What starts as a conversation about food quickly becomes a conversation about the invisible work women carry every day.

In this episode of The C-Word, I talk with Namita Pandey, founder of Aurum Celebrations, about the mental load hiding in ordinary things: groceries, lunchboxes, leftovers, family calendars, clean fridges, changing diets, and the question women are somehow always expected to answer: what’s for dinner?

We talk about migration, marriage, motherhood, grief, culture, midlife, ambition, and what happens when women spend a lifetime saying yes, often without even realising they’re saying it.

And then there’s dancing.

Even though people still need her, Namita is choosing joy, movement, business, beauty, and a life that belongs to her, too.

This is a conversation about invisible labour, but it’s also about the radical little question women deserve to ask themselves:

What do I want my life to look like?

About Namita Pandey 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aurumcelebrationsau/

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

My mental health has been rough lately.

In this episode, I talk openly about panic attacks, suicidal ideation, medication changes, and what it feels like when hope slowly starts to return after a difficult few weeks.

I also tell the story of an interaction with a man I’m calling Captain JAQ (Just Asking Questions). A podcaster who invited me onto his show, challenged my boundaries, and accidentally gave me a lesson in self-trust, consent, and the power of a single word: no.

This episode explores anxiety, people-pleasing, feminism, microaggressions, and why so many women are taught to justify their decisions long after they’ve already made them.

Sometimes the most important question isn’t whether someone else thinks you’re right.

Sometimes it’s whether you’re willing to trust yourself when something feels off.

The C-Word with Catharine Redden is where feminism, sex, frivolity, and fury all get a mic.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

“Health” research tells us that 60 to 70% of people in the Western world are overweight or obese. And they never say that like it’s a good thing.

If you, like me, are one of the many people living in a body considered fat, and you’ve ever been to your GP, primary care provider, or doctor for pretty much anything, only to be told to lose weight because apparently that’s a cure-all (spoiler alert: it’s not), this episode is for you.

In this conversation, I talk with Amanda Levitt, a sociology PhD candidate at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, about fat phobia in medicine and healthcare.

We talk about BMI, medical bias, shame, bullying, accessibility, blood pressure cuffs that don’t fit, gowns that don’t close, being dismissed before you’ve even finished explaining what’s wrong, and the way fat bodies are so often treated as a problem before they’re treated as human.

Amanda’s work asks a vital question: what would healthcare look like if fat patients were actually listened to?

This conversation is thoughtful, funny in parts, frustrating in parts, and probably going to feel very familiar for a lot of people.

Plus puppies, kittens, sex, airplane tray tables, and the joy and danger of roller skating.

You can find out more about Amanda’s work here: https://clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/cl9811

And please follow her on Instagram. She shares incredible insights into fat phobia, along with some extremely cute puppy and kitten photos.

https://www.instagram.com/whimsicalfemme

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

A solo episode about Pride Round, psychological safety, queer inclusion, AFL culture, masculinity, and the difference between performative allyship and genuine cultural change in Australian Rules Football. 

Catharine explores the AFL, AFLW, homophobia in sport, rainbow branding, and why visibility without safety is not enough.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

This week, Lou Nicholson joins me on “The C-Word with Catharine Redden”.

Lou is the newly elected independent member for Finniss in South Australia, the first woman ever elected to the seat, and in this conversation we talk about politics, public life, community, netball, democracy, aging, country towns, cappuccinos, and what people are quietly carrying right now.

Lou first contested the seat in 2022, lost by a narrow margin, then came back in 2026 and won in one of the more unusual election results in South Australian politics.

But this episode isn’t really about political strategy or party talking points. It’s about people.

We talk about:
• growing up as “strong Viking children”
• why democracy is a “doing word”
• whether women in public life still have to perform niceness
• the emotional weight people are carrying
• public transport, aging, and life on the Fleurieu
• why netball matters more than you’d think
• and what it means to represent a community in real life, not just on paper

This is a warm, thoughtful conversation about modern political life, regional South Australia, and the women who quietly step forward and change things.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

The Maths of Sex (Part 2)

with Associate Professor Simon Graham

Part 2 of Catharine’s conversation with Associate Professor Simon Graham about sexual health, STI testing, condoms, contraception, harm reduction, public health, relationships, and why shame is often terrible health policy.

If you haven’t listened to Part 1 yet, go back and start there first.

In this episode, Simon and Catharine discuss:
 • STI testing and taking control of your sexual health
 • Condoms, contraception, and bodily autonomy
 • Needle and syringe programs in Australia
 • Hepatitis C treatment and public health savings
 • Violence, vulnerability, and sexual health risk
 • Why free sexual health clinics matter

This is an honest, funny, occasionally chaotic conversation about sex, health, and human behaviour in the real world.

Important note

Associate Professor Simon Graham and Catharine Redden are not medical doctors. This podcast is intended for conversation, education, and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Please speak with a qualified healthcare professional if you have concerns about your sexual health.

Free Sexual Health Clinics (Australia)

Public sexual health clinics in Australia are generally free, confidential, and do not require a Medicare card.

• SA: SHINE SA
• VIC: Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• NSW: NSW Sexual Health Clinics
• QLD: Queensland Sexual Health Services
• WA: HealthyWA Sexual Health Services
• TAS: Tasmanian Sexual Health Service
• NT: NT Sexual Health & BBV Programs
• ACT: Canberra Sexual Health Centre

Needle & Syringe Programs (NSPs)

Needle and syringe programs help reduce transmission of blood-borne viruses including HIV and hepatitis C.

• Australia-wide NSP directory: AIVL NSP Directory
• SA NSP sites: SA NSP Site List
• NSW NSP info: NSW NSP Program

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

Part 1 of a two-part conversation with Associate Professor Simon Graham about sexual health, stigma, statistics, testing, HPV, bacterial vaginosis, public health, relationships, and the gloriously awkward reality of being a human with a body.

This isn’t a morality lecture wrapped in a lab coat. It’s an honest, funny, occasionally chaotic conversation about how sexual health actually works in real life, and why shame is often the least useful public health strategy imaginable.

Part 2 will be released shortly in the main feed.

Disclaimer
This episode is general information and conversation only. Catharine Redden and Associate Professor Simon Graham are not medical doctors, and this podcast is not a substitute for personal medical advice.

Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)
Common symptoms of BV can include unusual vaginal discharge, a fishy odour, irritation, or burning when urinating. Many people have no symptoms at all.
Source: healthdirect Australia

Getting Tested in Australia
Public sexual health/STI clinics in Australia are free and confidential. You do not need a Medicare card to attend most public clinics.

• SHINE SA (South Australia)
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (Victoria)
• NSW Sexual Health Infolink
• Queensland Health Sexual Health Clinics
• WA Sexual Health Helpline & Clinics
• Clinic 60 (Tasmania)
• Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control Sexual Health Services
• Canberra Sexual Health Centre (ACT)

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

In this slightly feverish, slightly feral episode, Catharine continues on from her commentary about David King publicly calling women’s armpit hair “repulsive,” and unpacks the much bigger question underneath it:

Why are women expected to remain visually pleasing to strangers in the first place?

Catharine talks about:

• body commentary at family functions,
• fat-shaming disguised as “health,”
• the entitlement behind public ridicule,
• why shame and control get confused with concern,
• the exhausting pressure to remain aesthetically acceptable,
• and the connection she sees between everyday objectification and broader cultures of misogyny.

Also featured:

• Lawrence the camp dog,
• a rawhide providing temporary podcast stability,
• one very sick podcaster,
• and the phrase “your dick is not a divining rod,” which honestly deserves its own merch line.

This episode contains discussion of body shaming, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and misogyny.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

Tiny unionised dinosaur chooks. Humid shoulder pelts at Pilates. AFL commentary. Pre-peeled grapes.

This episode begins as a fruedian slip, turned into a feminist ranch fantasy and ends as a rant about women’s bodies, beauty standards, sport media, and why some jokes no longer land the way they used to.

Also: Kane Cornes says beer is the most overrated thing in the world, and honestly, I love that journey for him

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

A three-year-old in a fairy skirt, gumboots, dragon tail and Bob the Builder helmet thinks she’s beautiful.

This episode is about what happens before the world talks her out of it.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...