The Femtastic Podcast
Katie Breen
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Katie Breen interviews feminist activists, researchers, and advocates working to make women's issues...well, non-issues. Katie explores issues of reproductive rights, pay equity, abortion, birth control, sex ed, paid family leave, breastfeeding, periods, reproductive healthcare, domestic violence, sexual assault, and LGBTQ issues - examining topics through the lens of intersectional feminism and reproductive justice.
Available episodes
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Jun 29, 2022
Katie's Reaction to the Overturning of Roe
A raw, unedited, unproduced reaction episode to the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. Includes advice for how you can support abortion access and fight back, in both the short and the long term. The episode ends with a moment for reflection, featuring a song called "Animal" by Jean Rohe. In Jean's words, "'Animal' is a song about my own abortion experience, but ultimately much more: the things we can choose (or should be able to choose) in the garden of our lives, and all that lies beyond our control as mortal humans." May this song serve as a moment of un-silence, as together we mourn Roe and grieve for the millions of people who will now suffer as a result of being denied legal access to abortion.
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Jun 13, 2022
The Loophole That Lets Abusers Keep Their Guns
It’s no secret that our country’s gun laws are riddled with loopholes, but one is killing women specifically.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, murders linked to domestic violence have risen dramatically, up 58% in the last decade. Guns are the most common weapon abusers use to kill their partners, and victims are usually women. And many of these perpetrators are not even allowed to have guns in the first place.
Under federal law, people convicted of a felony, a domestic violence misdemeanor, or who are subject to family violence protection orders are not allowed to have guns. But these laws usually are not enforced, and intimate partners pay the ultimate price. Federal gun laws and the vast majority of state statutes have a glaring loophole: they don’t address how to keep guns away from people who aren’t supposed to have them, nor do they create the legal infrastructure to keep victims, their families, and their communities safe from violent offenders. Instead, around most of the country, these gun laws are enforced on an honor system that puts the onus on people who are prohibited from possessing firearms to disarm themselves, with virtually no follow-through to ensure that they’ve done so. Often prosecutors don’t even go after these offenders once they know they’re in violation of the law; even more often, law enforcement doesn’t realize the perpetrator illegally possessed a firearm until it’s too late.
Jennifer Gollan, an award-winning reporter for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, has spent over a year investigating and reporting on a series called When Abusers Keep Their Guns. From 2017 through 2020, Jennifer identified at least 110 intimate partners who were killed by offenders who were barred from having guns under federal and, in some cases, state law. This is certainly an undercount, as the federal government does not track the number of people prohibited from possessing firearms who go on to kill their intimate partners.
Jennifer is on the podcast to dive into where the gaps are in the enforcement of these gun laws and how we can close them. We discuss both federal and state solutions to enact this common-sense gun reform.
LINKS:
Transcript of the podcast
Read the centerpiece of the investigation, Armed and Abusive: How America’s Gun Laws Are Failing Domestic Violence Victims
Read the story, which Reveal published in partnership with The Guardian: How America’s Gun Laws Are Failing Domestic Violence Victims
Listen to the Reveal podcast: When Abusers Keep Their Guns
Watch the documentary, produced in collaboration with Al Jazeera English’s “Fault Lines”: Unrelinquished
Reveal is staying on the story, and they need your help. Please tell them if you know of someone who was shot by a domestic violence offender who was prohibited from having a gun or if you are an official with information they should know.
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May 31, 2022
How Does Being Denied an Abortion Affect Someone's Life?
Recently, Politico published a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case on the future of Roe v. Wade. Unsurprisingly for many in the reproductive rights community, Alito calls for the overturning of Roe.
We know that overturning Roe will mean that millions of people of reproductive age will be without access to abortion care. But what does it look like when someone who otherwise wanted an abortion is forced to carry a pregnancy to term?
We don't have to imagine it, because the landmark Turnaway Study has already studied what happens when, due to gestational age limits, people who sought abortions were denied them and forced to carry their pregnancies to term. On today's episode is Dr. Diana Greene Foster, director of research at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health and author of the Turnaway Study, which examines the effects of unwanted pregnancy on pregnant people's lives.
Dr. Greene Foster describes how the study was conducted and explains its main findings: that receiving an abortion does not harm the health and wellbeing of pregnant people, but in fact, being denied an abortion results in worse financial, health, and family outcomes. She describes the study's evidence that when people are unable to get wanted abortions, there are profound risks to their health and economic security, as well as a shift in the trajectory of their lives with negative effects on their relationships, aspirational plans, and the wellbeing of their children (because two-thirds of people seeking abortions are already parents).
As Dr. Greene Foster explains, "People across the country will still need abortion care but this Supreme Court leaked decision means that those who cannot circumvent a ban on abortion by travel or other means will experience long-term harm."
LINKS:
- Read a written transcript of the episode here (remember that it's AI-generated, so it's not perfect)
- Read more about the Turnaway Study here
- Read Dr. Greene Foster's book, The Turnaway Study: The Cost of Denying Women Access to Abortion
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May 17, 2022
Part 2: How Crisis Pregnancy Centers Use Clients' Private Data Against Them
In Part 2 of our 2-part series on the misleading practices of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, we delve into another misleading, yet surprisingly underreported, aspect of Crisis Pregnancy Centers (aka CPCs aka "fake clinics).
As we covered in Part 1, CPCs masquerade as if they are real health clinics - but because they are not, they're not subject to privacy laws like HIPPA that protect your personal health information. Of course, by design, their clients do not know this. CPCs then use information given to them by clients seeking their services to violate privacy and confidentiality for many reasons, including to use that info to harrass and surveil the client or abortion providers, to create "profiles" of those most likely to see their services in order to fuel their anti-abortion movement efforts, and - most terrifyingly - to potentially use private information clients have given them against them in lawsuits. This latter scenario is something that's becoming more and more possible as states pass super-restrictive and criminalizing abortion laws.
Here to discuss this on the podcast is Kim Clark, senior attorney at Legal Voice and seasoned legal advocate for reproductive rights, health, and justice. No time to listen? Check out Katie's op-ed on this topic or read the transcript of this episode.
LINKS:
- Transcript (AI-generated!)
- Op-ed written by Katie about Crisis Pregnancy Centers (includes more on how the Trump admin and its Supreme Court propped up CPCs): How Your Tax Dollars Fund Fake Women's Health Centers
- Must-watch video: Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
- Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center in 9 states
- In February 2022, Gender Justice along with their The Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights & Gender Equality partners released an urgent warning about the role the crisis pregnancy center (CPC) industry is poised to play in a post-Roe United States – as a surveillance tool for the anti-abortion movement: The CPC Industry as a Surveillance Tool of the Post-Roe State
- Experts Say Crisis Pregnancy Centers Could Spy On And Report Women Seeking An Abortion (Buzzfeed News, January 2022)
- More on NIFLA v. Becerra: Supreme Court Sides With California Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers (NPR, June 2018)
- Supreme Court Backs Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers in Free Speech Case (New York Times, June 2018)
- Thirty-One Attorneys General Challenge New Title X Restrictions on Women’s Reproductive Health Care (Press Release from office of Maryland's Attorney General Brian Frosh, 2019)
- States Want to Ban Abortions Beyond Their Borders. Here’s What Pro-Choice States Can Do. (New York Times, March 2022)
- A World Without Roe: The loss of the fundamental right to reproductive freedom will only lead to more state surveillance and criminalization of pregnant people (Inquest, March 2022)
- Additional podcast that may be of interest from Reveal: "A Strike At the Heart of Roe." Across the country, conservative foes of abortion rights have pushed “heartbeat bills” that would ban abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. Journalist Amy Littlefield and a team of law and journalism students from UC Berkeley investigate how this law went from being dismissed as a fringe idea, even by traditional right-to-life groups, to getting enforced in Texas.
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May 3, 2022
Part 1: Crisis Pregnancy Centers 101 - How Your Tax Dollars Fund Fake Women's Health Centers
Crisis pregnancy centers, or “CPCs,” are anti-abortion organizations that target pregnant people with predatory, deceptive marketing. They hide in plain sight by operating under the guise of offering comprehensive reproductive healthcare. Instead, they are religiously-affiliated, anti-abortion, and often unlicensed “medical” centers that, as stated by the California legislature, dissuade pregnant people from abortion through “intentionally deceptive advertising and counseling practices that often confuse, misinform and even intimidate” mostly low-income clients from making informed choices.
Eighty-three percent are affiliated with evangelical Christianity, and nearly all are tax-exempt. Their deceptive practices are well documented, and range from including words like “choices” in their names and locating themselves next to abortion clinics to trick pregnant people into walking through their doors, to wearing medical scrubs and having untrained personnel give and interpret ultrasounds even when they are not licensed medical facilities (and operate outside of privacy laws like HIPPA), with potentially dangerous consequences. It is also well-known that in addition to providing dubious and sometimes dangerous "medical" advice that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has publicly declared is unsupported by science, they lie to patients about how far along their pregnancies are in an effort to prevent clients from seeking abortions. The American Medical Association has declared that they "violate principles of medical ethics." Oh, and your tax dollars fund them!
In Part 1 of a 2-part Femtastic series on Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), we are joined by Megan Peterson and Erin Maye Quade of Gender Justice, a legal and policy advocacy org working to advance gender equity through the law. Gender Justice recently contributed to a national report on CPCs titled "Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center in 9 states." The report shows that, rather than offer legitimate healthcare and resources, CPCs target pregnant people of color and pregnant people with lower incomes with deceptive marketing; provide few or no real medical services; and systematically mislead clients about services they do provide, potentially resulting in delayed care and unnecessary risks to their clients' health.
Megan and Erin will talk about the intentionally misleading practices CPCs use to market themselves as real health clinics, and the deceptive "care" they provide in order to dissuade or stop clients from having abortions. We also talk about how your tax dollars fund them and what you can do to stop this.
Look out for Part 2 of this series, where we discuss how CPCs use client data to violate their privacy in very creepy and dangerous ways - and the role that CPCs are poised to play in a post-Roe United States as a surveillance tool for the anti-abortion movement.
No time to listen to this episode? Check out Katie's op-ed on this topic or read the transcript of the episode.
LINKS:
- Transcript (AI-generated!)
- Op-ed written by Katie about Crisis Pregnancy Centers (includes more info on their funding): How Your Tax Dollars Fund Fake Women's Health Centers
- Must-watch video: Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
- Mentioned in the episode: In Virginia, University of Mary Washington fellows conducted an undercover investigation into the local fake clinic that targets students on campus, exposing their disinformation and shaming tactics to help protect and educate vulnerable students.
- Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center in 9 states
- Further info on the dubious practice of "abortion pill reversal" and how the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says it is "not supported by science" - In the interview, we talk about an investigation in California that revealed some of the lies CPCs tell clients in their care (including when a CPC told a person that her IUD was her "baby"): Unmasking Fake Clinics: An Investigation into California's Crisis Pregnancy Centers (NARAL Pro-Choice California Foundation, 2015)
- Check out this map of Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the U.S.
- Check out the National Network of Abortion Funds; they can tell you whether a clinic is a real clinic. You should also donate to them, as abortion funds will be tasked with providing even more critical access to abortion care as states pass more restrictive anti-abortion laws (or ban abortion altogether should Roe fall this year).
- Abortion Care Network: Independent abortion providers care for the majority of people seeking abortion care in the United States. Founded in 2008, Abortion Care Network (ACN) is the national association for independent community-based, abortion care providers and their allies. They work to ensure the rights of all people to experience respectful, dignified abortion care. Donate to them.
- And as a teaser to Part 2 of this series on CPCs: In February 2022, Gender Justice along with their The Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights & Gender Equality partners released an urgent warning about the role the crisis pregnancy center (CPC) industry is poised to play in a post-Roe United States – as a surveillance tool for the anti-abortion movement: The CPC Industry as a Surveillance Tool of the Post-Roe State
- Why Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are Legal but Unethical (American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, 2018)
- Crisis Pregnancy Centers Lie: The Insidious Threat to Reproductive Freedom (Report by NARAL Pro-Choice America, 2015)
- More on NIFLA v. Becerra: Supreme Court Sides With California Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers (NPR, June 2018)
- Supreme Court Backs Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers in Free Speech Case (New York Times, June 2018)
- Thirty-One Attorneys General Challenge New Title X Restrictions on Women’s Reproductive Health Care (Press Release from office of Maryland's Attorney General Brian Frosh, 2019)
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Apr 17, 2022
What Do the FDA's Updates Mean for Access to Medication Abortion?
Back in early December 2021, you may have heard some rumblings celebrating that the FDA had changed some of its draconian and scientifically unsupported regulations around medication abortion. Medication abortion, a safe and legal method of first-trimester abortion, accounted for 54% of US abortions in 2020 but has been subject to decades of politically-motivated FDA regulations that placed strict and unnecessary controls on it to limit access. In late 2021, amidst the most hostile environment to abortion since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, some of these limits were lifted. However, the news stories reporting on the updates didn't exactly make it clear which problems the changes would solve and which they wouldn't.
As the Supreme Court is poised in June 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade, and states are leveling increasingly hostile attacks towards abortion rights in the meantime, any expansion of access is a good thing, and this FDA update is definitely a good thing - but is not a panacea.
To explain the implications of the update, we are rejoined on the podcast by Elisa Wells, Co-Director of Plan C Pills, a website and organization that provides information about how to access abortion pills in all 50 US states.
Elisa explains why this is a win and for whom it's a win for abortion access - but also for whom these changes make no difference at all. As the potential end of Roe nears, it's more important now than ever that we understand - and work to lift - the obstacles to abortion access that millions of Americans of reproductive age face.
[Please note that this episode was recorded on January 14, 2022. Additional states have passed incredibly strict abortion bans since then, including Idaho, Florida, Oklahoma, and Kentucky.]
LINKS:
- Transcript of episode (AI-generated)
- Check out all the fun (and often easy!) ways that you can Get Involved with Plan C Pills to take action to support self-managed abortion
- In 2020, medication abortion accounted for 54% of US abortions (Guttmacher Institute, 2022)
- States Want to Ban Abortions Beyond Their Borders. Here’s What Pro-Choice States Can Do. (New York Times, March 2022)
- A World Without Roe: The loss of the fundamental right to reproductive freedom will only lead to more state surveillance and criminalization of pregnant people (Inquest, March 2022)
- A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine supports the safety of prescribing the abortion pill without requiring a pelvic exam or ultrasound.
- Additional podcast that may be of interest from Reveal: "A Strike At the Heart of Roe." Across the country, conservative foes of abortion rights have pushed “heartbeat bills” that would ban abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. Journalist Amy Littlefield and a team of law and journalism students from UC Berkeley investigate how this law went from being dismissed as a fringe idea, even by traditional right-to-life groups, to getting enforced in Texas.
Relevant Femtastic Podcast Episodes:
- Lifting Restrictions on Medication Abortion (July 2021)
- Podcast featuring Plan C Pills and Elisa Wells (Sept 2021): What's Up with the TX Abortion Ban and How Can People All Over the US Access Abortion Pills Online?
- A Clinic Making Mail-Order Abortion a Reality (Nov 2021)
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Apr 5, 2022
A Glimpse Into a Post-Roe Future: Funding Abortion in a State That's a "Destination" for Them
Today on the podcast is the Baltimore Abortion Fund (BAF), a grassroots nonprofit that provides financial support for people traveling to and living in Maryland who need abortion care, and as the Supreme Court decides in June on a case that threatens legal abortion like never before, they’re working to remove the financial barriers for those seeking abortion care.
As of late 2021, 30% of BAF’s callers were already from out of state, and the majority of people that BAF supports are 13 weeks or further into their pregnancy. BAF discusses on the podcast the implications of further state restrictions on abortion care - both for people seeking abortions who live in states with severe restrictions, AND those seeking abortions who live in less restrictive states (like Maryland) which increasingly have out-of-state residents coming to them for abortions.
BAF's Board Co-President, Brigitte Winter, and Director of Development & Communications, Lynn McCann, join Femtastic to discuss the impact they're already seeing of restrictive laws in the south (like Texas' SB8), the costs and obstacles involved for patients seeking abortions (even in relatively "friendly" states), how that affects abortion care and availability for people both in-state and out-of-state, and how things may get worse after the Supreme Court hands down their decision in Dobbs v. Jackson in June 2022.
BAF also discusses developments in the reproductive justice movement that are aiming to respond to the possible overturning of Roe, including uniting regional abortion funds and, with the FDA's recent loosening of rules related to medication abortion, the possibility of medication abortion as a means to increase capacity of clinics and accessibility to patients. Lastly, BAF discusses the role that abortion funds play in reducing stigma and creating a culture shift in the way abortion is talked about.
This episode was recorded in late December 2021.
By the way, you can support abortion funds via the event that is HAPPENING NOW: The National Abortion Access Fund-a-Thon is an annual season of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events where community members (like you!) come together to raise money for abortion funds. View a list of all the Fund-a-Thon events by location and date or search for a specific abortion fund or fundraising team by name.
Links and Resources:
- Baltimore Abortion Fund website: www.baltimoreabortionfund.org
- BAF's confidential helpline: If you live in Maryland or are coming to the state for your procedure, please call BAF's confidential helpline at (443) 297-9893. - Donate to Baltimore Abortion Fund
- Maryland Medicaid and abortion: information on how to use Maryland Medicaid coverage for abortion care
- National Network of Abortion Funds: www.abortionfunds.org
- Donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds
- Transcript of this episode (please note that transcripts are computer-generated and therefore not error-free or 100% accurate) BAF on Social Media:
IG: @baltimorefund
Twitter: @BaltimoreFund
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BaltimoreAbortionFund/
- States Want to Ban Abortions Beyond Their Borders. Here’s What Pro-Choice States Can Do. (New York Times, March 2022)
- A World Without Roe: The loss of the fundamental right to reproductive freedom will only lead to more state surveillance and criminalization of pregnant people (Inquest, March 2022)
- Additional podcast that may be of interest from Reveal: "A Strike At the Heart of Roe." Across the country, conservative foes of abortion rights have pushed “heartbeat bills” that would ban abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. Journalist Amy Littlefield and a team of law and journalism students from UC Berkeley investigate how this law went from being dismissed as a fringe idea, even by traditional right-to-life groups, to getting enforced in Texas.
- Relevant Femtastic Podcast episodes:
A Clinic Making Mail-Order Abortion a Reality (November 2021)
What's Up with the Texas Abortion Ban and How Can People All Over the US Access Abortion Pills Online (September 2021)
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Mar 22, 2022
Using Information to Overcome the Gender Pay Gap
You've probably heard of the gender pay gap - the fact that, according to the most recent Census Bureau data from 2018, women of all races earned, on average, just 82 cents for every $1 earned by men of all races. Last week, Equal Pay Day was recognized on March 7 - this is the number of days into 2022 women would need to work to earn the equivalent of men in 2021.
Do you know how the gender pay gap may impact your earnings over the course of your career? Do you know that the gap is a LOT bigger for women of color? In fact, the wage gap for women in some racial minority groups is not only wider than the overall gender wage gap, but it is also closing more slowly.
While MUCH needs to change on a cultural level to truly close these gaps, there ARE ways you can increase your negotiating power and confidence to chip away at it for yourself.
Today on the podcast is Lora Rosenblum, advisor to and champion of 81cents, a paid service that helps women negotiate higher compensation by convening a group of experts to advise on their compensation and make an action plan for negotiation. Lora discusses the wage gap, what can be helpful when prepping for a compensation discussion, and how 81cents is fighting the racialized wage gap via 81grants - providing its service for free to people of color and other underrepresented minorities who experience wage gaps.
LINKS:
- Transcript of episode ((AI-generated so she ain't perfect)
- 81cents paid service
- 81grants scholarships for people of color
- Quick Facts about the Gender Wage Gap (Center for American Progress)
- Gender pay gap in U.S. held steady in 2020 (Pew Research)
- Women of Color and the Wage Gap (Center for American Progress)
- Wage Gaps by Race (Investopedia)
- Race and the Pay Gap (AAUW)
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Mar 8, 2022
The Meaning of a 6-Week Ban on Abortion
You may have heard that Texas enacted a six-week ban on abortion in 2021, and that other states have begun attempting to pass copycat laws. You also may have heard many people remarking that 6 weeks is "before many people even know they are pregnant." But do you know why that is?
Dr. Lauren Ralph, Associate Professor in the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program at UCSF, recently published research that found that 1 in 3 people discover pregnancy past six weeks or later, and almost 2 in 3 young people discover pregnancy past six weeks or later.
She is on the podcast today to explain WHY many people don't know they are pregnant until after 6 weeks, and which groups of people are most disproportionately harmed by laws that ban abortion early in pregnancy.
She also explains the confusing math that the OB/GYN field uses to count weeks of pregnancy, which means that "6 weeks pregnant" actually means 6 weeks from the first day of your last period - so if your subsequent period is just a week late, you're already technically at 5 weeks pregnant.
Dr. Ralph's breakdown of this funky math will show you how state bans like this act basically as TOTAL bans on abortion, because it would be extremely difficult to be able to schedule and obtain an abortion in a state that passed this type of law before the 6-week mark.
As we approach what may be the end of Roe v. Wade if the Supreme Court decides to overturn it in June 2022, understanding the current impact of 6-week abortion bans gives us a glimpse into the the catastrophic effects that a probable overturning Roe would have on the health and wellbeing of people with uteruses across the country.
LINKS:
- Transcript of episode (computer-generated, so not perfect but good enough!)
- Dr. Ralph's research published in the Journal of Contraception (November 2021): Home pregnancy test use and timing of pregnancy confirmation among people seeking health care
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Feb 22, 2022
Reproductive Justice 101 with SisterSong
It's Black History Month, and we're also in what may quite possibly the last few months of Roe v. Wade's existence as we know it. So it seems an important time to talk about what exactly Reproductive Justice means, the history of this Black women-led movement, and why it's so very important.
Joining the podcast is Monica Simpson, Executive Director of *the* organization for the Repro Justice (RJ) movement, SisterSong. Monica explains what RJ is; its history and founding by Black women; how we do everyone a disservice if we shy away from talking about sex when we talk about reproductive justice; and why Black people and other historically marginalized groups are disproportionately impacted by restrictions on reproductive health.
Further, as we discuss what may be Roe's final moments, we discuss what Roe meant and means to the Black community, how SisterSong preparing for what may be the end of Roe in June 2022, and how YOU can help.
LINKS:
Transcript (Note that all transcripts are AI-generated and may contain slight errors.)
SisterSong website
Donate to SisterSong
Katie's recommended reading on reproductive justice: "Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty" by Dorothy Roberts
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Feb 8, 2022
The Very Recent, Racist History of the Anti-Abortion Movement
We know today that the religious right condemns abortion. But did you know just how recently they developed that opinion, and why? Today on the podcast is Reverend Serene Jones, a pro-choice reverend, religious scholar, and the former chair of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. She is a leader on progressive religious issues, including abortion.
Rev. Jones is an expert on how abortion and reproductive rights became a political rallying cry for the conservative religious right. Unknown to many, until just decades ago, the church was essentially silent on the issue of abortion. The Southern Baptist Church even issued statements that specifically said, as late as 1978, that the government should not be involved in abortion. But over time, sensing an opportunity to gain followers and consolidate political power among white voters, the church launched an all-out crusade against abortion.
On the podcast, Rev. Serene explains this history, and the combination of poli…
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Jan 25, 2022
How to Raise the Next Generation of Feminists
If you have young people in your life, you may have asked yourself: how do I teach them to be feminists? How do I explain what feminism is and what it has to do with their lives? For young girls of color, how do I help them navigate the dual forces of racism and sexism?
Fortunately, there is a new book that can help.
Brittney Cooper, Susana M. Morris, and Chanel Craft Tanner are authors, activists, educators, and members of the Crunk Feminist Collective. Their new book Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood is a resource guide for young feminists designed to help them navigate some of the most pressing issues young people face. Especially geared towards young girls of color and their unique experiences, Feminist AF aims to empower everyone to live their feminism out loud.
On the podcast, the authors discuss what Crunk Feminism means to them; how intersectional feminist frameworks can be used to help young feminists grapple with friendships, racism, sexism, dating, pop culture, an…
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Jan 11, 2022
Seeking Abortion in Texas Today
We've heard a lot about the hypothetical harm of Texas' incredibly restrictive abortion bill, SB8, and how it is a glimpse into a post-Roe future. But we wanted to talk to someone on the ground in Texas who is seeing firsthand the impact this bill is having on Texans seeking abortions.
We're joined on the podcast today by Zaena Zamora, Executive Director of the Frontera Fund. The Frontera Fund makes abortion accessible to people in the Rio Grande Valley (an area on the US-Mexico border in the southernmost part of Texas) by providing financial and practical support to people seeking abortion.
Zaena talks about the lengths that Texans now have to go to in order to seek abortion, and the skyrocketing cost of providing financial assistance in a time when most of the fund's callers need assistance traveling outside of the state for their abortions. Because Frontera Fund serves a large immigrant population, Zaena also speaks to the additional obstacles that undocumented folks, and especial…
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Dec 27, 2021
How the Pandemic Drove Women Out of the Workforce
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven up unemployment among women, and the situation is even worse for women of color. Between a lack of affordable childcare, women's caregiving roles in the home, and the fact that women disproportionately work in sectors negatively impacted by the pandemic, the short-term and long-term implications of the pandemic's effect on women's employment cannot be understated. The impact that women's drop in workforce participation has on our economy as whole, and for women (and ergo families') lives, careers, and financial health overall, will impact the United States for decades to come. Because what impacts women impacts everyone.
Here to discuss this crisis and the policy solutions that can solve it is President of the National Partnership for Women and Families, Jocelyn Frye. The National Partnership is a national, non-profit, non-partisan org that works to achieve equality for all women by changing culture and policy. They have been fighting for family leave…
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Dec 14, 2021
When choosing abortion is impossible: People who consider but don’t obtain an abortion
As the topic of abortion rights is in the courts and in the press lately, one thing that we often miss is the question of what it actually means to have the choice of whether to obtain an abortion.
Aside from whether abortion is actually legal where you live, what other barriers may exist that may prevent someone from being able to choose abortion in the first place? What obstacles, such as cost, ability to physically get to a clinic, and social stigma, make it so that abortion is not a viable option for someone, even if they may want one? What if the reality is that many people do not have a real choice?
Today on the podcast is Dr. Katrina Kimport, an associate professor at University of California, San Francisco’s (UCSF) Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH). Her book, No Real Choice, looks at how abortion restrictions, class and racial disparities, cultural pressure, and other issues can make abortion impossible to choose - from the perspective of people who c…
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Nov 30, 2021
A clinic making mail-order abortion a reality
In the midst of nationwide abortion restrictions, one topic receiving a lot of attention is the idea of “mail-order” or telemedicine abortion. Previous Femtastic episodes have covered what medication abortion is and how you can access it in all 50 states through various channels. Today, we are talking to Hey Jane, one company providing telemedicine abortion in a few U.S. states (and hopefully more soon)!
Hey Jane’s CEO Kiki Freedman joins the podcast to discuss why she started Hey Jane and how it works. Of course, no conversation about abortion access is complete without talking about restrictions, so Kiki discusses the federal and state-level restrictions that impact where and how Hey Jane can operate (hint: they’re definitely not based in science or safety). Additionally we chat about how access to telemedicine abortion may be impacted moving forward, particularly by FDA regulations, and how Hey Jane plans to protect and expand access despite what may come.
Links:
- http…
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Nov 15, 2021
Why the Gender Gap in Medical Research Hurts Us All
medical research gap: a disparity that exists because the vast majority of biological literature is based on single sex studies of males of European ancestry.
Did you know that it wasn't until 1993 that it was required for women to be included in clinical trials? Or that as of 2018, 78% of people included in key genomic research were of European ancestry?
The implications of gender and racial exclusion in medical and scientific research has had huge (negative) implications for the health of us all. It leads to biased data sets that then result in unequal diagnosis and treatment for people of varying backgrounds.
Today on the podcast is Elizabeth Ruzzo, Ph.D., founder of Adyn, a company on a mission to make scientific discovery more inclusive. Adyn recognizes that medical gender and race gaps have profound and devastating impacts on available diagnostics, treatment, and care. To close this gap, Adyn is starting out by using genetic and hormonal info, combined with big data, for a bir…
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Nov 2, 2021
Discovering Your Grandma Spied on Nazis
Enid Zentellis thought she knew everything about her Holocaust-surviving, Olympic swimming-qualifying, nudist Hungarian grandmother. But when she discovered that she might have also been a spy for the Allies, it not only caused her to reconsider WWII history, it helped lift her out of her personal grief and helped to understand the power of individual resistance.
Today on the podcast is award-winning filmmaker and newly-minted podcaster, Enid Zentellis. In her podcast, “How My Grandmother Won WWII” she discovers the truth about her Hungarian Jewish grandmother’s covert work for British Special Operations during WWII, and in the process changes her entire conception of who were family was then and is today.
On Femtastic Podcast, Enid discusses the extensive research and travel that went into discovering her grandmother's history, and how the process changed her. She talks about what it was like to do this research during a time when fascists and white supremacists were becoming…
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Oct 19, 2021
Why Representation in the Arts (including Podcasts) Matters
Today on the podcast is Kacie Willis, creator of the podcast “You Heard Me Write," a Spotify Studios production.
Kacie is an arts advocate who brings together Atlanta-based creatives from different disciplines and backgrounds through art. The series has amassed wide popularity, recently trending on Spotify because of its wildly creative, immersive format. Each episode features emerging writers, musicians, sound designers and dynamic thinkers who collaborate on a multimedia project without knowing the identities of their counterparts. It might sound vague, but it *sounds* (pun intended) awesome when you actually hear it.
The show comes from Spotify’s Sound Up program - an incubator program for the next generation of podcasters from underrepresented backgrounds. Sound Up was created specifically to tackle representation disparities in podcasting among women of color, who are vastly underrepresented in the audio space.
Today on Femtastic podcast, Kacie tells us more about the conce…
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Oct 5, 2021
Battling for Reproductive Rights: The Last 100 Years and Today
This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the founding of the American Birth Control League, and while we've come a long way since then, fierce battles for reproductive rights are still being waged today.
Today’s interview is with Planned Parenthood's North Central States CEO Sarah Stoesz, a fierce advocate of over 20 years who has been fighting for reproductive health access in a reliably conservative part of the country. We're also joined by award-winning author Ames Sheldon, grand-niece of the founder of the Birth Control League of Massachusetts in the 1910s, and herself one of the founders of the Women's Studies field in the 1970s.
On the podcast today, Ames will discuss the challenges to just legalize INFORMATION about family planning 100 years ago, and the history of access to birth control and abortion over the course of the last 100 years. Stoesz will explain how this history ties into the struggles for reproductive health access today, and what battles we are still fight…
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Sep 21, 2021
The Largest Contraceptive Access Program in the Country
After decades of pursuing public health policies to reduce unintended pregnancies in South Carolina, New Morning President & CEO Bonnie Kapp had a bold idea.
What if we made birth control available at little to no cost in every community, in every county, for every person with a uterus in South Carolina, regardless of health insurance coverage? What if we did this against a backdrop of relentless political attacks on reproductive rights and a weak healthcare infrastructure, where 30% of counties have no OB/GYN providers, the average distance to a family medicine practitioner is 37 miles, and 29 of 46 counties in the state are 100% medically underserved?
Against these odds, Choose Well was established in 2017. Choose Well works across a network of 119 health centers to provide free or low-cost birth control across South Carolina. In just four years, it has become the largest state-based contraceptive access program in the nation.
Today on the podcast to talk about the impressive pro…
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Sep 7, 2021
Are You Prepared for the Cost of Parenthood?
Did you know that childcare is now more expensive than college in 33 states? While parenthood is beautiful, there's no need to go into it blind. If you're planning to start a family, now is the time to start planning for the financial costs of child-rearing, both from the perspective of short-term, monthly cash-flow and the long-term implications that parenthood-related career choices have on lifetime earnings and savings.
Here to talk on the podcast are experts in financial family planning: Siran Cao and Mel Faxon, founders of Mirza, a platform helping empower parents and future parents to take control of their finances and plan for a family.
We discuss the "motherhood penalty," created by lack of access to paid leave, cultural roles that make mothers the default parent, and workplace cultures that penalize mothers - and the impact that this penalty has on long-term earnings and financial health. Siran and Mel also advise future parents on when they should start family financial pl…
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Sep 3, 2021
What's Up with the TX Abortion Ban and How Can People All Over the US Access Abortion Pills Online
On September 1, Texas enacted S.B. 8, an outrageous abortion ban that not only amounts to an effective total ban on abortions, but creates a bizarre bounty hunter situation where anyone can sue another person for assisting someone who has an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy - and be rewarded with $10,000 plus attorney fees if they succeed. In a country of draconian abortion laws, this is the most wack-a-doodle one yet, and probably the scariest - as the Supreme Court, in a signal of how they plan to treat any challenges to Roe (the next of which happens next month), declined to strike the law down. Things are heating up in Gilead, and it's not good.
Here to talk about what's going on in Texas is Elisa Wells, co-founder of Plan C Pills. Plan C Pills is a website that provides information on how Americans, in any state, can access abortion pills online. Elisa explains what's going on in Texas, how access is similarly limited in other states, and how mail-order abortion pills can he…
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Aug 24, 2021
Can We Stop Treating Women’s Health like a Niche Category?
While women make up half the population, you may have noticed that women's health is treated like a niche category.
Today on the podcast to talk about innovation (or the historical lackthereof) in women's health is Amanda French, co-founder and CEO of Emme, a healthcare technology company that wants to bring birth control out of the 1950s.
Emme recently launched the first Smart Case for birth control (and accompanying app) to help pill users better manage their health and never miss a pill again.
Amanda talks about why she decided to create the first Smart Case for birth control, how it works, and the problems it solves. She discusses why there is such a lack of innovation and funding in the women’s health category, and how male-centric design perpetuates failures in products for women's reproductive health. She also talks about the historical "women's health information gap" and how FemTech, and investments in women-focused healthcare solutions, can address it.
LINKS:
Find…
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Aug 10, 2021
The Inclusion Rider: An Update
While accepting her Academy Award for Best Actress in 2018, Frances McDormand shouted out a word that set the internet aflutter: Inclusion Rider.
In a 2019 Femtastic Oscars Edition podcast, Katie interviewed one of the co-authors of the inclusion rider, law partner in civil rights and employment, Kalpana Kotagal, to introduce us to the concept. An inclusion rider is a clause added onto a contract, and usually an A-lister's contract, that requires diversity both on-screen and off in the hiring for Hollywood productions.
Today, Kalpana and fellow co-author Fanshen Cox, head of strategic outreach at Pearl Street Films, join the podcast to give us an update on how the Inclusion Rider has changed Hollywood since 2018. Hint: You've probably watched a film or TV show that was produced using an inclusion rider. ;)
What successes have they had in building the inclusion rider into productions? What challenges and push-back have they encountered, and where do we go next? How can those of us…
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Jul 27, 2021
Women of Color in Cannabis
As the cannabis industry is booming and on the precipice of federal legalization, it must figure out how it will traverse and address racial and gender equity in its workforce. While folks who have been incarcerated for non-violent cannabis offenses are overwhelmingly people of color, those getting funding and attention in the legalized cannabis industry have often been white men. STIIIZY is a brand changing that paradigm.
A Los Angeles-based cannabis company in 5 states, women of color are at the heart of STIIIZY’s continuous, pivotal success. The company breaks the "white bro in weed" mold - the vast majority of its employees are people of color, women are in leadership at all levels, and the brand has critical partnerships to support the #STOPASIANHATE movement and other community-led social justice initiatives.
Today on the podcast are STIIIZY executives Jackie Kim and Charmaine Chua. They discuss what it's like to be women of color in the industry, what they feel a diverse…
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Jul 13, 2021
Lifting Restrictions on Medication Abortion
Medication abortion, or "the abortion pill," is an incredibly safe method of abortion that can be used up to about the first 11 weeks of pregnancy. Many people prefer this method to an in-clinic abortion due to the lower cost and the ability to manage the pregnancy termination to a large extent at home, on their own terms - but there's plenty of stigma and confusion around it (like the fact that "the abortion pill" is actually a regimen of two different meds, taken as 5 pills total). Worse, there are medically unnecessary restrictions on the provision of medication abortion, passed by ideologues rather than by doctors. Chief among them is an FDA requirement that has historically dictated that the first pill in the two-part regimen be taken in a doctor's office - even though there is no scientific basis to this requirement. Restrictions like this do nothing to make abortion safer, but go a long way towards making abortion harder to get for many people.
Today on the podcast we welcome b…
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Jun 28, 2021
What Happened When Texas Banned Abortion During COVID-19
On March 22, 2020, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that prohibited procedures that were not "medically necessary," claiming that this would preserve personal protective equipment and reduce demands on hospital-based care. Despite the fact that abortion rarely occurs in hospitals, Attorney General Ken Paxton chose to interpret the order to include abortion in defiance of professional medical associations’ recommendations that access to abortion during the pandemic should not and need not be delayed or compromised.
Researchers at the Texas Policy Evaluation Project and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health studied the impacts of the executive order, and their recently published studies reveal just how disruptive the executive order was for Texans seeking abortion care: emotionally, financially, and logistically.
Joining the Femtastic Podcast today is Dr. Kari White, Associate Professor of Social Work a…
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Jun 13, 2021
Disability as Diversity
Today on the podcast is Jo Tolley, an advocate for disability, equity, and diversity. As someone who uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, Jo spent most of her life running from the label of “disabled.” In the past few years, she has decided to embrace her disability to become an advocate to change our perceptions around disability from being a dichotomy between “disabled” and “non-disabled” people, to instead thinking of disability as just another facet of diversity.
Jo talks on the podcast about what it means for equity to be achieved for the disability community, why terms like “able-bodied” bug her, how intersecting identities (such as her queerness) impact the experience of disability, and what she sees as the benefits of her disability. Jo wants to break down the boundaries of what we label as “disability,” and show that rather than a monolithic community, “If you’ve met one person with a disability, you’ve met one person with a disability.”
Find…
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Jun 2, 2021
SCOTUS Could Overturn Roe v. Wade Next Year
On May 17, 2021, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case out of Mississippi that would that ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Depending on how the court rules on this case (and given the conservative make-up, it's not looking good), Roe v. Wade could either be entirely overturned or the court could give the green-light to states to further restrict abortion access - which is already logistically inaccessible to millions of Americans of reproductive age. All in all, this is the most dangerous and credible threat to Roe since the decision was made in 1973.
To explain the potential ramifications of this case is Carole Joffe. Carole is a Professor in the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and the author of several books on abortion provision, including her most recent, "Obs…
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May 14, 2021
What Does Work-Life-Relationship Balance Look Like in 2021?
We all know the term "work-life balance," but where do relationships and intimacy fit in? And what about during a global pandemic when stress - especially for working parents - is at an all-time high?
Today on the podcast is Naketa Ren Thigpen, psychotherapist, founder of ThigPro Balance and Relationship Management Institute, and fabulous host of the Balance Boldy Podcast. Regarded as the #1 Balance & Relationship Advisor in the world, Naketa has become the go-to resource for women entrepreneurs and power couples seeking to balance love and success without dimming or apologizing for their ambition.
Today on the podcast Naketa discusses how to set boundaries and goals to achieve balance between work, life, and our relationships. As the author of "Selfish: Permission to Pause, Live, Love and Laugh Your Way to Joy," Naketa describes what it means to be intentionally selfish and how that is key to our success and happiness.
As a relationship expert and sexologist, she also give…
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May 2, 2021
Healing and Accountability: A Story of Interpersonal and Institutional Trauma
CONTENT WARNING: Sexual assault, suicide, suicidal ideation, depression, institutional silencing
What happens when the trauma of sexual assault extends beyond the event itself? What happens when an academic institution that is meant to protect its students ends up perpetuating further harm? On today’s episode, Katie interviews an anonymous guest who speaks about the experience of sexual assault that took place when she was an undergraduate student at Brown University and the aftermath of those events. While stories in the media of sexual assault are often portrayed as black and white, this particular narrative brings out why that approach often doesn’t do justice to these complex, nuanced stories and the imperfect people behind them.
Resources:
* Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741); free and confidential mental health texting via SMS message. 24 hours a day in US, Canada, UK, and Ireland.
* National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Available 24 hours. Languages: English, Spa…
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Apr 16, 2021
On-Screen Portrayals of Abortion and Why They Matter
What we see in movies and TV impacts our cultural understanding and normalization of topics - and abortion is no different. That's why every year a team of researchers at UCSF's Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) analyzes and reports on film and TV portrayals of abortion.
Today on the podcast is Steph Herold, a researcher with the Abortion On-Screen Team here to discuss the 2020 report. Steph tells us how, where, and how accurately abortion was portrayed on-screen in 2020. She details how on-screen portrayals underrepresented people of color, parents, and barriers to abortion seen in real life, while overrepresenting teen patients and in-clinic (versus medication) abortions. Most importantly, she tells us why this all matters.
Show Resources:
- To view 2020 and all prior-year reports, go here
- To view ANSIRH's running database of on-screen abortion storylines OR to contact them to suggest a storyline not in their database, go here
- Email our guest stephani…
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Mar 29, 2021
Global Vaccine Equity and Why You Should Care About It
You may have heard that poorer countries across the globe are not going to have access to the COVID-19 vaccine for a loooong time. If you live in a rich country, why should that matter to you?
The short answer: because the pandemic can't truly end in one place if it doesn't end in all places. Oh, and also because it's the right thing to do.
Today on the podcast, we welcome back guest Priti Krishtel, co-founder and co-executive director of global medicine access organization, I-MAK. Priti has been working for nearly two decades in the movement to create a more equitable and just medicine system for all, and COVID-19 is the perfect case study for why I-MAK's mission is to fix the broken patent system that keeps affordable drugs out of reach for so many.
Today on the podcast, we discuss the process countries undertake to secure vaccine supplies for their citizens and how that money-driven process advantages richer countries while disadvantaging poorer ones. Priti talks about existing…
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Mar 2, 2021
Spotlight on Intimate Partner Violence, Part 2: Demystifying Emotional Abuse
In Femtastic's first-ever Spotlight Series, we focus this and the previous episode on bringing awareness to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) or Domestic Violence (DV).
The months of COVID-associated isolation, fear, and economic anxiety have exacerbated IPV. In today's episode, we focus on emotional abuse, an equally (and as our guest argues, more) damaging type of abuse that can occur in all types of relationships, from romantic to parent-child, to workplace and beyond.
Today's guest is Beverly Engel, a psychotherapist who specializes in emotional abuse. Beverly details what emotional abuse looks like, how it shows up in all types of relationships (romantic relationships, queer and trans relationships, family relationships, etc.). Focusing mainly on romantic and familial relationships, Beverly discusses the tactics abusers use, the typical "profile" of an abuser, how abusers use shame to control their victims, and the red flags to spot early-on in a relationship that a partner may…
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Feb 16, 2021
Spotlight on Intimate Partner Violence, Part 1: IPV and How COVID is Exacerbating It
[TW: domestic violence, sexual assault, physical violence, emotional abuse]
A sad but true fact: more than 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the US will experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Half of all female homicides are from a current or past male intimate partner. And these are just the estimates we have among cisgender people and those who report their abuse. But with the compounded stress and isolation of COVID-19, IPV has reached a tragic, all-time high.
In Femtastic's first ever Spotlight Series, we focus the next two episodes on bringing awareness to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) or Domestic Violence (DV).
The months of COVID-associated isolation, fear, and economic anxiety have ignited IPV to new and often deadly ends; specifically, domestic violence homicides have increased dramatically. Today, we focus on the type of abuse more commonly associated with IPV: physical violence. In the next episode, we focus on emotional abuse, an equally damaging type of IPV.
T…
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Feb 2, 2021
Maternal Mortality, Racism, and the Importance of Postpartum Care
Although the country has justifiably turned its attention to the COVID-19 crisis, maternal mortality remains a public health crisis.The maternal mortality rate in the United States is higher than any other high-income nation. Approximately 60% of maternal deaths are preventable. Inexcusably, women of color are disproportionately impacted by this crisis. Black women experience mortality as a result of complications of pregnancy at a rate THREE TO FOUR times higher than white women. American Indian and Alaska Native women die at a rate two to three times higher. This must stop.
Today on the podcast is Dr. Tamika Auguste, an OB/GYN at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC, and a member of the Board of Directors for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
Dr. Tamika Auguste discusses the American maternal mortality crisis, and in particular, why there are such stark racial disparities in maternal mortality. As a contributor to ACOG's guidance o…
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Jan 29, 2021
Your Legal Rights During COVID-19
Have you wondered what sorts of legal protections you have in the face of life's new COVID complexities? COVID-19 has impacted all facets of life where some legal know-how would be useful: in housing and leasing, student loans, travel and weddings, workplace accommodations, and more.
Renowned celebrity attorney, comedian, host of the podcast "Girl Is that Legal?", and star on the new dating reality show “Ready to Love,” on OWN, Symone Redwine is here to help. On the podcast today, she offers legal advice that certainly comes in handy during COVID, but much of which is applicable regardless of a pandemic - and worth knowing!
What rights do you have if you can't pay your rent? Your student loans? What legal obligations does your employer have if you fear COVID infection at work (or have other reasons, like pregnancy or an injury, that necessitate some sort of workplace accommodations)? If you are in a physically abusive relationship with a cohabitating partner, how can you break yo…
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Jan 18, 2021
Your COVID-19 Vaccine Questions Answered
Lord knows people have LOTS of questions about the COVID-19 vaccine. So it's time to get them answered!
On the podcast today is Stanford MD/PhD candidate Maria Filsinger Interrante, an expert in vaccine research and development! Femtastic host Katie Breen (who herself has a Master of Public Health from Harvard) asks Maria all of the most frequently asked questions and concerns about the vaccine. Is it safe? Was it "rushed?" Does it cause infertility? Can it change your DNA? Will it still work on the new variants of COVID-19?
Listen in to get all of these questions and more answered, and hopefully walk away feeling a little bit of...dare we say...hope?
Have additional questions about the vaccine? DM @Femtastic_Podcast on Instagram or Facebook, or shoot Katie an email at katie@femtasticpodcast.com or via the contact form on FemtasticPodcast.com to have them answered! And remember: there's no such thing as a stupid question!
Resources from Maria (in her own words): (1) My very talente…
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Dec 21, 2020
What You Need to Know About China Today
Ever feel like you have no idea what to make of the media's coverage of China? How do we separate truth from xenophobia? What does it mean to be "tough on China?" And how do we look beyond news reports and politics to see the nuance inherent in a nation of 1.4 billion?
This episode of Femtastic features Dori Jones Yang, an expert who has spent her entire career helping Americans better understand China.
Dori helps us separate fact from fiction and see China for what it is: not a monolith, but a complicated, imperfect, impressive, and wildly resilient nation.
She explains China's place in the geopolitical environment; what they got wrong and got right about coronavirus; the good and the bad of China's powerful central government; American diplomatic policy towards China (past, present, and should-be-future); and what to make of China's rise.
Jones Yang's new book, When the Red Gates Opened: A Memoir of China’s Reawakening, tells of her experiences as a young foreign correspondent…
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Dec 8, 2020
A Black Mother's Answers to White Women's Questions
After the execution of George Floyd earlier this year, Black entrepreneur, mother, and activist Lydia Elle found herself answering lots of questions from the white women in her social circles. They wanted to know how to teach their kids about racism, how to understand the world of parenting through the eyes of a Black mother, how to raise anti-racist kids, and how to talk about racism to their friends and family. Eventually, these conversations inspired Lydia to launch courses like "A Black Mother's Answers to White Women's Questions," and merchandise store Supplies for Allies so that these conversations were accessible to everyone.
In this interview, Lydia discusses what led her to this work, the kinds of questions she answers in her courses, and the most common mistakes she sees well-intentioned people making when trying to be allies. She talks about how she navigates the emotional toll of her work, offers guidance for white people who may want to ask questions of their Black frie…
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Nov 24, 2020
Getting "The Pill" Over-the-Counter
Imagine if you could easily get your birth control over-the-counter, just as you do with other safe, effective medicines like Tylenol and cough drops. Today's guest is Aisha Chaudhri, a reproductive justice advocate and leader of the Contraceptive Justice Project at EverThrive Illinois, who is working to increase access to comprehensive contraceptive care - including by making oral contraceptives available without a prescription.
In this episode, Aisha discusses why more methods of contraception should be made available over-the-counter (OTC) and the reasons why the United States is one of the few countries in the world where they are not already (hint: it's not for any scientific reason).
Aisha explains how increasing the availability of OTC methods of contraception creates greater equity in healthcare by increasing financial and physical access to these medications, and allowing people to care for themselves outside of a clinical setting and regardless of insurance status. Aisha…
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Nov 14, 2020
What's Ahead for LGBTQ+ Rights
Robyn Gigl is a transgender attorney and activist focused on protecting and expanding the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. In this interview with Katie Breen, Robyn describes the impact the Trump administration and recent Supreme Court rulings had on LGBTQ+ rights and discrimination protections, and what she sees as the legal (and political) challenges and opportunities ahead as we head into the Biden administration. Robyn describes her own experience of transitioning as a transgender woman in 2008, when she was in her 50s and a managing partner in a law firm she had worked at for 30 years. Lastly, she offers thoughtful advice on how heterosexual and cisgender people can be better allies to the LGBTQ+ community.
Visit Robyn's website to learn more about her and to preorder her upcoming novel, By Way of Sorrow, available on March 30, 2021.
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Oct 2, 2020
What Would Amy Coney Barrett's SCOTUS Appointment Mean for Reproductive Rights?
In the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death and Trump's nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the resulting vacancy...we have a lot to discuss.
Lawyer Kimya Forouzan revisits Femtastic to talk to host Katie Breen about the significance of Amy Coney Barrett's nomination. What are her potential paths to appointment? Is there anything we can do about it? Why is her role on the court so concerning? Is Roe v. Wade doomed? Find out all this and more.
Resources from the show:
* My Beloved World, memoir by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
* Alliance for Justice profile on Amy Coney Barrett
* How to call your Senator: (202) 224-3121
* Planned Parenthood Action Fund
* NARAL Pro-Choice America
* National Network of Abortion Funds
* If/When/How's Repro Legal Helpline: a free, confidential helpline where you can get information about your legal rights regarding self-managed abortion
* National Advocates for Pregnant Women: legal advocacy and o…
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Aug 17, 2020
The (Dope) Scientists Nextdoor
How do we change not only the stereotypes of who is a scientist, but the systems themselves that have created and perpetuated these stereotypes? Katie discusses with the hosts of the Webby-nominated Dope Labs podcast, Drs. Titi Shodiya and Zakiya Whatley.
Dope Labs isn't your typical science podcast because Titi and Zakiya are not your "typical" scientists. In fact, these two black women scientists are on a mission to break the mold of what we think of as a "typical" scientist.
The Duke University-trained PhDs created Dope Labs to empower those who are most often left out of scientific fields: women and people of color. The hosts bring their whole selves to exploring scientific questions, bringing a Black lens and a penchant for pop culture to make science relatable and fun. This is reflected in their broad range of topics, such as astronomy, "cuffing season," why the concept of biological race is a lie, and vibranium (the fictional metal from "Black Panther").
On today's Femtastic…
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Jul 13, 2020
What the Latest SCOTUS Decisions Mean for Reproductive Rights
The Supreme Court of the United States just released long-awaited decisions on two highly consequential reproductive rights cases. In June Medical Services v. Russo, the court weighed in on whether states can enact a specific type of sham law to limit access to abortion care (TLDR; they said not *that* type of law but others might be cool). In Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, the court decided whether your (yes, your) private employer or university can deny coverage of birth control based on their religious or moral beliefs (spoiler: yes, even if you don't work for a religiously-affiliated organization). Suffice it to say that these two decisions have HUGE implications for reproductive rights in the United States. On the podcast to break it all down is attorney Kimya Forouzan, a legal fellow of reproductive rights law organization If/When/How who is currently working within the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF). Kimya explains what happened in these cas…
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Jul 1, 2020
Using COVID-19 to Further Restrict Abortion Access
Amidst all of the COVID-19 news, one thing you may have missed: anti-choice lawmakers have been seizing upon the opportunity to use coronavirus as an excuse to enact abortion restrictions. Femtastic host Katie Breen speaks with Ravina Daphtary of abortion rights organization All* Above All about the methods lawmakers have been using to use COVID-19 policies to restrict abortion access. They also discuss how the issues of racial injustice, COVID, and reproductive rights are all tied together - and how those intersections are playing out in current events.
SHOW NOTES:
Want to learn more about the Hyde Amendment? Listen to Femtastic episode #21: "How the Hyde Amendment Harms Women" from November 2017, featuring Morgan Hopkins of All* Above All.
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Mar 9, 2020
What To Do if You're Being Sexually Harassed at Work
In the wake of #MeToo and several high-profile sexual harassment cases in the news, many of us are left wondering...what can we do if we think we're the victim of sexual harassment or gender discrimination at work? What options do we have? How do we protect ourselves AND our careers? Attorney Vince White joins Femtastic Podcast to help guide us through these questions. White is a partner at a NYC law firm specializing in sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace. In an interview with Femtastic host Katie Breen, White details what sexual harassment and gender discrimination may look like, what options victims have for both non-legal and legal recourse, and what they may expect from the process. White also talks about how #MeToo and Trump's election have changed the makeup of the clients that seek his help, and how his field of law still has a long way to go in terms of the gender makeup of its attorneys and adequate representation of transgender clients.
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Feb 26, 2020
How Mindfulness Makes Better Parents
Sometimes, your kids get on your nerves. But how parents respond in those situations is incredibly important to their children's development and their own mental health as parents. Hunter Clarke-Fields is a mindfulness mentor, host of the Mindful Mama podcast, and author of the new book "Raising Good Humans." In an interview with Femtastic host Katie Breen, Hunter shares how parents can teach themselves practical mindfulness skills so that when their kids inevitably press their buttons, they can respond in a less reactive and more loving way. While this is obviously great for kids, Hunter also explains how in a world with ever-increasing pressure on parents to be "perfect," getting out of the reactivity-guilt cycle is a lifeline for parents too. Hunter likes to ask, "Can we love ourselves into being better parents?" The answer is yes.
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Feb 26, 2020
Art as Activism with @LiberalJane
Caitlin Blunnie started publishing her art as @liberaljane on Instagram in 2016. She has since gained a huge following by creating art that serves as (literally) colorful social commentary on issues of bodily autonomy such as abortion rights, queer liberation, and justice for survivors of sexual trauma.
Katie Breen interviews Caitlin on Femtastic to discuss how she got involved in "art as activism," what inspires her, how to support other artist-activists, and how to get involved in activism of your own making (artistic or otherwise).
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Jan 15, 2020
The Committee Helping Democratic AGs Get Elected
Katie Breen interviews Farah Melendes, the first-ever Political Director for the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA). As the head of campaign services for the organization in 2018, Farah supported DAGA’s success flipping four AG seats blue, keeping eight open seats blue, and reelecting six incumbents. On the podcast, she discusses how DAGA succeeded in electing the most diverse group of Democratic AGs in history, their recent 1881 Initiative to elect more women AGs, how DAGA became the first Democratic campaign committee to require candidates be pro-choice in order to be eligible for endorsement, and why it's so important that AGs reflect the diversity of the populations they serve. Farah also offers her advice for women interested in becoming involved in politics.
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Dec 4, 2019
Advocating for Reproductive Health at Catholic Colleges
The Student Coalition for Reproductive Justice (SCRJ) exists to advocate for the reproductive needs of students at Catholic colleges and universities. Katie interviews SCRJ co-founders Lauren Morrissey and Christina Frasik about the ways in which Catholic colleges limit students' reproductive health and freedoms. Learn how SCRJ mobilizes students on Catholic colleges across the country to demand their administrations do more to protect the reproductive health and autonomy of students.
To learn more, start a SCRJ chapter, or just support SCRJ work, check them out online, on Instagram, and on Twitter.
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Nov 13, 2019
How Surviving Nazi Occupation Created a Feminist
Hendrika de Vries lived in Amsterdam during five years of Nazi occupation during World War II. On the podcast, she tells the story of how her idyllic childhood changed overnight when the Nazis began their occupation in 1940. Her strong, determined mother risked their lives by hiding a Jewish girl in their home - until Nazis kicked down their door and dragged the girl out from her hiding place at gun-point, sending her off to a concentration camp. Hendrika describes how her own feminism was shaped by witnessing the resilience and power of women during wartime. Women like her mother, who fought for what was right and went to heroic lengths to keep their families alive during a winter in which 20,000 Dutch died from starvation and cold - and millions of Jews perished in concentration camps. She tells Femtastic listeners what we can learn from her story during a time of rising hatred and bigotry, and why she has hope for the future.
Fans can read more about Hendrika's story in her newly p…
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Oct 21, 2019
Founding a Company Based on Two Things People Hate Talking About (Periods and Sex)
Meika Hollender is the co-founder and president of Sustain, a brand of all-natural, vagina-friendly period and sexual wellness products. Meika chats with Femtastic's Katie Breen about what made her want to start what was initially a condom company, how she is motivated by "the orgasm gap" in male vs. female sexual pleasure, and why it's so important that the products we put into the most absorbent parts of our bodies are free of harmful chemicals. She also discusses how activism is central to everything Sustain does (like their part in making New York the first state to mandate ingredient lists for tampons!), and why she believes a sexual and menstrual wellness company can be a beacon for change in the reproductive wellness space.
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Oct 6, 2019
What a Body Remembers: Trauma and Mental Health
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Week, Femtastic discusses how trauma can impact lives in the long term.
PTSD used to be thought of as a "soldier's disease," but in 2019 it's finally getting recognition as an ailment that can affect anyone who has been through an extremely stressful life event.
Katie speaks with Karen Stefano, author of the memoir What a Body Remembers: Sexual Assault and its Aftermath. Karen tells the story of the assault she survived while she was in college during the 1980s; the emotional anguish and PTSD she suffered in the days, months, and years after; and how the process of seeking justice was re-traumatizing. She also offers hope - discussing the ongoing ups and downs of her healing journey and offering advice on how to reach out for help and move forward in the wake of trauma.
If you or someone you know is struggling, there are people available to help:
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800.273.TALK (8255). Available any time of day or night, 365…
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Sep 22, 2019
The Power of Solo Moms in 2019
Marika Lindholm is one of the editors of a new anthology “We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor." The book chronicles the journeys of more than 75 solo moms from a variety of diverse backgrounds: some are single parents by choice, some by circumstance, some gay, some widowed...you get the picture. It even includes a story from Amy Poehler! Katie interviews Marika about the ways that it's both easier AND just as hard to be a single mom today than in prior generations, how people who are single parents by choice face their own unique set of challenges and stigmas, and ways that we as a society can help support solo moms - interpersonally AND via public policy.
Marika is the founder of an online community for solo moms called ESME.com - Empowering Solo Moms Everywhere. Most recently, she wrote about the psychological challenges faced by solo mothers in Ms. Magazine, in a piece called Moms Need Wide-Ranging Mental Health Care.
An excerpt from the piece demonstrate…
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Aug 8, 2019
Breastfeeding is Hard
Katie interviews Maddy Sands about the struggles that new parents encounter with breastfeeding—and how the solution to the problem is a community one.
Breastfeeding is described as the “most natural thing in the world,” but many parents come home from the hospital to find it’s not the innate skill it was billed as—and our lack of discussion of how hard breastfeeding can be leaves parents feeling guilt, shame, and frustration when it does not, it turns out, come naturally. Maddy is the director of Help Me Feed, a foundation focused on supporting new parents with breastfeeding. She understands that for new parents to meet their breastfeeding goals (while feeding their babies and maintaining their sanity), they need skills-building, advice, and support that is personalized to them. Maddy details the insights from new parents which led HelpMeFeed to design an innovative new app that creates an on-demand, professionally qualified community of support for parents, at no cost to th…
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Jun 9, 2019
One Woman's Pre-Roe Abortion
Prior to the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, abortion was illegal in the United States. The court's ruling was, in part, influenced by the hundreds of women dying yearly from dangerous, illegal abortions. A discussion of the hazards of outlawing abortion is unfortunately timely, as a spate of recent abortion bans in the United States means that millions of people are or soon will be without access to safe, legal, and accessible abortion. Katie Breen interviews Patricia Eagle, author of Being Mean: A Memoir of Sexual Abuse and Survival, about Patricia's experience with abortion prior to its legalization. Patricia recounts her desperation to terminate the unplanned pregnancy she experienced while at the University of Texas in 1971, and the grim tale of the illegal and dangerous abortion she received in a dimly lit, private home in Denton, TX. Patricia's story exemplifies the lengths to which people will go to have abortions, legal or not, and discusses how her experience info…
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Apr 28, 2019
Queer and Pregnant
Katie speaks with Jenna Brown, the queer doula behind Love Over Fear Wellness & Birth. They discuss what it means to doula for queer folks, what clinical and personal challenges queer pregnant people may encounter in the birth process, and ways that healthcare workers (and really, all of us!) can better care for queer parents. Jenna provides fantastic resources for queer AND non-queer parents-to-be, including why and how to hire a doula for childbirth, and where to find their new work-book, Queer + Pregnant: A Pregnancy Journal.
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Apr 5, 2019
FemTech and Your (Digital) Health
Katie Breen speaks with digital health expert, Katie McMillan, about what exactly is "FemTech" and why you should know about it. If you are someone who has biologically female body parts, you might benefit from the huge array of new FemTech products and services out there that can help you to better understand, control, and manage your health - whether that means periods, infertility, pregnancy, breastfeeding, menopause, or something else! Katie McMillan walks us through it all and calls out the most exciting companies making waves in the field of female digital health.
Follow Katie McMillan on Instagram at @wellmadehealth or on her blog for all things FemTech, all the time!
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Feb 22, 2019
The Oscars Edition - Inclusion Riders, Workplace Diversity, and We Guess Movies
In this special Oscar's edition of the Femtastic podcast, Katie speaks to law partner in civil rights and employment, Kalpana Kotagal, about one of the most Googled terms following last year's Oscars: inclusion rider. Kalpana - one of the co-authors of the inclusion rider - discusses what an inclusion rider is, how it works to increase diversity in Hollywood productions (on-screen and off), and why it comes up in the discussion of #MeToo. We also discuss ways that anyone (including you!) can make a difference to promote diversity in their workplaces, even when they don't have the leverage of a Hollywood A-lister or c-suite exec.
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Feb 18, 2019
Egg Freezing 101
Have you heard of egg freezing? Katie talks to Jenny Lannon, co-founder of Freeze.Health, a resource that helps women decide if, when, and how to freeze their eggs.
Maybe you aren't ready to get pregnant now because you're focusing on your career, or you haven't found the right partner yet, or you have an illness that can affect your fertility. Egg freezing might be an option so that you have a better shot of becoming pregnant when the time is right for you. Jenny explains the reasons people may decide to freeze their eggs, what the process is like, and where to start if you're curious about if and how you need to preserve your fertility.
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Jan 22, 2019
Why Women Are Hurt Most by Drug Pricing
You probably know about the gender wage gap, but have you ever thought about the gender health gap? Katie again welcomes to the podcast Priti Krishtel, co-founder and co-executive director of I-MAK, an organization using patent law to increase global access to medicines. Priti explains the ways in which women (yes, even you!) are disproportionately harmed by the high prices of drugs and healthcare, and what this means for us as we get older and need to rely more and more on the healthcare system. For example, did you know that a quarter of the twelve highest-grossing drugs in the US treat conditions that primarily affect women? This includes breast cancer drug Herceptin, which comes with a yearly price tag of over $60,000! Priti discusses the damage that high drug prices inflict on women's health, and how you (yes, even you!!) can take small steps to help lower drug prices for all.
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Dec 12, 2018
How Patent Law Affects Your Health
Katie speaks with Priti Krishtel, co-founder and co-executive director of I-MAK, an organization that uses patent law to fight high drug prices across the globe. Think patent law doesn't affect your life? Think again. Chances are, at some point in your life, you've been prescribed an expensive medication that did not have an affordable, generic equivalent. That's patent law at play.
Priti discusses how pharmaceutical companies abuse the patent system to keep drug prices high, how it's possible to increase global access to affordable and life-saving medicines by restoring integrity to the patent system, and what YOU as a layperson can do to help bring drug prices down at home and abroad.
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Oct 10, 2018
An Investment Fund for Women's Health
Katie interviews Gerda Larsson, cofounder and managing director of The Case for Her, an impact fund that invests in for-profit companies and organizations that work on women and girl's health. Gerda discusses what an impact portfolio is and how it operates, why she and her cofounders began The Case for Her and decided on an impact investing model, and what types of initiatives the fund is investing in around the globe now. Gerda and Katie discuss the fund's focus areas of menstruation, female sexual pleasure, and menopause, and how lifting social taboos surrounding these topics has humanitarian and economic impact. Gerda also gives advice on what simple, everyday steps people can take if they want to advance women's equity but don't know where to start.
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Sep 25, 2018
Women in the Homefront Battles of the Vietnam War
Katie interviews author Rita Dragonette about her new book, The Fourteenth of September. They discuss the critical but often overlooked role of women in the Vietnam War and its protest, the experience of being a young woman on a college campus during that time, the lessons we have learned as a country because of the Vietnam War, and the parallels we can draw between the 1960s/70s anti-war movement and activism among young people today.
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Aug 22, 2018
What is Obstetric Fistula?
Katie interviews Lindsey Pollaczek, Vice President of Programs for the Fistula Foundation. Fistula is a childbirth injury largely eradicated in the developed world, but still devastating women in the poorest countries. It's treatable with life-transforming surgery. Lindsey explains what obstetric fistula is, why it's harmful to mothers and fatal to their babies, and what we can do to stop it.
Show Notes:
Recommendations from Lindsey for learning more about fistula -
Cutting for Stone, a fictional novel
A Walk to Beautiful, a documentary
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Aug 15, 2018
Katie is Interviewed about Authentic Allyship
In this episode, we share the recording of a live interview of our host, Katie Breen, at Parillume's June 2018 SHINE Soirée in Denver, Colorado. Parillume is an organization for survivors of sexual violence, and its founder, Lisa Foster, interviews Katie about privilege, authentic allyship, and activism.
To watch the video, find it on YouTube here (Katie's entrance is at 17:25).
To learn about upcoming SHINE Soirées in Denver, click here.
To learn more about Parillume, click here.
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Aug 13, 2018
Bodies in the Media and Why Representation Matters
Katie interviews Lindley Ashline, founder of stock photography website Representation Matters. Lindley explains why it's so important that we see representations of diverse bodies in the media, and how she uses her platform to create stock imagery featuring people in all types of bodies - large bodies, brown and black bodies, bodies belonging to LGBTQIA+ folks, aging bodies, disabled bodies, tattooed bodies, and more. Lindley also explains how and why businesses and content creators can and should use these types of images in their work, and why it's important that ALL of us diversify the types of bodies we expose ourselves to on social media.
Show Notes:
- The Health at Every Size Movement
- Meredith Noble's list of body-positive Instagram accounts
- Jes Baker's "135 Ways to Diversify Your Instagram Feed"
- Link to the GoFundMe for Katie's Harvard tuition
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Jul 13, 2018
A Gymnast's #MeToo Moment and Her Journey to Justice
Katie interviews Torey Ivanic, author of the book "No Big Deal," a tale of surviving and overcoming childhood sexual abuse. In the episode, Torey shares her story of being sexually abused by a trusted gymnastics coach while she was in her teens. She discusses the aftermath of the abuse, her experience bringing her perpetrator to justice, and the lessons for parents and survivors she hopes we can take away from her story.
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Jul 9, 2018
Katie's TEDx Talk: What Does Your Activism Look Like?
Listen to the full recording of Femtastic host Katie's TEDxBoulder talk on privilege, inclusion, allyship, and activism:
"What Does Your Activism Look Like?"
We all have some level of privilege. What do we do when we are confronted with it? How does that make us feel? And how do we use our privilege to make the world a better place?
The video recording of Katie's talk can be found on YouTube at this link.
Like what you hear? Supporters of Femtastic and/or Katie Breen can contribute to the GoFundMe for Katie's Harvard tuition here.
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Jun 22, 2018
What is a Sex Coach?
Katie interviews Brianna Rader, founder of Juicebox, a company whose mission is to get people talking about sex, dating, and relationships. In the episode, they discuss what a sex coach is, who can benefit from working with one (hint: EVERYONE), and the types of topics they help people contend with. As Brianna discusses, you don't need to have a "problem" or be in a crisis to use a sex coach - even if your sex life, dating life, or relationship is great, you can always make it better, improve communication (inside the bedroom and out), deepen your intimacy or pleasure, and explore new things! It's like having a personal trainer - you might already be in great shape, but there's always more improvement to be had. We also discuss Juicebox's iOS app, a platform that offers free resources for people who want to learn more about sex, dating, and relationships from experts (and peers), as well as an extremely AFFORDABLE service that connects you with a professional coach you can chat with on…
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May 23, 2018
From the Archives: A Tale of Two Veterans
In honor of Mother's Day, we are re-releasing this amazing mother-daughter podcast interview! Get your tissues ready! This episode was originally published as Episode #12, "Mother and Daughter: A Tale of Two Veterans" on March 17, 2017.
In this episode, Katie had the privilege of interviewing Debbie Johnson and her daughter, Lauren Halloran. Debbie is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served as a nurse in the Gulf War, when Lauren was just a little girl. Lauren is a former Air Force lieutenant who served in Afghanistan. Both mother and daughter talk about the difficulties not only of deploying to a war zone, but of reintegrating into civilian life upon their return. They touch on the stigma surrounding mental illness in the military, the experience of being women in male-dominated environments (both the military and the Middle Eastern countries they deployed to), how little we talk about the struggle of coming home from war, and how sharing their experiences with one another brought the…
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Apr 23, 2018
Getting and Staying Present in Pregnancy - and in Life
Katie interviews Shari and Dakota Hindman, the mother-daughter (respectively) duo behind The Mother's Center. Shari and Dakota discuss the work they do at The Mother's Center to help people honor and stay present for all of the important moments in life (pregnancy included). Specifically, Shari dives deep into the ancient practice of "circle," and how this type of collective communication is used at The Mother's Center as a tool to help people cope with and appreciate whatever life throws their way. They also discuss why it is so important that The Mother's Center's inclusive pregnancy programs honor every event that can happen on the childbearing continuum, regardless of one's gender identity, sexual orientation, or pregnancy outcome.
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Feb 14, 2018
How Indigenous Women Farmers Can Fight Climate Change
This episode explores how women farmers are both the most vulnerable to climate change and also the most prepared to stop it. Katie interviews Rachael Cox, CEO of EarthEmpower, a social and environmental enterprise focused on empowering women farmers in rural Guatemala and southern Mexico to use their traditional farming practices to adapt to climate change.
Rachael describes her organization's unconventional development approach that empowers indigenous women to use their communities' centuries-old farming and conservation practices to safeguard against the threats of climate change while fostering economic development.
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Jan 24, 2018
The Modern Answer to "Where Do Babies Come From?"
Katie interviews Rachel Ginocchio, an educator and activist aiming to change the age-old conversation around "where babies come from." Today, less than half of all U.S. families have a married mom and dad raising their genetically related children. Rachel founded an organization called Roads to Family in order to start more inclusive conversations about the many ways that children and families are made in the modern age - whether through divorce and remarriage, adoption, IVF, surrogacy, gay parents, foster care, single parents, transgender families, or some other arrangement. Katie and Rachel discuss why it's time we update how we teach our kids about human reproduction, and how we can start doing so.
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Jan 6, 2018
Policy Imperatives for Latino and Immigrant Reproductive Justice in 2018
Katie interviews Karla Gonzales Garcia, the Policy and Program Director of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR). Karla describes the work of COLOR, the meaning of reproductive justice, and the public policy issues on COLOR's legislative agenda for 2018. She also explains the ways in which public policies that affect us all (such as paid family leave and affordable healthcare access) uniquely impact Latino and immigrant communities. Lastly, Katie and Karla offer a call to action for listeners to get involved in their state and local politics during this very important year in American politics.
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Jan 3, 2018
How Menstrual Hygiene Impacts Girls Across the World
Katie interviews Chiara Bercu, an expert in menstrual health who has worked on adolescent education programs in developing countries across the globe to help prepare students for puberty and menarche. Chiara describes the obstacles to and impact of menstrual hygiene on girls around the world, including the drastic effects that a lack of menstrual hygiene can have on girls' school performance, self confidence, and overall wellbeing. She discusses effective interventions for improving menstrual health and hygiene of girls in developing nations, as well as how taboos surrounding women's periods differ in various countries around the world. Lastly, Katie and Chiara discuss ways in which we can all combat stigma surrounding periods, regardless of where we live.
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Dec 18, 2017
WTF is Mindful Birth?
Katie interviews Rebecca Peterson, a childbirth mentor who helps parents prepare for labor through birth preparation classes and prenatal yoga. Rebecca explains what it means to mindfully prepare for childbirth, how parents can explore their unique desires for the birth of their babies, and why it is important for parents to be solution-focused rather outcome-focused when it comes to childbirth (spoiler alert: your "birth plan" might go awry - and that's okay). In the interview, Katie and Rebecca also discuss birth shaming and how language plays a role in how parents view childbirth. In particular, they discuss the stigma surrounding Cesareans and medical pain relief (like epidurals), and how we can reframe the conversation to combat these taboos and support mothers - no matter what their childbirth journey looks like.
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Dec 4, 2017
Homeless While Woman, Mother, or Trans
In this episode, Katie interviews Leslie Foster, President and CEO of The Gathering Place, Denver's only daytime drop-in center that serves women, children, and transgender individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness.
In the episode, Leslie and Katie discuss the distinct causes, challenges, and experiences of homelessness among women, mothers, and trans individuals. They also contrast these experiences with those faced by cisgender men experiencing homelessness. Leslie details the ways in which communities of women and trans individuals are underserved by traditional poverty and homelessness support organizations, and ways in which their struggles tend to remain “unseen” by the general population. Lastly, Leslie offers surprisingly simple steps we can take to combat issues of poverty and homelessness, and fight the stigma surrounding these issues, in our own communities.
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Nov 17, 2017
How the Hyde Amendment Harms Women
Katie interviews Morgan Hopkins, National Field Manager of All* Above All, a reproductive justice campaign dedicated to lifting bans that deny abortion coverage - so that every woman can get affordable, safe abortion care when she needs it, regardless of her income. Since the passage of the Hyde Amendment in 1976, Congress has withheld coverage for abortion services from women insured through Medicaid and other government insurance programs. Currently, this impacts nearly 29 million women of reproductive age.
Katie and Morgan discuss the history of the Hyde Amendment, how the Hyde Amendment hurts women, what reproductive justice is all about, and the simple steps you can take to help end Hyde.
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Nov 15, 2017
How Systemic Thinking Can Change Our World
Katie interviews Nilima Achwal, a leader in systemic thinking for social change. They discuss what the social enterprise sector is getting wrong, how social media and cultural phenomena like #MeToo play a role in changing the world, and how "systemic change" thinking can be applied to create large-scale, transformative social change. In the discussion, Nilima describes the cultural impetus behind her founding of Iesha Learning, the first comprehensive gender and sexuality education program in India. The program, which reached 15,000 classrooms across India, sought to address taboos surrounding gender, menstruation, and sex. Nilima explains the incredible impact of the program, and why the approach of Iesha Learning ultimately did not go far enough to create broad change in the context of gender in India. She provides recommendations for how cultural change initiatives should be undertaken, and some encouragement for those of us feeling weary about the state of our world today.
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Nov 2, 2017
When Family Planning Means Sterilization
Katie interviews Zoe Hamilton, a researcher and expert on India’s family planning policies, about the country’s complex relationship with female sterilization and reproductive justice. Zoe and co-director Anne Munger are working in Mumbai on a feature-length documentary called Sterilized, which examines the Indian government's use of sterilization as a means of family planning and population control. In the interview, Katie and Zoe discuss how India's controversial family planning policies affect the lives of women. They examine the political forces - in India and in our own countries - that lead women to have tenuous control over their bodies and choices.
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Sep 28, 2017
Hahas for Tatas - Breast Cancer at 31
If you never imagined an interview about cancer could be funny, you haven't met Elissa Banker. Elissa is a 33-year-old breast cancer survivor and founder of Polite Tumor, an organization that supports young women by alleviating some of the financial impact of breast cancer. Katie and Elissa discuss what it's like to be diagnosed with breast cancer at 31, the unique considerations that women diagnosed under 40 face (such as how to deal with potential infertility), how treatment can impact your sex life and body image (spoiler alert: we're talking about bloat, boobs, and "dry vag," in Elissa's words), the financial impact of cancer, and how to support a loved one going through treatment.
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Sep 21, 2017
Black Breastfeeding and Why Representation Matters
Katie interviews Certified Birth Doula, China Tolliver, about Denver's Black Breastfeeding Week 2017. In a lively conversation covering everything from bleeding nipples to flower crowns (they are against both), Katie and China discuss the origins of the national Black Breastfeeding Week movement, why normalizing breastfeeding among communities of color is so critical, and the unique obstacles people of color face in seeking lactation support and resources. They also offer specific examples of how non-women of color or allies can support the black breastfeeding movement year-round.
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Aug 16, 2017
Abortion at Home
Katie interviews an anonymous reproductive healthcare worker and expert on the practice of home-based abortion in the US. They discuss what home-based abortion is, as well as the reasons people may choose to terminate pregnancies at home. They also discuss the complex and often severe legal challenges of the practice in the United States, and the safety of abortions in non-clinical settings worldwide.
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Jun 13, 2017
Empowering High-Achieving Women to Be Their Own Beyonces at Work
In this episode, Katie interviews Chris Dalton Castillo, a career development coach for professional women. In the episode, they discuss ways that high-achieving women can combat burnout and love their jobs (hint: boundary-setting!!!), how women (AND men) can support other women at work, how we can raise the next generation of strong girls, and what leadership skills men can learn from women in the workplace. Because the world is waking up to the fact that the masculine style of leadership sho' ain't the end-all-be-all.
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May 7, 2017
Cannabis and Women's Health
In this episode, Katie interviews Tony Tarbox, a cannabis educator who works in Colorado's legal cannabis industry.
Think cannabis is only good for getting high? Think again. You might be surprised to know that not all cannabis products get you high, and can in fact be extremely useful in treating both common and uncommon medical ailments and pain. Katie and Tony cover a ton of topics, including but not limited to:
* the difference between THC and CBD
* how CBD works to treat pain in the body
* the types of cannabis products that cause a psychoactive effect (read: get ya high) versus types that do not (and how to pick a product for your desired effect)
* the various mediums through which you can consume cannabis, like edibles, vaporizers, oils, and topical ointments (TL;DR: smoking is so high school)
* the complex legal environment surrounding the industry
* what to look/ask for when visiting a dispensary
* the racist history of the word "marijuana"
* how cannabis can be used…
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Apr 12, 2017
The Untold Stories of Women Changemakers
In this episode, Katie interviews Julia Carpenter, Washington Post writer/editor and creator of daily newsletter A Woman to Know. Every day, A Woman to Know tells its subscribers the story of an impactful woman from history that they've probably never heard of. Katie and Julia discuss why the newsletter was started, some of Julia's favorite unknown women history figures (you know Paul Revere but do you know Sybil Ludington, people?!), recommendations for fantastic books about women, why we've heard so few of women's stories in history class, and how we might change that in the future.
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Mar 17, 2017
Mother and Daughter: A Tale of Two Veterans
In this episode, Katie had the privilege of interviewing Debbie Johnson and her daughter, Lauren Halloran. Debbie is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served as a nurse in the Gulf War, when Lauren was just a little girl. Lauren is a former Air Force lieutenant who served in Afghanistan. Both mother and daughter talk about the difficulties not only of deploying to a war zone, but of reintegrating into civilian life upon their return. They touch on the stigma surrounding mental illness in the military, the experience of being women in male-dominated environments (both the military and the Middle Eastern countries they deployed to), how little we talk about the struggle of coming home from war, and how sharing their experiences with one another brought them closer together and helped them both heal from the traumas of war. The beautiful, heartfelt, and often tearful interview, which lasted about 90 minutes, is a powerful testament to the bond between mothers and daughters, and to the heali…
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Feb 22, 2017
The Handmaid's Tale & Trump's America
In this episode, Katie interviews David Rheinstrom, host of the Wondery Network's podcast "Secrets, Crimes & Audiotape." SCA recently released an audio adaptation of Margaret Atwood's classic dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale. Written over 30 years ago, the story describes a United States that uses a fabricated act of Islamic terrorism to establish a Christian theocracy and strip women of their rights. Katie and David discuss the frightening parallels between events in the story and those in our current political climate, such as attacks on women's reproductive rights and the political co-opting of so-called "family values" and "religious freedoms" - particularly by those whose "values" include white, Christian heteronormativity, and who want to limit the "freedom" of our laws from religion.
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Jan 26, 2017
Teaching Parents How to Talk to Their Kids About Sex
In this episode, Katie interviews Elona Landau, a sexuality educator who teaches parents how to talk to their children about sex. They explore why parents feel so uncomfortable talking to their kids about sex, what subjects are particularly terrifying for parents to broach, what kids stand to gain when they can have open discussions with parents about sex, and some resources for how to communicate the facts - while also communicating your values - when talking to your children about sex.
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Jan 17, 2017
Acupuncture, Reiki, and Self Care for Women's Health
Katie interviews licensed acupuncturist and reiki master/teacher, Margarita Alcantara. They discuss how acupuncture and Reiki can be used not only as fantastic self-care practices, but also to treat and alleviate women's health issues - from infertility, ovarian cysts, and menstrual irregularity to insomnia, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and trauma-influenced conditions. They also discuss how it is now common for private insurance plans to cover acupuncture, and how to find a great acupuncturist or reiki practitioner in your area.
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Jan 5, 2017
Talking Equality and the Next Four Years with Ash Beckham
In Episode 8, Katie interviews equality advocate Ash Beckham. Ash didn’t set out to become a viral sensation with her TEDx talk “Coming Out of Your Closet” or her Boulder Ignite speech, “I am SO GAY”. But her willingness to strike up brutally honest, totally hilarious conversations about tough topics inspired more than 8 million YouTube views and the most-watched Ignite Talk ever. In the oft-chuckle-inducing interview, Ash and Katie discuss their outlook on how the next four years may affect folks from marginalized communities, how millennials demand diversity from their workplaces, and how to be a better ally.
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Dec 7, 2016
Conscious Period - Chemicals in Tampons and Menstruating While Homeless
Katie speaks to Annie Lascoe and Margo Lang, cofounders of Conscious Period, a social enterprise that produces organic tampons while providing free menstrual products to homeless women. In the episode, they discuss the chemicals and carcinogens in conventional tampons, the menstrual needs of women living in poverty and homelessness around the world, the tampon tax, and the challenges of building a women-minded startup based on a taboo topic - especially in the male-dominated world of venture capital.
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Oct 16, 2016
Vote Informed
Katie interviews Alex Niemczewski, CEO and co-founder of BallotReady, a website that aims to help voters to vote informed on every candidate and every referendum, in every election.
In the episode, Alex and Katie discuss the importance of voting in down-ballot elections, the immense impact that local and state policies have on our lives, and how down-ballot races differ from national ones. Listen to the episode and then head to BallotReady to learn about the candidates and issues at stake on your ballot. And please, for the love of God, VOTE.
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Sep 12, 2016
Breaking Down Barriers on the Road to Abortions
Katie interviews April Greene, co-founder of the Georgia-based Magnolia Fund. This non-profit helps low-income women afford abortions, whether through monetary support like subsidized procedures, or practical support like transportation, lodging, or emotional comfort. They discuss the obstacles many women face to getting abortion care, the total sham of so-called "Crisis Pregnancy Centers," the anti-choice movement's use of Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider (aka TRAP) laws to deter access to abortion, striving to be more intersectional feminists, and how the Hyde Amendment unfairly blocks low-income women and women of color from seeking reproductive freedom.
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Aug 26, 2016
Campus Sexual Assault and Title IX
If you thought Title IX was just about sports, get ready for an interesting discussion. In this episode, Katie interviews seasoned campus violence educator and advocate, Tara Misra. Katie and Tara discuss the prevalence of sexual assault and relationship violence on college campuses, how survivors of campus sexual assault and other gender-based violence can use Title IX to seek justice (even after leaving school), and how the conversation around campus sexual assault has changed over the years. They also discuss why a survivor may not go to the police following an assault, the impact that trauma can have on academic performance, and some advice on how to support a friend who has survived a traumatic incident.
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Jul 26, 2016
The Sex Ed Teacher You Wish You Had
Katie interviews sex educator Melanie Lucash - the sex ed teacher you wish you had. Melanie teaches modern sex education that is consent-based, trauma-informed, LGBTQ-inclusive, pleasure-positive, and completely shame-free. Katie and Melanie discuss the shortcomings of American sex ed, the importance of erasing shame from the sex ed classroom (and how she does it), the hilarity and importance of demystifying sex for young people (Can I masturbate too much? Is porn sex like real sex?), and why it is so crucial that educators come at sex education from an angle that is as inclusive and intersectional as possible - taking into account ALL life experiences, races, cultures, gender identities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic classes, and past traumas.
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Jul 12, 2016
A Public Defender on Domestic Violence and the Criminal Justice System
Katie interviews Julia Burke, a public defender in Queens, New York. They discuss what the life of a public defender is like, how patterns of domestic violence play out in the criminal justice system, and why someone may plead guilty to a crime they didn't commit. They also touch on the unique challenges of marginalized communities in actually receiving justice within the criminal justice system.
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