The Arizona Supreme Court, in all its supreme wisdom, recently ruled that a Civil War-era law from 1864, which amounts to a total ban on abortion, could be enforced. Because why not return to the time before women were ever in government, before we could vote or open bank accounts, when "wife beating" was still legal and when the average birth rate was 7.04 children per woman? THAT SOUNDS AWESOME. The ladies discuss what in the fadoodles is going on in Amanda's state.  Then, as promised in...

It's time for Amanda and Jenna to break down Diddy's misdeeds. For the past 30 years, we've heard the rumblings but now, thanks to some brave survivors speaking out, it's all coming to light. Like so many rich and powerful men before (and after) him, Diddy has used his billionaire fortune and his I-can-make-things-happen-for-you power to control, intimidate, assault, harass and abuse women (and men) and then pay off anyone who might speak out about it. We're talking grooming, rape, sexual...

Family court can be an effed up place. Instead of protecting kids and listening to women, it's unfortunately mostly run by men who side with men and listen to men about men things. As such, if an abusive parent has enough money, they can not only buy custody of their kids, they can also buy the right to torture the other parent. Enter a for-profit scam called parental reunification camps. Run by unqualified and unlicensed individuals, they convince family courts to let them have custody of...

When masculinity is narrowly defined as lumberjacking and giant biceps, men who don't fit this stereotype are left feeling like they need to prove their manliness in other ways—sometimes harmful and violent ways. A narrow and outdated definition of masculinity harms all people and all gender identities and continues to put women in danger. Luckily, there are groups out there like MCSR, formerly known as Men Can Stop Rape, an international nonprofit working to mobilize men to use their...

In yet another chapter of the popular tome, It's All Her Fault: Why Women Can Never Do Anything Right Including Simply Breathing, we discuss why women who manage to be talented and successful are then torn down for being talented and successful until they're not talented or successful any longer at which point they'll be criticized for not trying hard enough.  In this case, it's Taylor Swift's turn. In case you missed the absurd headlines of late, right-wing conspiracy theorists, MAGA folk,...

Can you believe it's been three years of Toxic? And wouldn't you know it, we haven't run out of toxic topics to discuss yet. Go, society! Thank you for sticking with us through the hard conversations. To celebrate, we were given the best present: our first award. We recently found out that we won the Social Change Maker Award from She Podcasts' first-ever Sonic Bloom Awards and we're a little proud of that. OK, a lot proud. To effect social change through these conversations is our number one...

Welcome to 2024 where a good number of men are still audacious beyond belief and women are still saying "WTF just let me live, dammit" every five seconds. Among them, many of the daughters who grew up Duggar, as in TLC's most viewed show ever, 19 Kids and Counting Duggar. Jill released a memoir at the end of 2023, Counting the Cost, that called out everyone who was complacent in her repressed, abusive and highly controlled religious upbringing, and we are here for it. We talk Jim Bob, IBLP...

Hey cats and kittens, we didn't want to leave you on this holiday without a non-depressing, one might even say "lighthearted" episode. And this is it. Based off your votes, we both (regrettably) watched the zinger "12 Men of Christmas," a Lifetime holiday movie from 2009 that didn't really include Christmas until the last few minutes, but did include objectifying men, introducing characters we had no interest in knowing further, a plot with way too many subplots, the girl from My Girl and, of...

We’ve seen this story play out one too many times. After a documented history of domestic violence by her partner Daniel Walker, 40-year-old Tyesha Wayne of Sahuarita, Arizona fought back this past August. While he attacked her in their garage, she grabbed a gun, pointed it at him, and asked him to leave her alone. He didn’t. Tyesha fatally shot Daniel in self-defense and the courts are calling it premeditated murder, saying Tyesha’s previous record would show a history of domestic violence...

One of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's children created a post on Instagram lamenting his "f*cking awful human being" of a dad, calling the Oscar winner a "terrible and despicable person" who will "never understand the damage you have done to my family." Though Pax, now 19, posted this in 2020, the image was recently leaked for all of us to read and no longer avoid.  In 2016, the apparently Toxic Brad drunkenly attacked his then-wife Angelina and his children while flying on a private jet....

In breaking news, it seems guns aren't the only problem America has. We know half the population may not like this news, but it appears men are also an epidemic. Not all but far too many males are throwing temper tantrums with semi-automatic rifles when angry at women for setting actual boundaries or trying to live independently.  Of the 565 mass shootings SO FAR THIS YEAR in the U.S., every single one has been perpetuated by a man. And accroding to Everytown for Gun Safety, at least 60...

In this survivor story, Mimi bravely shares with us what happened in 2012 when she decided to leave her abusive boyfriend for the last and final time. She knew he was an avid gun collector, but it never occurred to her that he would actually use one against her. Survivors of domestic violence often have a difficult time seeing the escalation of danger they face while in the thick of it. After all, in between abusive episodes, they are love-bombed, given promises of change and a romanticized...

Oh, we have some beef with some dudes in this episode. First up is once-escaped murderer Danilo Cavalcante and the upwards of 500 law enforcement officials who searched weeks for him (say it with us: What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area!). While we love to see the effort, what we wish is that the thousands of other survivors who ask for help from police when an...

Statistics tell us that five women every single day will be murdered by their male intimate partners. EVERY DAY. Until we can do a podcast that's called, "How to Not Murder Your Partner" and trust that abusers will listen to it, we have this: the warning signs of homcide. If it can be predicted, it can be prevented (hopefully). If we can lessen victim pool for wannabe murderers out there, it's the best defense we have for the current moment.  Jenna and Amanda break down the nine warning...

The Toxic Dish is our shorter version full of hot goss (shout out Fortune Feimster....whom Jenna says she's never heard of WTF) related to abuse and toxic masculinity. So, like, not as fun as the hot goss of sleepovers from days' past but STILL INTERESTING. Did you hear about Lizzo? Yeah, that was a disappointing turn of events we didn't have on our 2023 bingo card. Also, Netflix is releasing a Depp v. Heard documentary this week. Do we need to relive it? Does Amber? We're pretty sure no one...

Tina Swithin, survivor, author and family court advocate, joins Amanda and Jenna in today’s episode to talk about the confounding decision some family court judges are making to force traumatized and abused children to see or even live with their abusive parents. Utilizing something called Family Reunification Camps, these judges order already terrified children to be forcibly removed from a protective parent’s home and sent to a facility where they’re isolated, abused and gaslighted into...

Last week, phenomenal singer, songwriter, political activist and survivor Sinéad O'Connor passed away. In 1992, she ripped up a picture of the Pope John Paul II on SNL and shouted "Fight the real enemy!" It caused a hullabaloo because, omg, God. But she had her reasons. Good ones. Jenna and Amanda discuss.  We're also talking about Prager University, not a university, whose tagline is "Make kids racist again" and its infiltration into Florida elementary schools.  And finally, a court in...

It was 1976 when Tina Turner fled for her life, literally, across multiple lanes of highway traffic to a Ramada Inn with $0.36 in her pocket and restarted her life. Despite being one of the most famous performance artists of her time, everyone associated her with Ike Turner, her abusive counterpart and husband. It wasn't until she spoke out publically in a 1981 People Magazine article titled, "Tina Turner: On the Prowl Without Ike" — because of course it was — that her fans would hear the...

Weaponized incompetence deserves a second episode, and this time, we brought friends: ThatDarnChat, aka Laura Danger, propelled to popularity online by talking about domestic labor and its unequal distribution in many relationships, and SpeechProf, aka Professor Chesko, an outspoken feminist advocate on TikTok. Both of these talented individuals do the thankless work of tearing down misogynistic rhetoric through humor and courage (because you know misogynists don't want misogyny to...

Happy Pride, y'all! We hope this month is super duper uncomfortable for all the homophobes out there! In this episode, we're scratching our heads over a [failed] Target boycott of a few people who are appalled by the idea of merchandise that would promote the idea of loving everyone, even *GASP* those different from us. Don't worry, we end with a recommendation of a place where only love and acceptance are flourishing (sure, you'll have to go back on Facebook for a hot sec but it's worth...

Weaponized incompetence is a manipulation tactic used by individuals to purposefully avoid sharing labor equally in a partnership. It's not only annoying as all hell, it can be a favorite tactic of abusers who subscribe to traditional gender roles and have no interest in stepping outside of them. Is your partner constantly forgetting how to provide basic care for their own children? Is remembering a grocery list just far too confusing for your partner? Are you solely responsible for taking...

Happy (?!) Sexual Assault Awareness Month...? Maybe? Every 68 seconds, a sexual assaulter is choosing to assault someone. We need to talk about this. What does sexual assault look like—it's rape, but so much more—and why is it one of the most underreported crimes (spoiler alert: we're shaming women into silence)? With this many constant assaults, it was hard to pick just one assaulter to talk about, but we did it. Mainly because Chris D'Elia is out there Chris Browning it up, making money,...

When Bonnie's husband decided he wanted to possibly kill her, rather than, oh, we don't know, love and respect her, Bonnie knew she needed to run. But with a toddler, a three-day-old baby, two big dogs and a 30-pound tortoise in her care, finding a shelter that could help her proved nearly impossible. An estimated 70 percent of domestic violence survivors have pets, but only a fraction of domestic violence shelters have the resources available that allow pets to come with a survivor. As a...

It's Dish! The shorter (sometimes?!) version of Toxic where we rant about the newsy stuff that's chock-full of toxicity. Two weeks ago, the U.S. was collectively traumatized by its 131st mass shooting that took the lives of three kids and three adults, and yet all Tennessee did in response was a.) ask people to pray away the murderous rampages and b.) fire three heroic Representatives who said this situation f'ing sucks. Great job, everyone. Later, we talk about one bit of good news,...