Hello, and welcome to the Big Sister Hotline! We’re back this week with the wonderful LAUREN LATELY! Lauren is a public servant and book lover who lives in Canberra on Nunnawal Country, and she’s become prolific in the fight against health misinformation in a Covid era. 

Lauren and I talk here about vaccines (WHICH WE LOVE), the scourge of wellness women and toxic positivity, and the use of social media to build communities. From little sisters, we answer questions about feeling insecure and judged by our peers, and why we need to rethink words and concepts like ‘classy’.

You can follow Lauren here:

Instagram: @lauren.lately

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains discussion of racism, colonisation, and reference to Aboriginal deaths from Covid. There is also a question that relate to stalking and threatening behaviour.

Hello, and welcome to the Big Sister Hotline! I took a break last week because I was recording my audio book (HOW WE LOVE, out on November 2!) But I’m back this week, and joined by the very wonderful RACHEL MCPHAIL! 

Rachel is a proud Gomeroi woman and activist, whose campaign to establish a database of First Nations place names in addresses very quickly became one of the most popular petitions on Change.org.

In this episode, Rachel talks about the importance of preserving the knowledge of Aboriginal elders, and deferring to Aboriginal leadership. We discuss how systemic change is possible if we just have political will. From Little Sisters, we answer questions about how to overcome heartbreak (with no small amount of help from Taylor Swift), and how patriarchy has conditioned girls and women to see relationships as being the thing that completes them rather than something that complements their life. We also address a question about concerning behaviour from a wannabe male suitor. 

You can follow Rachel here:

Instagram: @place_names_in_addresses

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

#placenamesinaddresses

#systemicchange

#firstnationsvoices

#identity

#taylorswift

#heartbreak

#maleentitlement

#feminism

#podcast

#rachelmcphail

#clementineford

#bigsister

#bigsisterhotline

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains discussion of gender dysphoria, transphobia and a brief reference to eating disorders.

Hello, and welcome to the Big Sister Hotline! We’re coming to you from Melbourne, home of lockdowns, riots and earthquakes! It is a very strange time to be alive!!!

What has made it easier this week is reading the BEAUTIFUL new memoir “All About Yves: Notes From A Transition”, by the extraordinary Dr. Yves Rees. At the age of 30, Rees became aware that they were trans. Their memoir is a stunning journey through identity, self awareness and how one can strive to ‘live the questions’ in their life. 

In this episode, we talk about the power of trans narratives, trans joy and how disrupting regressive ideas of gender is liberating for humanity as a whole. We also address a question from a listener who is questioning their gender identity, and how disrupting hierarchies of power is reflected in gender diverse and non conforming people. This is a joyful episode!

You can follow Dr. Rees here:

Instagram: @yves_rees

Twitter: @yvesrees

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

#gender

#genderdiversity

#transnarratives

#transjoy

#transpeople

#power

#privilege

#feminism

#podcast

#yvesrees

#clementineford

#bigsister

#bigsisterhotline

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, and welcome BACK to the Big Sister Hotline! I’ve been on hiatus for a few months, partly because I was taking time off to finish my book (out on November 3!) and partly because of lockdown fatigue. But here we are, launching back into the hotline with enthusiasm and vitality! 

In this first episode back, I’m joined by the phenomenal AJA BARBER. She’s a writer, an activist and a content creator using her platform to campaign for true change in the fashion industry and its deplorable oppression of the global south, or as she would have it, the world’s ‘traditionally pillaged’ countries. Her Instagram video, ‘Why performative allyship is triggering’, which called out brands and influencers for monetising the BLM movement, has accumulated over one million views. In her debut book, “CONSUMED: On colonialism, climate change, consumerism and the need for collective change, she lays out an unimpeachable argument against supporting fast fashion and the brands who clog up the world’s waterways and landfills with it. It’s a horrifying and absolutely necessary read, and in this conversation we talk about the social imperative we face to undo the impact of this industry.

Some facts discussed:

* It takes 5000 gallons of water to make just one t shirt and pair of jeans - so how much water is wasted every year churning out clothes that are worn once or twice before being thrown away?

* The millions of clothes we discard every year in op shops and recycling bins largely end up in landfill in the backyards of people in the Global South, or as she calls it, “traditionally pillaged countries”.

* In 2018 alone, H&M recorded $4.3 BILLION of unsold stock. And to put that in perspective (and as Aja told me) the length of one billion one dollar notes laid out end to end would wrap around the earth four times - meaning the cost of unsold stock for just one fast fashion company in one year alone would wrap around the earth SIXTEEN TIMES.

This is before we even talk about the inhumane abuse of garment workers, none of whom see even a smidge of the profits billionaires at the top accrue.

You can follow Aja here:

Instagram: @ajabarber

FB: @karenpickering

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ajabarber

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November 2020, an Instagram account began to publish anonymous stories of harassment, abuse and

assault in the Australian music industry.These were stories that journalist Ruby Jones had heard whispers about

before. But when she started looking into them, she found that the allegations were much worse than she had

thought, and that they were an open secret in the music industry. Everybody Knows is a new five-part podcast

series from the makers of Australia's number one daily news podcast, 7am. Follow Ruby as she investigates

what has held back the MeToo Movement in Australia, and whether this new wave of women speaking out could

be the start of a true reckoning. 

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains discussion of men’s violence against women, sexual assault, rape, historical allegations, and reference to suicide

I’m joined this week by one of my friends and Hotline alum, the marvellous Karen Pickering! Karen is a feminist organiser, an author, host of the feminist salon Churchez La Femme and all round excellent human. We had a frank and candid chat in my kitchen about the disastrous state of affairs with misogyny in Australian politics right now. Imagine you were overhearing our angered conversation in a cafe, discussing all the ways Scott Morrison fails to represent the women of this country, how sexism exists on both sides of the political spectrum and what it means to see rape culture expressed so brazenly in the highest office in the land - that’s what this conversation is.

But it’s also good humoured, warm hearted and funny, just like your big sisters should be! It’s a conversation we need to keep having, because nothing will change unless we make it.

You can follow Karen here:

Instagram: @karenpickering

FB: @karenpickering

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/KarenPickeringFeminist

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

HELPLINES:

ACT — Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 6247 2525

New South Wales — NSW Rape Crisis Centre 1800 424 017 or NSW Health Sexual Assault Services (visit web page to find the number in your local area)

Northern Territory — Department of Health, Sexual Assault Referral Centres

Queensland — Sexual Assault Helpline 1800 010 120

South Australia — Yarrow Place Rape and Sexual Assault Service (08) 8226 8777 or 1800 817 421 freecall

Tasmania — Sexual Assault Support Service 1800 697 877

Victoria — Sexual Assault Crisis Line 1800 806 292

Western Australia — Sexual Assault Resource Centre (08) 6458 1828 or free call 1800 199 888

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains discussion of men’s violence against women, domestic abuse, domestic homicide and men’s behavioural change

In this week’s episode, my wonderful friend Ada Conroy welcomed me into her kitchen to discuss men’s behavioural change, domestic abuse, working in the family violence sector and how our own shame can be confronted to create meaningful change and accountability.

Ada does incredibly important work in the family violence sector, and shares some of her nuggets of wisdom with me. My favourites from this episode are:

• Sorry is a behaviour, not a word
• We are planting seeds in a forest we may not get to spend time in
• If you’re going to bang your head against a brick wall, try to do it where there’s a crack

We also talk about Buffy and its toxic creator Joss Whedon, asking what does it mean to separate art from the artist.

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains discussion of fatphobia, eating disorders and disordered eating, sexual experiences involving men’s desires that may be triggering for some people

Hurrah! This week’s episode features the amazing Cara MacB, creator of the brilliant “OBCC Helpline”. As Nanny MacB, she uses TikTok and Instagram to call out fatphobia in an hysterically funny way. We have an incredible conversation in this episode about how people end up co-opted into internalised systems of hatred: internalised fatphobia, misogyny and adherence to patriarchy. Cara and I discuss the choices we can make as parents to change the patterns we both learned about food and bodies when we were growing up and the concept of loving the inside of your body as well as the outside. What does it mean for our relationships with other women - and in particular, our mothers - when we make the (sometimes scary!) choice to walk away from diet culture.

From little sisters, we answered questions about what makes a ‘decent’ man (for those of us unfortunate enough to be attracted to them lololol) and what to do if your new boyfriend’s sexual repertoire is not just out of a porn handbook but how self care extends to the kind of sex we’re willing to tolerate. 

I really love this episode and I know you will too!

Follow Cara on Instagram: @nannymacb

Follow Cara on TikTok: @nannymacb

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, I’m proud to welcome to the Hotline an incredible educator, anti-racism activist, mother and friend KIRSTY RUTHERFORD! Kirsty is a passionate anti racism activist who educates people daily on Instagram, and she joined me to talk about all these things. 

From little sisters, we answered questions about how to deal with the mad that you feel and channel it into something healing, and also how to set boundaries from the get go with potential partners who have experienced a lot of cis-het male privilege in their lives. 

Follow Kirsty on Instagram: @quirkykirkyruthers

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

APRIL HELENE HORTON aka THE BODZILLA returns to the hotline for her second appearance! April has recently become the face of Curvy Swimwear, the first plus size bikini model to feature on a billboard in Australia. What a win! She joined me to talk about what young April would think of this, finding joy in life and how to drown out the haters. 

From little sisters, we answered questions about how to deal with your friend’s loser boyfriend and how to move on from a relationship where you experienced gaslighting, emotional abuse and a lack of support from friends.

Follow April on Instagram: @thebodzilla

Feedback/Question submission: [email protected]

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Follow Clem on Instagram & Facebook

Subscribe to her Dear Clementine Substack

Join her Patreon

This podcast is part of the Kind Regards Network. Follow @kindregardsnetwork to stay in the loop, meet your next audio obsession, and more.

Interested in collaborating? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we’d love to hear from you.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.