Stuff Mom Never Told You

According to the romantic comedy canon, only straight people fall in love. In the final installment of their rom com podcast series, Cristen and Caroline examine how mainstream titles treat LGBTQ characters and how queer rom coms subvert expected tropes. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In June 2016, the White House Council on Women & Girls brought together 5,000 changemakers from all over the country for the first-ever United State of Women summit. But it wasn't the first gathering of its kind. Cristen and Caroline discuss the inspirational highlights of the summit and trace its origins to the 1977 National Women's Conference that put long overdue human rights front and cent...

Romantic comedies remain one of Hollywood's most segregated film genres. In part four of their rom com podcast series, Cristen and Caroline compare the development, tropes and racial tensions within monochromatic rom com worlds. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The feminist movement has sold its activist soul to bodywash companies, maxi pad providers, pop stars and a host of other commodities hoping to cash in on its millennial appeal. In a live conversation, Cristen and Caroline talk to Bitch Media cofounder Andi Zeisler about marketplace feminism and her new book, "We Were Feminists Once." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastne...

Sidekicks are an integral part of any romantic comedy. In part three of their rom com series, Cristen and Caroline examine the ways these sometimes neurotic, sometimes wise secondary characters trade on stereotypes to shape the protagonists' world. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Women have been slaying waves ever since surfing was invented. Cristen and Caroline coast the history of Hawaii's sport of queens, its colonialist demise and Gidget-inspired revival. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Women's careers have been central romantic comedy conflicts since the 1940s. In this second installment of their rom com series, Cristen and Caroline unpack the genre trope of independent working girls who sacrifice love for professional success. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Women's romantic friendships and lifelong partnerships were common -- and acceptable -- in the Victorian era. Cristen and Caroline discuss how and why these so-called "Boston marriages" flourished and what was behind their early 20th-century demise. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rom coms were invented thanks to Hollywood censorship. In this introduction to a five-episode series exploring the vintage screwballs to the modern screwups, Cristen and Caroline spotlight the hallmarks, hijinks and heteronormativity of the romantic comedy movie genre. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For many LGBTQ folks, the personal takes on an element of the political when it's time to get dressed. Caroline chats with designer Leon Wu, style expert Sonny Oram and beauty editor Aja Aguirre about the growing queer-fashion landscape and the importance of social media in helping shape communities and identities. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnyst...

When Prince died April 21, the tributes came pouring out, centering especially on his genderbending fashion that gave plenty of kids someone to look up to and emulate. Cristen and Caroline look at the origins and evolution of queer and androgynous fashion to pinpoint Prince's purple place in the timeline. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/l...

Hillary Clinton has been one of the most successful women in American politics, but ever since she became the First Lady of Arkansas, people have both loved and loathed her. Cristen and Caroline travel back in time to look at what shaped Hillary, how the press has treated her and what it means to be a powerful woman in the public eye. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastne...

Women are a rare sight in the upper echelons of political campaign management and strategy. Cristen and Caroline put on their detective hats to figure out why women more often end up leading fundraising and grassroots efforts. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forcible sterilizations of black women in the South were so frequent in the 1960s, civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer nicknamed them Mississippi appendectomies. Cristen and Caroline chart the disturbing American practice of nonconsensually sterilizing women of color and the eugenics movement that started it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudi...

J. Marion Sims is hailed as the father of gynecology, but his legacy is tainted by his experimental surgeries on enslaved women. Cristen and Caroline contextualize Sims' controversy, diagnose medicine's racist past and honor the unsung mothers of gynecology. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of sexual health may be in at-home STD testing. Cristen and Caroline talk to My Lab Box startup founders Lora Ivanova and Ursula Hessenflow about how technology can destigmatize STD testing and what it's like for female founders raising venture capital for a culturally taboo product. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Ever since the 1980s epidemic, HIV and AIDS have been misunderstood as exclusively affecting men who have sex with men. Cristen and Caroline discuss the lesbians on the front lines of the AIDS crisis, women and AIDS today and the HIV myths that reinforce its stigma. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wartime prostitution is American as Uncle Sam and apple pie. Cristen and Caroline shares the hidden history of military STDs, government-sanctioned brothels, and the surveillance of civilian women to provide a "buffer of whores" to keep soldiers sexually satisfied. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During World War II, Japanese military life included sexual slavery. Cristen and Caroline trace the traumatic history of "comfort women" survivors and why they'll never stop protesting. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why is the gender wage gap narrower for lesbians? Cristen and Caroline investigate why those bigger paychecks happen but probably don't buy an easier time in the workplace. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Salary talk with coworkers is becoming the new "do" in digital workplaces. recruitHER founders Gina Helfrich and Ashley Doyle share their insights on savvy negotiation, the power of salary transparency and how women and tech companies can jointly hack the wage gap. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why does lighter skin improve women's chances of getting through school, getting a job and getting married? Cristen and Caroline explore the historical roots, repercussions and cross-cultural shades of colorism around the world. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suntanned skin became a seasonal beauty standard for wealthy white women in the 1920s. Cristen and Caroline explore the class and colorism behind our tanning tradition and spotlight why there's far more than Coco Chanel's revolutionary sunburn. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ann Friedman is one of the most important feminist and millennial voices you should know, listen to and read. Tune in to hear Cristen and Caroline chat with this New York magazine columnist, Call Your Girlfriend podcast host, newsletter publisher extraordinaire and mistress of ladyswagger. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

When trailblazing reporter Ethel Payne died, The Washington Post eulogized that had Payne "not been black, she certainly would have been one of the most recognized journalists in American society." Cristen and Caroline uncover the history and significance of black newspapers in the U.S. and the incredible legacy of one its brightest stars. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodc...