Mona is a women's Kinky Sex Coach. How awesome is that? And she's brilliantly created a course called "How To Be A Dominant Goddess" to help women discover their inner Dominatrix and give them permission to explore sexually. In this episode, Mona gives us more insight into this program, the work she does as a kinky sex coach, and her past career as a Professional Dominatrix. We talk about what it means to be sex positive, learning how consent shows up in kink with "hard limits" and "soft limits", and how to negotiate in the bedroom. Mona offers her take on the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon and dispelling myths about kink. Also, we talk about how gender conditioning influences our sex lives, and how women have been socialized to be in society and in the bedroom. Go to realfeministstories.com/mona for the shownotes! If you want to support Real Feminist Stories with your dollars and help me continue to bring you more awesome feminist stories, please visit patreon.com/realfeministstories and choose an amount to pledge or to make a one time donation, visit realfeministstories.com and scroll down until you see the Donate button. Thank you for your support, loves! *Intro and Outro music by Eva Roberts.

Marcia is the creator of the Good Girl Recovery Program, a relationship coach, a sexual communication expert, and the co-founder of Cuddle Party! First, we dive into her brilliant Good Girl Recovery Program that "helps women to break out of the roles that keep them small and unsatisfied, and move into being more of who they are in all areas of their lives." Marcia explains how women have been raised to be "good girls", how shame shows up differently for women than it does for men, how we've internalized sexist beliefs, and how a woman's desires and knowing what she wants is complicated.  "It doesn't matter what you do, you're not going to be 'womaning' enough." We also get into the myth that success solely equals hard work, and how we've internalized the story about how attaining success means we have to suffer. We, also, get into gender, the performance of gender and gender identity. Marcia identifies as femme, which she defines as: "A performance of stereotypical femininity in a way that is winking at it and is approaching it from a position of power rather than as reaction."  In addition, Marcia shares about Cuddle Party, consensual touch, and creating these needed spaces. It turns out that Marcia and I, once, many years ago, hosted an all women's sex party. Yes, you heard that right. We dive deeper into how radical and healing these parties were, and how they influenced our relationship to our bodies and our sexuality. Lots of fun topics in today's episode, so waste no more time and press play! You can support Real Feminist Stories Podcast on Patron. Go to patron.com/realfeministstories or give a donation at realfeministstories.com (scroll down on the home page until you see the donate button). Your support is much appreciated! *Intro and outdo music by Eva Roberts

Shireen is a Sports Activist, Writer, Public Speaker who focuses on Muslim women in sports, and who coaches and mentors to a young girl football (soccer) players. She grew up on the east coast of Canada playing football (soccer), and still plays football on a local Muslim women's group. In this episode, Shireen shares about the first time she decided to wear her hijab, challenges Muslim women face in sports, and what it means to be a sports activist. Shireen writes a lot about the lack of diversity in sports writing, and challenges society's ideas of who we think a sports writer is, of who we think an expert is. She defines activism as "People who try their best to make a change in something for the better, more inclusive and equitable for everyone, and having integrity in what you do and trying your best to try to not be an asshole." Shireen writes a lot about the systemic racism and sexism in existing athletic federations and sport clubs, and how most of the people making decisions at the highest levels in sports are (cis) men. She doesn't believe that systemically, things have changed much in society, but that there is more conversation and dialogue through social media now.  "Objectivity is a construct that privileged people created." Also, Shireen talks about how confidence is the biggest struggle that the Muslim girls she coaches face. Instead of starting football (soccer) practice by telling them what they need to work on, she asks them what they are going to bring to the game. She stresses how hard it is to get these girls to talk about what they are good at instead of their flaws. It reminds me that there is always a becoming for girls (and women), that we can't just BE.  Lastly, we nerd out about our love of athletics and sports, including our shared interest in American Ninja Warrior. Shireen shares about the various, interesting sports that she's tried and has gotten really into, and about the ONE sport she wants to try that she hasn't yet. Go to realfeministstories./podcast and click on the one with Shireen to find more about her! Thank you to all of my Patron supports, for making it possible to create more Real Feminist Stories. If you would like to become a supporter, go to patreon.com/realfeministstories. Intro and outdo music by Eva Roberts

Tamara is a beautiful poet, writer, host of the #writestuff Twitter chat, and author of "The Shaping of an 'Angry' Black Woman" and "The Appalachian Terror Trail." She talks about her upcoming poetry series about resistance where poets share their raw, unfiltered thoughts and feelings about politics, which is inspired by the current U.S. political administration. Tamara wants to keep track of what's happening with the DT presidency. She's been worried about fellow creatives feeling exhausted from the political climate. "It's also important for poets to put our pens to being keepsakes of our history."  In addition, Tamara shares some of her own poetry from her book, "The Shaping of an 'Angry' Black Woman." We discuss what her words represent, the importance of writing yourself into existence, and her upcoming book called "Blood Roses and Honeysuckles." She shares about her upbringing, how she felt like a caged bird growing up, and her father's experience as a coal miner in West Virginia. I thank Tamara for being open to sharing about her experiences and gifting us with her words.  Are you a writer who is on Twitter? Join Tamara's #writestuff chat every Tuesday night at 9pm EST.  Did you enjoy this episode? Please share on social media. Let's get these stories out there! Thank you to all my Patrons for their support. If you'd like to give money to support Real Feminist Stories, you can pledge on Patreon (there are perks!). Go to patron.com/realfeministstories. Even a little goes a long way! If you'd rather donate, you can do that too; visit realfeministstories.com, scroll down the home page until you see the "Donate" button. I appreciate your support!

Kristin is a beautiful and wise writer and transformation mentor who helps female creatives and entrepreneurs move past their bullshit to help them step into their power and thrive! In this episode, we dive DEEP into the bullshit stories that we tell ourselves, the ones that we've taken on, and that we can undo and transform. This also includes diving deeper into oppression, especially internalized oppression, and how that shows up with our business and with going after what we want in life and knowing who we truly are. While we focus on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in general, everyone (entrepreneur or not) can get something wise insights from this episode!  In addition, Kristin is a creative writer who shares about the science fiction novel she's currently writing and how she weaves politics and social oppressions into it. We talk about writing diverse characters, and why having diverse characters in ALL media is extremely important and needed. Also, Kristin shares about what equality, intersectionality, and freedom mean to her. And we discuss marketing and integrity, and how to align your actions with your feminist values. So much good, good stuff! Dive in deeper with us by pressing play! Special thanks to Eva Roberts for the intro and outdo music. Thank you to my Patron supporters. If you like Real Feminist Stories Podcast and are in a financial position to give, please consider supporting this podcast on Patreon. www.patreon.com/realfeministstories. I appreciate any and all of your support! Make sure you go to Kristin's website and grab her free workbook that she's offering you. The link is ignitethrivecreative.com/realfem. Thank you, Kristin!

Julie is a badass feminist personal trainer, health coach, and surfer who is changing the game in the fitness world to help women become more liberated, personally and socially. In this episode, I ask Julie what it means to be a feminist fitness trainer and how she approaches fitness with herself and with her clients from a feminist perspective. She points out how the fitness industry focuses on body parts with a one-size-fits-all approach conditioning all of us from a young age that we "should" live up to this ideal body type of White, cisgendered, non-disabled, skinny with long limbs, small bones and flat abs. Because of this "ideal" that society has programmed in us, we assume that this is what healthy looks like and/or only looks like, and because most of us can't live up to it (because we're not meant to-it's not who we are), we feel like failures and like we're not good enough.  “We are conditioned to believe that we need to conform to this idea or this diet or this exercise instead of learning more about ourselves. I think it’s a huge diservice to all of us. I call bullshit on all of it.” As a feminist fitness trainer, Julie wants to guide and help women to train their body however the hell they want! In her approach, she encourages women to do what they ENJOY, and not what they think they are "supposed" to do in order to be fit and healthy.  We, also, explore how the fitness industry makes money off of our insecurities. As Julie stresses, "They have us focus on how we look instead of how we feel, which is a huge problem.” It's a confusing cycle because it has us trying to achieve something that is often not realistic or healthy for our bodies, so we spend more money on more products and things that we think will help us achieve society's ideal getting us further and further away from ourselves and our true strengths.  “I want to defy that myth that women are perpetuating and I also want men to realize that they don’t need to be threatened by a woman who is strong and can take care of herself, that in fact, that’s better for this world.” In addition, we dive deeper into the relationship between gender and fitness like a woman trying to preserve her "femininity" in fear that gaining more muscles might make her look too "masculine". And how a lot of men are uncomfortable around more muscular women because it feels like a threat to their masculinity, to who they are. It's like a gender cycle that just keeps going around around that isn't contributing to one's liberation and feeling good and confident in their bodies.  This layered and complex discussion is such an important one that we need to bring more awareness to. Press play to listen to the full conversation! Thank you to all of my Patron supporters; I appreciate you! Please consider supporting Real Feminist Stories on Patreon (even $1/ month goes a long way and there are perks!) patreon.com/realfeministstories.com. Intro/outro music by the lovely, Eva Roberts

Ariana is a wise, insightful Jewish Latina astrologer psychologist! In this episode, I ask Ariana what it means to approach astrology from a feminist, social justice perspective, and how spirituality is interconnected with social liberation. As she points out, "We cannot truly reach social or global liberation without personal liberation." We talk about the marginalization of spiritualities, and Ariana explains why astrology hasn't been accepted in mainstream psychology. Ariana's belief is that one must believe in interconnectivity in order to believe in astrology since it's all about how we're interconnected, and offers an insightful perspective on social justice and oppression. In addition, we dive deeper into magic, focus, and the law of attraction! If you're confused about what any of this means, I promise you will find out in the episode! Click play! If you like Real Feminist Stores podcast, please consider supporting it on Patreon. Go to patreon.com/realfeministstories. A little goes a long way-thank you! Intro & Outro music by Eva Roberts. Other music by Lee Rosevere "Neon Skies."

This is a special episode where I chat with six "husbands" who have taken their wives' last names. Each person has a different, unique story, and not all of them are legally married nor identity as cisgendered or heterosexual. Not all of them are originally from the United States either. Listen to this awesome episode exploring a part of the deep seated patriarchy that we tend to avoid. If you enjoy this episode and/or Real Feminist Stories in general, please consider giving to my Patreon. A little goes a long way! You can go to patreon.com/realfeministstories.com to give. I appreciate you greatly. Intro/outro music by the lovely Eva Roberts. Music in between interviews on today's episode by Lee Rosevere.

Amazing Katie chats with me about her awesome production company called Girl Power Now Productions, media that centers on girl representation and better representation for all! She was inspired by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media after learning about huge gender and racial disparities in the media, which we dive into more.  Also, we talk about Katie's background in politics working in Washington with nonprofits for a long time including working on the Clinton campaign in the 90s and with the Gores. Before the Internet, when Katie was in her late 20s, she did some work for some of Trump's buildings, and shares about her experience meeting him along with her thoughts on the current administration. Lastly, Katie shares about her experience in Russia during the time the Soviet Union fell. This woman has experienced so much; I'm so fascinated by her life!  Find her links on the show notes on realfeministstories.com/podcast. Also, if you liked this episode and Real Feminist Stories, please support it on Patreon: patreon.com/realfeministstories. I appreciate anything you can give! *Intro/outro music by the lovely Eva Roberts

I speak with my friend, Deirdre, a sailor for years, who sailed from Hawaii to San Francisco last year. She faced her fear to embark on this incredible experience and tells us all about it! In addition, being born and raised in Ireland, we talk about abortion in Ireland, where it is illegal, and we nerd out about one of our favorite TV series, The Fall. If you're looking for inspiration to face one of your fears, this episode is perfect for you!