Impolite Company with Demetra Gray

I'm pregnant!! So the podcast has been on a longer break than I expected. But here we are for a surprise one-off episode to give some updates. Kristin (whose first interview was back in episode 17) and I both recently moved to new places, and we both have the experience of going from New Age to Christian and now trying to find a home church. We've both been trying a variety of churches to see wher...

We are moving countries soon and the podcast is taking a break! Maybe it is a summer break or maybe we will never return. Only God knows the answer to these questions. Not joking. I tell you all about how much I miss Fourth of July and how I am taking all pressure off myself and having a season of joy and nourishment and fun, focusing on in-person life and how I feel about tech and social media. A...

In this episode Danyelle and I go deeper into mind control tactics, how narcissists work, and how and why it's so easy to fall into their trap. We discuss cult dynamics and the cult mind, and what made us each more susceptible in our experiences. We also talk about exactly how Danyelle healed and what that experience looked like - plus we touch on eating disorders and how control of food and also...

A 28-year-old woman from the Netherlands joins us (anonymously) to talk about her experience with body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria, how she hated her breasts and wanted to cut them off (from puberty until age 25), and how she ended up discovering through therapy she was engaging in for another reason that this feeling was a result of memories she had completely suppressed of sexual assault. Th...

A few weeks ago, Aubrey Marcus released a podcast explaining how God told him to open up his marriage and find a younger woman and how the spirit of Isis told him to impregnate both of them. Our characters are Aubrey, 44; his wife Vylana, 38; the new addition Alana, 28; and Marc Ganfi, a culty ex-rabbi posing as a "relationship coach" who was accused of molesting young girls in his time as a youth...

Dylan was once in school to become a Jesuit priest, but after a heartbreak and disillusionment with the people around him, he left the church to find himself. We talk about abortion (Dylan used to be pro-life and is now pro-choice, I used to be pro-choice and now am pro-life), assisted suicide and how much role the government should have in our lives, and capitalism’s influence on feminism. We dis...

Kristin used to travel the world and be super into New Age spirituality, and after finding God she’s finding herself settling down somewhere in the US and discovering who she is now. We discuss how an experience with a demonic spirit following her around and attacking her led her back to Christianity. She talks about discovering Protestantism, how she feels about astrology and those types of thing...

Christina and I discuss her mom’s journey with cancer and how Christina has navigated her death. We also discuss all the loss she has witnessed as a paramedic, my brother’s car accident and my own experience of loss, culty health beliefs (like Christina’s experience of Scientologists), the things people say during grief that are not helpful, feeling angry and “irrational” feelings after loss, the...

Holly and I talk about growing up in South Dakota, her evangelical Christian upbringing, hell houses (like haunted houses for Christian children), and how she got kicked out of her Christian high school for asking questions. We discuss how aspects of her experiences were culty, her transition into a more New Age spirituality, and how we feel suspicious of people who claim to channel God. We discus...

Raphaëlle wasn’t planning on homeschooling her kids, but when she discovered what her son was learning in public school she decided to explore other options. We discuss why so many people are pulled to homeschooling nowadays, the history of education in North America and how it is set up to produce obedient workers rather than creative thinkers, and what other opportunities are possible. We also t...

Danyelle grew up in a Duggar-family-style Christian cult. Leading a very sheltered childhood, she left to find her own independence as a teenager and ended up getting groomed into another “Christian” cult, by a narcissistic couple who sexually abused and financially exploited her. Danyelle has a lot of self-awareness about exactly how this happened and also tells the story of her escape. She was l...

My husband Jordan and I explore the complexities of men's relationships with sexual variety, happiness, and emotional fulfillment. Jordan talks about his past involvement with pickup artist culture and having sex with hundreds of women, sex addiction and BDSM, and sex work — and the pain that resulted from engaging with sex in this way. We also discuss outsourcing intimacy to pornography and why l...

In this episode, Lisa and I discuss our journeys from New Age to Christianity. Lisa tells the story of her mental breakdown and how it led her to Christ, including her deliverance and spiritual warfare. We talk about evil, the role of humans in stewarding nature, and what it looks like to surrender to God. We also discuss “coming out as Christian” and how our followers responded, artificial intell...

In this episode, Christina and I discuss the weird, funny, and sometimes healing world of yoga culture. We talk about her experience with Baptiste yoga teacher training, the aspects of that training that were very culty, and how emotional manipulation can show up in spiritual spaces. We also get into the ethics of coaching, question whether energy work is real, and talk about the power of belief i...

My husband Jordan & I discuss midgets, suicide, Hitler, farts, and other things — like how humor helps us heal and the importance of being able to laugh about every topic. Comedians we mention: Phil Hanley (Demetra’s favorite), Tom Segura, Andrew Shulz, John Mulaney, Louis CK, Dave Chappelle Jordan's email list Demetra's writing Demetra's website Watch this episode on YouTube here

Kymberli tells us all about growing up Mormon, what Mormonism really means, and what it was like to decide to leave the community. She describes deciding she was lesbian and where that came from and her realization that she is straight after all. We discuss healthy masculinity and how that comes up when parenting her son, the rise of wokeism especially in schools, cults, and slowly starting to ret...

Jade joins me for this episode to discuss the lies we were sold about "sexual liberation" — from polyamory and BDSM to the way porn is impacting our society and why we now have porn-free relationships. We discuss our culture’s links to pedophilia, the way kink is used (and abused), and why not all desires are good. We also discuss women making money on OnlyFans, figures like Lily Phillips and Bonn...

Bridget is a wild woman who has lived and worked on all 7 continents, traveling to over 80 countries and having BIG adventures (including coming face to face with polar bears, riding a reindeer into Siberia, skiing across Greenland, dancing with whales, playing with penguins, and being bitten by a lion). In this episode, we dive into what she’s learned about resilience, why New Age spiritual commu...

Dominique joins me for this conversation about raising kids with a strong sense of agency, avoiding resentment in marriage and motherhood, and having honest conversations about sex. We get into the ways resentment can build in relationships and how to approach family life in a way that keeps frustration from piling up. We also talk about feminism, its ties to capitalism, and how shifting ideas abo...

An anonymous woman who worked in DEI in the corporate world joins me for this episode to discuss the negative impacts she felt it had on her company and how it got in the way of truly effective work being done. I tell the story of my time paying thousands of dollars for an anti-racist program and how terrible it was. We also talk about social programs like food banks and if they are effective, que...

85-year-old Hannah Brown joins me for this conversation to discuss what it has been like to be a Jewish woman in a world swelling with anti-semitism. We discuss how Palestine has been taken under the arm of wokeness, with anyone questioning Hamas or Islam in general accused of being racist. Hannah has voted for the Canadian liberal party her entire life and has always considered herself a socialis...

We hear the word "cult" thrown around all the time, but what actually makes something a cult? In this episode, I break down some of the common traits of cults, why people join them, and most significantly, why cult-like qualities aren’t always a bad thing. There’s a lot of nuance here—just because something has a few culty aspects doesn’t mean it’s harmful, and not everything that portrays itself...

There is a popular book called "Fair Play" that is a feminist perspective on dividing up household chores so you have an equitable marriage. I read the book and hated it, so for this episode my husband Jordan joins me to discuss the concept of an "equitable" marriage. We talk about why we dislike this approach to marriage so much, how feminism is ruining families and romance, what our household ch...

Tired of walking on eggshells? Welcome to Impolite Company with Demetra Gray —the podcast where we talk about the things you’re not supposed to. No "safe" opinions. No scripted narratives. Just real conversations about the ideas that make people uncomfortable. First episode drops January 24th—hit subscribe so you don’t miss it!