I HATE wasting my commute time to work everyday. When your to-do list is as long as the typical millennials, it’s hard to feel that your time commuting is well-spent. Which is how I got into podcasts. Before I discovered podcasts, I would kill time by listening to music but it still felt like I wasn’t getting any closer to completing my daily tasks. Podcasts have helped me keep informed on topics that I believe in and are enjoyable to boot. I’ve even started listening to them during my time at the gym. In this current political climate, here are my favourite feminist podcasts that help me stay informed and feel like I am actively contributing to the discourse.
1. Call Your Girlfriend
Call Your Girlfriend is eavesdropping on the best conversation with political ladies. Long distance besties Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman call each other and chat about pop culture, the latest in politics, pant suits, and everything inbetween. They are energetic, informed, and incredibly funny. These ladies are unapologetically feminist and blatantly discuss menstrual cycles, workplace dramas, and Shine Theory. I love listening to these ladies everywhere, but be warned: they will make you laugh out loud and people on the subway will stare at you.
Average episode length: 50 minutes
2. Backtalk & Popaganda by Bitch Media
Bitch Media has been my saving grace to staying sane in 2017. They are a feminist response to pop culture, and my gift to myself this year has been to buy myself a physical magazine subscription to their quarterly magazine — which I LOVE reading on public transit. Something about carrying a magazine around that says BITCH across the cover is empowering. Bitch Media puts out a new podcast episode every Thursday, alternating between Backtalk and Popaganda. Popaganda episodes are longer and deeply explore pop culture representations and movements, while Backtalk is quick convos on what happened this week in pop culture. By subscribing to Bitch Media on your podcast platform, you will receive episodes of both whenever they come out.
Average episode length: Popaganda, 45 minutes. Backtalk, 30 minutes
3. Stuff Mom Never Told You
I was introduced to this podcast through a friend and became obsessed immediately. These ladies are in the business of educating you on every topic you’ve always had questions about pertaining to being female. Incredibly bittersweet, this podcast is now over BUT they have such a long backlist of episodes, that they have been re-releasing classic episodes. Get this: post-election, the lovely hosts Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin decided that they had to focus their efforts on political change and so made the hard decision to end the podcast and become more politically active to better the future of America. A new episode from their archive is released to iTunes every week, so you can keep up on your learning of everything from the history of pin up girls to farmer janes to the etymology of crazy women.
Average episode length: 40 minutes
4. Oh, Witch Please
Okay hear me out: this is a podcast about Harry Potter. It is an academic, feminist study of the Harry Potter world. It involves two lady scholars digging deep into colonialism, authorial intent, and problematic investigations in the Harry Potter series, all while drinking wine and eating chips. It in no way ruins your love of the franchise however, the ladies repeatedly state that you can love something while also acknowledging that there is casual thoughtless sexism throughout the series. There are amazing sound effects throughout, including owl sounds and fun songs. If you’re the kind of english major who loved taking classes on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you’re going to adore this.
Average episode length: 50 minutes
Surprisingly, I’ve almost entirely converted from listening to music at the gym and during my commute to listening to podcasts. I’ve found podcasts to be an easy, simple way to make the most out of my time — utilizing time usually wasted on the subway by informing myself about current feminist issues. I mean, if we want to make a difference we have to make the most out of the time we have in order to smash the patriarchy. Try one or all of the above podcasts out; your brain will thank you.
Image source: We Heart It, Literally Darling
I’m still in mourning that SMNTY is over :(