Friday I'm in Bed

Kate's on holiday, so Gemma welcomes a special guest Georgie Swallow. Most women are left in the dark about the true impact of medical menopause; by the time they realise the symptoms, they've already experienced years of chaos. Gemma and Georgie uncover how treatment for blood cancer and other conditions can push women into early menopause without warning, leaving them feeling lost, misun...

Kate's off sunning herself in Spain, so this week Gemma's joined by Laurie from the Female Childfree Collective for a one-topic special. We're talking about a very modern pressure: the idea that if you're childfree, you should be visibly, impressively productive about it. Five businesses, six holidays a year, a new hobby every fortnight. When did freedom stop meaning you get to cho...

This week we ask why new research has named UK women the angriest, saddest and most worried in Europe, and whether medical misogyny, the pay gap and invisible labour might have something to do with it. Then we get into romantasy and the moral panic over Bad Girl Books, Britain's first romantasy bookshop. Why is fantasy treated as high art when men write it and trash when women do? Expect drago...

This week, the Hannah Spencer "Gucci" shirt that wasn't. A patterned blouse in Parliament got branded a £2,000 designer piece online, when it was really a £15 charity-shop find, so we get into why women's clothes draw scrutiny men's never do, and how one post hardens into "fact". Then to China's so-called "leftover women", the label the state coined fo...

New research says films are more likely to star a talking animal, or a leading man called Chris, than a woman over 60. This week we get into ageism in film and TV and the midlife women who vanish from our screens around 40, only to reappear as somebody's grandmother or a witchy old hag. Why do older women keep disappearing? Do reboots like Practical Magic and And Just Like That count as progress,...

It's Pride Month, so naturally everyone's arguing about toilets. This week we get into the new EHRC guidance on single-sex spaces, what it actually says about the trans toilet debate, and why we don't think this was ever the crisis it's been sold as. We also dig out the quiet bits nobody covered: the protections around breastfeeding, menopause and pregnancy. Then we turn to Stephen...

This week on Friday I'm In Bed we get into nonnamaxxing, the TikTok trend telling twenty-somethings to live like an Italian grandmother, and ask whether it's lost wisdom or just wellness culture with a tomato plant. We also unpack the backlash to the Department for Education's post-16 campaign fronted by Gemma Collins, and why parents and teachers called it tone-deaf on SEND support. P...

Content note: the first topic discusses sexual assault. There is a warning at the top of that section and chapter markers if you would like to skip ahead. Married at First Sight UK has been pulled from Channel 4 after three former brides made allegations against their on-screen husbands. We use it as a way into a bigger question: what does reality TV actually ask people to consent to? This week al...

At what point does commenting on women’s bodies stop being something we all just do, and start being the actual problem? This week we look at how school PE shaped a generation of women’s relationships with their own bodies — and why 4.1 million British women in their 50s and 60s are still avoiding exercise because of it. Then Kate takes us to Olivia Rodrigo’s baby doll dress and the internet meltd...

This week on Friday I'm in Bed; we're looking at two ends of the spectrum- young people who aren't going out, and older women working out who they actually want to live the rest of their lives with. Different demographics, same quiet rewriting of the script. Kate kicks us off with the slow death of going out. A pint has hit £10 in some places, two pubs a day are closing in the UK, and...

It's Friday I'm an Angry Young Woman (Apparently) This week we're unpacking the New Statesman 's "Angry Young Women" cover story, the right-wing press meltdown that followed, and the very tired playbook of describing women's politics by their hair colour. Plus: is the manosphere really equivalent to the so-called "femosphere"? Then Stella McCartney has done...

This week on Friday I'm in Bed, we're looking at the week's most questionable advertising decisions, and asking why the people writing the copy never seem to include anyone who might actually be affected by it. We start with Nike, who put a sign outside their Boston store ahead of the city's marathon that said "Runners Welcome. Walkers Tolerated" — and then appeared at Lo...

Coachella just happened and TFI Friday is back on our screens, so naturally we had a lot to say about both. We're unpacking the biggest moments from the desert festival, from Sabrina Carpenter's full-blown Hollywood spectacular to Justin Bieber sitting at a laptop in a hoodie scrolling through YouTube videos of his younger self. The internet tried to cancel Sabrina for not recognising an A...

This week on Friday I'm in Bed, we've got two stories that are both, underneath it all, about the same question: who gets celebrated, who gets forgiven, and why does the answer always seem to depend on who you are? Gem kicks us off with the Artemis II mission, because four astronauts are literally on their way home from flying around the Moon and one of them is 47. Same age as Gem. Born th...

This week on Friday I'm in Bed, we're talking about boundaries - who's allowed to set them and who gets punished for it. Kate kicks us off with Chappell Roan and the security guard incident that's dominated everyone's feed. Causing international outrage, 125+ articles in two days, and a ban from a festival she was never even playing at. Meanwhile Shia LaBeouf screamed expletive...

This week we're talking about two things that seem completely unrelated but both come down to the same question: who's selling you something, and should you be buying it? We start with Harry Styles on Saturday Night Live and the Make America Healthy Again hospital sketch that had us howling. It parodies a hospital where patients are treated with raw milk IVs, LED masks, and full moon cerem...

Louis Theroux has taken Netflix inside the manosphere — and everyone has an opinion. This week we're digging into whether shining a light on the grifters and their carefully curated personas actually helps, or whether it just gives them another platform. We're talking about the contradictions (profiting off women while claiming to despise them), the moments where the mask slipped (that dog...

Has International Women's Day lost its edge? This week, Gem and Kate dig into the good, the bad and the ugly of IWD. From brands trying to sell us candles instead of equality, to the women-led cooperatives Gem visited in Morocco that show what the day is really about. Plus, Timothée Chalamet ruffled feathers by suggesting nobody cares about ballet and opera anymore, but is cinema the one that...

This week on Friday I'm in Bed, we're diving into one big topic — what Love is Blind is accidentally revealing about incel culture, the "Pilates princess" myth, and what women actually want versus what men have been told we want. It all kicked off with Chris and Jessica on the current series of Love is Blind. She's a doctor. She's gorgeous. They connected, they got intima...

This week we're tackling three stories that all circle around the same big questions — who has a duty of care, who gets to tell someone else's story, and what happens when women just get on with it. We start with the BAFTAs and the moment that's dominated the conversation all week. During the ceremony, John Davidson, the real-life inspiration behind the film I Swear, experienced verbal...

This week we're coming in hot with three topics that on the surface look completely different but somehow all end up in the same place, who gets to decide what women do, where women belong, and what women should be. We kick off with Reform UK's Nigel Farage and his suggestion that working from home would be scrapped under a Reform government because, apparently, it doesn't make people...

What We're Really Talking About When We Talk About Being A Woman Right Now From identity crises to actual crises, Super Bowl spectacles to the stuff nobody warns you about in midlife — this is the episode where we get into it. How society talks to women, how our bodies blindside us, and how the culture we consume shapes the way we see all of it. Follow us on Instagram ⁠⁠@FridayImInBed ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠@Ge...

# The Pink Tax, Menopause Products & The Disruptive Power of GLP-1 Drugs Get ready to challenge everything you thought you knew about women's health, marketing, and societal pressures. This episode is a bold, unapologetic dive into the truths behind pink taxes, menopause marketing, and the revolutionary impact of weight loss drugs on our world. Follow us on Instagram ⁠@FridayImInBed ⁠ ⁠@GemmaS...

In this conversation, Gemma Seager and Kate Beavis delve into the complexities of celebrity culture, particularly focusing on Jameela Jamil's recent controversies and the broader implications for women in public discourse. They explore themes of internalised misogyny, the role of social media in shaping public opinion, and the power of organised women in advocating for change. The discussion highl...

In this episode of "Friday I'm in Bed," hosts Kate Beavis and Gemma Seager delve into the Beckham family fallout, discussing the implications of choosing friends over family and the societal pressures on women. They also explore Lucy and Yak's controversial sizing decision and its impact on inclusivity in fashion. The conversation shifts to the Diary of a CEO podcast, where they...