Unladylike

A lifelong self-doubter, comedian Aparna Nancherla decided to get to the bottom of her angst, and things didn't quite go as planned. From a childhood speech contest to the standup stage, Aparna takes us along her journey to finding her comedic voice, claiming her identity and confronting her inner fraud in her new book, Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself and Imposter Syndrome. Cristen also retraces how women's imposter "syndrome" became a thing and why it's being called into question. Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon Shop cozy merch Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first-ever (!) mailbag episode, Cristen shares listener letters, DMs and life updates about dating apps, leaving academia, the bisexual closet, green card marriage and MORE! She also answers an unlady who is frustrated with negative media coverage of sorority life, gets some actionable advice on supporting local libraries and a juicy fact-check about the original "Little Mermaid". Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Shop merch Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Commodified motherhood has come a long way, babies! Or has it? Now a multi-billion dollar industry, momfluencing also comes with a side of tradwives and mom guilt. Sara Petersen, author of Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture, talks to Cristen about the ideals they’re selling, the motherhood they’re performing and why mega-momfluencer @Ballerina Farm is such a “rich text.” This interview originally aired in 2022 in the Unladies’ Room Patreon, and it hasn't aged a day (just like a good momfluencer!). Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Shop unlady-merch Contact Multitude Productions for advertising Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why is one of the largest school districts in the country turning libraries into student detention centers? Debbie Hall, certified librarian and co-founder of Students Need Libraries in Houston Independent School District, fills Cristen in on the difference school librarians make, why their jobs are in jeopardy and how Moms for Liberty is pushing book censorship in Texas and beyond. Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Patreon Shop bRaNd NeW mErCh Contact Multitude Productions for advertising inquiries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How are real-life teachers applying “Abbott Elementary” inside and out of the classroom, and what can all of us learn from it? Cristen talks to Brown University senior and future teacher Jada Wooten about Black teacher representation and what education equity looks like in action. Then elementary ed associate professor Dr. Sara Jones created a college seminar on "Abbott" and she her own journey of unlearning white-savior teacher tropes (aka Dangerous Minds-itis). Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Shop bRaNd NeW mErCh Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long live White Gladis, orca queen of the deep. From today's yacht-sinking killer whale moms to 19th-century "devil fish," environmental historian Anna Guasco takes Cristen on an underwater expedition of mammalian matriarchy, seafaring masculinity and the revealing messiness of human-whale relationships. Come for orca uprising, stay for the powerful underbelly of whale stories past and present. Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | TikTok Join the Unladies' Room Shop bRaNd NeW mErCh Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pack your rush bags, unladies! It's sorority recruitment season in the South. Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd takes us beyond the spectacle of #BamaRush into the "competitive femininity" and gender ritual of rush. She also reveals why it's no coincidence that historically white sororities were founded in the antebellum South, how they remained segregated far longer than frats, and the regional race and class roles sororities perform in her book, Southern Beauty: Race, Ritual and Memory in the Modern South. hear Cristen's "Bama Rush" HBO doc recap in the Unladies' Room shop Unladylike merch contact Multitude for advertising q's Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will going on record about your mental illness endanger your career? Mental health advocate, writer and podcaster Allison Raskin, aka Emotional Support Lady, is here to help. Allison and Cristen advise unladies navigating PTSD and "professionalism," dating anxiety and supporting chronically depressed friends and family. Join the Unladies' Room patreon Shop Unladylike merch Check out Allison's book, Overthinking It Advertising inquiries? Contact Multitude Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How has homeschooling gone from being illegal in the US to wildly unregulated in many states? The Homeschool Legal Defense Association, aka the homeschool lobby, is one of the most powerful grassroots networks you've probably never heard of. Cristen talks to reporters Meena Hart Duerson and Julia Lindau about the homeschool lobby's stealth politics; its connection to abortion bans and anti-LGBTQ laws; and why more parents across the political spectrum are choosing homeschooling. The pair investigated it all for the Vice News doc, The Secret Power of Homeschoolers. Support Unladylike by joining the Patreon Shop Unladylike merch For advertising inquiries, contact Multitude Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barbie has spent probably as much time in the courthouse as her Dreamhouse, suing over doll designs, feminist book titles, a literal bag of chips—you name it. Intern Anuli Ononye and Cristen follow the shocking paper trail of Barbie lawsuits, which leads them to guest Dr. Orly Lobel, author of You Don't Own Me: The Court Battles That Exposed Barbie's Dark Side, who reveals the lengths Mattel has legally gone to "protect" its billion-dollar doll, what happens when corporations clamp down on creativity and the one job Barbie will never have. Part 2 of 2. Join the Unladies' Room Patreon Shop brand new merch Interested in advertising? Contact Multitude Follow @unladylikemedia on IG, TikTok and Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did Barbie—a voluptuous fashion doll for children—become the It girl of toy aisle in the early 1960s, and what has it taken Mattel to keep it that way? Answer: Beyoncé-level PR and a whole lotta lawsuits. Intern Anuli and Cristen sleuth out Barbie's ascent from gold digger to girl next door; her creator, Ruth Handler, whose own children hated the dolls; when Mattel took "Barbie Girl" to court; and why it took 21 years for Black Barbie to happen. Part 1 of 2. Mixing and mastering by Multitude Productions. Advertising inquiries? Contact Multitude Shop NEW merch (sizes up to 5x) Join the Unladies Room Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been a BUSY year for abortion law, ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But what should we make of it, and is it all terrible news?? Repro attorney Natalie Birnbaum gives Cristen a bird's-eye view of America's abortion legal landscape, pseudoscience in the judiciary, rebuilding better than Roe and the promise of shield laws. SEE ALSO: If/When/How Center for Reproductive Rights Shout Your Abortion MORE UNLADYLIKE: Patreon Shop Advertising Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Storytime, unladies! Often called the first trans celebrity, Christine Jorgensen became world famous practically overnight. AND way back in 1952. In this Unladies Room bonus episode, Cristen tells the why, what happened next and how Jorgensen captured so much (mostly positive!) attention. Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | Tiktok Join the Unladies Room Shop bRaNd NeW mErCh Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Got pee pants (aka incontinence)? UTIs? Pelvic floor probs? Urologist Fenwa Milhouse, aka the Pee, Privates and Sex Doc, treats it all and then some. In this Unladies Room bonus episode, Dr. Milhouse mythbusts urologists as “gynos for men”, shares her unexpected journey into the pale male field and demystifies the unmentionable. FOLLOW Dr. Fenwa Milhouse: IG | TikTok MORE Unladylike: IG | Twitter | Tiktok JOIN the Unladies Room patreon SHOP bRaNd NeW mErCh CONTACT Multitude for ad inquiries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you refuse to laugh at unfunny men, shrug off casual misogyny and/or look past toxic allies? You might be a feminist killjoy - congrats! Queer scholar-activist and feminist theorist Sara Ahmed talks to guest co-host Anuli Ononye about the power of reclaiming the stereotype and the women of color who paved the way and her latest book, The Feminist Killjoy Handbook: The Radical Potential of Getting in the Way. Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | Tiktok Join the Unladies Room Shop bRaNd NeW mErCh Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why waste a good passport marrying a fellow citizen?? What if your long-distance relationship is due to deportation? How realistic is 90-Day Fiancé? Journalist and author Anna Lekas Miller shares what happened when she "proposed marriage fraud" to a Syrian refugee and how borders, visas and passports decide who gets to be together. Just in time for summer traveling, her new book is Love Across Borders: Passports, Papers, and Romance in a Divided World. *Follow Unladylike: IG | Twitter | Tiktok *Join the Unladies Room *Shop bRaNd NeW mErCh *Contact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus episode alert! Cristen dives into the FASCINATING backstory of the original Little Mermaid, why it almost wasn't made (hint: sexism), how Ariel saved Disney (!!) and whether Ursula is even more subversive than we thought. Join the Unladies Room Shop NEW merch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does a feminist podcast (Unladylike, specifically) make money? Cristen chats with Amanda McLoughlin of Multitude Productions about indie podcasting, surviving Big Podcast Industry and whether it's possible to make a podcast living without selling your soul to the capitalist gods. Plus, a special request to for listeners who appreciate quality podcast ads! Advertising inquires and tips: sponsors@multitude.productions Shop **new** merch: unladylike.co/shop Join the Unladies Room (aka the patreon): patreon.com/unladylikemedia Follow Unladylike on IG, TikTok and Twitter: @unladylikemedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when women in long-term relationships with straight men realize they're bi, and why are they less likely to come out? Writer Maggie Zhou shares her own reckoning with the "Bittersweet Privilege of Straight-Passing in Queer Communities," queer imposterism and bisexual erasure. Maggie and Cristen also offer advice to two married unladies feeling stuck in the bisexual closet. Episode mixed and mastered by Multitude. Want to directly support Unladylike? Join the Patreon Interested in advertising on the podcast? Contact Multitude Keep in touch? Follow @unladylikemedia on IG, Twitter, TikTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you empower nonbinary and trans kids struggling with their changing bodies? Gender Spectrum executive director Cameron Van Fossen shares their expert advice on distinguishing gender congruence from beauty norms, checking in with kids about their mental and emotional wellbeing and responding to critics who don't get it. But first, Cristen has a question for nonbinary unladies listening. Episode mixed and mastered by Multitude. Want to directly support Unladylike? Join the Patreon Interested in advertising on the podcast? Contact Multitude Keep in touch? Follow @unladylikemedia on IG, Twitter, TikTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices