The Women's Podcast

Roisin Kiberd was born in 1989, the same year that Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web. In her new book The Disconnect, Kiberd takes a look at life growing up alongside the ever-expanding, ever-evolving Internet. In these interlinked essays, she examines our dependency and obsession with the online world, the ways we are more connected than ever before, and the disconnect this breeds. She asks what we have gained, what we have lost, and what we have willingly given away in exchange for this connected life. In today’s episode, Kiberd speaks to Róisín Ingle about the pressures of social media, the murky world of online dating and how her all-consuming relationship with technology eventually led to her breakdown.

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Until a few weeks ago, 19-year-old UCC law student Alicia O’Sullivan had never heard of Admireme.vip. The website is an 18+ subscription-only platform, which describes itself as a place to share the “most intimate and secret content”. Alicia only became familiar with it after images purporting to be her appeared on the site. Someone had stolen her identity and set up a fake profile, doctoring pictures from her Instagram and photoshopping her face onto the bodies of nude women. Alicia went to the Gardaí about the scam, but feels she wasn’t taken seriously. In today’s episode, she speaks to The Irish Times journalist Jennifer O’Connell about that experience and why she has decided to speak out, launching the campaign group Safety Over Stigma, so others don’t have to go through the same ordeal. Also on the today’s show, Labour senator Ivana Bacik, whose party first introduced the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill that became Coco’s Law, explains why what happened to Alicia is illegal under this law and the need for better enforcement.

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Alexandra Heminsley is a best selling author, journalist and broadcaster. Her latest memoir Some Body to Love is an open-hearted exploration into body image, identity and family life. In the book, Heminsley shares her experiences of IVF, pregnancy and sexual assault, all of which have had a profound effect on her own sense of self. She also details the breakdown of her marriage, following her then-husband's transition. In today’s episode, she speaks to Róisín Ingle about her journey to motherhood, building a LGBTQ+ family and re-configuring her life path. Alexandra will also be taking part in this year’s West Cork Literary Festival, where she’ll be discussing the book and hosting a memoir and life-writing workshop. Full details will be released on westcorkliteraryfestival.ie in May.

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If you’ve ever passed the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street on a Friday evening, you’re very likely to have seen the Muslim Sisters of Éire (MSOE) hard at work. The group is a grassroots, non-profit, all-female organisation, established in 2010 to promote integration and social inclusion, and to provide support services to the most vulnerable. Every Friday night at their soup kitchen in Dublin city centre, they serve hot meals to more than 500 people in need. But that’s just one of the many valuable charitable services they provide. On today’s show, Róisín speaks to chairperson and founder of the MSOE, Lorraine O’Connor, and to Sabina Syed, who has been volunteering with her for the past eight years. They discuss the work they do, how the pandemic has impacted it, observing a second Ramadan in lockdown and dispelling negative stereotypes about Islam.

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In this book club episode, Róisín, Ann Ingle, Bernice Harrison and Niamh Towey discuss Acts of Desperation, the debut novel from Waterford writer Megan Nolan. The book focuses on a turbulent relationship between the unnamed narrator and the “exceptionally beautiful” Ciaran, a half-Danish poet. Their intense love affair begins at a gallery launch, with our narrator pondering “Is it possible to love someone without knowing them, by sight?”. However, their infatuation spirals quickly downhill and the reader is brought into the darkest depths of their dysfunction. It’s an exploration of early adult life, and as one of our book clubbers puts it “what it is to be a young woman in all its various different guises”. As to be expected, it’s a lively discussion with differing viewpoints, some minor disagreements and the odd expletive. If you’d like to listen back to our episode with the author Megan Nolan, you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/irishtimes-women/ep-483-megan-nolan-acts-of-desperation

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In today’s episode we are delving deep into the ‘manosphere’ with English feminist writer and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project Laura Bates. The ‘manosphere’ relates to a collection of websites, blogs and online forums promoting masculinity, hostility towards women and strong opposition to feminism. In her ground-breaking new book, Men Who Hate Women, Bates goes undercover to expose these vast misogynist networks and communities, from incels to pick up artists to men’s rights activists. She explores what it is that attracts men to the movement, how it grooms and radicalises young boys and what can be done to stop it. Bates tells Róisín Ingle why, given that these groups are linked to the real life murders and crimes against women, we can't afford to ignore this brand of terrorism.

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Sue Rainsford handed in the final manuscript of her novel Redder Days on the 14th of March 2020, the same day that Irish schools and colleges closed their doors due to Covid-19. It was remarkable timing, given the (now all too familiar) pandemic theme running through her book. Set in a world wracked by climate change, Redder Days tells the story of a survivalist cult who seek to escape a mysterious contagion only known as ‘red’. In today’s episode, the author speaks to Róisín Ingle about this accidental prediction, an idea she’s had since 2013. They also discuss her childhood spent in South Dublin, her love for dystopian writing and plans for her next book.

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Have you ever felt like your brain is fuzzy, that you just can't seem to focus on the task in hand, or you have trouble finding the right word in a sentence? If the answer is yes, then you may be one of the many people - and most often it is women - who has experienced brain fog. In her new book, Beating Brain Fog: Your 30-day Plan to Think Faster, Sharper, Better, neuroscientist and health psychologist, Dr Sabina Brennan, throws light on the experience, which is not a condition in itself, but rather an indication that something else may be amiss. Brain fog can be a symptom of many conditions including migraine, multiple sclerosis and long Covid – in which some people continue to suffer months after the initial Covid-19 symptoms have passed. On today's podcast, Róisín talks to Dr Brennan and Joanna Leszczuk, who followed the 30-day plan in the book after she suffered brain fog as a result of coronavirus.

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This Wednesday March 31st marks International Transgender Day of Visibility. It's an annual event celebrating transgender and non-binary people which also aims to raise awareness of discrimination of this community worldwide.. In today’s episode, Róisín Ingle is joined by two trans women Allie O'Rourke and Becky Cheatle, winners of the Virgin Media Discovers Short Film Competition and a prize of 30,000 euro towards producing their short film 'Punch Line’. Both are stand up comedians and worked as co-writers on the project, while Cheatle will direct and O’Rourke will act in the production. Based on true events, ‘Punch Line’ tells the story of how a transgender stand-up comedian reframes a transphobic attack she experiences during the day and works it into her comedy routine later that evening. In this conversation, the pair discuss their experiences as trans women in Ireland, how society can be more inclusive and their exciting plans for the film which is currently in pre-production.

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The UK government has intervened to compel the introduction of full abortion services in Northern Ireland due to a lack of progress on the issue by politicians there. Almost a year after abortion was officially decriminalised in Northern Ireland, women there are still being forced to travel to Britain for terminations. Cara Sanquest is an Irish woman living in London who set up the London Irish Abortion Rights Campaign and is now Campaigns and Research Manager for the MP Stella Creasy. She worked with Creasy on the 2019 Westminster legislation which decriminalised abortion in the North and on today's podcast she tells Róisín why, nearly two years on, the UK government has had to intervene once again. Also on today's show, Róisín talks to author Catherine Talbot about her chilling debut novel, A Good Father, which explores the male-dominated crime known as ‘family annihilation’.

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