Unladylike Media Podcasts

How do you square the circle of recreational pole dancing for pleasure and strip club pole to get paid? Strippers United president Selena the Stripper confronts the tension between the polefit and sex worker communities and reclaims their pole space. Plus, we go deeper on strippers' decades-long labor movement and why some are going on strike. Lear…

Unladies lead Whatthe way in this important follow-up to The Ozempic Weight-Loss Craze, sharing the less talked about reasons for taking the meds, including autism, IBS and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Along the way, Cristen questions the feminist taboo of intentional weight loss and her own body-positive blindspots. Learn more about your ad c…

What does recreational pole dancing reveal about sex work stigma, from social media to strip clubs? Dr. Carolina Are unpacks why and how pole dancers dodge shadowbans and deplatforming. Then, writer and activist Selena the Stripper pulls focus to the overlooked realities that's got strippers unionizing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap…

Why is a medication that's safer than Tylenol at risk of a nationwide ban? Cristen crash courses the who, what, when and WHHHHYYY of the mifepristone lawsuit, its implications for medication abortion and the too-powerful judge deciding the case (whose last name Cristen unintentionally butchers throughout). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me…

Are women expected to put on a happy VOICE? Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg from How to Be Fine (formerly By the Book) lend their self-help expertise and empathy to listener questions about a "pervy" father in-law, professional dress codes and bitchy resting voice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Who gets to be a ballerina and why? Erika Lantz, host of The Turning: Room of Mirrors, details the rigid hierarchy, body standards and elite ballet culture fostered by George "Father of American Ballet" Balanchine. Then, dancer Alyah Baker finds how to express her whole self as a Black, queer ballet dancer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m…

Can toxic relationships be a form of addiction? Codependency is complex, controversial and often ascribed to women. Writer Nina Renata Aron shares her own story of confronting codependency and helps Cristen unpack the culturally fraught relationship between codependency, women and feminism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho…

Sure, breaking up is hard to do, but then what? Cristen offers some reassuring research and firsthand advice to three listeners on embracing singlehood, questioning relationships and marrying the rebound. Plus, a very happy ending from a newly divorced unlady. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

What happens when someone who built their career on being Indigenous turns out to be ... a white lady? Writer Michelle Cyca shares how she came face to face with Indigenous identity fraud, why academia and the arts have a 'Pretendian' problem and what these scams means for Indigenous rights and sovereignty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m…

What do dogs tell us about gender, power and dominance? Listener Claire surprises Cristen with the toxic masculinity leashed to dog training, and pro dog trainer Jerri Scherff risks it all to smash the pawtriarchy. Plus, ladies who lapdog, pseudo alpha males and racialized canines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

A 50-year age gap didn't stop Annie Korzen and Mackenzie Morrison from forging a best friendship, and Cristen is frankly jealous! She talks to the besties about how they met and fell in platonic love with one another. Then, psychologist, author and podcaster Dr. Andrea Bonior goes deeper on ageism in friendship, what gender has to do with it and ti…

Kids are sexting, like it or not! Non-parent Cristen consults sex educator Dr. Catherine Dukes about when and how to have The Sext Talk with kids. Then, Cristen channels her inner Ms. Frizzle to help a listener who wants to get better sex education in her high school. Recommended resources: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ https://www.scarleteen.c…

Welcome to a new era of 'miracle' weight-loss drugs, starring Ozempic. In this Patreon bonus episode, Cristen gets to the bottom of the type 2 diabetes drug shortage, how it "works" for dropping lbs and whether it means thin is back in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Starburns Audio & Unladylike Media

What's a daughter to do when her estranged mom won't stop asking for money? Financial abuse expert Axton Betz-Hamilton untangles the possible financial enmeshment and enabling at play and how to set healthier boundaries. Then, Cristen advises an overwhelmed unlady on outsourcing her mental load. For more resources: https://financialtherapyassociati…

Can real feminists eat cheese? Vegan geographer Catherine Oliver maps out why most vegans are women and the masculinity of meat. Then, vegan beauty influencer Demi Colleen deconstructs white veganism and decolonizes plant-based diets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Starburns Audio & Unladylike Media

Gender roles ever catch you by surprise? Comedian Emma Willmann (Inside the Closet) offers her firsthand advice to a lesbian listener turned off by her girlfriend's masculinity. Then, Cristen answers a childfree stepmom feeling pressured to play homemaker for the holidays. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Why do men become men's rights activists? Sociologist Emily Carian has spent her academic career answering that question. Cristen talks to Emily about her research; the straight, white pathway into MRA belief; and what they have in common with feminist men. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Today, I’m sharing a preview of a new podcast I’m enjoying and think you will, too. On Come As You Are, educator and bestselling author Dr. Emily Nagoski answers questions about sex with the latest science. You’ll get a modern guide to sexual wellbeing, backed by groundbreaking research about desire, anatomy, orgasm and much more. In conversation w…

Why are Iranian women burning hijabs and leading revolutionary protests? Dr. Claudia Yaghoobi contextualizes their rage over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Jîna Mahsa Amini. Then, graphic designer Ghazal Foroutan shares how the revolution has turned art into activism and why Gen Z women are fearlessly fronting this fight. Learn more…

Why does virginity f*ck with our heads? Cristen advises a listener who's worried her sexual inexperience is showing. Listeners also sound off on previous advice on unvaxxed friends, STEM sexism and the "Mom" treatment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Starburns Audio & Unladylike Media

What happens when adult women discover they're autistic? Cristen busts the gender stereotypes and neurotypical myths of Autism Spectrum Disorder with help from Unladylike listeners and The Loudest Girl in the World, Lauren Ober. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Starburns Audio & Unladylike Media

The Christian right has become synonymous with anti-abortion, but what about the Christian left? Reverend Angela Tyler-Williams takes Cristen to church on reconciling reproductive justice and abortion with Christianity and how she and the interfaith repro alliance SACReD are leading congregations to do just that. Learn more about your ad choices. V…

Women dominate both true crime and horror, and in unexpected ways. Bobbi Miller (The Afternoon Special) and Cristen dig into true crime media, fandom and white ladies’ fascination with serial killers. Then, film critic Amy Nicholson (Unspooled) reframes horror as “the genre that has always belonged to women,” Final Girls' surprising origin and an i…

What happens when refusing a nose job means defying family tradition? Filmmaker Gayle Kirschenbaum shares why her mother endlessly agonized over the bump in her nose. Then, medical historian Sharrona Pearl deconstructs the "Jewish nose" myth, big nose stigma and rhinoplasty's vain reputation. ~ This show is sponsored by Betterhelp. When you want to…

We’re sharing a special episode from another podcast, A Slight Change of Plans, from Pushkin Industries. In this preview, civil rights icon Ruby Bridges shares what it was like to be the first African-American student to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana in 1960. Ruby was just six years old at the time, and it would be years before…