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

🎤 PROUD MEMBER OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

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

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🎤 PROUD MEMBER OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

In this episode, Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown dive deep into Sylvia Rivera’s 2001 speech, "Bitch on Wheels." They unpack Rivera’s righteous rage, explore the erasure of trans voices in LGBTQ history, and reflect on the importance of solidarity and intersectionality in the fight for liberation. This raw speech from a legendary activist is just as urgent today.

This week’s text: ✍️ “Bitch on Wheels” by Sylvia Rivera

This week’s guest: Taina Brown is a justice-centered DEI consultant and co-host of the Messy Liberation podcast. She brings an academic and embodied lens to conversations about liberation, identity, and collective care.

Find Taina:
🌐 https://www.ifthenand.org/
🎧 https://messyliberation.com
📱 Instagram

Discussed in this episode

• Sylvia Rivera’s legacy and speech context
• Stonewall riots from a trans perspective
• Marsha P. Johnson and Rivera’s activism
• Respectability politics and performative feminism
• White saviorism, allyship, and call-in vs. call-out
• Suicide and mental health in the trans community
• The role of anger in activism
• Collective care and intersectionality

Resources mentioned

• Lee Brewster history

🎤 PROUD MEMBER OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

In this powerful conversation, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke unpack Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s iconic essay *We Should All Be Feminists*. They explore how feminism intersects with race, colonization, shame, and identity. Faith shares deep insights from a Black Caribbean lens, and the two reflect on how culture is created—and can be disrupted.

This week’s text: ✍️ “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This week’s guest: Faith Clarke is an organizational health and inclusion specialist for organizations committed to healthy workplace culture. She’s redefining work ecosystems for post-pandemic humans looking to do work better. From computer programmer on Wall Street to autism advocate to organizational health expert, Faith’s whole career has been influenced by systems and engineering—she helps people by creating systems that integrate human motivation.

Find Faith:
🌐 https://faithclarke.com

Discussed in this episode

• Chimamanda’s evolving views on trans women and nuance in public dialogue
• Patriarchy’s harm to men and the myth of neutrality
• The prison of whiteness and how identity shapes oppression
• Black women’s complicated relationship with feminism
• Storytelling and culture-building as resistance
• Shame, fear, and the backlash to DEI
• Social Change Now framework by Deepa Iyer
• Misogynoir and internalized misogyny

Resources mentioned

• Social Change Now by Deepa Iyer

🎤 PROUD MEMBER OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE

✍️ This week’s essay:
“Love as the Practice of Freedom” by bell hooks

🎙 This week’s guest:
Heather Vickery is a coach, speaker, podcast host, and joy-bringer. Her work centers around intentional living, courageous leadership, and aligning action with values. Heather brings radical honesty and warmth to everything she does—even when it’s tough love.

Find Heather:
🌐 vickeryandco.com
🎧 Was it Chance?
📷 @vickeryandco

Discussed in this episode:

• What “love as liberation” really means in the context of political and personal resistance
• The difference between kindness and niceness—and why love is often neither
• How to balance boundaries with compassion without playing the “both sides” game
• Love as an ethic, a choice, and a verb—not a passive feeling
• How domination, control, and toxic positivity masquerade as “love”
• Heather’s personal experience with self-love, queerness, and choosing relationships with intention
• Parenting through a feminist love ethic: Holding boundaries as an act of care
• Navigating the guilt of not doing “enough” while doing what’s possible with what you’ve got
• Why white women talking about love must include interrogating privilege and practicing collective accountability

Resources mentioned:

• “All About Love” by bell hooks
• “The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck

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

This week’s text:
✍️ “What No One Else Will Tell You About Feminism” by Lindy West

This week’s guest:
Paige Worthy (she/her) is a writer, editor, and brand messaging strategist for progressive entrepreneurs. Known for her spicy takes, thoughtful wordcraft, and zero tolerance for misogynist bullshit, Paige shows up in business and life as a truth-teller and cat-loving rage queen. She’s currently on sabbatical—joyfully making pottery, resisting capitalist productivity, and embracing rest as rebellion.

Find Paige:
🌐 paigeworthy.com

Discussed in this episode:

• What this essay gets right—and all the ways it misses the mark
• Rage, burnout, and taking sabbaticals in a broken world
• White feminism, exclusion, and the danger of ignoring intersectionality
• Why catty jokes and sarcasm aren’t the revolution
• How our feminism has evolved since “girl power” and Jezebel days
• Why trying to “educate men” isn’t the job of feminists
• The difference between calling in vs calling out—and when each makes sense
• How to keep growing, even when learning out loud is scary
• Substack, internet rage, and nostalgia for the blog era

Resources mentioned:

• “White Feminism” by Koa Beck: https://amzn.to/42UtHrU
• “Abortion, Everyday” Jessica Valenti’s Substack: https://jessica.substack.com/
• 📺 Shrill on Hulu

🚨 Sign up for Becky’s newsletter, Feminist Rants Are My Superpower: https://beckymollenkamp.com/rants

🎤 PROUD MEMBER OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE 🎤http://feministpodcastcollective.com/

This week’s text:
✍️ “Speaking of Nature” by Robin Wall Kimmerer

This week’s guest:
Nancy Harris (she/her) is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and facilitator supporting leaders and organizations committed to equity, people-centered work, and transformational change. She’s the founder of Restart Consulting, host of The Intersection podcast, and a lifelong nature-lover rediscovering the power of slowing down.

Find Nancy:
🌐 restartconsulting.com
🎧 The Intersection podcast
📱 LinkedIn

Discussed in this episode:

• The objectification of nature—and the people we treat like objects too
• How Indigenous language teaches respect through grammar and animacy
• What it means to re-humanize the world around us
• Why slowing down is radical and reconnecting is revolutionary
• The power of rest, seasonality, and nature as a model for leadership
• What “nature deficit disorder” is and why we feel it so deeply
• How language has been used to colonize, erase, and devalue
• Parallels between natural resource extraction and human exploitation
• Why mindfulness and appreciation can be powerful acts of resistance
• How we might live and lead differently by learning from the earth

Resources mentioned:

• “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer

• “Wintering” by Katherine May

• On Being podcast with Krista Tippett
• ”The Other End of the Leash” by Patricia McConnell
• “The Privatization of Everything” by Donald Cohen & Allen Mikaelian

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

🎤 PROUD MEMBER OF THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE