Unruly

How is it that menopause, something that can affect half the population, also manages to be among the most understudied and least understood bodily phenomena? This week, journalist Susan Dominus talks with host Kimberly Drew about how a landmark study on hormone therapy for menopausal women was misunderstood in the media creating panic and long-term repercussions on the way women’s symptoms were treated.

Being a person with a uterus means you sometimes face the question of when, how, or if you’re going to have kids. This week, we hear from anthropologist and “The Mating Gap” author Marcia Inhorn, PhD, MPH, about the way society makes these decisions even harder for women today. We learn about the history and science behind egg freezing, as well as the real reason women are electing to delay pregnancy.

Vaginal atrophy, geriatric pregnancy, incompetent cervix- why can medical terminology around women’s bodies be so shaming?! In this week’s episode, “Vagina Obscura” author Rachel E. Gross talks with host Kimberly Drew about the long shadow of the patriarchy over the medical profession. She walks us through how it’s shaped the way we talk about our bodies, how we understand vital body parts like the clitoris and the ways in which language impacts the treatment we receive as patients.

How do we decide which beauty products we use, and are those choices really our own? This week, writer and beauty culture critic Jessica DeFino, author of the Substack The Unpublishable, sheds light on the alarming power of the beauty industrial complex. She and Unruly host Kimberly Drew unpack terms like “anti-aging” and how we are sold products under the guise of empowerment. In this episode, we learn how to divest from the idea of external beauty as inherent self worth. 

Welcome to Unruly. We take the quiet ways women’s bodies are commodified, defined, regulated and we name them– out loud. In this week’s episode, host Kimberly Drew talks with Body Image coach Tiffany Ima (@tiffanyima) about how we learn to love ourselves in a world that still heralds thinness as greatness. We clear up the distinction between body neutrality and body positivity, call out diet culture trends, and unpack the sneaky ways social media keeps us dissatisfied with our physical appearance.

Welcome to Unruly. This season, host Kimberly Drew and a slew of smart guests tackle the quiet ways women’s bodies are regulated every day. From social media to the medical profession to entrenched societal assumptions about womanhood, we want to educate and support each other. Because information is power, and your body is your business.