Unladylike

Unladylike episodes:

• 04.24.2024

  Comstockery!

  Could an 1873 law that hasn't been enforced in nearly a century be a national abortion ban just waiting to happen? Legal friend of the pod Natalie Birnbaum (Repro Solutions) returns to explain what the Comstock Act is, why it's...

  
• 04.21.2024

  UNCUT GEMS: Monument Building with Diane Carlson Evans (TEASER)

  **Unladies' Room Patreon preview** What does it take to erect a monument to women's history? Just ask Diane Carlson Evans, without whom the Vietnam Women's Memorial would not exist... To hear the full, ad-free episode, join the Patreon - and THANK YOU!! Learn...

  
• 04.16.2024

  Black Girl Magician

  Magician Nicole Cardoza has never met another illusionist who looks like her. The reasons why are no stage magic secret. This episode, Nicole debunks the default pale, male magician and his "lovely assistant" and reclaims the power of suspending disbelief....

  
• 04.09.2024

  Magical Overthinking

  What do vision boards and Princess Diana conspiracy theories have in common? They both rely on a kind of magical thinking called proportionality bias. It's one of many cognitive biases that returning guest Amanda Montell connects to all the woo-woo...

  
• 04.07.2024

  The Stay-at-Home Girlfriend Mirage

  **Unladies' Room Patreon preview** A labor-free life of feminine leisure, and/or the ultimate self-care con? The SAHGs (stay-at-home girlfriends) of TikTok have been described as a manifestation of Gen Z, anti-girlboss culture. Except, they’re still getting paid to work!! To hear the...

  
• 04.02.2024

  Mean Girl Feminism

  What's the difference between a white feminist and a mean girl? Not so much, as Kim Hong Nguyen explains this episode. From colonial era white women to TERFs on main today, mean girl feminism is a new term for an...

  
• 03.26.2024

  When a Butch Loves a Femme

  Are butch-femme roles in queer relationships just recycling the same old hetero his 'n' hers gender boxes? What happens when toxic masculinity invades queer relationships and spaces? In an Unladylike FIRST, we're re-asking and re-answering a listener advice request–and with...

  
• 03.24.2024

  UNCUT GEMS: Body Hair with Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa (TEASER)

  **Unladies' Room Patreon teaser** With spring a few days away, tis the season to talk BODY HAIR! But my 2019 interview with spoken word artist and performer Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa isn't the same old to-shave-or-not-to-shave body hair binary. Sukhjit is a...

  
• 03.21.2024

  Introducing Stars and Stars with Isa

  Have you ever wondered what the zodiac can reveal about your favorite artists? Then you have to listen to Stars and Stars with Isa, the podcast where we look to the stars above with the stars below. Every episode our...

  
• 03.19.2024

  The Cool Aunt

  Of all the aunt tropes in pop culture–spinster aunts, sinister aunts, weird aunts, witchy aunts–why is The Cool Aunt so popular these days? More importantly, who is she really, beyond (alleged) disposible income and TikTok aesthetics? Los Angeles Times art...

  
• 03.13.2024

  The Cool Mom

  It's not like a regular podcast episode. It's a cool episode. Right, Regina? Andi Mitchell and Sabrina Kohlberg from Pop Culture Moms take us on a pop cultural tour of The Cool Mom, from Mean Girls to Euphoria, and her...

  
• 03.10.2024

  The People vs. Frozen Embryos (TEASER)

  Wtf just happened with frozen embryos, fertility clinics and IVF in Alabama?? Get ready for the un-true crime, sci-fi Jesus saga of LePage v Center for Reproductive Medicine. As in, the case behind the Alabama state supreme court’s ruling that...

  
• 03.05.2024

  A Football League of Their Own

  In 1974, what had started as a sexist gimmick became the first and only (so far) professional women's football league in US history. It wasn't a feminist stunt, either. Sports writer Frankie de la Cretaz tells us the incredible -...

  
• 02.27.2024

  Is new Jezebel doomed to flop?

  The feminist blogosphere era officially ended last November when Jezebel, website and water cooler of millennial feminism, was shut down by its media overlords. But even though Jezebel was swiftly put on life support by Paste magazine, its long-term survival...

  
• 02.20.2024

  Small Dick Energy

  Why is penis size and performance the go-to butt of the joke, especially when we're talking about shitty men? Is it punching up at misogyny, or just recycling bad material? Writer Mikala Jameson (Body Type) introduces America's Small Dick Joke...

  
• 02.18.2024

  UNCUT GEMS: Cave Diving with Jill Heinerth (TEASER)

  **Unladies' Room Patreon preview** Grab your snorkel masks and oxygen tanks, unladies! We're revisiting my 2019 interview with cave diver and underwater explorer Jill Heinerth (ep. 64: How to Dive Into Fear). She takes us along her path into the incredibly...

  
• 02.13.2024

  More Than Best Friends

  What if society exalted the love and commitment of friendship as highly as that of marriage and biological family? How would our lives change if close friends were more empowered to be our til-death-do-us-part significant others? Journalist Rhaina Cohen (NPR,...

  
• 02.07.2024

  Your Mama's Kitchen: Samin Nosrat

  Sharing an episode of another podcast we’re loving: Your Mama’s Kitchen, all about cuisine and culture, ingredients and identities, and the meals and memories that make us who we are. Every week, host Michele Norris talks to guests like Michelle...

  
• 02.06.2024

  Care + Capitalism

  If care workers make all work possible, then why aren't they better taken care of? And what if that predominantly low-income women of color workforce would rather care for their own children and families? Answer: racial capitalism. Barnard historian Premilla...

  
• 02.04.2024

  Her-Fault Divorce (TEASER)

  **Unladies' Room Patreon preview** Did y'all know women initiate 70% of divorces in husband-wife marriages? Are no-fault divorce laws to blame?? Cristen digs through divorce rate stats, facts and an old LIFE magazine to help explain the paradoxical and persistent...

  
• 01.30.2024

  MRKH Syndrome

  At 16 years old, Molly McGlynn discovered why she'd never had a period. Diagnosed with MRKH syndrome, Molly was born without a uterus, cervix and an underdeveloped vaginal canal. Blindsided, teenage Molly was then promptly tasked with "making" her own...

  
• 01.23.2024

  The "Pretendian" Long Con (ENCORE)

  What happens when someone who built their career on being Indigenous turns out to be ... a white lady? Award-winning writer and reporter Michelle Cyca shares how she came face to face with Indigenous identity fraud, why academia and the...

  
• 01.21.2024

  UNCUT GEMS: Mormon Feminism with Kate Kelly

  **Unladies' Room Patreon preview** With Real Housewives of Salt Lake City having a pop cultural moment, it's the perfect time for a reality check on women, gender and Mormonism.  Listen to Cristen's uncut 2018 interview with Kate Kelly, who sent shockwaves through...

  
• 01.17.2024

  Boy Moms & Girl Dads

  Since when did parenting opposite-gender kids get branded as #BoyMoms and #GirlDads (not to be confused with "fathers of daughters")? Cristen unravels their origins and compares what these viral identities tell us about motherhood, masculinity and societal pressures to have...

  
• 01.09.2024

  Why NOT Kamala 2024?

  Ready or not, the 2024 presidential election is fast approaching. So why hasn't the Democratic Party pushed for President Biden step aside and run the Veep instead? And how come the even bigger question swirling around Kamala Harris is whether...

  
• 12.19.2023

  The Daily Mail - FOR HER!

  The invention of tabloids was both revolutionary and regressive for women, and it all goes back to The Daily Mail (yes, that Daily Mail with the book-length headlines and endless celeb photos). In this Unladies' Room bonus episode, Kristen Meinzer...

  
• 12.12.2023

  American Girl Dollcore

  How did a line of expensive, educational dolls overtake 90s girlhood? Historians and Dolls of Our Lives hosts Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney tell us the backstory of Pleasant Rowland inventing American Girl, the brand's uneasy relationship with feminism and...

  
• 12.05.2023

  Pelvic Floored (Unladies' Room bonus)

  The pelvic floor is so much more than Samantha Jones' kegels and postpartum prolapse. In this Unladies' Room bonus episode, pelvic floor physical therapist Dr. Kara Strauss breaks down "the keystone of the body" (!!), its many functions and why...

  
• 11.28.2023

  Ask Unladylike: Bitch Boys?

  Is it sexist when straight men call each other the b-word? Cristen tracks down how bitch has (and hasn't) evolved and advises an unlady whose boyfriend thinks the b-word is no longer gendered. Then, a neurodivergent unlady is unsure how...

  
• 11.21.2023

  Actually GOOD Living w/ The Mash-Up Americans

  What does a good life mean, especially when bad things are happening? The Mash-Up Americans creators and hosts Amy Choi and Rebecca Lehrer are celebrating their 10th podcast anniversary by answering just that. Amy and Rebecca share their epic story...

  
• 11.14.2023

  Beauty (Pageant) Diplomacy

  What do Miss Universe, Miss World and international beauty pageants tell us about globalization and national identity, and why are pageants becoming MORE popular across the Global South? Feminist sociologist Dr. Oluwakemi Balogun embedded in Nigeria’s beauty pageant industry to...

  
• 11.09.2023

  Supreme Court Is BACK with Strict Scrutiny

  SCOTUS just kicked off a new term, and Strict Scrutiny hosts and law professors Leah Litman and Kate Shaw are here to explain how the Justices pick which cases to hear / what fresh hell might be in store. Then, Leah...

  
• 11.07.2023

  SHROOM BOOM

  Are magic mushrooms poised to become the next big mental health med, and if so, who stands to benefit? Psychologist and Chacruna Institute co-founder Dr. Clancy Cavnar reframes today's psychedelic renaissance through the lens of social justice, queer liberation and...

  
• 10.31.2023

  SHROOM BOOM

  Call the tripsitter! We’re macrodosing on magic mushrooms, psychedelic sexism and psilocybin breakthroughs with journalist and fact-checker Jennifer Chesak. Author of The Psilocybin Handbook for Women, she explains why psilocybin could work wonders for anxiety, eating disorders, endometriosis, PCOS, PTSD...

  
• 10.24.2023

  SHROOM BOOM

  Welcome to the shroom boom. It's hard not to be a mushroom enthusiast considering all the practical and medicinal magic they can do. Not to mention, they're nutrish and delish. But also sometimes deadly! In part one of three, Maria...

  
• 10.17.2023

  Ask Unladylike: Married Last Name Change?

  To change or not to change? That is the married-last-name question that actor, host and proud hyphenate Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins (Dear White People, Trials to Triumphs) loves to answer. In this latest Ask Unladylike installment, Ashley and Cristen advise a...

  
• 10.10.2023

  Too-Perfect Teeth

  Why are more young women trading in their natural teeth for veneers, and what does it say about beauty standards, class perceptions and the dental healthcare gap? Writer Jessica Goldstein drills down on the rise of cosmetic dentistry, aesthetic veneers,...

  
• 10.03.2023

  Is Life Coaching a Scam?

  Why are so many women getting into life coaching these days, and is it legit self-help? The Dream host (and certified life coach, technically!) Jane Marie sheds light on what it is, why it's appealing and how MLMs (multilevel marketing,...

  
• 09.26.2023

  What Tarot Cards Tell You

  Do tarot cards really have secrets to spill? Investigative journalist and Ritually host Nelufar Hedayat shares what happened when she turned to tarot for guidance on two major life decisions and how the cards connect to the history of women...

  
• 09.19.2023

  Imposter Syndroming with Aparna Nancherla

  A lifelong self-doubter, comedian Aparna Nancherla decided to get to the bottom of her angst, and things didn't quite go as planned. From a childhood speech contest to the standup stage, Aparna takes us along her journey to finding her...

  
• 09.12.2023

  RE: Queer Enough

  In the first-ever (!) mailbag episode, Cristen shares listener letters, DMs and life updates about dating apps, leaving academia, the bisexual closet, green card marriage and MORE! She also answers an unlady who is frustrated with negative media coverage of...

  
• 09.06.2023

  Momfluencers

  Commodified motherhood has come a long way, babies! Or has it? Now a multi-billion dollar industry, momfluencing also comes with a side of tradwives and mom guilt. Sara Petersen, author of Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer...

  
• 08.29.2023

  Houston, We Have a Library Problem

  Why is one of the largest school districts in the country turning libraries into student detention centers? Debbie Hall, certified librarian and co-founder of Students Need Libraries in Houston Independent School District, fills Cristen in on the difference school librarians...

  
• 08.23.2023

  Learning & Unlearning with "Abbott Elementary"

  How are real-life teachers applying “Abbott Elementary” inside and out of the classroom, and what can all of us learn from it? Cristen talks to Brown University senior and future teacher Jada Wooten about Black teacher representation and what education...

  
• 08.16.2023

  The Future Is Fe-Whale

  Long live White Gladis, orca queen of the deep. From today's yacht-sinking killer whale moms to 19th-century "devil fish," environmental historian Anna Guasco takes Cristen on an underwater expedition of mammalian matriarchy, seafaring masculinity and the revealing messiness of human-whale...

  
• 08.08.2023

  Sorority Rush in the South

  Pack your rush bags, unladies! It's sorority recruitment season in the South. Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd takes us beyond the spectacle of #BamaRush into the "competitive femininity" and gender ritual of rush. She also reveals why it's no coincidence that historically...

  
• 08.01.2023

  Ask Unladylike: Emotional Support Lady

  Will going on record about your mental illness endanger your career? Mental health advocate, writer and podcaster Allison Raskin, aka Emotional Support Lady, is here to help. Allison and Cristen advise unladies navigating PTSD and "professionalism," dating anxiety and supporting...

  
• 07.25.2023

  The Homeschool Lobby

  How has homeschooling gone from being illegal in the US to wildly unregulated in many states? The Homeschool Legal Defense Association, aka the homeschool lobby, is one of the most powerful grassroots networks you've probably never heard of. Cristen talks...

  
• 07.18.2023

  Barbie Part 2: Legally Blonde

  Barbie has spent probably as much time in the courthouse as her Dreamhouse, suing over doll designs, feminist book titles, a literal bag of chips—you name it. Intern Anuli Ononye and Cristen follow the shocking paper trail of Barbie lawsuits,...

  
• 07.11.2023

  Barbie Part 1: Welcome to the Dollhouse

  How did Barbie—a voluptuous fashion doll for children—become the It girl of toy aisle in the early 1960s, and what has it taken Mattel to keep it that way? Answer: Beyoncé-level PR and a whole lotta lawsuits. Intern Anuli and...