Messy Liberation: Feminist Conversations about Politics and Pop Culture

Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown
  • 4.5 (16)
  • News Commentary
  • Updated Weekly

Join feminist coaches Taina Brown and Becky Mollenkamp for casual (and often deep) conversations about business, current events, politics, pop culture, and more. We’re not perfect activists or allies! These are our real-time, messy feminist perspectives on the world around us. This podcast is for you if you find yourself asking questions like: • Why is feminism important today? • What is intersectional feminism? • Can capitalism be ethical? • What does liberation mean? • Equity vs. equality — what's the difference and why does it matter? • What does a Trump victory mean for my life? • What is mutual aid? • How do we engage in collective action? • Can I find safety in community? • What's a feminist approach to ... ? • What's the feminist perspective on ...?

  1. 1d ago

    There Is No 'Neutral': Macklemore, Pink, Ed Sheeran, and the Cost of Speaking Out

    On this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown break down Macklemore's public firing from Ed Sheeran's tour after he said "Free Palestine" on stage — and use it to dig into celebrity complicity, white feminism, and the real difference between Zionism and Judaism. From Robert Kraft's stadium pressure campaign to AIPAC's grip on Democratic politics to the actual cost of speaking out against genocide, Becky and Taina unpack what it looks like to choose a side when neutrality was never on the table. In This Episode, We Get Into: Macklemore getting pulled from Ed Sheeran's tour after saying "Free Palestine" to 90,000 people, and reading his response statement liveHow Robert Kraft and other venue owners used stadium access as leverage to force Ed Sheeran's handWhy "I don't take sides" is itself a side, and Macklemore's line: "There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed"Pink's Instagram statement, her US Open outing with Elizabeth Banks and Amy Adams, and why it's a textbook white feminism case studyWhat celebrities and public figures actually owe their audiences, the parasocial relationship and the responsibility that comes with a platformAIPAC money, the Wesley Bell/Cori Bush congressional race, and how Democrats fall in line on Israel fundingUntangling Zionism from Judaism and anti-Zionism from antisemitism, and why conflating them silences criticsThe 5,000-signature Hollywood letter opposing the word "genocide," and who's cashing checks to stay quietMandy Patinkin, Holocaust parallels, and how dehumanization spreads once a society decides it's permissible for one group"Does Israel have a right to exist?", and a reframe (it exists, so now what?) that matters more than the debate itselfA closing tangent on Jasmine Crockett sharing a stage with Chris Brown, and what it says about who we hold accountableTimestamps: 00:21 – Setting up the episode: Macklemore, Ed Sheeran, Zionism, and genocide02:09 – What actually happened on stage: "Free Palestine" and the fallout03:10 – Pink's response and deleted comments04:45 – Reading Macklemore's full statement: "I am not a victim"06:23 – Robert Kraft, Gillette Stadium, and the stadium-owner ultimatum08:27 – "There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed"11:22 – Power, privilege, and how the GOP consolidates vs. how Democrats splinter12:36 – AIPAC money and the Wesley Bell/Cori Bush race in St. Louis15:44 – Pink at the US Open with Elizabeth Banks and Amy Adams17:20 – Parasocial relationships and what celebrities owe their audience27:28 – The 5,000-signature Hollywood letter denying the word "genocide"30:39 – Mark Ruffalo, Tatiana Maslany, and who's actually showing up33:54 – Holocaust parallels and how dehumanization spreads39:40 – Zionism vs. Judaism: why they're not the same thing41:36 – "Does Israel have a right to exist?" and why that's the wrong question44:39 – Jasmine Crockett sharing a stage with Chris Brown47:27 – Christian nationalism and the same system playing out in the USResources Mentioned:Pink's statement:  Macklemore speaks out at Ed Sheeran concert: https://www.instagram.com/reels/Dc_bH4_N1FN/Pink's statement: https://www.instagram.com/p/DdKPJsVTvtl/?hl=enMacklemore's statement: https://www.threads.com/@macklemore/post/DdRduI8mxy9/mediaThe 5,000-signature Hollywood open letter: https://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/blog/2026/09/08/rejectlieMandy Patinkin's empathetic plea: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DMJWZHVsXdH/Abdul El-Sayed on "does Israel have a right to exist?": https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1087558473698955🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    There Is No 'Neutral': Macklemore, Pink, Ed Sheeran, and the Cost of Speaking Out

  2. 6d ago

    Safe Space Is a Buzzword: What Real Community Actually Looks Like

    Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown break down what actually makes a group of people a community — not just a paid membership or "safe space" buzzword. On this episode of Messy Liberation, they unpack why comfort and safety get conflated (especially by white women), why "we don't talk politics here" silences the most marginalized voices in a space, and what harm repair and restorative justice look like when done right. Plus: the stories of the best communities they've ever been part of, from a virtual event where a host let Resmaa Menakem rest mid-talk, to a nonprofit that gave staff the day off after a police shooting, to the friends who took Taina in when she was homeless. Timestamps:0:00 – Intro & follow-up from last episode0:34 – Why "community" became a business buzzword1:14 – Defining community: shared vision & culture-making4:46 – Trust, "ride or dies," and the buzzword of "safe spaces"7:07 – Feeling held vs. feeling safe9:00 – Why community isn't about being safe for everyone9:57 – Privilege, comfort, and what "safe" really means11:23 – True crime, privilege, and the illusion of safety12:06 – White women's tears: confusing comfort with safety14:02 – "We don't talk politics here" and who gets silenced18:19 – Threats to privilege vs. threats to safety18:56 – 2016 & 2020: white coaches shutting down callouts24:29 – Harm repair and restorative justice, set up front28:18 – Communities that got it right: affinity spaces & chosen family33:04 – Taken in when homeless: a story of real community34:52 – Black spaces vs. white spaces: the difference in care38:35 – The Resmaa Menakem story: modeling collective care live43:29 – A nonprofit that gave everyone the day off47:05 – The FEO community: emotional labor, race & accountability54:51 – Recap: discomfort isn't unsafe, and harm repair matters57:25 – Outro • "My Grandmother's Hands" by Resmaa Menakem: https://amzn.to/4r3bsMh• Rooted Global Village: https://rootedglobalvillage.com/ 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    Safe Space Is a Buzzword: What Real Community Actually Looks Like

  3. Sep 1

    Nepal Floods, Climate Change, Doomscrolling: How Do We Keep Going?

    On this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown get real about climate grief, doomscrolling, and the nihilism that creeps in when disaster feels endless, sparked by the catastrophic Nepal glacier flood and reports of billionaires building bunkers to escape the mess they helped create. Becky and Taina dig into the difference between staying informed and staying trapped in trauma, why our brains keep replaying footage that hurts us, and how community, agency, and joy become acts of resistance when the world feels like it's on fire. They close with a tribute to Dolly Parton and what her life proves about choosing love over hate. In This Episode, We Get Into:• Why the Nepal glacier flood hit so hard, and the "disaster movie" desensitization that makes real catastrophe feel unreal• Billionaires building underground bunkers (complete with jails) instead of fixing the climate crisis they're profiting from• The nihilism spiral: "what's the point" thinking and how it shows up differently before and after having kids• The real difference between being informed and being engaged, and where that line gets crossed into doomscrolling• Why our brains compulsively replay traumatic footage, and what that has to do with control and anxiety• Survivor's guilt vs. privilege guilt, and how proximity to suffering (without living it) shapes our response• The "crazy-making" feeling of watching people deny climate change in real time, and why that's a form of gaslighting• Divesting from harmful systems vs. reducing our reliance on them, and what to do with the time and energy that frees up• Surrender vs. submission: how accepting what you can't control can actually restore a sense of agency• Why joy and grief can coexist, and why withholding joy doesn't prove you care more• A tribute to Dolly Parton: her wealth given away, her quiet support of Black Lives Matter and the trans community, and what she proves about hate being a choice Timestamps:00:00 – Cold open: Becky's Care Bear mug and "which Care Bear are you"02:51 – The Nepal glacier flood and why it feels almost unreal to watch04:16 – Doomscrolling, repeated imagery, and the nihilism it triggers05:14 – Billionaire bunkers (yes, with jails) and what that says about who's "prepared" for collapse07:45 – Becky turns it over to Taina: restoring some faith in humanity08:06 – Taina's approach to news consumption and staying "informed without engaged"09:45 – Unpacking the real difference between informed and engaged11:25 – How having kids changes the emotional weight of climate anxiety12:47 – The compulsion to doomscroll and rewatch disturbing footage16:30 – Why our brains keep seeking control through repetition19:05 – Survivor's guilt vs. guilt born of privilege20:00 – Divesting from harmful systems vs. reducing our need for them21:32 – What you do with the space once you stop doomscrolling22:25 – The "crazy-making," gaslighting feeling of climate denial26:10 – The privilege of being disappointed by people in power27:56 – Community as the antidote: who's in your corner29:03 – Finding agency in the small, controllable things31:07 – Surrender vs. control, and coming back to the present moment33:50 – Acceptance vs. submission — the difference that matters35:13 – Resilience as a practiced, ongoing skill, not a one-time fix35:55 – Giving yourself permission to feel joy without guilt37:52 – Dolly Parton's "rainbows and rain" quote and finding light in the dark41:00 – Dolly's legacy: $600M given away, support for BLM and trans employees decades early44:44 – Why Dolly is proof that hate is a choice45:50 – Closing thoughts and sign-off 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    Nepal Floods, Climate Change, Doomscrolling: How Do We Keep Going?

  4. Aug 25

    When DEI Gets Dismantled: Callaway, Target & the Cost of Corporate "Values"

    On this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown break down two viral advertiser fails (Callaway Golf's domestic-violence "joke" ad and Target's minstrel-show-evoking Halloween costume) to unpack what happens when corporate rooms lack real diversity and accountability. Through an intersectional feminist lens, they dig into DEI backlash, golf's history of racial and gender exclusion, the limits of individual boycotts, and why values that "blow with the wind" were never values at all. In This Episode, We Get Into:• A heartfelt tribute to Dolly Parton and what her life and legacy meant to both hosts• The Callaway Golf ad that turned domestic violence into a punchline — and the immediate backlash from women online• Target's clown/ghost Halloween costume and its uncomfortable echoes of minstrel-show imagery• Why "diverse hires" without power or context don't actually prevent harm• The difference between real values and values that shift with politics or profit• Golf's long, ugly history of excluding women and Black golfers, and what the current participation numbers really show• Whether corporate apology tours ("this doesn't reflect our values") mean anything at all• The limits of individual boycotts vs. collective political power• What small business owners can actually do differently (hint: it's not a fancy DEI program)• Drones, robot armies, and what stripping empathy from warfare has to do with stripping humanity from marginalized people Resources Mentioned:• OpenSecrets.org• Democratic Socialists of America (DSA): dsausa.org• Working Families Party: workingfamilies.org 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    When DEI Gets Dismantled: Callaway, Target & the Cost of Corporate "Values"

  5. Aug 17

    Hayden Panettiere's Death & Why America Fails Parents

    Feminist coaches and hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown unpack Hayden Panettiere's death and what it reveals about America's total failure to support new mothers. They dig into postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and the maternal mental health crisis this country refuses to treat with any real structural support — and why that failure hits hardest along lines of race and class. In This Episode, We Get Into:• Hayden Panettiere's death, her public struggle with postpartum depression, and what her story reveals about how the entertainment industry treats mothers' mental health (including Neutrogena quietly dropping her as a spokesperson)• Becky's own experience with postpartum anxiety, and why "bouncing back" after birth is a myth nobody should be selling• Why postpartum screening in the U.S. is basically a checkbox on a form — and why that leads to massive underreporting, especially among Black and Latina mothers who have real reason to fear losing custody• The Britney Spears comparison and the impossible bind mothers are put in: too involved is controlling, too little is neglect• The age gap and power dynamics in Hayden's relationship, and how that context matters without villainizing anyone• Why childcare costs in America are a structural crisis, not a personal budgeting problem• How Europe's midwife home visits, paid leave, and universal pre-K show what real support could look like — and why the U.S. keeps moving backward instead• The difference between "making it work" and actually thriving as a parent• Taina's take on evangelicalism, moral hierarchies, and how "empathy is a bad word" rhetoric on the right traces back to Puritan control, not religious freedom• A call to action: what real, tangible community care looks like after someone gives birth or after someone dies — not just showing up once, but showing up for months 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    Hayden Panettiere's Death & Why America Fails Parents

  6. Aug 11

    Why "Protect Women's Sports" Is a Lie

    Becky and Taina break down two former NBA players (Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White) declaring themselves eligible for the 2027 WNBA draft as a bad-faith stunt riding the wave of anti-trans hysteria in women's sports. They trace the manufactured controversy back to comments from Sophie Cunningham and Riley Gaines, unpack the real legislative threat (the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act), and connect the dots between "protecting girls," Title IX defunding, eugenics, and control of women's bodies. Timestamps:00:06 – Cold open / catching up00:36 – Setting up today's topic: two ex-NBA men declaring WNBA draft eligibility01:14 – Background: Sophie Cunningham's "protect biological women" comments, Riley Gaines, XXXY Apparel03:05 – Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve's "protect trans children" shirt; Gabby Williams pushes back04:45 – Race dynamics around Caitlin Clark vs. Black WNBA players04:59 – Enes Kanter Freedom formally declares for the WNBA draft06:49 – Royce White follows suit; his failed Senate runs and political motives07:48 – Royce White's "in touch with his feminine energy" routine09:45 – The real legislative threat: Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act (H.R. 28 / Senate Bill 9) and Title IX11:46 – "They're just dumb": basic biology, every fetus starts genetically female13:35 – The real agenda: control, not trans people — "heterosexual family values"17:10 – Sex is a spectrum: intersex variation explained19:15 – The slippery slope from body-as-utility thinking to eugenics21:37 – Bathroom policing, dehumanization, and the Gaza parallel22:47 – "Protecting girls" via pelvic exams — the Larry Nassar comparison24:23 – Shoutout to Megan Rapinoe; Title IX funding, Heritage Foundation, Project 202533:00 – Sitting with your own fear/bias instead of outsourcing the work to trans people36:39 – Real harm comes from inside the home, not from trans strangers39:04 – Race and the policing of femininity — why this falls hardest on Black women42:12 – Where are the men calling this out? Fragile masculinity43:14 – Declaring draft eligibility means nothing — no team is taking either of them43:48 – Closing thoughts: go meet a trans person; "we love you" 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    Why "Protect Women's Sports" Is a Lie

  7. Aug 4

    Why Everyone's Obsessed with Wicker (And What It Says About Us)

    Becky and Taina are back from their summer Everything Is Political series with their regular weekly episode, kicking things off with the internet-breaking trailer for Wicker — the upcoming movie starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, and Peter Dinklage about a woman who marries a man made of wicker. What starts as trailer reactions turns into a wider conversation about the booming romance and "smutty romance" book industry, the trad wife movement's contradictions, media literacy, and who gets conditioned to be curious versus who doesn't. What we discussed:00:00 – Welcome back after the summer Everything Is Political series00:28 – Introducing today's topic: the Wicker trailer01:33 – First reactions to the trailer and the Bookstagram/BookTok buzz04:11 – Breaking down the premise (and the jokes about it)09:52 – "It's all men until it's not all men" — men continuing to fall short10:08 – The wicker husband, village jealousy, and the metal-collar marriage symbolism12:17 – Why this topic: free publicity and the bigger conversation about romance/smut15:39 – Trad wife influencers, rising conservatism, and the contradiction underneath it (Nara Smith)16:54 – Aside on the novel Yesteryear20:16 – Romance publishing stats: 52% revenue growth, $1.44B a year22:59 – Wicker as a modern fairy tale / parallels to Beauty and the Beast24:26 – Entertainment as propaganda: military movies and Hollywood contracts26:14 – Media literacy: why it matters for everything we consume, not just news31:21 – Privilege, curiosity, and who gets conditioned not to question things34:07 – Curiosity as joy; how liberal arts education changed things for Becky36:22 – The power of "why" and "what if" as questions43:00 – Wrap-up and plans to revisit after they've both seen the movie in October Resources mentioned:• Wicker trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP0BWBWn14I• "The Wicker Husband" short story: https://www.scribd.com/document/163478512/The-Wicker-Husban1• "Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke: https://amzn.to/3TEeLNs 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    Why Everyone's Obsessed with Wicker (And What It Says About Us)

  8. Jul 27

    Everything Is Political: What We Learned From Our Whole Series

    On this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown look back on their "Everything Is Political" series — reflecting on agency, systemic bias, and intersectional feminism through conversations on trash and environmental racism, clothing equity, comedy and queer identity, book diversity, AI and data bias, and podcasting access. It's a candid, funny, and grounding recap for anyone trying to hold onto hope while facing systems designed to wear you down. In This Episode, We Get Into:• Why disengaging from online arguments can be an act of agency, not avoidance• The "not my ministry" mindset and choosing which conversations are actually worth your energy• How trash pickup reveals environmental racism and the myth of "universal" utilities• The beautification effect and why cared-for spaces get cared for• How access to clothing that fits shapes self-worth, agency, and daily choices• Becky's deep dive into Universal Standard sizing and why "medium" is doing a lot of political work• What Dahlia Belle's Netflix special Gender Agenda revealed about comedy, pronouns, and survival• Becky's book-tracking dashboard and what it exposed about whose voices she was (and wasn't) reading• Why AI and algorithms only look backward, and what that means for bias and representation• Who gets the mic in podcasting, and why access doesn't always mean equity 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

    Everything Is Political: What We Learned From Our Whole Series
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Join feminist coaches Taina Brown and Becky Mollenkamp for casual (and often deep) conversations about business, current events, politics, pop culture, and more. We’re not perfect activists or allies! These are our real-time, messy feminist perspectives on the world around us. This podcast is for you if you find yourself asking questions like: • Why is feminism important today? • What is intersectional feminism? • Can capitalism be ethical? • What does liberation mean? • Equity vs. equality — what's the difference and why does it matter? • What does a Trump victory mean for my life? • What is mutual aid? • How do we engage in collective action? • Can I find safety in community? • What's a feminist approach to ... ? • What's the feminist perspective on ...?

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