This week, Emily and I talked to Anna Rollins about her beautiful memoir, Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl

Anna grew up in an Evangelical Christian community in Appalachia and was taught from a very young age that gender, sexuality, appetite, and thinness were toxically intertwined. Eating disorders were very much normalized in her community, and girls were taught to fear their desires. It's an incredible book, which both Emily and I tore through. Emily has written before about her history with disordered eating, and listening to both Anna and Emily exchange their personal insights was such a privilege. I got so much from both Anna's book and our conversation, which TRULY covers the gamut of why ideals of womanhood are Very, Very Bad.

Today, Emily and I discuss something we've been discussing since the day we became friends. What does it mean to bring children into the world? What does it mean to want to become a mother? And is that the same things as wanting to raise kids? There are just as many reasons not to have kids are there are reasons to have them, but so often cultural conversations about maternal ambivalence, pronatalism, and the climate crisis coagulate into a sticky abstract. Ultimately, the question of motherhood is intensely personal. So we get into it, and bring our individual baggage along for the ride!

Why Having A Third Baby Felt Like The Safe Choice (by Sara)

Reclaiming Maternal Dread (by Sara)

I Don't Cherish Every Moment (by Sara)

Is Having A Child Worth It? (by Emily)

The Choice of Childlessness (by Emily)

I Need More Time: Weighing The Option of Egg Freezing (by Emily)

I occupy a certain corner of the internet that's been closely following all things Lindy West. My group chats have been ABLAZE. In today's episode, we talk to author Leigh Stein about her viral newsletter post about reading Adult Braces through the lens of gothic literature and domestic abuse. We also (BRAVELY) talk about Adult Braces as a memoir, rather than merely an asterisk to a million think pieces about the death of feminism blah blah blah. This was such a rich conversation, and even if you're burned out on Lindy West discourse (fair!), if you're at all curious about Adult Braces (road trips, personal insecurities, fatness, self-image, embodiment, Shrill the TV show, the connection between the perception of desirability and selfhood) this one's for you.