We take a brief hiatus from our month off from recording to talk about what has been going on behind the scenes with the podcast! We talk about why we decided to make a podcast, the ins-and-outs of how we put each episode together, and how our listeners can help us out by supporting our brand-new Patreon page at patreon.com/kindreds.

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In this longer, year-end episode, we continue our conversation about bodies--but this time we're talking about pregnancy. And one of us makes a big announcement!Pregnancy can be a complicated experience, even when it's planned and even when there are no major physical complications. We talk about the weird ways that pregnancy changes not only our bodies, but also our mental and emotional lives. If that wasn't enough to deal with, pregnancy and childbirth can be very costly depending on where you live, what insurance you have, and what options you have for where to give birth.Speaking of costs, we discuss affordable childcare, paid family leave and our need for national policies that cover both. We discuss Jessica Shortall's "The US needs paid family leave--for the sake of its future" and the gender politics of who gets to take leave--paid or unpaid--when it's available.Connecting to our faith, we talk about our perspectives on Mary the Mother of Jesus. In particular we love Rachel Held Evans's piece she wrote on the Magnificat.http://kindredspodcast.com/2017/12/19/episode-12-pregnancy-and-paid-family-leave/

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We discuss the complicated and often toxic diet, fitness, and "wellness" culture that feeds us the myth that in order to be our best selves, we have to lose weight, get into shape, and achieve our dream bodies.In our pursuits to be "healthy" (meaning thin), we end up doing a lot of unhealthy (and expensive) things! Plus we don't even have a shared understanding of what healthy means--not even among medical professionals. We attach all kinds of character attributes to the way our bodies look and what we do them. If we eat something healthy, we’re “good.” If we eat a treat, we’re “bad.” There's no in between.Achieving health is more than a personal quest. It's also a justice issue. We talk about how systemic poverty forces people to make hard choices between buying healthy food and paying the light bill, especially poor families with young children.We also call out the ways that churches have bought into this toxic diet and fitness culture--and have even profited from it.http://kindredspodcast.com/2017/12/07/episode-11-bodies-health-and-wellness/

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In a follow-up to Episode 2 "Self-Care as Self-Preservation," we take on the topic of mental health. It’s something most of know we need to pay attention to in our own lives, and yet there are a lot of barriers to accessing quality care, especially when we need it most.

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What does it mean to live in the world as white Christian women? We resist the urge to turn away from the discomfort of talking about whiteness and dive into the very real privileges of living as white people. We discuss white culture, the problem of "colorblindness," the system of white supremacy, and what our white faith communities have to say about race.

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What does it mean to bear the burden of emotional labor?  This unpaid, unending work falls disproportionately to women, and it can be hard to define because it depends on the context. At work emotional labor includes adjusting the expressions of your emotions to benefit a colleague or client in a positive way (i.e. “service with a smile").  In relationships it can mean engaging in intensive conversations with friends and loved ones, listening to their problems, being in charge of hosting people when they visit, communicating with children’s teachers and doctors about their care, etc.

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What are the dating dos and don'ts that single people are expected to follow if they're part of a church community? We discuss the experience of dating while Christian, specifically in the more conservative and evangelical world that we grew up in. We pay particular attention to the troubling double standards for men and women that we were taught as young people.

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Can women get along with each other? Whether it’s in the workplace, in friendship, or in church, we’re often told that women are incapable of working well with each other. Is there something to this generalization or is it more of a self-fulfilling prophecy?

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Do you identify as a feminist? If so, what does that mean? We challenge the idea of “choice feminism” while discussing our personal struggles with decisions we’ve made that might not be perceived as “feminist.”

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What’s behind the “modesty rules” for dress in schools and faith communities? How do these explicit and implicit rules impact boys and girls? What about for people of color and those who identify as genderqueer? We explore our curiosities around the gender of clothing and its broader cultural implications.

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