Unladylike

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 | TikTokJoin the Unladies' RoomShop unlady-merchContact Multitude Productions for advertising Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 | TikTokJoin the Unladies' Room PatreonShop bRaNd NeW mErChContact Multitude Productions for advertising inquiries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 | TikTokJoin the Unladies' RoomShop bRaNd NeW mErChContact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 | TikTokJoin the Unladies' RoomShop bRaNd NeW mErChContact Multitude Productions for ad rates, etc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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' Roomshop Unladylike merchcontact Multitude for advertising q's Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 patreonShop Unladylike merchCheck out Allison's book, Overthinking ItAdvertising inquiries? Contact Multitude Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 PatreonShop Unladylike merchFor advertising inquiries, contact Multitude Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 PatreonShop brand new merchInterested in advertising? Contact MultitudeFollow @unladylikemedia on IG, TikTok and Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 MultitudeShop NEW merch (sizes up to 5x)Join the Unladies Room Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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/HowCenter for Reproductive RightsShout Your AbortionMORE UNLADYLIKE:PatreonShopAdvertising Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.