Messy Liberation: Feminist Conversations about Politics and Pop Culture

In this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown sit down with data and analytics professional Millie to explore why data is never as neutral as it looks — and why that matters for everyone. From biased medical studies and skewed incarceration stats to the politics of AI, the census, and your personal data being sold without your consent, this conversation connects the dots between numbers on a screen and the power structures shaping our lives.

In This Episode, We Get Into:
• Why data isn't neutral, and how human bias gets baked in at every stage of collection, analysis, and presentation
• How manipulated charts, skewed infographics, and decontextualized research statistics mislead the public
• Real-world examples of data bias causing serious harm: medication dosages, Plan B effectiveness, census undercounting, and school funding
• The deeply troubling way incarceration data is used to reinforce racist narratives about Black and brown communities
• How AI inherits and amplifies data bias, and why "garbage in, garbage out" is a phrase everyone should know
• What data literacy actually looks like, and how to become a smarter, more critical consumer of statistics and studies
• The GDPR, browser cookies, and why your personal data is already a product being sold without your cut
• How to use public open data resources (like NYC Open Data) to engage with information in your community

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In this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown sit down with Sarah Heeter — podcast producer, strategist, and founder of PodFox Media — to dig into the deeply political nature of the podcasting world. From who gets to profit and who gets erased by the algorithm, to how podcasts are reshaping elections and what your listening habits actually mean, this is the intersectional feminist media analysis you didn't know you needed.

In This Episode, We Get Into:
• Why podcasting is a political medium, even when the content has nothing to do with politics
• The gatekeeping problem: who profits most from podcasting (spoiler: it's mostly white men) and what that means for independent creators
• How the 2020 celebrity podcast boom reshaped the entire industry, and who it left behind
• The 2024 election strategy of using podcasts as campaign tools, and what that means for democracy and misinformation
• The responsibility of podcast hosts and producers to vet guests, set core values, and decide what they put their name on
• Why podcast listeners are disproportionately persuadable and what top creators are doing with that influence
• How consumers and independent creators can make intentional, values-aligned choices in both what they listen to and who they platform
• The power of community resources like the Feminist Podcasters Collective to amplify marginalized indie voices
• Why 50 loyal podcast listeners means more than 100K TikTok views, and how to think about audience depth vs. follower counts
• The unresolved questions about video podcasting, transcripts, AI, and accessibility that are already shaping who can participate in this space

Resources Mentioned:
• PodFox Media: https://podfoxmedia.com/
• Big Brave Business podcast: https://bigbravebusiness.com/
• Feminist Podcasters Collective: https://feministpodcastcollective.com
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/
• Listen Notes: https://www.listennotes.com/

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In this episode of Messy Liberation, host Becky Mollenkamp sits down with comedian and writer Mx. Dahlia Belle to pull back the curtain on the deeply political world of stand-up comedy. From gatekeeping and blacklisting to biased algorithms and the consent politics of who gets to make jokes about whom, this conversation is an essential intersectional feminist guide to understanding comedy as a site of power and resistance.

In This Episode, We Get Into:
• How Mx. Dahlia Belle went from writing a viral Guardian piece about Dave Chappelle to appearing on Hannah Gadsby's Netflix special Gender Agenda, and what happened to their career immediately after
• Why comedy is a pyramid scheme: how the most powerful comics in any scene control who gets booked, who gets stage time, and who gets shut out
• The self-replicating myth that women and trans people "aren't funny," and how internalized bias keeps marginalized audiences away from shows that could change that
• How biased algorithms compound gatekeeping, and what it means when a comic's social media following matters more than their actual craft
• The nuanced take on punching up vs. punching down, and why Mx. Dahlia Belle's real gauge is whether the joke lands for someone who loves them and someone who hates them
• The violence and predation inside comedy scenes, and how it was the women who blew the whistle on abusers who got blacklisted, not the abusers themselves
• Why stand-up is uniquely inseparable from the artist's character, and why "separating the art from the artist" doesn't work the same way for comedy as it does for painting or fiction
• The concept of consent in comedy: who has the right to tell a joke about a particular identity, and what it means when that consent is absent
• Where to actually find queer and alt comedy in your city (and why you should probably boycott your local mainstream comedy club)
• Why marginalized people tend to be more creative, funnier, and more imaginative because survival demands it

Resources Mentioned:
• Mx. Dahlia Belle's "Dear Dave Chappelle" piece for the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/oct/09/dave-chappelle-letter-trans-comedian-netflix
• Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81607199
• "The Algorithms of Opression" by Safiya Umoja Noble: https://amzn.to/439nUPL
• Comedian Devi Kersh: https://www.instagram.com/devikirsch/
• Comedian Sir Lance Edward: https://www.instagram.com/sir_lance_edward_comedy/
• Mx. Dahlia Belle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MX.DAHLIABELLE/
• Mx. Dahlia Belle on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@mx.dahliabelle/
• Mx. Dahla Belle on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mxdahliabelle

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In this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown sit down with personal stylist and body liberation advocate Dacy Gillespie of Mindful Closet to unpack the deeply political nature of fashion and clothing. From workplace dress codes rooted in white supremacy to the impossible standards placed on larger bodies, the return of "heroin chic," modesty culture, and the radical act of letting your hair go gray — this conversation is for anyone who has ever stood in their closet feeling like nothing fits, nothing's allowed, and nothing will ever be enough.

In This Episode, We Get Into:

• How Dacy's mother organizing workers in a sewing factory planted the seed for her life's work — and why she was raised to believe caring about clothes was shameful
• The way workplace "professionalism" is really just a dress code for "look as much like a white man as possible" — and who pays the price for deviating from it
• Fashion as code-switching: the daily calculation people of color, trans folks, and anyone outside the norm make about how much of themselves to reveal
• Trayvon Martin and the deadly, literal consequences of what you're wearing
• Why Dacy won't tell you what's "flattering" — and why her forthcoming book is called Unflattering
• The return of 90s "heroin chic" body ideals and the terror of watching it happen again in the age of GLP-1s
• Size scarcity: why plus-size people are often left with ten moomoos and good luck — including the callout of Lucy and Yak removing their 4X sizing
• Modesty, the Missouri House's no-bare-shoulders rule, and how women's bodies are treated as a liability in public spaces
• What Chappell Roan at the Grammys has to do with the sexual double standard
• Aging, perimenopause, and the radical act of collecting images of women who actually look like you
• Why your mental health and feeling good in your body is always the top priority — even if that means buying from Target

Resources Mentioned:

• Dacy Gillespie: https://www.mindfulcloset.com/
• Dacy's Substack newsletter, "Unflattering": https://dacygillespie.substack.com/
• "The Body Is Not an Apology" by Sonya Renee Taylor: https://amzn.to/4uNa3L8
• Dress for Success Midwest: https://midwest.dressforsuccess.org/

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In this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown sit down with registered dietitian and nutritionist Shana Spence — known as @thenutritiontea on Instagram and Threads — to dig into the deeply political nature of food access, diet culture, and nutrition misinformation. From food deserts and SNAP cuts to GLP-1s and white supremacy's grip on body standards, this conversation connects the dots between what ends up on your plate and the systems of power that put it there (or don't).

In This Episode, We Get Into:
• What a food desert actually is, and why even dense urban areas like New York City and Atlanta have them
• How redlining, gerrymandering, and structural racism shape which communities have access to grocery stores
• The layered barriers to food access: disability, transportation, language, income, and more
• Why "just grow your own food" and other individualist advice is completely disconnected from reality
• The explosion of GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic and Wegovy) and whether we're in pursuit of health or just thinness
• How diet culture is rooted in white supremacy and Eurocentric beauty standards
• The SNAP cuts in the "Big Beautiful Bill" and the domino effect on food insecurity and health outcomes
• Why seed oils have been debunked as harmful, and how nutrition misinformation spreads
• Lab-grown food, GMOs, and what a more just food future could actually look like
• Shana's core message: how you eat is individual, not a moral failing

Resources Mentioned:
• "Live Nourished: Make Peace with Food, Banish Body Shame and Reclaim Joy" by Shana Spence: https://amzn.to/4e1QlEf
• "Anti-Diet" by Christy Harrison: https://amzn.to/4vjQhXj
• "Fearing the Black Body" by Sabrina Strings: https://amzn.to/4vhq9MM
• "The Body Liberation Project" by Chrissy King: https://amzn.to/4dEzp7O
• Shana's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenutritiontea/
• Shana's Threads: https://www.threads.com/@thenutritiontea
• The Nutrition Tea (Shana's Substack: https://substack.com/@thenutritiontea

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In this episode of Messy Liberation's Everything is Political series, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown are joined by Erica Clahar (founder of Uni Feeds) and Gwen Nolan (founder of Mother Compost) to explore the deeply political world of waste — from food waste and hunger to environmental racism, composting access, and the planned obsolescence built into capitalism. If you've ever wondered why trash is a feminist issue, this conversation will make everything click.

In This Episode, We Get Into:
• How 40% of the U.S. food supply gets thrown away every year while 40 million people remain food insecure (and why that number is chronically under-reported)
• The origin stories of two women who saw a problem and built organizations to solve it, not monetize it
• Environmental racism in real time: why landfills, incinerators, and illegal dumping disproportionately harm Black and brown communities
• The Coldwater Creek landfill situation in St. Louis as a case study in who bears the burden of waste
• The Chester, PA incineration fight, and what it means that Pennsylvania's constitution guarantees the right to clean air and water
• Individual responsibility vs. corporate and government accountability, and why both matter, but not equally
• Planned obsolescence, consumer culture, and how capitalism designed our throwaway society on purpose
• Indigenous and collective wisdom as a model for a caretaking economy — and how white supremacist capitalism broke that relationship
• Practical things you can actually do: composting, freezing leftovers, buy-nothing challenges, and sharing with neighbors
• Why slowing down and making intentional choices might be the most radical act you can do right now

Resources Mentioned:
• Umi Feeds: https://umifeeds.org/
• Mother Compost: https://mothercompost.com/
• ReFed: https://refed.org/
• Feeding America: https://www.feedingamerica.org/
• Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR): https://ilsr.org/
• Drawdown: https://drawdown.org/
• "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer: https://amzn.to/3Q0j5oG
• "The Serviceberry" by Robin Wall Kimmerer: https://amzn.to/4u92BZG
• "Emergent Strategy" by adrienne maree brown: https://amzn.to/4fpltjr

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In this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown sit down with Dr. Han Ren, a licensed psychologist and author of the upcoming book The Hyphenated Life, to explore why therapy is inherently political. They discuss the systemic barriers to accessing quality mental health care, how politics shapes therapeutic practice, the dangers of pathologizing trauma responses, and why "therapy speak" often reinforces white supremacy. If you've ever struggled to find a therapist who truly understands your lived experience — or wondered why the mental health field feels so disconnected from issues of justice — this conversation is essential listening.

In This Episode, We Get Into:

• Why therapy and psychology have always been political — even when grad school pretends otherwise
• How Dr. Han Ren started creating mental health content on TikTok in 2020 to fill gaps in representation
• The exhausting reality of finding a therapist who understands your marginalized identities
• Why therapists can no longer afford to keep their values "close to the chest" — it's a safety issue
• How politics directly impacts what happens in the therapy room (and why that matters)
• The concept of imposter phenomenon and how it disproportionately affects people from marginalized communities
• Why pathologizing trauma responses is a form of social control
• How "therapy speak" reinforces white supremacy and individualism
• The model minority myth and how different communities are villainized by mental health narratives
• Why healing is for everyone, but therapy doesn't have a monopoly on healing
• The role of self-love, community, grief, and "doing the reps" in real healing

Resources Mentioned:

• The Hyphenated Life by Dr. Han Ren: https://amzn.to/3RhbmmF
• Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa: https://amzn.to/3PTXnml
• Dr. Han Ren's website: https://www.drhanren.com/
• Dr. Han Ren on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drhanren
• Dr. Han Ren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.han.ren/

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In this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown sit down with equity strategist and executive coach Danielle Marshall to explore the art of having difficult conversations across political and ideological divides. They discuss the limitations of echo chambers, the difference between engagement and community, and why being able to hold multiple perspectives — even when you disagree — is essential for creating real change. If you've ever struggled with whether to engage someone whose views challenge yours, this conversation offers a refreshing framework for navigating disagreement without sacrificing your values.

In This Episode, We Get Into:

• Why echo chambers feel safe but can be limiting — and when that matters
• The difference between engaging with people and bringing them into your inner community
• How to set a clear goal before entering a challenging conversation
• Marjorie Taylor Greene as a real-time case study in people changing their minds (yes, really)
• Why we're so afraid to be wrong — and how binary thinking keeps us stuck
• The burden of trying to convince everyone to see things your way
• How cancel culture makes it harder to hold space for nuance and change
• Everything is political: how even your garbage and clothing choices are political acts
• Why "convincing you is not my ministry" might be the most freeing phrase you hear today
• How to ask yourself: Is this perspective serving me — and how is it working for me?

Danielle Marshall's website: culture-principles.com

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Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown celebrate reaching 100 episodes of Messy Liberation, the feminist podcast dedicated to helping listeners understand the world through an intersectional feminist lens. In this milestone live episode, they reflect on two years of consistent conversations about pop culture, politics, social justice, and the power of slow, sustainable activism.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE GET INTO:

• Celebrating 100 episodes and why most podcasts don't make it this far
• The origin story: how Becky and Taina met and decided to start a podcast together
• What keeps the show sustainable and consistent over two years
• How personal growth and social progress both require a long-term lens
• The power of showing up in your life and relationships, even in small ways
• Why "everything is political" and how that framework changes how we move through the world
• The upcoming "Everything Is Political" series covering topics like composting, fashion, data analysis, and therapy
• Honoring your capacity and burnout prevention in activism and creative work
• Reflecting on monumental personal growth that only becomes visible over time
• The importance of community touchpoints and consistent spaces for learning and connection

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Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown unpack the controversy around the Kevin Hart roast, exploring why comedy that punches down reinforces harmful power dynamics. They discuss how roasts, jokes about women's bodies, and casual misogyny contribute to a larger cultural moment where rights and representation are being systematically stripped away—and why pushing back matters now more than ever.

In This Episode, We Get Into:

• Why roasts make us uncomfortable (and why that matters)
• The difference between punching up, punching laterally, and punching down in comedy
• How jokes about women's bodies and Black women's intelligence don't exist in a vacuum
• The connection between rape culture humor and the loss of reproductive rights
• Why "it's just a joke" is never just a joke when power dynamics are at play
• How comedy can either challenge or reinforce oppressive systems
• The importance of asking "what's funny about that?" when jokes cross the line
• Why people with privilege need to be the ones speaking up in rooms where marginalized people are the target
• How cultural moments like this contribute to the normalization of racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism
• Ways to push back without being aggressive—and why it matters

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