Reclaiming: the podcast

In the late 90s, a new genre of music rose from the ashes of grunge. Labeled nu-metal, it was different from anything anyone had heard - it had loud, aggressive guitars, funky and jazzy beats and samples, electronic backgrounds, and hip hop vocals that evoked  similar angst to punk and grunge. To the chagrin of many metal purists, it was often lumped within their diverse genre - but we know the MTV-fueled fanbase went wider than that. And thus - the basis of our nostalgia as we close out a year that felt oddly reminiscent of that chaotic, “I don’t know what to call it” energy.

This week, I’m joined by Eric and his lifelong best friend Josh to discuss what we remembered and loved about this controversial genre. So slip on that Adidas tracksuit and let’s get rollin’.

Music video referenced in the episode: Mudvayne, “Dig, 1997 (youtube.com/watch?v=YIqbdnaPcT8)

Sources

For 51 days in 1993, the FBI and ATF were in an increasingly tense standoff with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, an extreme far-right religious sect, outside of Waco, Texas. After a search and arrest warrant led to a gunfight leaving 10 dead, negotiators and tactical teams squared off about how to get the Branch Davidians out safely for nearly two months. 

Ultimately, the Waco siege culminated in tragedy, reframing how America looks at paramilitary responses from the government and reinforcing the distrust of government in far-right groups, and we are still dealing with both of these realities almost 30 years later.

This week, we are covering the siege at Waco. 

CW: Cults, physical and sexual abuse, violence, suicide, death, drugs, gun violence.

SOURCES

https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/waco-siege

https://www.vox.com/2016/1/5/10714746/waco-ruby-ridge-oregon

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/flashback-waco-cult-showdown-ends-in-disaster-124074/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/survivors-1993-waco-siege-describe-happened-fire-ended/story?id=52034435

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-waco-review-20180124-story.html

Incels, or involuntary celibates, are men online who believe that their inability to get laid is because of feminism and women being told they can be choosy with who they want to bone. They believe they are entitled to sex with women, and think they are victimized by women not choosing them - especially with the ease of access with dating apps like Tinder. Incels have a whole lexicon and ecosystem of belief, and while some people want to dig into why they act the way they do (psychologically/cognitively speaking), I do not believe we should lower our guard to accommodate them. This episode is pretty contrary to what many academics think about incels, but in my defense, I am a woman who has been targeted by five, and I do not have a single ounce of patience for letting people in this community off the hook for upholding violent hatred toward women - which, in some instances, leads to their deaths.

Intro song by Remmington Taylor [@rmmngtn] 

SOURCES

• New York Magazine article about Chad plastic surgery: https://www.thecut.com/2019/05/incel-plastic-surgery.html#_ga=2.236068609.1099129.1686450914-1019612733.1678217377 
• Want a good 35-min overview? WATCH THIS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0
• https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-rage-of-the-incels
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-a-new-home/202301/new-research-on-why-incels-hate-women
• Predictors of Radical Intentions among Incels: A Survey of 54 Self-identified Incels
• S Moskalenko, N Kates, JFG González, M Bloom - Journal of Online Trust and Safety, 2022
• https://unherd.com/2020/06/incels-could-become-the-new-vikings/
• https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/an-interview-with-naama-kates-who?utm_source=direct&r=s2bqk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
• https://msmagazine.com/2023/04/09/incel-violence-women-misogyny-white-supremacy-online/
• https://www.psypost.org/2023/06/new-study-identifies-sexual-frustration-as-a-significant-factor-in-mass-shootings-164391

In June 1969, cops raided the Stonewall Inn, which ignited days of street protests and led to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front. Stonewall was only the breaking point — there were several other acts of civil disobedience that laid the groundwork for the Stonewall riots to affect real change. Furthermore, many of the tactics used by GLF and queer activists were directly borrowed from Black men civil rights leaders.

Although now it’s a month to don all the glitter and rainbows and fans we can find, it’s also important to remember that it was the riotous, revolutionary spirit that launched this important commemoration of queer love, and if there’s ever a time to embody that spirit, it’s now - when LGBTQ+ rights are disappearing in front of our eyes.

Intro song by Remmington Taylor [IG: @rmmngtn]

SOURCES

https://www.si.edu/stories/marsha-johnson-sylvia-rivera-and-history-pride-month

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/stonewall-uprising-ignited-modern-lgbtq-rights-movement

https://qz.com/1316793/a-lesson-on-civility-from-the-stonewall-riots

https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/03/01/stonewall-riots-mark-segal-veteran-queer-lgbt/

https://www.npca.org/articles/3329-why-stonewall-matters-now-more-than-ever

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/nyregion/stonewall-riots-nypd.html

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190625-stonewall-riots-the-beacon-for-people-around-the-world

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/us/stonewall-riots-gay-pride.html

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/stonewall?utm_source=si.edu&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=story 

https://www.history.com/news/lgbtq-uprisings-before-stonewall-riots 

https://news.yahoo.com/different-fight-same-goal-black-093010982.html

Let’s talk about the Madonna–Whore Complex, first coined by Sigmund Freud to represent two separate, sexual “buckets” women fall into: the Madonna—a wholly virtuous, maternal, pure, and chaste woman—and the whore—a promiscuous, seductive, and degraded woman. The issue with this understanding of female sexuality is that it lies in polarized perceptions of women in general as either “good” or “bad,” and the dichotomy divides women's humanity into two neat and tidy categories that don't overlap. But what it completely misses is that our sexuality lies on a spectrum, and the complex is deeply harmful for women, especially Black and trans women.

Intro song by Remmington Taylor [IG: @rmmngtn] 

SOURCES

https://www.mic.com/articles/133400/being-a-rizzo-in-a-sandy-world 

https://www.34st.com/article/2021/01/freud-madonna-whore-complex-black-women-trans-women-sex-sexuality 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/madonna-whore-complex-sexist_b_6108750de4b0497e67027480 

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2021/02/madonna-whore-complex-still-alive-straight-men-denying-women-basic

https://www.michigandaily.com/statement/sex-or-scripture-the-madonna-whore-complex/

https://etherealmagazine.net/culture/what-is-the-madonna-whore-complexand-how-do-we-defeat-it

Welcome to Reclaiming: the podcast! Start here. :)

Like Edward and Bella, our modern-day patriarchy depends on capitalism and capitalism depends on our modern-day patriarchy. It is a deeply f*cked up, toxic, co-dependent love story. My opinion, and that of many others, is that to be a feminist and anti-patriarchy activist you also need to take a long hard look at capitalism (which includes girlboss feminism), the second shift, and how exploitative it is to women and other marginalized workers. So let’s talk about it, shall we?

Audre Lorde, The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House, 1984

Intro song by Remmington Taylor [IG: @rmmngtn] 

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/magazine/waged-housework.html

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-is-socialist-feminism

https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/if-there-is-no-economic-democracy?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

http://www.cadtm.org/How-Patriarchy-and-Capitalism-Combine-to-Aggravate-the-Oppression-of-Womenhttps://qz.com/emails/quartz-obsession/1849523255/girlboss-the-career-woman-everyone-loves-to-hate

https://harvardpolitics.com/girlboss-gaslight-gatekeep/

https://www.cadtm.org/Capitalism-and-Patriarchy-Two-Systems-that-Feed-off-Each-Other

https://inthesetimes.com/article/socialist-feminism-fighting-capitalism-patriarchy-socialism

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/want-to-dismantle-capitalism-abolish-the-family/

https://www.vox.com/22466574/gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss-meaning

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34602822 

Another witchy episode this week! In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m covering the Mother of Feminists/the Mother of Witches.

Lilith is often considered a demoness in Christianity and Catholicism, but she was so much more than that. According to lore, she was Adam’s first wife before Eve, but he cast her out after she refused to have sex with him in the missionary position (beneath him) resulting in the first divorce. Lilith is a very powerful archetype used in both witchcraft and feminism to help us embody the ultimate acts of resistance to the patriarchy, and she shows us just how powerful we are in our fight against injustice.

SOURCES

The GLAM Witch: A Magical Manifesto of Empowerment with the Great Lilithian Arcane Mysteries by Michael Herkes

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/liberation-lilith

https://aquamarinecontent.com/discover-the-deity-lady-lilith-goddess-of-the-night/ 

https://collective.world/what-feminists-can-learn-from-the-strength-of-lilith/ 

https://www.centreofexcellence.com/lilith-first-feminist-folklore/

https://www.themarysue.com/the-pop-culutre-history-of-lilith/ 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/transcending-the-past/201605/mothers-witches-and-the-power-archetypes 

https://healthypsych.com/archetypes-what-they-are-and-how-they-help-us-grow/

We have a PR issue. For centuries, the people who benefit from gender-based hierarchies (i.e., sh*tty men) have imposed a narrative about us that paints feminists as shrill, angry women who simply want to replace men at the top. But it’s not true, and it doesn’t matter if it was true - what matters is that we don’t compromise what we are actually fighting in the name of proving this PR campaign wrong. That we don’t give in to our conditioned need as women and femmes to make sure everyone is comfortable. Because these PR issues will always be there.

Intro song by Remmington Taylor [IG: @rmmngtn] 

Sources

• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/13/feminists-do-not-hate-men
• https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/08/how-toxic-is-masculinity
• https://www.thedailystar.net/shout/news/why-feminism-not-the-same-misandry-2042757? 
• https://lithub.com/how-many-ways-can-men-say-not-all-men/
• https://www.thedailybeast.com/you-dont-hate-feminism-you-just-dont-understand-it
• https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/josh-hawley-and-the-new-anti-feminism.html
• https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2015/12/28/where-do-negative-stereotypes-about-feminists-come-from/

DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT LAWYERS. AGAIN: WE ARE NOT LAWYERS. But we have a few things to say about this topic.

Eric joined me for 4/20 week to talk about the racist War on Drugs, the US prison system, mandatory minimum sentences, cops, how women (and especially women of color) are disproportionately affected, and our rights as outlined in the Fourth Amendment. His tips for asserting your rights during your interactions with cops are absolutely necessary listening.

Intro song by Remmington Taylor [@rmmngtn]

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS booklet from ACLU

SOURCES

• https://www.sentencingproject.org/fact-sheet/incarcerated-women-and-girls/ 
• https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/war-drugs-war-women-and-families
• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/opinion/harm-reduction-public-health.html
• https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/12/is-the-war-on-drugs-to-blame-for-the-fentanyl-crisis/672463/ 
• https://civilrights.org/blog/americas-war-on-drugs-50-years-later/ 
• https://www.aclu.org/other/drug-war-new-jim-crow
• https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0309-crw-morhaim-drug-war-20210308-3o7ulj6d3jelfmkxv5ftz6r3uu-story.html