What happens when the living room conversations women have been having for centuries finally break through soundproofed sexist walls?
by Aisiri Amin
Women talking about sex, career, dating, marijuana, money, and feminism flood you with a sense of empowerment in a sexist society that more often than not either reduces women to a doormat or puts them on a sacred pedestal with the burden of protecting their symbol of ‘purity’.
For the age-old patriarchy marinating in its regressive ideas, these podcasts, where women unapologetically be themselves, are what their nightmares are made of.
Be it the brown girls owning their place in a society that always taught them to look down not up or the women changing the female sexual narratives, these podcasts empower and inspire.
Podcast fan or not, you should tune in.
Guys We Fucked
New York-based stand up comedians, Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson, started this “anti-slut shaming” podcast to untag the shame attached to exploring female sexuality. The podcast started with the comedy duo interviewing men they have slept with and now they have transcended to talk about sexual taboos and gender-based violence.
Talking about lacking female narrative in discussions about sex, Krystyna in an interview said, “I’ve noticed that a lot of my girl friends feel ashamed about what they do sexually. We wanted to make women feel more comfortable, and for men to feel more comfortable and to hear what we talk about.”
Through this podcast, the comedy duo who formed ‘Sorry About Last Night’ are creating a sex-positive environment for women to talk about their flings, relationships, sexual fantasies, experiments, masturbating and desires. Nothing is off the table.
Chuski Pop
Sweety and Pappu, creators of Chuski Pop, call themselves “two Indian chicks riding the fourth wave of feminism in our salwar kameez and golden heels, while flipping birds to aunties.”
In their fortnightly nonchalant conversations, they talk about sexuality, Bollywood, mental health, dating, and female friendship amongst other things.
These two brown girls started the podcast in 2015 under the name Sweety and Pappu to bring in the lacking brown girl perspective in the feminism space and talk about the issues they are usually asked to shut up about.
Popaganda by Bitch Media
This one-hour long podcast by Bitch Media “digs deep on movies, books, TV, and media” and brings up relevant yet often topics such as dismissal of women’s pain by healthcare professionals and the society, understanding how we feel about our bodies and how to deal with anxieties that comes with it, tackling gender norms, as well as redefining dating and sexism at workplace.
Popaganda is accompanied by its sister podcast Backtalk which “is a snappy conversation between two Bitch editors about the week’s pop culture”. Dahlia and Amy discuss a range of things from the #MeToo movement to revenge porn and unequal pay in Hollywood.
Behanchara Diaries
This Pakistani podcast is by the Girls at Dhaba, a Tumblr blog which features photos of women occupying public space. The blog began when Karachi-based Sadia Khatri posted a photo of her chilling at a dhaba (roadside food stall) with her friends, with the hashtag, #girsatdhabas.
It drew a lot of attention and soon it was turned into a series with women sending them pictures of them owning the public space and engaging in activities which often comes with a default tag, ‘Men only’. For many women, something as mundane as drinking chai at dhaba became an act of liberation.
Aisiri Amin (she/her) is an independent journalist specializing in gender, culture, and social justice. She is a struggling optimist, trying to understand the world through cinema, books, and travel.