FemmSouth

In light of the feminist uprising that is giving women a resurgence in power and voice, we are still having to hold our ground against dismissal and outright hostility. We still have unanswered questions that history has for too long ignored. Why do we feel disconnected from our bodies and ashamed to seek pleasure? Why do we feel such a deep loss of empowerment over our own bodies as they become more commercialized by mainstream media? Why do we know so little about our own sexual anatomy? Why have women been marginalized in the nursing field for lower pay and criminalized for any attempt to practice medicinal healing outside of the mainstream medical and pharmaceutical industries? The answers to these questions emerge from Anne Llewellyn Barstow’s book, "Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts." In this episode, Amaya and Leigh dive deep into the historical trauma of the execution of a hundred thousand plus women over a two-hundred year span in European and American history. This was a widespread and targeted attack on women’s bodies and agency that does not get enough serious study--“It’s a significant moment in [European] history that people don’t talk enough about…there are no monuments really for this persecution” (Leigh).

Amaya and Leigh discuss the long history of women’s sexuality being vilified and used against them by the church and then the state to keep women’s sources of power in check. We also discuss women’s reliance on their sexuality for resourcing due to men’s control of resources, and how this still plays out today. Reading through these stories of women being accused, tortured, maimed, and killed is gruesome, but also necessary for women to recognize and heal these old wounds and bring feminine energy and power back into balance.

In this episode, we look back at 2018 and what it was like deciding to do a podcast in the south, the emotional roller coaster that comes with putting yourself out there, and launching successfully to our community and the world. What a tremendous endeavor we have taken on! We reflect on the challenges of speaking so openly about our experiences and putting our voices out in the world for the first time. We talk about our launch party success and the amazing energy we felt from the men and women in our community that have either been doing women's work for several decades already, or that are feeling called to activism for the first time.

We discuss true sisterhood and the global, feminist connection. Do we have a responsibility to help women globally and not just ourselves? Of course our answer is a resounding "Absolutely! We can't actually separate ourselves from what's happening in the rest of the world. And the more conscious we become and the more we realize we are all connected, the more we realize we are all affected by what's going on on the other side of the planet" (Beautifully spoken by Amaya).

Our spiritual mothers get a shout out as we ask them to think about mentoring young women and women that are new to the feminist movement. We recognize that "having elders that we respect for their wisdom and for their support--we don't really get that in our culture" (Amaya).

We then look ahead at some of our upcoming podcast episodes and discuss the topics we are currently interested in exploring like motherhood, emotional intelligence & anger, and individual & collective trauma. We are going to be exploring new books along with these topics. We welcome your thoughts as well. What do you want to hear from us?

Please subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, and visit our website at FemmSouth.com. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and [email protected]. We want to hear from you!

Leigh and Amaya dive into Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's book, "Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species." They discuss the female's active role in reproduction across species, they look at allomothers and communal support for motherhood, and they consider reproductive rights, female sexuality, and female choice in alignment with nature. For more information, visit us at FemmSouth.com or follow us on Instagram & Facebook.

Building on Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's concepts of female choice and agency in evolution, Amaya and Leigh discuss reproductive rights with former abortion worker, Anne (pseudonym). They all talk openly about their own abortions in order to break the taboo and shame surrounding the topic, and offer ideas to support women in their reproductive choices regardless of whether to have the baby or not. They talk about the challenges women in Alabama face when making the choice to have an abortion, and how our conversations in the south need to change to allow for open dialogue, support, and healing. For more information, visit us at FemmSouth.com or follow us on Instagram & Facebook.

Amaya and Leigh interview local women that participated in Baldwin County's very own Handmaid's resistance, protesting Roy Moore's campaign for the 2017 Alabama Senate election. Mette McCall, Lyza Davidson, and Hanh Hua talk about their passion for protesting his candidacy and for supporting the #MeToo movement. They question female republican voters that supported Moore despite allegations of sexual misconduct with minors, and they talk openly about the challenges of speaking progressive ideas in a predominately right-wing, conservative community. For more information, visit us at FemmSouth.com or follow us on Instagram & Facebook.

The Handmaid's Tale is the next book on our feminist book club's list, and we discuss its current significance and the #MeToo Movement. We look at how themes in the book are connected to the movement and other current political issues. We look deep into what the movement is really about, and we debunk the myth that the movement has gone too far as we discuss the more subtle manifestations of misogyny and exploitation understood by Atwood when she wrote her book. For more information, visit us at FemmSouth.com or follow us on Instagram & Facebook.

Amaya and Leigh have the great pleasure of interviewing River Blue Lotus, a local Tantrica and Tantric couples coach. River has a degree in contemplative psychotherapy from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, was raised in a Goddess centered community, and has been helping couples go deeper into their relationships through a Tantric approach to therapy. She goes deep into trauma and healing trauma through connecting with, taking care of, and loving the vagina. She also offers her views on porn and talks about helping couples move away from a dependence on or addiction to practices that inhibit presence in their relationships. For more information, visit us at FemmSouth.com or follow us on Instagram & Facebook.

Join us as Amaya and Leigh discuss Naomi Wolf's book, Vagina. We talk about female sexuality and the connection between the vagina and inspiration, healing, and transcendence. We look at the historically repressed and traumatized vagina, the porn industry, and then we shift to the last half of Wolf's book where she discusses the Goddess Array, which is honoring the feminine and bringing intimacy and connection back to the forefront of women's sexuality. For more information, visit us at FemmSouth.com or follow us on Instagram & Facebook.

In this episode, Leigh and Amaya go out into the community to ask people their views on feminism. Listen as they interview men and women of all ages to see what they think feminism means, to discuss their associations with the word feminism, especially in the south, and to find out if they do indeed identify with feminist ideology. Surprise interviewees include feminist writer, Anne Kent Rush and Civil Rights activist and writer, Bob Zellner. For more information, visit us at FemmSouth.com or follow us on Instagram & Facebook.

Amaya and Leigh launch their podcast with this first episode about what it's like being a feminist living in the deep south and how southern women need to become more active in the current conversations. Amaya and Leigh discuss the challenges of being raised in the south and speaking out for women's rights, and their calling for doing women's work and healing the feminine and the masculine. For more information, visit us at FemmSouth.com or follow us on Instagram & Facebook.