Call Your Girlfriend

How a functional piece of grammar says so much about the fight for gender equality and better representation for non binary and trans people. We learn about pronoun best practices and how progressive linguists are fighting for better words and more creative expression. If you’ve been wondering… is “they” a good stand-in when you don’t know someone’s gender or pronouns? How do I ask for people’s pronouns? If someone uses she/her does that mean she identifies as a woman? But isn’t “they” a grammatically incorrect singular? We get into all these questions and more.

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Writer and rock critic Jessica Hopper joins us to crate dig through some archives we have and some that we need. From the inbox appearance that sparked her friendship with Ann, to untold histories of women in arts and music, to the power of the year 1975 for women writing songs and playing them. Plus, Joni Mitchell, problematic fave.

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We talk with author, organizer, doula, emergent strategist and podcast co-host adrienne maree brown about doing good while feeling good and her new book, Pleasure Activism.

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We’re talking about legal efforts to extend the #MeToo conversation beyond firing men who behaved badly. And we’re exploring policies that can actually foster more inclusive work environments. Plus, we talk to the co-author of the inclusion rider, attorney Kalpana Kotagal.

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We talk about books we love in genres we don't often cover: poetry, graphic memoir, short stories and essays. Ali Liebegott talks with Ann about her poetry collection, The Summer of Dead Birds. Aminatou interviews Mira Jacob about her graphic memoir, Good Talk. Gina speaks with Xuan Juliana Wang about her collection of short stories, Home Remedies. And Briallen Hopper joins Aminatou to talk about her book of essays, Hard to Love. What are you reading? Tag #cygbooks to share your current faves.

Reading List:

The Summer of Dead Birds by Ali Liebegott

Good Talk by Mira Jacob

Hybrida by Tina Chang

Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang

Hard to Love by Briallen Hopper

The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory (coming in July)

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

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Futurists are not only white guys who give self-congratulatory TED talks. Everything from political appeals to Instagram ads are pitching us on a vision of the future. Rose Eveleth of Flash Forward expands our notion of what futurism can be, and how we can pry it away from arch capitalists and tech billionaires.

Rose’s podcast Flash Forward is everywhere you listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more.

This special edition of CYG includes excerpts from these Flash Forward episodes:

• Money for Nothing
• Snip Snip Snip
• Countless
• What to Expect When You’re Expecting in Space
• Farm to Tablet
• California Dreaming
• Deceptible Me

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We reflect on how making Call Your Girlfriend has changed our friendship, and revisit some of the cringeworthy, hilarious, depressing, and proud moments we've had in five years of making this show.

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Constant smart phone use may not be great for us, but what are we supposed to do instead? Artist and writer Jenny Odell explores how we reclaim our time and attention in her new book, How to Do Nothing.

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Women's pain is frequently dismissed or underestimated by the medical establishment. Research into drugs and their effects often have few or no female subjects, meaning too little is known about symptoms specific to female-assigned bodies. So it's all too easy for doctors to treat those symptoms as psychological. Author Maya Dusenbery shares some disturbing stats from her research and what they mean for women's lives: how the average autoimmune patient goes four years and sees four doctors before receiving a diagnosis. How endometriosis affects one in 10 women, but takes patients over a decade to diagnose. Plus, how all this systemic pressure makes women feel like they have to be the perfect patient.

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We open our topic suggestion box and talk about women's drinking and sobriety, lifehacks, therapy, and friendship with men. Note: in discussing alcohol and Men™, we mention sexual assault.

Links

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

The real reason why women drink (2016)

The new face of risky drinking is female (2013)

Digit app

iPhone screentime settings

Libby app for library books

ATM shake

Mentalhealth.gov

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Find a Therapist through Psychology Today or GoodTherapy.org

Ask your therapist about sliding scale pricing!

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