Why is penis size and performance the go-to butt of the joke, especially when we're talking about shitty men? Is it punching up at misogyny, or just recycling bad material? Writer Mikala Jameson (Body Type) introduces America's Small Dick Joke Problem, interrogates the instinct to hit misogyny where it hurts and recalls an infamous "hot dog down a hallway." Then, Robin Taylor, Your Trans Friend You Didn't Know You Needed, takes us deeper into the simultaneous objectification and erasure wrapped ...
Feb 20, 2024•33 min•Ep. 232
**Unladies' Room Patreon preview** Grab your snorkel masks and oxygen tanks, unladies! We're revisiting my 2019 interview with cave diver and underwater explorer Jill Heinerth (ep. 64: How to Dive Into Fear ). She takes us along her path into the incredibly dangerous world of cave diving, how she approaches fear as an asset and what sexism looks like in her niche field. To hear the full, ad-free episode, join the Patreon - and THANK YOU!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch...
Feb 18, 2024•6 min
What if society exalted the love and commitment of friendship as highly as that of marriage and biological family? How would our lives change if close friends were more empowered to be our til-death-do-us-part significant others? Journalist Rhaina Cohen (NPR, Embedded) talks to Cristen about the friendship that shook up her own notions of BFFs; how platonic intimacy became sexually suspect and the legal barriers to nonmarital support systems. Highlights include: passionate but not sexual friend ...
Feb 13, 2024•34 min•Ep. 231
Sharing an episode of another podcast we’re loving: Your Mama’s Kitchen, all about cuisine and culture, ingredients and identities, and the meals and memories that make us who we are. Every week, host Michele Norris talks to guests like Michelle Obama, Glennon Doyle, and José Andrés. They explore the complexities of family life and how their earliest culinary experiences helped shape their personal and professional lives—and of course, each guest shares a recipe from their youth so you can taste...
Feb 07, 2024•38 min
If care workers make all work possible, then why aren't they better taken care of? And what if that predominantly low-income women of color workforce would rather care for their own children and families? Answer: racial capitalism. Barnard historian Premilla Nadasen contexualizes today's multibillion-dollar care industry in the domestic worker rights and welfare rights movements and builds the case for redefining work and reimagining care through radical Black feminism. Her newest book is Care: ...
Feb 06, 2024•38 min•Ep. 230
** UNLADIES' ROOM teaser ** Did y'all know women initiate 70 PERCENT of divorces in husband-wife marriages? Are no-fault divorce laws to thank/blame? Cristen digs through the legal history of divorce rate stats, facts and an old LIFE magazine to help explain the paradoxical and persistent relationship between women-married-to-men and divorce. To hear the full, ad-free episode, join the Patreon - and THANK YOU!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at ...
Feb 04, 2024•6 min
At 16 years old, Molly McGlynn discovered why she'd never had a period. Diagnosed with MRKH syndrome, Molly was born without a uterus, cervix and an underdeveloped vaginal canal. Blindsided, teenage Molly was then promptly tasked with "making" her own vagina - and advised to keep it all a secret. Now a grownup and filmmaker, Molly shares how MRKH upended her teenage life, her journey to reconnecting with her own body and turning that trauma into the coming of age comedy Fitting In , starring Mad...
Jan 30, 2024•35 min•Ep. 229
What happens when someone who built their career on being Indigenous turns out to be ... a white lady? Award-winning writer and reporter Michelle Cyca shares how she came face to face with Indigenous identity fraud, why academia and the arts have a 'Pretendian' problem and what these scams means for Indigenous rights and sovereignty. **This episode originally aired on January 31, 2023** Read Michelle's MacLean's cover story, The Curious Case of Gina Adams: A "Pretendian" Investigation Send voice...
Jan 23, 2024•48 min
**Unladies' Room Patreon preview** With Real Housewives of Salt Lake City having a pop cultural moment, it's the perfect time for a reality check on women, gender and Mormonism. Listen to Cristen's uncut 2018 interview with Kate Kelly , who sent shockwaves through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) when she dared to ask why women aren't allowed into the Mormon priesthood. Originally featured in Unladylike episode 8: How to Be a Mormon Feminist . To hear the full, ad-free episo...
Jan 21, 2024•10 min•Ep. 228
Since when did parenting opposite-gender kids get branded as #BoyMoms and #GirlDads (not to be confused with "fathers of daughters")? Cristen unravels their origins and compares what these viral identities tell us about motherhood, masculinity and societal pressures to have at least "one of each." Highlights include: toxic boy moms of TikTok, Etsy merch, Rhianna, the Kardashians, a brief history of mother blame, Kobe Bryant, virtue signaling and angry dads at gender reveal parties. Send voice me...
Jan 17, 2024•34 min•Ep. 227
Ready or not, the 2024 presidential election is fast approaching. So why hasn't the Democratic Party pushed for President Biden step aside and run the Veep instead? And how come the even bigger question swirling around Kamala Harris is whether SHE'S the one who should step down? Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Shop Unladylike merch Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at...
Jan 09, 2024•38 min•Ep. 226
The invention of tabloids was both revolutionary and regressive for women, and it all goes back to The Daily Mail (yes, that Daily Mail with the book-length headlines and endless celeb photos). In this Unladies' Room bonus episode, Kristen Meinzer ( How to Be Fine , The Daily Fail ) regales us with the surprising women's history of The Daily Mail, feminized news and what tabloids actually get right. Follow Unladylike on IG , Twitter , TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon Shop mErCh Contact Mul...
Dec 19, 2023•38 min•Ep. 225
How did a line of expensive, educational dolls overtake 90s girlhood? Historians and Dolls of Our Lives hosts Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney tell us the backstory of Pleasant Rowland inventing American Girl, the brand's uneasy relationship with feminism and Barbie, and why Molly et al remain iconic despite their obvious flaws. Their new book is Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can't Quit American Girl . MORE, MORE, MORE: Follow Unladylike on IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon Sho...
Dec 12, 2023•42 min•Ep. 224
The pelvic floor is so much more than Samantha Jones' kegels and postpartum prolapse. In this Unladies' Room bonus episode, pelvic floor physical therapist Dr. Kara Strauss breaks down "the keystone of the body" (!!), its many functions and why we don't talk about it enough. Kara also guides Cristen through pelvic floor therapy and how it applies to painful intercourse, elusive orgasms, peeing your pants when you laugh and gender-affirming healthcare. The body's KEYSTONE, y'all! Absolutely had t...
Dec 05, 2023•43 min•Ep. 223
Is it sexist when straight men call each other the b-word? Cristen tracks down how bitch has (and hasn't) evolved and advises an unlady whose boyfriend thinks the b-word is no longer gendered. Then, a neurodivergent unlady is unsure how to ask friends to stop casually dropping the r-slur. BUT FIRST! Some recommended listening on Palestine: Rethinking Palestine Unsettled On the Nose Ethnically Ambiguous 5-4 More, more, more: Follow Unladylike: IG , Twitter , TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon...
Nov 28, 2023•32 min•Ep. 222
What does a good life mean, especially when bad things are happening? The Mash-Up Americans creators and hosts Amy Choi and Rebecca Lehrer are celebrating their 10th podcast anniversary by answering just that. Amy and Rebecca share their epic story of deep friendship, storytelling partnership and why living a good life is neither boring nor simple. (Nor does it cater to men.) Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreion Shop merch Contact Multitude Productions for ad...
Nov 21, 2023•38 min•Ep. 221
What do Miss Universe, Miss World and international beauty pageants tell us about globalization and national identity, and why are pageants becoming MORE popular across the Global South? Feminist sociologist Dr. Oluwakemi Balogun embedded in Nigeria’s beauty pageant industry to find out. Kemi takes us beyond Western feminism’s tête-à-tête with pageant culture and to see what big international beauty pageants can tell us about gender, globalization, and the precarious power of being a beauty quee...
Nov 14, 2023•37 min•Ep. 220
SCOTUS just kicked off a new term, and Strict Scrutiny hosts and law professors Leah Litman and Kate Shaw are here to explain how the Justices pick which cases to hear / what fresh hell might be in store. Then, Leah and Kate break down the stakes of Acheson Hotels v. Laufer, civil rights testers and what it has to do with last year's SCOTUS win for the Colorado website designer who wished to refuse (nonexistent) gay clients. We also get into the MINDBOGGLING case of US v. Rahimi, what's next for...
Nov 09, 2023•48 min•Ep. 219
Are magic mushrooms poised to become the next big mental health med, and if so, who stands to benefit? Psychologist and Chacruna Institute co-founder Dr. Clancy Cavnar reframes today's psychedelic renaissance through the lens of social justice, queer liberation and Indigenous reciprocity. Along the way, we confront the ugly history of LSD conversion therapy, the wildly high cost of legal psilocybin therapy in Oregon and why it all comes back to patriarchy. Follow: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the ...
Nov 07, 2023•33 min•Ep. 218
Call the tripsitter! We’re macrodosing on magic mushrooms, psychedelic sexism and psilocybin breakthroughs with journalist and fact-checker Jennifer Chesak. Author of The Psilocybin Handbook for Women , she explains why psilocybin could work wonders for anxiety, eating disorders, endometriosis, PCOS, PTSD and more, and the drug’s unresolved legacy of Indigenous exploitation. Cristen also journeys into Western psychedelics’ white boys’ club culture where men are psychonauts, and women are tripsit...
Oct 31, 2023•39 min•Ep. 217
Welcome to the shroom boom. It's hard not to be a mushroom enthusiast considering all the practical and medicinal magic they can do. Not to mention, they're nutrish and delish. But also sometimes deadly! In part one of three, Maria Pinto - writer and mycophile (aka fungi lover) - takes us on a foray into wild mushroom hunting, the mycological (aka fungi study) community and how a hen of the woods mushroom changed her life. Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon ...
Oct 24, 2023•35 min•Ep. 216
To change or not to change? That is the married-last-name question that actor, host and proud hyphenate Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins (Dear White People, Trials to Triumphs ) loves to answer. In this latest Ask Unladylike installment, Ashley and Cristen advise a listener in construction who's weary of being the "trophy worker" and an affianced unlady who worries whether taking her husband's last name is giving away part of her identity and/or caving to patriarchy. But first, they bond over Bu...
Oct 17, 2023•36 min•Ep. 215
Why are more young women trading in their natural teeth for veneers, and what does it say about beauty standards, class perceptions and the dental healthcare gap? Writer Jessica Goldstein drills down on the rise of cosmetic dentistry, aesthetic veneers, head-to-toe "hotness creep" and her brilliant Washington Post feature, Have you noticed that everyone's teeth look a little too perfect? . Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon Shop Unladylike merch Contact Mult...
Oct 10, 2023•41 min•Ep. 214
Why are so many women getting into life coaching these days, and is it legit self-help? The Dream host (and certified life coach, technically!) Jane Marie sheds light on what it is, why it's appealing and how MLMs (multilevel marketing, a la Rodan + Fields) and influencer culture pipeline straight into life coaching and aspirational self-optimization. Follow Unladylike on Instagram , Twitter and TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon Shop unlady-merch Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, ...
Oct 03, 2023•41 min•Ep. 213
Do tarot cards really have secrets to spill? Investigative journalist and Ritually host Nelufar Hedayat shares what happened when she turned to tarot for guidance on two major life decisions and how the cards connect to the history of women and minoritized groups. Cristen also discovers the surprising origins of tarot and how its fortunetelling lore came to be. Mixed and mastered by Multitude Productions. Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Shop Unladylike merch Cont...
Sep 26, 2023•39 min•Ep. 212
A lifelong self-doubter, comedian Aparna Nancherla decided to get to the bottom of her angst, and things didn't quite go as planned. From a childhood speech contest to the standup stage, Aparna takes us along her journey to finding her comedic voice, claiming her identity and confronting her inner fraud in her new book, Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself and Imposter Syndrome . Cristen also retraces how women's imposter "syndrome" became a thing and why it's being called into question. Follow Unlad...
Sep 19, 2023•36 min•Ep. 211
In the first-ever (!) mailbag episode, Cristen shares listener letters, DMs and life updates about dating apps, leaving academia, the bisexual closet, green card marriage and MORE! She also answers an unlady who is frustrated with negative media coverage of sorority life, gets some actionable advice on supporting local libraries and a juicy fact-check about the original "Little Mermaid". Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Shop merch Contact Multitude Productions for...
Sep 12, 2023•31 min•Ep. 210
Commodified motherhood has come a long way, babies! Or has it? Now a multi-billion dollar industry, momfluencing also comes with a side of tradwives and mom guilt. Sara Petersen, author of Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture , talks to Cristen about the ideals they’re selling, the motherhood they’re performing and why mega-momfluencer @Ballerina Farm is such a “rich text.” This interview originally aired in 2022 in the Unladies’ Room Patreon, and ...
Sep 06, 2023•33 min•Ep. 209
Why is one of the largest school districts in the country turning libraries into student detention centers? Debbie Hall, certified librarian and co-founder of Students Need Libraries in Houston Independent School District, fills Cristen in on the difference school librarians make, why their jobs are in jeopardy and how Moms for Liberty is pushing book censorship in Texas and beyond. Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon Shop bRaNd NeW mErCh Contact Multitude Pr...
Aug 29, 2023•36 min•Ep. 208
How are real-life teachers applying “Abbott Elementary” inside and out of the classroom, and what can all of us learn from it? Cristen talks to Brown University senior and future teacher Jada Wooten about Black teacher representation and what education equity looks like in action. Then elementary ed associate professor Dr. Sara Jones created a college seminar on "Abbott" and she her own journey of unlearning white-savior teacher tropes (aka Dangerous Minds-itis). Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter ...
Aug 23, 2023•50 min•Ep. 207
