In this episode of Assigned Reading, Becky and Kim unpack Barbara Love’s essay on developing a liberatory consciousness. Using the framework of the “4 A’s”—Awareness, Analysis, Action, and Accountability—they reflect on the deeply personal work of moving from complicity to liberation. This episode explores queer identity, internalized oppression, white feminism, and how awareness shapes every step of meaningful change.

This week’s text:

✍️ “Developing a Liberatory Consciousness” by Barbara Love

This week’s guest: Kim Romain is a seasoned coach, facilitator, and intuitive guide who supports high-achieving women and gender-expansive folks to embrace their inner knowing, get unshackled from grind culture, and create spacious, values-aligned lives.

🌐 https://kimromain.com

🎧 https://anchor.fm/kimromain

📱 https://www.instagram.com/kimromain

Discussed in this episode:

• Barbara Love’s 4 A’s of liberatory consciousness
• How internalized oppression shows up in dominant and subordinate identities
• White saviorism and perfectionism in anti-racism work
• The emotional process of coming out as queer later in life
• Intersectionality and identity overlap
• What liberatory embodiment *feels* like

👉🏼 Sign up for Becky’s newsletter, Feminist Rants Are My Superpower, for more conversations that call in your heart and your brain. https://beckymollenkamp.com/rants

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Aging, feminism, and power collide in this juicy conversation. Becky and podcast producer Ana Xavier discuss Susan Sontag’s The Double Standard of Aging and how it still resonates decades later. From gray hair and menopause to child-free choices and decentering men, this feminist talk gets real about the aging double standard and what it means to opt out of performative femininity.

This week’s text: ✍️ “The Double Standard of Aging” by Susan Sontag

This week’s guest: Ana Xavier Ana Xavier is a podcast producer and strategist who helps creators amplify their voices through meaningful content.

🌐 Website | 🎧 Podcast |📱 Instagram

Discussed in this episode:

• Susan Sontag’s essay and its continued relevance
• Aging without shame
• Gray hair and public perception
• Child-free by choice and societal pressure
• Decentering men from life decisions
• Performative femininity and gender roles
• Aging and career reinvention
• Cultural differences in how aging is viewed

Resources mentioned:

• “The Double Standard of Aging” by Susan Sontag
• “Fearing the Black Body” by Sabrina Strings

👉🏼 Sign up for Becky’s newsletter, Feminist Rants Are My Superpower, for more conversations that call in your heart and your brain. https://beckymollenkamp.com/rants

🎤 PROUD MEMBER OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

What happens when the law can't see you? This episode dives into Kimberle Crenshaw’s landmark 1989 essay on intersectionality, exploring how courts systematically erase Black women. Becky and Tori break down Crenshaw’s trapdoor metaphor, legal analysis, and the continuing relevance of intersectional feminism today.

This week’s text

✍️ “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex” by Kimberlé Crenshaw

This week’s guest

Tori, aka Tori, Etc., is a neurodivergent speaker and educator on deconstructing fundamentalism, white supremacy, and internalized misogyny. Raised in a far-right religious household, she now brings sharp analysis and vulnerable storytelling to conversations about identity, power, and liberation.

Find TORI

🌐 https://instagram.com/tori.etc
🎧 https://www.torietc.com/podcast
📱 https://www.instagram.com/tori.etc

Discussed in this episode

• The legal system’s failure to recognize Black women’s intersectional oppression
• Crenshaw’s trapdoor and street intersection metaphors
• Gaslighting in law and social discourse
• Moynihan Report and structural racism
• The burden of perfectionism in white supremacy and capitalism
• Personal narratives of unlearning from fundamentalism

Resource mentioned

• "My Grandmother’s Hands" by Resmaa Menakem

👉🏼 Sign up for Becky’s newsletter, Feminist Rants Are My Superpower

🎤 PROUD MEMBER OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE