How about we all talk guiltlessly about our guilty pleasures? :)



Music by nishan alwis from Pixabay

Annelies and Sheba are back! 

Our first episode this year is about a huge passion for both of us - reading books. In this episode, we regale you with tales of our obession with books throughout our lives, and the impact of those books on us.

Here is a list of books we mentioned (and some that we didn't).

• Enid Blyton
• Jane Austen
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Barbara Michaels
• Robin McKinley
• 1984 (George Orwell)
• Diary of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
• Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling)
• Discovery of Heaven (Harry Mulisch)
• Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien)
• Haruki Murakami
• Boomerang valentine (Andrea Gibson)
• The Rainforest Mind (Paula Prober)
• The Gifted Adult (Mary Elaine Jacobson)
• Brene Brown
• This is your brain on parasites (Kathleen McAuliffe)
• The history of surgery (Ira Rutkow)
• Refuse to choose (Barbara Sher)
• Daphne du Maurier

Did you know that some countries (Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia), including a single state in India, offer women menstrual leave? There are organizations in Bihar that have set up  education and awareness, and free tampons/pads in bathrooms specially built for women. They are removing the stigma around menstruation, little by little.

Recently Spain has proposed menstrual leave too. That's it. This doesn't exist anywhere else.

Why??

Periods, all the pain and agony associated with them, are quietly brushed under the carpet. Women bite through and try to survive the day. Heaven forbid if we admit that yes it's my period, it's PMS, that's why I'm a little less productive than usual. We won't in either case, we are terrified of being seen as weak, right?

And we all have known the despair of taking off blood stained underwear in the toilet and not having products with us...the fun little waddle to lockers and bags to get them, or the discrete question "you got a pad handy?" 

So why not menstrual leave? Why not free menstrual products in the bathrooms? Why not talk about it? Why not research into why periods are so hard on many women, and how do we make it easier on them?

We understand this is a polarising issue. We do think the key is to finally  remove the stigma around menstruation. We should be able to say yes I'm on the rag, without the shame and fear of being seen as a lesser human.

Music by QubeSounds from Pixabay

Fall is here, and it is a hard time all around, but we wanted to talk about the things that make us laugh, make us happy, euphoric, and maybe just joyful, in spite of everything. Here is what we came up with!


Music by Twisterium from Pixabay

Queen Elizabeth II has died, and  this led Annelies and Sheba to wonder about the purpose of the monarchy, any monarchy, anywhere that it still exists.

Music by SergePavkinMusic at Pixabay. 

It has been a tumultuous few days, where the news of SCOTUS overturning Roe v Wade, and therefore probably limiting access to health care for American women, has been on the forefront. Annelies, Liz and Sheba talk about the possible fallout of this, not just in the US but in the world.

Further reading:

1. The original class action suit of Roe v Wade.
2. The Lancet's article on defending Roe v Wade.
3. Gabriella Blair on irresponsible ejaculations.
4. CNN article on the overturning of Roe v Wade.

Music by Music_Unlimited from Pixabay

Do you allow yourself to be who you really are?

Can you tell your boss at work that you are having a bad day due to period cramps? Are you able to admit to being vulnerable, or less efficient because the hot flashes are particularly hard today? Or does the idea of being so open give you the chills?

In this episode Sheba and guest speaker Liz Bennett Smith talk about authenticity, and what gets in the way of us being who we really are, the fear of being seen as weak and a failure, and how to practice showing up for yourself each and every day by owning your truth.


Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

Ever wonder why it's so difficult to shop for clothes as a woman, or one who identifies as one? Why these clothes don't seem to ever have pockets that are big enough? Why is a size S so different in different stores? What is so terrible after all about *GASP* visible panty lines?

Annelies and Sheba share their frustration about how so many basic things are completely missed when designing and creating women's clothes.

Give us pockets, damnit! - read more here and here.
These articles talk about the absence of sensible pockets in women's clothes have deep roots in the patriarchy and politics - here and here. 


Music:
Electronic Rock (King Around Here) - AlexGrohl

... in which we tackle feminism from our points of view, as two individuals who identify as women, one white and the other of color. This was a tough topic for us to handle, because it is so entirely massive, and so emotional for us.

References and further reading:

1. This is the comic that shows the inequities that women face in society: 
   • Powerful Comic Shows the Many Hurdles Working Women Face and Why Men Have It Easier
2. Biases form at an early age:
   • Watch what happens when you ask kids to draw a surgeon, a firefighter and a fighter-pilot
3. Same email, same company, but different gender:
   • Man and Woman Switch Email Signatures. Man Has Worst Workweek of His Life.
4. This is a powerful piece where a therapist explains how men are taught to further themselves as much as possible from the feminine:
   • Therapist Explains Why “Men Don’t Actually Like Women”, Goes Viral On TikTok
5. The absence of sensible pockets in women's clothes has deep patriarchical roots:
   • The Politics of Pockets

World citizenship - in this day and age of movement of epic proportions, many of us have spent time immersed in cultures and societies very different from our own. We are so excited to share our stories of living, working and studying in different places in the world with you in this podcast, as third culture kids, global gypsies and world citizens.

References and further reading:

1. Third culture kids
2. Global citizenship