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The Femtastic Podcast

Katie Breen interviews feminist activists, researchers, and advocates working to make "women's issues"...well, non-issues. Femtastic explores issues of reproductive rights and health, progressive politics, gender equality, sexual violence, LGBTQ+ perspectives, racism, social justice, and more - examining topics through the lens of intersectional feminism and reproductive justice. We also laugh.
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Now displaying: 2021
Dec 27, 2021

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 for decades (hint: they helped pass the federal FMLA law in the '90s), and this tirelessness and deep expertise has made them the go-to organization when it comes to understanding why we must push for paid family leave and economic justice for women.

Note: This interview was recorded on December 17, 2021. Two days after the interview, Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), whom Democrats needed a key 50th vote from to pass the Build Back Better Act, announced that he would not support the package - leaving its fate undetermined. Read more from the New York Times here

LINKS:

- National Partnership for Women and Families website

- Article: How to Have a Productive Phone Call with your Legislator's Office

- Build Back Better was supposed to help fix U.S. health care after COVID. What happens if it's dead? (Vox)

- Transcript of this episode (please note that transcripts are computer-generated and may not be 100% accurate): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U1jYchPNNGMH-wGLE8olmrsBuxg0RweQ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105281143452743222220&rtpof=true&sd=true

Dec 14, 2021

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 considered, but did not obtain an abortion. 

On the podcast, Kimport will discuss the structural and social obstacles to abortion, as well as the cultural influences that try to dissuade people from choosing abortion. She discusses the often-overlooked experiences of people who make abortion-related decisions, and highlights who is denied reproductive choice and how.

LINKS:

No Real Choice: How Culture and Politics Matter for Reproductive Autonomy

Nov 30, 2021

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:

- https://www.heyjane.co/

- Previous Femtastic Podcast episode on what medication abortion is and the restrictions surrounding it: Lifting Restrictions on Medication Abortion 

- Previous Femtastic Podcast episode on how people in any US state can access abortion pills online: What's Up with the Texas Abortion Ban and How Can People All Over the US Access Abortion Pills Online 

Nov 15, 2021

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 birth control test. This test could tell you the best hormonal birth control method to use for YOUR particular genetic and hormonal makeup. It's precision medicine that not only will help the individual accessing it, but will contribute to the (long-overdue!) advancement of healthcare research for biologically female people.

Elizabeth discusses what the medical research gender gap is, why it's a problem, and how we can help close it. She also tells us more about why her company is first tackling the problem of "trial and error" birth control selection that has plagued the reproductive years of so many of us, how they're using actual research and data to do this, and where this technology may go next. Lastly, Elizabeth explains why Adyn won’t call itself a “women’s health company.”

LINKS AND RESOURCES:

Nov 2, 2021

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 a regular presence in Trump’s America, when the parallels between modern-day America and WWII Hungary were becoming more and more glaring. Enid describes how others can begin to research their family history, whether or not that research results in shocking findings or mere glimpses into the contexts in which our forebears lived. 

Oct 19, 2021

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 concept of the "You Heard Me Write" podcast and how it was inspired. She sheds light on the unique, organic way that her podcast spotlights the diverse arts community in Atlanta, and what it means that the series showcases the creative work of traditionally disenfranchised communities.

Kacie also discusses how creatives from backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in the arts are changing the landscape of what art is celebrated and showcased in 2021, what it means to be a “patron of the arts” today, and which art is considered worth supporting.

Lastly, we discuss why women of color are underrepresented in podcasting, how we can change this, and why expanding the diversity of podcasters is only going to make the podcast world and its offerings better and better. 

You Heard Me Write" is available exclusively on Spotify.

Oct 5, 2021

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 fighting to ensure people have reproductive autonomy. Stoesz also tells us what we can do to help protect abortion access today in the midst of relentless political attacks and the very real threat that Roe faces in the Supreme Court this year. 

NOTE: This interview was recorded in early July 2021, prior to Texas' passing of S.B. 8.

LINKS:

- Lemons in the Garden of Love by Ames Sheldon

- Donate to an abortion fund

- Donate to independent abortion providers: Independent providers serve three out of every five patients who have an abortion; yet they receive only a fraction of public support. They also lack the institutional support, visibility, name recognition, and fundraising capacity of national health centers and hospitals, making it especially difficult for the community-based providers to garner the resources they need and provide care in their communities. It’s time to protect independent clinics, because they provide care when and where others will not, with a commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind.

- Donate to Planned Parenthood

- Donate to NARAL Pro-Choice America

Sep 21, 2021

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 program are New Morning Foundation's President and CEO, Bonnie Kapp, and Chief Operating Officer, Sarah Kelly.

Bonnie and Sarah discuss the backdrop of historical and contemporary barriers to reproductive health access in South Carolina, how the Choose Well program works and has managed to serve over 300,000 South Carolinians to date, what challenges they've encountered, and what lessons they've learned that can be applied to other states in the fight for equitable, comprehensive contraceptive access.

LINKS AND RESOURCES:

  • New Morning Foundation
  • NoDrama.org (public-facing website about the Choose Well program and how to access its services)
  • BOOK: Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, Dorothy Roberts
  • 40 Years of Human Experimentation in America: The Tuskegee Study
  • FILM: No Más Bebés2015 documentary film:
    They came to have their babies. They went home sterilized. The story of immigrant mothers who sued county doctors, the state, and the US government after they were pushed into sterilizations while giving birth at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the 1960s and 70s. Led by an intrepid, 26-year-old Chicana lawyer and armed with hospital records secretly gathered by a whistle-blowing young doctor, the mothers faced public exposure and stood up to powerful institutions in the name of justice.
  • FILM: Belly of the Beast, 2020 documentary film:
    When a courageous young woman and a radical lawyer discover a pattern of illegal sterilizations in California’s women’s prisons, they wage a near-impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. With a growing team of investigators inside prison working with colleagues on the outside, they uncover a series of statewide crimes - from inadequate health care to sexual assault to coercive sterilizations - primarily targeting women of color. This shocking legal drama captured over 7 years features extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated people, demanding attention to a shameful and ongoing legacy of eugenics and reproductive injustice in the United States.
Sep 7, 2021

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 planning, how to do so, and what to consider (hint: we discuss at length the shockingly high cost of childcare in the United States, which often catches parents off guard). 

Lastly, Mel and Siran discuss public policy and workplace solutions to the lack of support for parents: what changes are needed for paid parental leave and affordable childcare, and how we must create a culture that promotes gender equity in parenting at all levels, including in the design of our workplace cultures and policies. 

 

LINKS:

- Care.com: This is How Much Child Care Costs in 2021

- CNBC: New Census data reveals no progress has been made on closing the overall gender pay gap (2018-2019 data)

- INC: Every Child a Woman Has Cuts Her Salary by 4%. But Fathers Get a 6% Increase

- Newsweek: Pandemic Could Cost Typical American Woman Nearly $600,000 in Lifetime Income
 
- Financial Post: Women are 30% less wealthy in retirement than men

- Mirza: The Business Case For Paid Leave; how a paid family & medical leave plan would help employers

- Join the movement to gain paid family and medical leave for everyone in the United States: https://paidleave.us/
 
- Project Matriarchs: College students launch virtual tutoring to help working moms with home schooling
 
- The Institute for Women's Policy Research Report: Still A Man's Labor Market
"Women today earn just 49 cents to the typical men’s dollar, much less than the 80 cents usually reported....The penalties of taking time out of the labor force are high—and increasing. For those who took just one year off from work, women’s annual earnings were 39 percent lower...a much higher cost than women faced in the time period beginning in 1968, when one year out of work resulted in a 12 percent cut in earnings."

- Study on the motherhood penalty: 
"Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from Denmark"
"Using Danish administrative data from 1980-2013 and an event study approach, we show that most of the remaining gender inequality in earnings is due to children. The arrival of children creates a gender gap in earnings of around 20% in the long run, driven in roughly equal proportions by labor force participation, hours of work, and wage rates."

Forbes: Why Being a Woman Can Cost You More than $400,000
"According to a new analysis of the wage gap by the National Women's Law Center, a woman who is starting her career now will earn $430,480 less than her male counterpart over the course of a 40-year career, if the current wage gap persists. For many minorities, the losses are even larger: African American women will earn $877,480 less over those 40 years, Native American women will earn $883,040 less and and Latina women will miss out on a whopping $1,007,080 in lifetime wages."

- New York Times: Mounting Evidence of Advantages for Children of Working Mothers
"In a new study of 50,000 adults in 25 countries, daughters of working mothers completed more years of education, were more likely to be employed and in supervisory roles and earned higher incomes. Having a working mother didn’t influence the careers of sons, which researchers said was unsurprising because men were generally expected to work — but sons of working mothers did spend more time on child care and housework."
 
- The second shift reflected in the second generation: do parents' gender roles at home predict children's aspirations?
Data from 326 children aged 7 to 13 years revealed that mothers' explicit beliefs about domestic gender roles predicted the beliefs held by their children. In addition, when fathers enacted or espoused a more egalitarian distribution of household labor, their daughters in particular expressed a greater interest in working outside the home and having a less stereotypical occupation.... These findings suggest that a more balanced division of household labor between parents might promote greater workforce equality in future generations.
Sep 3, 2021

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 help. No matter what state you're in, you can access abortion pills by mail, and Plan C can help you figure out how. 

Elisa also discusses tons of resources for legal questions, medical questions, and general support related to seeking or completing a medicine abortion.

Lastly and importantly, we discuss how you can help by spreading the word and donating to organizations increasing equitable access to abortion in Texas and all over the United States.

Please check out the resources linked in the notes (below) and help us get the word out.

Resources (in the order discussed on the podcast):

Aug 24, 2021

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 Emme on all the social platforms, below!

Instagram

TikTok

Facebook

Medium

LinkedIn

Youtube 

Aug 10, 2021

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 that don't work in Hollywood support the inclusion rider, both via the entertainment we consume AND how we bring the principles of the inclusion rider into our own organizations? 

LINKS:

- Color of Change's Inclusion Rider Explainer Video

- Kalpana and Fanshen's Refinery29 op-ed on the latest version of the Inclusion Rider

- Kalpana Kotagal on Twitter: @KalpanaKotagal

- Fanshen Cox on Twitter: @Fanshen  

- Cohen Milstein on Twitter: @CohenMilstein

- Pearl Street Films on Twitter: @pearlstreet

Jul 27, 2021

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 perspective brings to the market, how we can rectify the historic damage done to communities of color in the "war on drugs," why it's so important to them that their company is involved in social justice issues, and what they see as the future of the cannabis industry. 

LINKS:

STIIIZY products are available to individuals over the age of 21 in California, Nevada, Washington, Michigan, and Arizona.

 

Jul 13, 2021

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 back previous guest Aisha Chaudhri of Everthrive Illinois to discuss all things "MedAb:" what it is, how it works, why someone might prefer this method, what the restrictions are, how COVID has led to temporary loosening on some of these restrictions, and how we can advocate for the permanent removal of these medically unnecessary restrictions on what is a very safe, routine procedure.

Resources:

Jun 28, 2021

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 and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin and lead investigator of the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, to discuss the negative impacts of this policy on patients, and why the disastrous consequences seen in Texas are a preview to what the United States would look like if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned. 

Resources:

- TxPEP's research brief summarizing patients’ experiences getting care during the executive order

- TxPEP's article in JAMA 

- Facebook: @TxPEP  

-Twitter: @TxPEPresearch 

- Instagram: @TxPEP_Research

Jun 14, 2021

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 more of Jo:

Jun 2, 2021

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, "Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America."

Carole describes what's at stake for millions of Americans, what accessing abortion might look like if Roe were to fall or be further restricted, and what YOU can do now to protect abortion access, regardless of the outcome of the case. 

Resources:

May 14, 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 gives amazing advice for how amplify intimacy in all of our relationships (and especially our romantic relationships) in order to create joy and achieve whole success on our own terms - something many of us need after spending a year cooped up with our partners during the pandemic. 

May 2, 2021

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:

Apr 16, 2021

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 stephanie.herold@ucsf.edu if you have any questions or want to share an episode/film with abortion in it. 

- Find Steph on twitter at @Stephherold and her colleague Gretchen at @gesisson

Mar 29, 2021

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 global efforts to create vaccine equity, and how they have fallen short due to the greed of both pharma companies AND countries like the US. We also dive into how our antiquated customs around patents and intellectual property in pharmaceuticals create a huge hindrance to addressing a global pandemic with any useful speed, and why that will hurt ALL of us in the long run. Lastly, Priti discusses the lessons we can learn from other countries' handling of the pandemic, and particularly countries in the Global South, and what's ahead in the fight for global, equitable access to medicines.

[NOTE: This interview was recorded on February 16, 2021. Details of the progress of global vaccine deployment may have changed slightly between the recording date and this podcast's release date in late March 2021, but broad themes remain the same.]

Resources:

- Priti's New York Times Op-Ed: How the Patent and Trademark Office Can Promote Racial Justice 

- The Overwhelming Racism Of COVID Coverage by Indi Samarajiva

Mar 2, 2021

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 be emotionally abusive. She also discusses how COVID-19 worsens emotional abuse. Beverly offers resources for those in emotionally abusive relationships and for friends and family who suspect their loved one may be in an emotionally abusive relationship.

Beverly is the author of several books about emotional abuse, including her latest book, Escaping Emotional Abuse. Find links to her other books in the resources below.

Resources from Beverly:

Intimate Partner Violence Resources (all hotlines are confidential):

  • National Domestic Violence Hotline (text LOVEIS to 22522 or call 1-800-799-7233)

  • 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.

  • The Network/La Red (IPV support for LGBQ/T folks as well as folks in SM/kink and polyamorous communities) 617-742-4911 

  • Assistance with Finding a Domestic Violence Shelter: Call Safe Horizon at 1-800-621-HOPE (4673) 

  • Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-422-4453); 24-hour, confidential hotline with resources to aid in every child abuse situation. Voice, text, and online messaging available.

  • Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project; 800-832-1901 (24-hour emergency hotline)

  • Trans Lifeline US: 77-565-8860; Canada: 877-330-6366; Trans Lifeline’s Hotline is an anonymous peer support phone service run by trans people for our trans and questioning peers. Call us if you need someone trans to talk to, even if you’re not in crisis or if you’re not sure you’re trans. Se habla español.
    • Family & Friends Line provides peer support for friends, partners, family members and professionals supporting trans loved ones and community members. To access this service, call our main hotline and ask for our Family & Friends Line. 

  • How to Identify Abuse (from the National Domestic Violence Hotline)

  • How to Support Others (from the National Domestic Violence Hotline)

  • Hotlines for LGBTQ+ folks (crisis intervention, suicide, IPV, youth and runaway info, HIV/AIDS)
Feb 16, 2021

[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.

To discuss physical IPV today, Femtastic's guest is Kathryn Jacob, President and CEO of SafeHaven of Tarrant County, a DV shelter in Fort Worth, Texas. Kathryn has been working for over 20 years to shine a spotlight on the issue of domestic violence. As an expert in this field, she has a wealth of knowledge and leads the industry to develop early intervention techniques to reduce DV’s fatal outcomes.  

Today on the podcast, Kathryn discusses why and how IPV occurs, how it shows up in all types of romantic relationships (straight; queer; among trans and non-binary folks, etc.), misconceptions around IPV, how COVID has exacerbated it, and what you can do to help.

Resources (all hotlines are confidential):

  • National Domestic Violence Hotline (text LOVEIS to 22522 or call 1-800-799-7233)

  • 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.

  • The Network/La Red (IPV support for LGBQ/T folks as well as folks in SM/kink and polyamorous communities) 617-742-4911 

  • Assistance with Finding a Domestic Violence Shelter: Call Safe Horizon at 1-800-621-HOPE (4673) 

  • Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-422-4453); 24-hour, confidential hotline with resources to aid in every child abuse situation. Voice, text, and online messaging available.

  • Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project; 800-832-1901 (24-hour emergency hotline)

  • Trans Lifeline US: 77-565-8860; Canada: 877-330-6366; Trans Lifeline’s Hotline is an anonymous peer support phone service run by trans people for our trans and questioning peers. Call us if you need someone trans to talk to, even if you’re not in crisis or if you’re not sure you’re trans. Se habla español.
    • Family & Friends Line provides peer support for friends, partners, family members and professionals supporting trans loved ones and community members. To access this service, call our main hotline and ask for our Family & Friends Line. 

  • How to Identify Abuse (from the National Domestic Violence Hotline)

  • How to Support Others (from the National Domestic Violence Hotline)

  • Hotlines for LGBTQ+ folks (crisis intervention, suicide, IPV, youth and runaway info, HIV/AIDS)
  • HealMyShame.com: Great source of articles, blogs, and other information on emotional abuse and shame (recommended by spotlight series guest Beverly Engel, an expert psychotherapist on emotional abuse)

  • Article recommended by Beverly Engel: How to Leave an Abusive Relationship: 18 Expert Tips by Linda Rodgers 
Feb 2, 2021
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 on optimizing postpartum care, Dr. Auguste also discusses why postpartum care is so important, what often gets overlooked in postpartum care, how we can ensure moving forward that postpartum care is more accessible to everyone - both so that we can reduce maternal mortality and generally increase the health and wellbeing of postpartum people.
 
Dr. Auguste and Femtastic host Katie Breen discuss both clinical solutions and public policy solutions to this crisis, and what you can do to help. 
 
Lastly, Dr. Auguste tells us about ACOG's new book, available on January 26, 2021, called Your Pregnancy and Childbirth: Month to Month. Parents who are in the pre-conception, pregnancy, or postpartum period can learn more about pregnancy from the top medical experts on the topic.

Offering real clinical guidance without the clinical jargon, this straightforward book breaks down each step of pregnancy, month-by-month, in ways that every person can understand and relate to during each phase of the pregnancy experience. It answers parents' most pressing questions, including what bodily changes to expect each month; changes in fetal development; how to manage self-care; how to think about pain relief during labor and delivery; how to handle travel, work, and exercise; COVID-19 considerations; and a new chapter where new parents and parents-to-be can find quick answers to frequently asked questions. 

Resources:

- Buy ACOG's new book from independent booksellers

- Learn more about the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), including their helpful guidance for handling COVID-19 precautions and vaccinations in pregnancy, delivery, postpartum, and breastfeeding

 
 
Jan 29, 2021

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 your portion of the lease? How can you get your money back due to canceled events like travel or weddings? And can employers require that employees and customers get the COVID-19 vaccine (or any vaccine, for that matter)?

Learn all this and more, and walk away with some legal knowledge your parents would be proud of.

Links and Resources:

  • CDC Eviction Moratorium Declaration Form (this is the form you'll need to protect yourself from eviction if you can't pay your rent due to COVID-19)
  • Watch Symone on the OWN Network's Ready to Love Season 3
  • Have you seen the video of Hannah Viverette, whose video went viral after a man tried to break into her home while she was taping herself dancing on TikTok? It turns out the man who broke into her home was a neighbor and maintenance man in her building. Hannah, who is a single mom, wanted to immediately move out but her landlord would not let her to break the lease, especially during a pandemic.  Symone is now representing Hannah and wants to help more people know what their rights are during this time.
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