Whose Body Is It

⁠⁠Unlock exclusive content and support the Whose Body Is It Podcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠1:1 Guidance with Isabella Malbin⁠⁠ Sia grew up in a Muslim family in Brooklyn, immersed in a faith she genuinely loved while also learning that the Quran was the literal word of God. But as she got older, questions about what Islam taught about women, violence, apostasy, and obedience became harder to silence. She takes us through the experiences that ultimately led her to leave Islam—including confronting verses she couldn't reconcile with her own moral compass, secretly questioning the faith as a teenager, and eventually telling her parents she was no longer Muslim and attracted to women. She also opens up about the complicated experience of distancing herself from family, including a period of no contact with her mother. But Sia's story doesn't end with leaving Islam. After finding a home in the queer community, she began encountering ideas about sex and gender that created the same uneasy feeling she had experienced as a child: something doesn't make sense, but everyone is telling me I have to believe it anyway. We talk about her growing doubts about transgender ideology, her decision to become publicly gender-critical, the social costs of dissent and cancel culture, and why she ultimately came to identify as a Zionist after October 7. This is a conversation about what happens when you stop silencing your intuition and overriding your own inner voice in order to belong. Follow Sia Mensah on Substack & Instagram She Holds the Line: Black Women Speak on Gender Ideology, edited by Nevline Nnaji ⁠Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Classes for anti-woke women⁠⁠ Music Cred //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Unlock exclusive content and support the Whose Body Is It Podcast 1:1 Guidance with Isabella Malbin Growing up in England immersed in second-wave feminism, and later climate crisis narratives, overpopulation fears, and media portrayals of birth as traumatic and dangerous, Lucy absorbed the idea that motherhood was a low-status path — something she would never want for herself. Underneath those stories was something even deeper: a dislike of herself, compounded by years on hormonal birth control and cultural messaging framing female reproduction as punishment rather than power. Lucy reflects on never holding a baby until she was 24, living for decades disconnected from her body, and how stories about motherhood shaped her identity long before she ever questioned them. I share why, despite growing up in a similar cultural soup in New York City I always knew I wanted to be a mother. Lucy also opens up about the unexpected transformation that happened in her 40s after two decades on hormonal birth control. Through our coaching work together, we discovered that Lucy subconsciously feared that wanting even more happiness through motherhood might somehow threaten the incredible relationship she already had with her husband. Could life really get any better? It turns out, it could. Lucy reflects on the strange tension of being aware of declining fertility statistics at age 44 while simultaneously tracking her biomarkers, seeing healthy cycles on paper, and feeling more vital than ever. We also explore how easily Lucy could have become vulnerable to the fear-based, predatory marketing of the fertility industry had she been single and desperate for children in her 30s — and why she never even considered engaging with “Big Fertility” once she learned how to track her cycle and move through the subconscious fears that had shaped her for decades. Follow Lucy Smith on Substack Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram⁠ ⁠Classes for anti-woke women⁠ Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Unlock Isabella's life update for only $6 ✦✦✦ In 2022, Mary Lou Singleton and I released an episode titled: What will happen to women if medical abortion is criminalized? We discussed medical totalitarianism, snitch culture post 2020, period tracking apps, state surveillance of women’s menstrual cycles throughout history, forced abortions, the harms of pharmaceutical contraception and the difficulty of trying to legislate morality. Since that episode aired, our feelings about abortion have changed. DISCLAIMER This isn’t a 180 episode — you won’t hear us scream “abortion is murder!!” however, we do discuss abortion as a kind of child sacrifice. This episode isn’t about the legality of abortion. It’s about what abortion is, isn’t, and what it has come to mean for women. We step back to ask the questions that often get glossed over in the abortion debate such as:What is sex for? We explore how abortion has in some circles become a cultural sacrament—tied to ideas of freedom, identity, and what it means to live fully as a FREE woman. We acknowledge the real grievances that led many women to fight for abortion access, and why that fight felt necessary. But we also ask at what cost, and whether the narrative we’ve inherited (from both sides) has left women with the full truth. From generational memories of unsafe, illegal abortions to today’s pressures around career, social status, and delayed motherhood, we hope you find this conversation holds complexity without collapsing into extremes. We talk about the women often left out of the conversation: the ambivalent majority—and ask harder questions about what drives most abortions, the role of cultural expectations, and the systems that profit from them (selling aborted fetal cells to med spas + funding Big Pharma.) We honor women in vastly different circumstances, including those for whom abortion feels like the only viable option. ✦✦✦ 2022 abortion episode: What will happen to women if abortion is criminalized? Follow Mary Lou Singleton on Instagram Follow Mary Lou Singleton on Substack Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram Classes for anti-woke women Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Elizabeth quietly shaped underground unassisted birth communities not to build a brand or make money, but to help women heal their trauma. Long before social media exploded, Elizabeth warned women about the risks of joining unassisted birth groups online, even as she worked within underground networks to educate women about birth. We explore the oxymoron of selling free birth, why some women succeed at unassisted birth while others transfer, how individual women’s realities collide with group dynamics. What used to unify these communities—before they were torn apart by the gender identity insanity in 2014? Finally, we examine our cultural obsession with birth photography and why people want to witness birth. Despite these images serving as powerful (good) propaganda for home birth, what are the hidden costs for mothers, babies, and women’s liberation as a whole? Elizabeth's Blog ⁠⁠⁠p.s. The things I want to say but don't say live on my Substack. Subscribe for $6/month and unlock all premium content →⁠⁠⁠⁠ ✦✦✦ Instant access class for women questioning liberal feminism (most under $30) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Activist Stickers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The BEST grass-fed beef sticks, skin care and more →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

In this episode Laura Shanley shares the deeply personal journey that led her to write Unassisted Childbirth -originally titled The Joy of Childbirth- a book published in 1994 that has since found its way into over 1,000 libraries worldwide. Long before “free birth” was a movement or an identity, Laura was navigating the path of unassisted childbirth largely alone—choosing unassisted birth for her five children in the 1970s and 80s without ever knowingly having met another woman who had done the same. Inspired by Grantly Dick-Read’s Childbirth Without Fear -the book her future husband was reading the very night they met - Laura’s philosophy was shaped by her intuition, pursuit of spirituality and a higher consciousness, and a refusal to accept fear-based narratives around birth. Laura discusses how her work gained attention: including the pressure to turn her book into a “how-to manual,” and to write about who should and shouldn’t birth unassisted…lines she felt were never her place to draw. Many of the unassisted births she documents in her book and website weren’t even intentional, but instead the natural result of fast, pleasurable labors. While Laura found allies like HypnoBirthing founder Marie Mongan, she also faced fierce criticism from midwives and the medical community, especially after experiencing a stillbirth, an event her detractors seized on as proof that unassisted birth leads to tragedy. The episode closes with Laura’s reflections on free birth subculture, infant loss, and what is lost when complex human experiences are flattened into dogma. ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠p.s. The things I want to say but don't say live on my Substack. Subscribe for $6/month and unlock all premium content →⁠⁠⁠ Unassisted Childbirth Website ✦✦✦ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Activist Stickers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The BEST grass-fed beef sticks, skin care and more →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License⁠