Mississippi native Karen Hinton is the author of Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men & Power. Her memoir is about how girls and women are impacted by sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, abuse and discrimination, told only through colorful, funny and tragic stories about herself and the girls and women she knew from age 16 to 61. People Magazine recently featured Karen’s story, which also has been covered extensively in other broadcast and print media. Her website, www.penis-politics.com, provides additional media, as well as a number of book reviews.

Penis Politics has been called a “Stand by Me for girls” with its evocative story of four teenage girls, growing up in small town Mississippi in the 1970s, harboring a secret that reverberates through their lives. One of the girls, the shining star among Karen and her friends, is raped by a school official in the bookroom; she quits school and commits suicide years later. Karen leaves Mississippi for a career in journalism and politics, but the echoes of Mississippi are never far behind her as she becomes a powerful public relations and political operative in Washington and New York City.

She served as a communications aide to many Democratic politicians. She was a press secretary for former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, the late DNC Chair Ronald Brown, and former U.S. Congressman Mike Espy, the first Black Congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction in 1986.

Known for never ducking a fight, Hinton was at the peak of her career when a catastrophic brain injury from a freak accident confronted her with the battle of her life. Emerging from a coma, learning to walk and talk again, Hinton was determined to “speak up, not shut up” on issues involving women, men and power in politics.

Hinton regularly contributes guest columns to the New York Daily News and other publications, focusing on the topics of #MeToo, sexual harassment in politics and skewering big oil, big banks and other bullies whenever possible. Earlier in her career, Hinton was a journalist in Mississippi and Colorado, a cocktail waitress in Aspen and a high school teacher in Mississippi.

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