Breaking Down Patriarchy

In the 21st century, witchcraft is trending. TikTokers, for example, sharing witch-based content, have amassed over 20 billion views under the hashtag “witchtok” and, as the trend grows, major retailers (including Sephora, Urban Outfitters, and many more) have eagerly started selling mystical crystals, spell books, and other witchy paraphernalia hoping to cash in on this growing faith movement. And yet all of this still leaves us with the question: who exactly are these self-professed witches? Some of you may even be wondering, is witchcraft actually real?

To help cut through misinformation and shine a light directly on what witchcraft looks like today, we decided to go straight to the source and fortunately found Kari - a present-day, practicing witch - who was willing to sit down with our podcast’s editor, Sam Rose, for a conversation about ritual, history, stereotypes, and the self-identified witches who still walk among us. 

Kari (she/her) is a student of Jungian psychology, an active member of the Hyperian movement, and has been a practicing witch for over 40 years.

On today’s episode we visit the number one country in the world when it comes to gender equity—Iceland—to take a closer, more critical look at the history and present day lives of women in a nation viewed as the gold standard for women’s rights. To help facilitate this exploration of Icelandic culture, I’m thrilled to say that today we’re joined by globetrotter Rachel Greenley, as well as a number of Icelandic locals who generously sat down with Rachel to discuss to discuss patriarchy overseas, what American and Icelandic feminism can learn from one another, the red stocking movement, and the incredible history of how Iceland has become a world leader in gender equality.

Rachel Greenley (she/her) has a master’s degree in International Development and is passionate about women's empowerment. She travels, lives, and works around the world with her husband and children.

As regular listeners know, we do our best on this podcast to not look away from the pain that patriarchy creates. In the past this has meant discussing the hurtful ways patriarchy erases history, the ways it diminishes women, limits possibilities for men and boys, and—on several occasions—this has meant listening to difficult stories of domestic abuse. On today’s episode we’ll be joined by an Anonymous Contributor who trusts us with another of these difficult stories.

Note: this segment contains descriptions of domestic and sexual violence, among other potentially distressing content. I encourage everyone listening to please take care of yourselves as you know best.

In this episode I'm joined by phenomenal guests—Liz & Cami—two Americans who have lived in Saudi Arabia for the past several years and are ready to speak about their experiences navigating Saudi patriarchy as foreign women. Their conversation is fascinating and funny, discussing dress codes and driver’s licenses and the shadows of colonialism in this unique peek into one of the world’s—allegedly—most patriarchal societies.  

On today’s episode, we’re going to be exploring this concept of the feminist awakening with three extraordinary guests--Monica Rodgers, Shelbey Neil, and an Anonymous Contributor--who help us unpack the trance of patriarchy, the challenges of a new perspective, and the need to confront our former beliefs.

Monica Rodgers (she/her) is a tireless advocate for the full actualization of women, inspiring women everywhere that saying “YES to the MESS” is the missing link to self-love and personal awakening. Through her podcast and group coaching programs, Monica guides women through their inner evolution, from trance to transcendence, revealing the toxic myths of social conditioning and self-doubt. Monica is a Mother, a Beloved Life Partner, a Certified Co-active Coach, Sacred Feminine Archetype Practitioner, Host of The Revelation Project Podcast, and she’s the Author of the upcoming: Book of Revelation.

Learn more by visit jointherevelation.com.

Shelbey Neil (she/her) hails from the mountains of Utah but has lived in swamps of New Orleans for the past 5.5 years. She likes dipping her toes into many interesting subjects and moving quickly onto the next—but feminism has sucked her in for a total immersion. Her life motto is horrendously cheesy, but you really do miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Many of us want to make a difference in our lives, find our purpose and create our legacy. Shaped by our past, we look toward the future, and toward creating a better world for those around us.

As the daughter of an immigrant and refugee, Katica Roy is driven by a passion to eradicate economic inequality and to champion the rights of refugees, women, and children. She has written numerous articles about intersectional gender equity for different national media platforms and uses storytelling and data-stitching to create a common calling toward achieving gender equity. Her articles garnered over 2.9 billion impressions.

I was thrilled to have Katica join me on today's episode for a fascinating discussion on gender and the economy.

Katica Roy (she/her) is one of LinkedIn’s 2022 Top Voices for Gender Equity, the 2020 Colorado Entrepreneur of the Year, 2019 Stevie Entrepreneur of the Year, Top 25 Most Powerful Woman in Business, a 2018 Denver Business Journal Outstanding Women in Business finalist, a 2018 Colorado Governor’s Fellow, and was named a Luminary by the Colorado Technology Association in 2017, recognizing her as a visionary technology leader in Colorado. Katica is the CEO of Pipeline, an award-winning company that uses advanced technology to make intersectional gender parity a reality in our lifetime. In addition to its core platform, Pipeline launched the first gender equity app on Salesforce's AppExchange. Pipeline was also named as one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2019, Fast Company’s 2020 World’s Most Innovative Companies, Fast Company’s 2021 Next Big Things in Tech, Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas. Pipeline is backed by both Accenture and Workday.

In this episode I'm joined by the astounding social worker and psychotherapist, Dr. Julie Hanks, for an astonishing conversation about aspirational shame, imposter syndrome, why far too many women feel prohibiting from chasing their dreams, and how we can strive to recognize and accept ourselves as the people we’re meant to be.

Julie de Azevedo Hanks, PhD, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist with nearly 30 years’ experience providing a safe place for healing conversations that educate and empower women to prioritize their dreams, revolutionize their families, and personalize their faith. She is the founder and director of Wasatch Family Therapy, an outpatient therapy clinic, and the author of The Burnout Cure and The Assertiveness Guide for Women. Dr. Hanks is a local and national media contributor, a coach, a private practice consultant, and an award-winning performing songwriter. Dr. Hanks is the host of Ask Dr. Julie Hanks podcast and creator of online courses helping women navigate motherhood, relationships, and faith. A native Californian, Hanks currently lives with her family in Sandy, UT. For additional resources visit DrJulieHanks.com or connect with @drjuliehanks on social media.

When we began accepting submissions for this season, we received an outpouring of stories from women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Stories about how the Church has affected their relationships, how it’s affected their careers, their faith, their sense of self-worth. And, while we are very much dedicated to continuing to seek out and promote diverse voices, we also believe that this surge of stories from Mormon women needs to be heard.

We received so many of these submissions that to listen to them all at once would be overwhelming, so we’ve decided to split them up to make sure we can pay adequate attention to each individual experience. In this episode we hear several short, personal stories from women raised in Mormon homes, and we’ll return and hear more of these stories later in the season. We’re so grateful for each and every one of these contributors for finding the courage to speak and the wisdom to recognize that we all deserve better than the patriarchy we were raised under.

To begin this series we'll be hearing from three guests: Tiffany Sowby, Chelsea Homer, and an Anonymous Contributor.

Tiffany Sowby (she/her) is the co-host of The Sisterhood Podcast. A few of her favorite things are: Scrabble games, meaningful conversations, and shopping for shoes. She has an unhealthy dependency on Nutella.

Chelsea Homer (she/her) is the founder of Faith Journey Meetups and co-founder of a social club for women and genderqueer people looking for connection outside of religion. She loves to write, hike, and go on bike rides with her family.

When we began Season Two of this project, we had the honor of hearing from an anonymous servicewoman in the US Marine Corps who alerted us to alarming disparity among genders within our nation’s military. In the Marines this included misfit equipment, dismissive stigmas against mothers, and an enshrinement of masculinity that bordered on fanaticism. We were so grateful to this first contributor for opening our eyes to some the patriarchy entangled in our armed forces, and now we want to delve even deeper into that tangle.

On this episode we hear from author and former intelligence officer Kaitlyn Zivanovich who helps us continue unpacking the patriarchal culture of the US Marine Corps. Kaitlyn’s words offer us an in-depth exploration of the ‘manliest’ branch of the military, how their marketing of hyper-masculinity came to be, and how the corps can continue moving forward in its treatment of women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ servicemembers to create a more inclusive military for all.

We have a long way to go in our work of deconstructing oppressive systems, and one of the most challenging aspects of doing this work is being able to look at the pain these systems have already caused and are actively causing. It’s being able to listen to one another’s most difficult stories and do so with courage and compassion, without giving up our hope for the future. We can let these stories be lit as beacons to guide our way. We can let them be lit as a fire that drives us forward.

On today's episode we hold spare for hard stories.

As a caution for listeners, these stories will include explicit discussions of physical and sexual abuse, child marriage, domestic partner violence, and self-harm — and we recognize that this subject matter won’t make for easy listening. But we hope you’ll stay with us because these stories not only spread knowledge and challenge our empathy, they also help us understand how women and nonbinary people can persevere through hardships and still share a light with the world.

We're so grateful to be joined by Red O'Hare and Susan Warren who each share stories of survival.