April Resource Review: The Latest Podcasts We Love

 

With new podcasts launching every single day, the sheer volume of available content can be overwhelming to navigate. To help you out we’ve curated a list of some of our current favorite podcasts to listen to that inspire us, ground us, and educate us about the intersections of faith, reproductive rights, and social justice.

What exactly is a podcast again? A podcast is a form of audio or video media that can be downloaded and listened to on-demand at your own time and pace. Podcasts may feature a solo host, one-on-one interviews, or conversations among several people. The best part about podcasts is that nearly all of them are completely free, and you can watch or listen to them on your phone, tablet, or computer. For those in need of a Podcast 101, check this guide out to get you started listening today.

 

Recommended Podcast Subscriptions

 

rePROS Fight Back

Main Topic: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 

Description: “From the frontlines of issues like abortion, birth control, sex education, women’s rights, and LGBT rights, rePROs Fight Back features interviews with the leaders who are fighting back against those who would deny or restrict our reproductive health and rights. New episodes debut every other Tuesday, and every episode gives you an insider’s perspective so that you can be the world’s best advocate.” 

Episode to Try: “The Maternal Health Crisis Facing Black Women

 

She’s All Fat*

Main Topic: Body Positivity 

Description: “We noticed an increase in fat visibility,  but a lack of spaces for fat women and femmes to tell their own stories in a conversational setting — a place to literally hear our voices. We hope that our little pod is a fun, entertaining, body posi space entirely devoted to fat stories.We cover current events, popular culture, personal experiences, and awesome guest interviews. Join us for a weekly half-hour all about body positivity,  radical self love and chill vibes ONLY.”

Episode to Try: “She’s All Fat Goes to the Doctor” 

 

Kindreds

Main Topics: Faith, Feminism, Friendship 

Description: “Kindreds is a podcast for soul sisters, hosted by Ashley Peterson and Katey Zeh. In each episode we take on all things faith, feminism, and friendship from our homes in the South. 

Episode to Try:  “Ashley Easter on Ending Abuse in the Church”

 

For A Just World 

Main Topics: Current Events, Advocacy, Justice 

Description: “The goal of the podcast – to equip clergy and people of faith to read the story of God in the streets of where we live in the world today, to make deep connections between faith, justice and  community building.” 

Episode to Try:  “Alive! In Our Sexuality and Faith”

 

The Liturgists

Main Topics: Art, Faith, Science 

Description: “The Liturgists are a global community working to subvert the barriers our society builds around religion, race, gender, ability, and sexuality. Our work is centered around compelling discussion, non-judgmental community, and thoughtful, evocative art. We believe there is room at the table for all who are hungry.

Episode to Try: “Embodiment” 

 

Unladylike

Main Topics: Feminism,  Intersectionality 

Description: “Cultivating our best selves and dreamiest lives is un-equally accessible for women, girls and gender-nonconforming folks everywhere. But by better understanding our unique identities, diverse lived experiences and underlying injustices, we can claim our space and make more room for others as well. That’s our Unladylike mission: To make inclusive, credible media that moves.” 

Episode to Try:  “How to Be a Mormon Feminist”

 

Still wanting more? Be sure to check out our post from back in November with more of our recommendations. 

 

*Includes explicit language

April Resource Review: Podcasts We Love

One of our favorite ways to stay current on issues affecting women’s health and rights is by subscribing and listening to podcasts.

What exactly is a podcast? A podcast is a form of audio or video media that can be downloaded and listened to on-demand at your own time and pace. The best part about podcasts is that nearly all of them are completely free, and you can watch or listen to them on your phone, tablet, or computer.

Are you new to podcasts and not sure how to get started? If you’re using an iOS device, we recommend this guide from LifeWire. For Android users, check out Stitcher. You can also stream podcasts directly from your computer using iTunes, which is available for download on both Mac and PC users.  

We’ll start by sharing a few of our favorite podcasts that we recommend subscribing to for their regular content. Then we’ll share a few specific episodes of podcasts that pertain directly to issues affecting women and their families.  

Recommended Podcast Subscriptions

Codeswitch

Main Topic: Race in the United States

Description: “Ever find yourself in a conversation about race and identity where you just get…stuck? Code Switch can help. We’re all journalists of color, and this isn’t just the work we do. It’s the lives we lead. Sometimes, we’ll make you laugh. Other times, you’ll get uncomfortable. But we’ll always be unflinchingly honest and empathetic. Come mix it up with us.”

Episode to Try: “Safety-Pin Solidarity: With Allies, Who Benefits?”

 

CHOICE/LESS

Main Topic: Reproductive Justice

Description: Produced by Rewire this podcast “delivers powerful, personal stories of reproductive injustice and the laws, politics and people beyond the headlines.”

Episode to Try: “When Is it Ok?”

 

The Longest Shortest Time

Main Topic: Parenting

Description: “The Longest Shortest Time is a parenting show for everyone, hosted by This American Life contributor and author Hillary Frank. From sex after parenthood, to biracial kids schooling their parents on skin color, to deciding whether or not to even have kids, Frank dares to tackle the topic of family in all of its deep complexity.”

Episodes to Try: “Babymaking While Queer” and “The Scarlet A”

 

Stuff Mom Never Told You

Main Topic: Gender and Culture

Description: “Hosted by Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin, Stuff Mom Never Told You is the audio podcast from HowStuffWorks that gets down to the business of being women from every imaginable angle. Fueled by boundless curiosity and rigorous research, Cristen and Caroline are girls-next-door gender experts who skillfully decode the biology, psychology and sociology of ladies and gents, from their evolutionary past to millennial present, to better understand all the Stuff Mom Never Told You.”

Episode to Try: “Transgender 101” and “Why America Hates Maternity Leave”

 

How to Be a Girl

Main Topics: Parenting, Transgender Issues

Description: Pseudonymous Marlo Mack is a mother raising a young transgender daughter in Seattle. Produced in partnership with KUOW public radio, “it stars the two of them — a single mom and an eight-year-old “girl with a penis” — as they attempt together to sort out just what it means to be a girl.”  

Episodes to Try: “Mama, I’m a Girl” and “Red State Mama”

 

Recommended Podcast Episodes

Being Single,” Holy Holy Podcast, June 1, 2016

Main Topics: Dating, Singlehood

Summary: “This conversation on being a single adult in America features Peg Birk, University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite,  Rabbi Andrea London, Emmy award winner Rev. Julian DeShazier, and Imam Malik Mujahid.”

 

We’re Not Going to Have Karl Again,” Death, Sex, and Money, July 13, 2016

Main Topics: Infant Loss, Paid Family Leave

Summary: “Karl Ives Scorah Towndrow was born last spring to parents Amber Scorah and Lee Towndrow. Neither of them were prepared for how deeply they would fall in love with their first child. Amber and Lee’s time with Karl was intense, but brief. Karl died when he was almost four months old, while he was at his first day of daycare. He stopped breathing after being put down for a nap.”

Inside Planned Parenthood,” Death, Sex, and Money, July 22, 2016

Main Topic: Women’s Health Clinics

Summary: “Many Planned Parenthood clinics across the country rely on security measures like these. The services provided by these clinics—specifically, abortions—have long been at the center of a raging political debate in the U.S. But it’s not very often that we hear from the people who rely on these clinics for health care.”

 

Listening Beyond Life and Choice,” On Being, August 11, 2011

Main Topics: Abortion, Politics, Bridging Across Difference

Summary: “Frances Kissling is known for her longtime activism on the abortion issue but has devoted her energy more in recent years to real relationship and new conversations across that bitter divide. She’s learned, she’s written, about the courage to be vulnerable in front of those with whom we passionately disagree.”