Feminists Without Mystique

The sad news of John Mulaney's divorce prompts us to discuss why his personal life (and Ben and J. Lo and Bill and Melinda etc...) are so fascinating to us. It's none of our business! Why are we so invested?? Is there something about this moment in the chaotic hellscape of this world that nudges us to cling to certain celebrity couples and project our own hopes and dreams and desires onto them? Or...

We begin by discussing the relatable, disturbing viral Tik Tok video of a teenage girl being harassed by a creepy man, which led us to discuss the Netflix film Cuties (2020, d. Maïmouna Doucouré) and the ensuing controversy. We wanted to cover this film in fall 2020, but were wrapped up in election 2020 coverage - better late than never!    We see you: Howard Zlotkin, Florida prosecutors waaay ove...

Recent research indicates that 52% of adolescent girls use filters every day and 80% have used an app to change their appearance before the age of 13! Shaken by this and other statistics Lizzo cited on her Instagram, we take a deeper look at augmented reality filters and the harm they inflict on people of all ages, but are especially detrimental to adolescents. We see you: Centner Academy, Rick Sa...

We discuss today's verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial. Today George Floyd's family got accountability, a rare thing when challenging police in the court system, but accountability ≠ justice. There's so much work to do to dismantle racist policing. We then discuss the most recent mass shootings - one nearly every day last week. On the 22nd anniversary of the Columbine shooting there's been very lit...

We briefly discuss the latest murder of an unarmed black man (Daunte Wright) at the hands of the police, and then process the latest grotesque misdeeds of Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is now under investigation by the FBI.  We see you: Bethel Baptist church, Amazon, the discourse surrounding Jill Biden's patterned tights, Michigan GOP, James Franco and Seth Rogan, Mt. Rushmore  - feministswithoutmy...

The news has been full of hot garbage lately, so this is a whole episode of "we see you" content, as we catch up on some of the more egregious news from the last couple of weeks. GOP legislatures all over the country are keeping us on our toes...ugh.   Shoutout to the podcast Feminist History    -   feministswithoutmystique.com Support us on Ko-fi!  Twitter: @fwmpodcast Instagram: @feministswithou...

We discuss the horrific mass shooting in Atlanta, the history of violence against the AAPI community in America, and why it's so hard to prosecute hate crimes.  No 'we see you' this week.  Shoutout to Body Count Podcast - feministswithoutmystique.com Support us on Ko-fi!  Twitter: @fwmpodcast Instagram: @feministswithoutmystique Facebook:  facebook.com/fwmpodcast Email:  feministswithoutmystique@g...

We briefly discuss the Grammys, the Academy Award nominations, and Mitch McConnell's latest hypocritical temper tantrum, and then get into Amy Poehler's new film, Moxie, on Netflix.  Shoutout to the podcast C ult of Domesticity   We see you: FBI's investigation of Kavanaugh, the Vatican, Raffaela Spone, Buzzfeed layoffs, Biden administration not letting lawyers access facilities where children at...

We discuss Oprah's instantly historic interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.   Shoutout to the podcast HERStory on the Rocks We see you: Stewart-Allen Clark, Kyrsten Sinema, outrage over the few discontinued Dr. Seuss books, nation-wide voting rights repeals, Elaine Chao, Burger King - feministswithoutmystique.com Support us on Ko-fi!  Twitter: @fwmpodcast Insta...

We discuss the recent allegations of sexual harassment against Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Representative Madison Cawthorn.    We see you: Rep Jim Jordan, The HFPA, Rep Luke Simons, A24/The HFPA, Texas & Mississippi Governors, Paula Jean Swearengin   - feministswithoutmystique.com Support us on Ko-fi!  Twitter: @fwmpodcast Instagram: @feministswithoutmystique Facebook:  facebook.com/fwmpodcast Email:  f...

We discuss Mikki Kendall’s excellent, uncomfortable book, HOOD FEMINISM.   We see you: Chris Harrison, Joe Manchin, millenial/Gen Z jeans debate, Kyrsten Sinema, Facebook commenter decrying a program for marginalized youth, Joe Biden    - feministswithoutmystique.com Support us on Ko-fi!  Twitter: @fwmpodcast Instagram: @feministswithoutmystique Facebook:  facebook.com/fwmpodcast Email:  feminists...

We discuss the New York Times/Hulu documentary “Framing Britney Spears.” It’s utterly atrocious that she has been stuck in this conservatorship for 12 years, and the blatant, vulturous misogyny of the late 90s/early aughts is stunning to revisit. We see you: For profit rehab centers, uptick in violence against Asian Americans, personal responsibility preaching commenters, The Economist’s sexist cl...

For our Valentine's Day episode, we discuss data showing which fetish terms are the most searched for by state, based on data from Google trends. We also discuss a survey on the top 10 sexual kinks during the pandemic thus far, and some of the psychology behind how the pandemic is affecting people's sexual fantasies.   Instead of our regular 'we see you' segment, we each have an informal 'love let...

We begin by discussing AOC's most recent instagram live, and then discussing the "baby bust," inspired by a recent article by Lyz, "The Pandemic is Breaking Women and Now We Have to Have Babies? Go to Hell." As we've spoken about before, the pandemic is affecting women disproportionately, and women of color even more-so. We discuss what in looks like in this moment make reproductive choices in thi...

It's the first week of the Biden administration so we can all breathe a sigh of relief... and then get back to work! It's heartening to see all the executive orders Biden has already signed, and yet when we look at the Senate we're already stressing about the need to abolish the filibuster. Looking straight at YOU, Joe Manchin! Today we focus our attention on the dreaded topic of "cancel culture."...

It’s the last full day of Trump’s presidency!!!!!!!!! We have a lot of feelings and cannot wait for this era to be officially over tomorrow. Our fitting sendoff for 45 is that we're going to ignore him and discuss the new film, Promising Young Woman, written and directed by Emerald Fennell and starring Carey Mulligan. We’re huge fans, and most of the discussion is filled with spoilers, so if you h...

We're still processing the armed insurrection from last week. The worst breach of the Capitol in two centuries, an armed violent, seditious mob attempting to overturn a free and fair election, directly incited by the current president. People died. The country is shaken. It's a global embarrassment. It's a lot to make sense of, and certainly more than can be summarized in brief show notes.  We see...

We discuss the exciting news out of Georgia -- two Democratic wins, and Mitch McConnell is now minority leader in the Senate. Yay!!! Sadly, we didn't have much space to celebrate since there was an attempted coup at the Capitol. This violent insurrection by MAGA morons was the logical conclusion of the last four years.  In light of all the news to process, we see yous will resume next week.   - fe...

We discuss the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and are so, so tired of 2020 it might be reflected in the tone of the episode. Onward to 2021! We see you: Dennis Harvey, Indiana University Health system, Instagram account grapejuiceboys, Baltimore Police Department surveillance program, the woman who falsely accused Keyon Harrold’s son of stealing her phone, Trump pardons - feministswithoutmystique.com...

We discuss a few of the people who made the top of our naughty & nice lists.  Naughty: The McCloskeys, Trump, Mitch McConnell, William Barr, Rupert Murdoch Nice: Dr. Fauci, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stacey Abrams   Hillary Clinton, essential workers  - feministswithoutmystique.com Support us on Ko-fi!  Twitter: @fwmpodcast Instagram: @feministswithoutmystique Facebook:  facebook.com/fwmpodcast Ema...

We take a few minutes at the top to rip into the misogyny of Joseph Epstein and his moronic Wall Street journal op ed, and discuss the most recent terrors wrought by the Proud Boys. We focus our longer discussion on some of the cumulative effects of the pandemic on our mental and physical health.  We see you: Tulsi Gabbard, Johnny Depp, Shia LaBoeuf, Dan Crenshaw - feministswithoutmystique.com Sup...

We discuss the big and small ways the pandemic is having an outsized impact on women (and an even greater impact on women of color). The New York Times summed it up well in a recent article saying "Hard choices for rich women. Impossible ones for the poor."  We see you: Jason Meade, Governor Ron Desantis, wedding attendees in Ritzville, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Stanislav Reshetnikov, Flo...

We discuss Biden's recent cabinet nominees. They are competent and qualified and in line with what we expect from Biden. The conversation pivots later to questions of how the Democratic coalition can keep it together (and ideally strengthen? #wishfulthinking) during this Biden transition presidency. We need to win in 2022 and 2024, and we won't win with constant brutal infighting! Looking at you J...

Trump's attempts to subvert democracy and undermine our election by alleging fraud with no proof is finally coming to an end! He hasn't conceded, but he's lost 39 court cases and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We look at the ways in which he's tried and failed to remain in power, it's shockingly undemocratic - even for him!  We see you: Flawed study on female mentors in science, Amazon...

We discuss the pandemic fatigue we're both feeling. The lows seem to get lower as we near 10 months of serious social distancing. We miss our friends and family, we want to hug people and converse without masks, and we want everyone to respect the damn rules to save lives!!! Ugh. This episode is a bit of a venting session.  We see you: Candace Owens, Denmark "culling" their mink population, Lindse...