is the grassroots nonprofit providing peer support and resources to Maine women survivors of domestic abuse.

The online discussion around the Harvard professor’s manifesto on dissolving patriarchy is Tuesday, Feb. 11, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event is part of the Finding Our Voices Book Club, which gathers with the authors six times a year to examine books through the lens of domestic abuse. The discussion of The Bonobo Sisterhood: Revolution Through Female Alliance is free and open to the public and can be joined through this link: https://bookclubs.com/finding-our-voices/join/

The statewide “Love Ourselves” Cold Water Dip fundraiser is Sunday, February 9, with hardy souls from Brooklin to York immersing themselves in cold water at chosen times throughout the day. The second annual Sunday before Valentine’s Day event promotes the well-being that comes from dipping and gathering with other women, while raising money for Maine’s women domestic abuse survivors.

Dipping participants are encouraged to pick their time and place on February 9, or join the schedule of an existing group.

Participating dipping group include Saltwater Mountain Company in York, Cold Water Queers in South Portland, Wicked Nippy Dippahs in Rockport, Sea Sisters in Lincolnville, Wander Women in Union, Salty Sisters on Vinalhaven, Cold Water Warm Tits in Bar Harbor, and Snow Moon Selkies in Brooklin.

Dippers are encouraged to wear yellow. 

“Yellow is our color because we are survivors who have managed to cross over to the bright side of safety and freedom, shining a light for our sisters still in the dark," said Patrisha McLean, CEO and founder of Finding Our Voices.

In 2024, more than 500 dippers as well as their towel-holders and sponsors raised $10,000 for Finding Our Voices. For more information on this year's dip visit https://findingourvoices.net/cold-water-dip-2025 or reach out to McLean directly by emailing hello@findingourvoices.net.

On February 11, the founding director of Harvard’s Gender Violence Program will join the online Finding Our Voices Book Club to discuss The Bonobo Sisterhood. Rosenfeld writes that "our closest evolutionary cousins,” the Bonobo primates, "have eliminated male sexual coercion by coming to one another’s aid. If a female is aggressed upon, she lets out a special cry and all other females within earshot come immediately to her defense, fending off the male. Women and our allies have to do the same, acting on The Bonobo Principle: ‘Nobody pimps my sister. Everybody is my sister.’”

According to Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Obama, “the gift of this book is it gives us hope.”

Patrisha McLean’s personal experience of transcending domestic violence to create the sisterhood and community of Finding Our Voices takes up a chapter of The Bonobo Sisterhood. To join the group’s online book discussion, visit https://bookclubs.com/finding-our-voices/join/

For more information about Finding Our Voices visit https://findingourvoices.net/