The pill has long been heralded as a win for women — a path towards freedom, a woman’s right, a pivotal aspect of the sexual revolution — but is hormonal birth control really all that? The Business of Birth Control, a new documentary from the creators of The Business of Being Born, takes a critical look at the connection between hormonal birth control and women’s health and liberation. Is the pill really a win for women? In this episode, Meghan Murphy speaks with filmmaker, Abby Epstein, and Holly Grigg-Spall, author of Sweetening the Pill: Or How We Got Hooked On Hormonal Birth Control and a producer of The Business of Birth Control, about why they made this film, what they learned, and why women should be more wary of getting on the pill. Get 50% off your rental of The Business of Birth Control using the code FEMINISTCURRENT. FEMINISTCURRENT and is valid for all screening options of The Business of Birth Control and The Business of Being Born. You can also get 50% off the Business of Birth Control Masterclass using the FEMINISTCURRENT coupon code. Find The Business of Birth Control on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  

Most feminists don't think of guns as means to empower women — rather, we tend to see them as a danger. Antonia Okafor Cover, the founder and president of EMPOWERED, sees things differently. Antonia is the National Director of Women's Outreach and a national spokesperson for Gun Owners of America. She founded EMPOWERED in order to educate, train, and equip young women in the use of firearms for protection on college campuses, as well as to help women advocate for their Second Amendment rights. In this episode, Meghan Murphy speaks with Antonia about her life, politics, and why she decided to take up arms. Purchase tickets for "Women Leaving the Left: Breaking the political binary" at Eventbrite.

Earlier this month, Julie Jaman, an 80-year-old resident of Port Townsend, Washington, was banned from her local community pool. Her crime was to ask a male to leave the female change room. Just moments after she told Clementine Adams to “get out of here,” she was told by YMCA aquatics manager, Rowen DeLuna, “You’re discriminating and you can’t use the pool anymore and I’m calling the police.” There was no signage indicating women and girls should be prepared to encounter males in their change room, though Julie was later informed that “Pride posters” should indicate as much. Erin Hawkins, communications manager for the pool, claimed Julie was “permanently suspended from the Mountain View Pool due to her repeatedly violating our Code of Conduct, specifically, using disrespectful words or gestures toward YMCA staff or others; using abusive, harassing and/or obscene language or gestures toward YMCA staff or others.” None of this is true. Meghan Murphy speaks with Julie from her home in Port Townsend. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider donating to support our work.

The sexual revolution is generally understood to have been liberating for women — we could enjoy sex free from social consequences as well as outside the context of marriage and reproduction. Women no longer need to marry or have children if they don’t want to. They can have sex before marriage. They can have casual sex. They can divorce if they are unhappy in marriage. They can, in theory anyway, have sex "like men." This is what we are told, in any case. But is this a good thing? Louise Perry doesn’t think so. Her book, "The Case Against the Sexual Revolution," asks whether all this liberation was actually, well, liberating for women. In this episode, Meghan Murphy speaks with her about hookup culture, pornography, marriage, casual sex, and the pill. Louise Perry is a new mother, a columnist at New Statesman, and the Press Officer for the campaign group We Can’t Consent To This. Her book is available now in the UK and scheduled to be released in the US in September.

Norwegian feminist Christina Ellingsen is facing a prison sentence of up to three years for saying that men cannot be lesbians or mothers. Country contact for Women’s Declaration International (WDI) in Norway, Christina is being investigated under hate crime charges for tweets she made between February 2021 and January 2022, directed at Christine Marie Jentoft, a representative for Norwegian trans activist group, Foreningen (FRI), such as, “You are a man. You cannot be a mother.” In this episode, Meghan Murphy speaks with Christina about the charges, feminism in Norway, and what the implications of these kinds of hate speech laws have. Donate to support Christina's legal fund here.

Katherine Deves is a Sydney-based lawyer and mother of three daughters. In 2020, she realized no one was standing up for female athletes in Australia, so joined forces with women in New Zealand to co-found Save Women's Sport Australasia. Katherine gained national prominence during the 2022 Australian federal election when she ran, ultimately unsuccessfully, as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Warringah. She was attacked viciously for her efforts to defend girls' and women's sport, arguing against allowing male athletes to compete with and against females. Meghan Murphy speaks with her over the phone from her home in Sydney.

Last week, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in 1973. Why did this happen? Who is to blame? What does this mean for American women? How do we move forward? In this episode, Meghan Murphy speaks with Mary Lou Singleton, a family nurse practitioner and midwife who advocates for women's reproductive sovereignty, medical freedom, and bodily autonomy.

In 2018, Maya Forstater was subject to an internal investigation at her place of employment, the Center for Global Development, after complaints about her tweets. She lost her job as a result, accused of "transphobia." Maya took the case to the Employment Tribunal, which resulted first in a judgment saying her "belief" that sex is real was "not worthy of respect in a democratic society." Maya recently co-founded Sex Matters, a UK-based not-for-profit that works to promote clarity about sex in public policy, law, and culture, as well the “Respect My Sex if You Want My X” campaign. In this episode, Meghan Murphy speaks with Maya about the tribunal, the campaigns she is working on in the UK, and her lunch with JK Rowling. Maya tweets at @MForstater  

Twitter has a history of banning those who fail to toe the line in terms of progressive political orthodoxy. In particular, the social media corporation has banned numerous people for challenging gender identity ideology — for saying things like ‘men aren’t women,’ for example. Does twitter have a woman problem? Or are there simply activists working behind the scene to present their ideas as more prominent than they actually are? Will things change now that Elon Musk has bought the company? In this episode, Meghan Murphy speaks with Holly Lawford-Smith, an Associate Professor in Political Philosophy in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne, about Twitter’s treatment of women, the impact of social media censorship, what the Elon Musk takeover could mean for women, and her soon to be released book, “Gender Critical Feminism.”  

Surrogacy has become a relatively mainstream practice. Celebrities and those with means treat surrogacy as a harmless option to aid women who cannot or do not wish to carry their own babies or to allow gay couples to have children. Few seem to consider the impact on mother and baby. A new surrogacy bill in Quebec proposes changes to current legislation that would recognize surrogacy contracts, which are not currently enforceable under Quebec law. Surrogacy contracts, arguably, violate the individual human rights of both the mother and the baby. And even in countries like Canada, where women cannot technically be paid as surrogates, there are ways to financially compensate the women employed to carry these babies, meaning exploitation remains a factor. These matters are complex, and often misunderstood by the general public, who tend to see surrogacy as a positive option connected to women’s rights and gay rights. This is why feminist groups like Pour des Femmes (PDF) Quebec are working to educate the public about the harms of surrogacy, and fighting against the surrogacy industry, working to ensure it does not become the surrogacy industry does not expand in Quebec. I spoke with Clémence Trilling, a member of Pour Des Femmes Québec and WDI Quebec, about this issue, surrogacy laws, and the reforms currently being proposed in Quebec.