Shows
ToxicEp. 115: Abuser Murders Girlfriend After Judge Lets Him Out While Awaiting Trial For Strangling HerSigh. Here we go again. In a case of this-can't-possibly-be-true-oh-my-god-why-is-the-system-so-broken-this-is-why-women-keep-dying, a Tucson, Ariz., judge set free Michael Martinez Duran from a Pima County jail while he was awaiting trial for charges of domestic violence, including strangulation, which we KNOW is one of the deadliest red flags of a future homicide. Due in court Sept. 19, Michael never made it. Instead, he did something most of us could 100 percent predict any abuser who had already been escalting his abuse was going to do when losing power and control—he murdered his girlfriend, a mom and brand-new grandmother, Michelle Gracia, 47, le...
2025-10-1351 min
ToxicEp. 114: Hey, Things Haven't Gotten Better. In Fact, They May Have Gotten Worse! Don't Worry, We're HereThis week’s installment of "Crappy News You Can’t Believe Is Real" kicks off with Republicans in the Senate deciding, “Nah, the American people don’t need to know about the Epstein files,” as they quietly murdered an amendment that would’ve forced the public release. The literal worst FBI director of all time, Kash Patel, said there was "no credible evidence" Epstein trafficked minors, because the dozens of survivors who have come forward over the years to say they have been trafficked don't count because we still don't believe women. Trump then minimized domestic violence as a "little...
2025-09-1836 min
ToxicEp. 113: Spoiler Alert—Women Don't Roofie Themselves. Men's Audacity Has No Bounds But Joy Hoover Is Here to Help UsOne in four women will be the victim of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime and of those rapes, at least 25 percent of the perpetrators will use drugs to assist their sexual assault. Commonly known as roofies, this collection of drugs can take effect in as little as 10 to 15 minutes, not giving us ladies very much time to Nancy Drew the reason why the room is spinning that stranger is now ushering us out to an Uber we don't remember ordering. Enter Joy Hoover, creator of Esōes Cosmetics (prounced S.O.S., for obvious reasons). He...
2025-08-251h 18
ToxicEp. 110: Dogs Are Now Hunting Murder Suspect Travis Decker While Trump’s Circus of Distraction ContinuesWashington state police are still looking for 32-year-old Travis Decker, suspected of killing his three young daughters last Monday, June 2, near Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, Washington. It's just another heartbreaking example of a judge not listening to a woman when she says a man is dangerous. How many examples will it take? Meanwhile, admist his breakup with Elon, Trump is soothing himself with an ego parade on Saturday in D.C. the cost of which could literally eradicate homelessness, while weaponizing the National Guard in Los Angeles and allowing ICE to hunt down b...
2025-06-121h 08
ToxicEp. 109: Inside the Netflix Documentary with Gabby Petito’s Mom, Nichole SchmidtWe’re honored to welcome Nichole Schmidt to Toxic today — a friend of the pod and a fierce advocate for survivors, especially young survivors of dating violence. In 2021, her 22-year-old daughter, Gabby Petito, was murdered by her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, during what was supposed to be an idyllic cross-country van trip — and instead became a national tragedy. This past February, Netflix released American Murder: Gabby Petito, a docuseries featuring never-before-seen details about how Gabby’s story unfolded. Ultimately, she became yet another preventable victim of dating violence, strangulation — and, yes, femicide. Just two weeks before her death...
2025-05-131h 03
ToxicEp. 108: Perimenopause: Understudied and Overheating Thanks to MisogynyIs it hot in here or is it just us? If you're in the throes of perimenopause, you're going to feel right at home in this episode. As ladies of our mid-40s, we have to talk about this. Disclaimer: This is NOT a medical advice podcast. Thanks to overt sexism within medical research fields, most health research funds are allotted to study diseases that affect men, or how diseases that affect both sexes mostly affect men. The National Institutes of Health found that diseases, ailments and conditions that affect men receive twice as much fu...
2025-04-291h 01
ToxicEp. 107: Jim Jones, Trump....It's Like All Cult Leaders Attended the Same Meeting or Something—Dr. Janja Lalich Confirms Our SuspicionsIn the '70s, a charismatic minister named Jim Jones convinced thousands of followers of his Peoples Temple that he was for them, moving them from the U.S. where he was being investigated for running a cult (lol, nothing to see here) to an agricultural commune in Guyana under the auspice that he was "creating a paradise free from the oppression of the U.S. government." Oh, and also, they had to call him dad, maybe sleep with him and never, ever leave unless they wanted to be shot. But that's neither here nor t...
2025-04-011h 31
ToxicEp. 106: Deepfake Case Out of Minneapolis, Victims Are Told to Just Ask Man Politely to StopIn another disturbing case of women's safety being not at all a priority, a man in Minneapolis turned images of some 80 women he sort-of-but-not-really-knew into graphic p*rn. When his WIFE found out, he fled town with his laptop in hand, probably to infiltrate a new town with his predator ways. Police threw their hands up and said, "Uh, we don't know what you want us to do. Is this illegal?" Turns out, it is and it isn't. One of the victims talks to Toxic about how she's using her law background to help make sure future women get...
2025-03-121h 08
ToxicEp. 105: What Fresh Hells Today? Trump's Dizzying Array of Distractions DiscussedAbusers know the routine: First, present yourself as a savior. Promise a romanticized, idyllic version of the future. Earn trust. Then, isolate. “It’s the world against us, baby.” Brainwash. “Don’t trust anyone but me.” And finally, control at such a dizzying speed that the victim can’t make heads or tails of it all. What is real? Am I in danger? How do I get out of this? Hey, look at that, it's Trump, America’s abusive husband. In just under 30 days since he and his BFF Elon Musk invaded the White House, we’re in full oligarchy...
2025-02-181h 07
ToxicEp. 104: Patrisha McLean Is a Survivor and Her Ex is Bitter About ThatPatrisha McLean survived nearly three decades of abuse by her [unfortunately still] famous ex, Don McLean, singer of "American Pie." Once free, though Don tried his best to discredit her in the media (sound familiar?), she started her own nonprofit to help other survivors of violence, aptly named, Finding Our Voices. It's been working on taking down abusive a-holes ever since, and we love her for it. She joins us today on Toxic to tell us more about it. (Apologies in advance for the sound issues in this episode. Amanda was having issues with her microphone.) ...
2025-02-041h 06
ToxicEp. 103: Where Do We Go From Here?Trump "Tiny Hands" was sworn into the highest office in the land yesterday, leaving us all asking, "But seriously, no really, honestly, what in the actual eff?" As we enter this second iteration of a reoccurring nightmare that's actually reality, many of you may be stuck in fight, flight or freeze like us. (We're cycling between all three.) The question is: Where do we go from here? How do we get through these next four years? Are we ready to fight, and if so, how can we do it without burning ourselves out? Consider this a family...
2025-01-2255 min
ToxicEp. 102: Justin Baldoni Makes Sure It Doesn't End With Him—What Blake Lively Endured During His Dumb MovieWe've likely all heard the kurfuffle surrounding Blake Lively—how did she seemingly become one of Hollywood's most high-maintenance and hard-to-work-with actresses overnight? It turns out that the emperor doesn't actually have any clothes. We've been bamboozled by a well-orchestrated smear campaign thanks to Johnny Depp's understudy in destroying women—Justin "I don't always ask for consent" Baldoni. Once the picture of feminist allyship, along with his Man Enough podcast cohost Jamey "I'll show you videos of my naked wife giving birth without her knowledge" Heath, these two bros made sure Blake was both uncomfortable and mostly naked as much...
2025-01-141h 25
ToxicEp. 101: Hot Frosty and His Snow Nips Make Christmas CompleteIn one of our favorite episodes of the year, we're deviating from our typical rhetoric and recapping a Christmas movie instead. A banger, if you will. In "Hot Frosty" the vet from Schitt's Creek is a snowman who comes alive (naked) after being wrapped in an ugly red scarf given to him by Gretchen Weiner of "Mean Girls" fame. Darryl from The Office is too big of a name to be in this but is anyway. The entire movie focuses on the single lady who shouldn't be single because everyone needs a man, even if he's a snowman. That's...
2024-12-241h 07
ToxicEp. 100: Abusive Husband Michael Tormented His Family for Years But Family Court Dropped All Charges, Accused Mom of Alienting Kids InsteadMany survivors of domestic violence don’t realize they’re being abused until years have passed. They convince themselves it’s something else—a bad day at work, a short temper, too much to drink or deep-seated childhood wounds that therapy might heal. They hold onto hope that things will change. But then, a pattern emerges—unrelenting, undeniable. Promises are broken, help doesn’t stick and sobriety doesn’t bring peace. Joan was one of those survivors. For nearly a decade, she rationalized her husband Michael’s behavior. It wasn’t until the night he came after their family with...
2024-12-161h 26
ToxicEp. 99: Why Women Having Power, aka Kamala Harris, Pisses Some People Right OffWith the election TOMORROW (have you voted or made a plan to vote?) we had to discuss .... what is it about women having power that makes certain individuals (read: mostly men) so peeved? The idea of a woman in power intimidates and angers a certain group of people, by and large men, because it challenges cultural gender role norms. It disrupts the domestic power imbalance so carefully put in place by many organized religions. And it means that if women can do everything men can do [better], what's next? Will men start to be treated the same w...
2024-11-0454 min
ToxicEp. 98: In Her Own Words—Interview with Rachel Pickrel-HawkinsIn family courts around the country, judges are punishing protective parents who think it's not a swell idea for their abusive exes to have unfettered and unsupervised access to their children after a divorce. What sense does it make that the survivor parent gets to be free while the children do not? Protective parents, like Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins out of Colorado, are threatened, silenced and even jailed if they protest or dare to speak out publically about this injustice. Rachel, now out of jail and with her kids safe-ish, wants to tell us what happened in her own w...
2024-10-2256 min
ToxicEp. 97: Chrystul Kizer Kills Her Trafficker, Sentenced to 11 Years in PrisonMake it make sense. Known pedophile, child porn distributor and trafficker Randy Volar is arrested by police in Kenosha, Wisc., in 2018. Hundreds of abuse videos of underage Black girls are found in his possession. He is released the same day without bond. Two months later, one of his victims, Chrystul Kizer, kills him. She's 17 and has been trafficked by him since she was 16. Last month, a Wisconsin judge sentenced her to 11 years behind bars. Her story is one of failures on all levels by society, adults and a system that did nothing to protect her. After we t...
2024-10-011h 30
ToxicEp. 96: OCD Affects More Girls and Young Women...But Why?This week's episode is not depressing! *Golf claps* Jenna and Amanda welcome psychologist and author Bonnie Zucker who wrote Take Control of OCD: A Kid's Guide to Conquering Anxiety and Managing OCD and Parenting Kids With OCD, among others, to talk about obsessive-compulsive disorder and how it particularly affects young people. While all genders are susceptible to this mental health obstacle, girls are more likely to be diagnosed earlier and at a higher risk overall. To what degree do our cultural norms play a part in perpetuating OCD symptoms? And what can you do if you or someone you...
2024-09-171h 02
ToxicEp. 95: Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins Is Going to Jail Even Though Her Husband Is Accused of Raping Their DaughterAh, what fresh hell befell us this week? It was hard to pick just one thing to be angry about. There was the Georgia school shooting on Wednesday, making it the 45th school shooting of 2024. At Apalachee High School, a gunman who wasn't a drag queen took the lives of four people, injured nine others and traumatized indefinitely countless others. If only we could find a pattern to this madness that would help us stop it.... Around the 20-minute mark (if you want to skip ahead, it's OK), Jenna and Amanda discuss an enraging case out of...
2024-09-0558 min
ToxicEp. 94: Uh, Strangulation During Sex Is Trending Among Young People—Talking With Dr. Debby HerbenickStrangulation, often misnamed "choking" (that's when something's stuck in your throat, not when someone's pressing on it), is trending in the sex lives of college-age kids, and that's a problem. Apparently, the thought is that if it's consensual, it's safe. Tell that to your brain cells that really need blood and oxygen at all times. Dr. Debby Herbenick is a Provost Professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health and director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion who's been studying sexual health and changing sexual behavior trends for the past two decades. She's also the au...
2024-08-131h 00
ToxicEp. 93: Project 2025 is One Option.....OR, THERE'S KAMALA.What a world we live in: Our first female President on the brink. MAGA people sporting MyPillows on their ears. Hannibal Lecter being exalted at the RNC for no logical reason whatsoever. Undoubtedly everyone heard President Biden's announcement yesterday that he will not seek reelection, a heroic move putting country before ego. Five seconds later, he endorsed VP Kamala Harris as the democratic party's nominee, and all of us with logic in our heads said, "Yes, please, can we finally let women run things up in here?" But we've been cocky before thinking this country h...
2024-07-221h 25
ToxicEp. 92: Why Don't We Believe Women? Survivor Records Abuser, Still Accused of LyingFor the love of all things holy, can we just start believing women? I guess not. That's why we're going to keep doing this podcast. Jazzy reached out to Toxic to tell her story after escaping an abusive partner, with whom she had a child. His abuse ramped up while she was pregnant—an unfortuantely common trait among a-hole abusers who may or not feel like a pregnancy takes attention away from THEM and that's just not going to stand. But Jazzy is smart and she recorded his tirades, his threats and even him admitting to p...
2024-06-191h 00
ToxicEp. 91: Creepy Pastor John-Paul Miller Tries to Gaslight His Congregation Before Wife's DeathOn April 27, 30-year-old Mica Miller from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was found dead at Lumbar River State Park in North Carolina from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her temple. Leading up to her death, her pastor husband John-Paul Miller told his congregation that his wife was battling mental health problems, that she had been hospitalized, that she had left him and that she had stolen his money. It was a bizarre combination of asking for empathy for her and sympathy for him. But not everyone was on #teampoorhusband because just weeks before her suicide, Mica...
2024-05-131h 04
ToxicEp: 90: Women Are Fed Up: The 4B Movement Says Eff Off to Men. Plus—Why Does Arizona Need More Babies? It's Already So Hot HereThe Arizona Supreme Court, in all its supreme wisdom, recently ruled that a Civil War-era law from 1864, which amounts to a total ban on abortion, could be enforced. Because why not return to the time before women were ever in government, before we could vote or open bank accounts, when "wife beating" was still legal and when the average birth rate was 7.04 children per woman? THAT SOUNDS AWESOME. The ladies discuss what in the fadoodles is going on in Amanda's state. Then, as promised in our last episode, we're circling back with actual info on this 4B M...
2024-04-231h 02
ToxicEp. 89: Power and Money Has Allowed Sean "Diddy" Combs to Abuse Women for 30 YearsIt's time for Amanda and Jenna to break down Diddy's misdeeds. For the past 30 years, we've heard the rumblings but now, thanks to some brave survivors speaking out, it's all coming to light. Like so many rich and powerful men before (and after) him, Diddy has used his billionaire fortune and his I-can-make-things-happen-for-you power to control, intimidate, assault, harass and abuse women (and men) and then pay off anyone who might speak out about it. We're talking grooming, rape, sexual coercion, trafficking, drugs, weapons, a car bomb ... Diddy's been busy and it's time he face the music, no pun...
2024-04-091h 01
ToxicEp. 88: Ally Toyos Is Silent No More—Her Story of Surviving Parental Reunification Camp at 16Family court can be an effed up place. Instead of protecting kids and listening to women, it's unfortunately mostly run by men who side with men and listen to men about men things. As such, if an abusive parent has enough money, they can not only buy custody of their kids, they can also buy the right to torture the other parent. Enter a for-profit scam called parental reunification camps. Run by unqualified and unlicensed individuals, they convince family courts to let them have custody of children in the midst of abuse, traffick them out of state away from...
2024-03-121h 17
ToxicEp. 87: Turns Out, Men CAN Stop Rape, Say Men Who Run MCSRWhen masculinity is narrowly defined as lumberjacking and giant biceps, men who don't fit this stereotype are left feeling like they need to prove their manliness in other ways—sometimes harmful and violent ways. A narrow and outdated definition of masculinity harms all people and all gender identities and continues to put women in danger. Luckily, there are groups out there like MCSR, formerly known as Men Can Stop Rape, an international nonprofit working to mobilize men to use their strength for creating cultures free from violence, especially men’s violence against women. Through their MOST (Men of S...
2024-02-271h 10
ToxicEp. 85: We're Talking Grooming, But Not the Body Hair KindCan you believe it's been three years of Toxic? And wouldn't you know it, we haven't run out of toxic topics to discuss yet. Go, society! Thank you for sticking with us through the hard conversations. To celebrate, we were given the best present: our first award. We recently found out that we won the Social Change Maker Award from She Podcasts' first-ever Sonic Bloom Awards and we're a little proud of that. OK, a lot proud. To effect social change through these conversations is our number one goal. These stories aren't always easy to hear, but we believe...
2024-01-301h 14
ToxicSeason 3! Ep. 84: Jill Duggar Wearing Pants Isn't Actually the Bravest Thing She's DoneWelcome to 2024 where a good number of men are still audacious beyond belief and women are still saying "WTF just let me live, dammit" every five seconds. Among them, many of the daughters who grew up Duggar, as in TLC's most viewed show ever, 19 Kids and Counting Duggar. Jill released a memoir at the end of 2023, Counting the Cost, that called out everyone who was complacent in her repressed, abusive and highly controlled religious upbringing, and we are here for it. We talk Jim Bob, IBLP (Institute of Basic Life Principals) and the "Shiny, Happy People" documentary. It's a...
2024-01-161h 55
ToxicEp. 83: "The 12 Men of Christmas" Was a Banger — Jenna and Amanda ReviewHey cats and kittens, we didn't want to leave you on this holiday without a non-depressing, one might even say "lighthearted" episode. And this is it. Based off your votes, we both (regrettably) watched the zinger "12 Men of Christmas," a Lifetime holiday movie from 2009 that didn't really include Christmas until the last few minutes, but did include objectifying men, introducing characters we had no interest in knowing further, a plot with way too many subplots, the girl from My Girl and, of course, the incomparable Tony-award-winning Kristin Chenoweth not singing, which was a crime unto itself. Please to be e...
2023-12-241h 05
ToxicEp. 82: Tyesha Wayne, Another Survivor of Domestic Violence Arrested for Self-DefenseWe’ve seen this story play out one too many times. After a documented history of domestic violence by her partner Daniel Walker, 40-year-old Tyesha Wayne of Sahuarita, Arizona fought back this past August. While he attacked her in their garage, she grabbed a gun, pointed it at him, and asked him to leave her alone. He didn’t. Tyesha fatally shot Daniel in self-defense and the courts are calling it premeditated murder, saying Tyesha’s previous record would show a history of domestic violence against Daniel. Her previous record? Being strangled by Daniel to the point of unconsciousness only f...
2023-12-1158 min
ToxicEp. 81: We Finally Need to Talk About Brad PittOne of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's children created a post on Instagram lamenting his "f*cking awful human being" of a dad, calling the Oscar winner a "terrible and despicable person" who will "never understand the damage you have done to my family." Though Pax, now 19, posted this in 2020, the image was recently leaked for all of us to read and no longer avoid. In 2016, the apparently Toxic Brad drunkenly attacked his then-wife Angelina and his children while flying on a private jet. The incident was said to be the impetus for the couple's subsequent divorce. A...
2023-12-041h 02
ToxicEp. 80: Maine Shooter Robert Card Likely Mad at Women (Shocker) and a Maryland Judge is Killed for Protecting a MomIn breaking news, it seems guns aren't the only problem America has. We know half the population may not like this news, but it appears men are also an epidemic. Not all but far too many males are throwing temper tantrums with semi-automatic rifles when angry at women for setting actual boundaries or trying to live independently. Of the 565 mass shootings SO FAR THIS YEAR in the U.S., every single one has been perpetuated by a man. And accroding to Everytown for Gun Safety, at least 60 percent of mass shooting have roots in domestic violence, but t...
2023-10-3155 min
ToxicEp. 78: Dishing on Danny Masterson—Who Doesn't Do Drugs But Will Slip Them to Others—the Hullabaloo Around Catching Danilo Cavalcante But No One Else and the Gross Entitlement of Luis RubialesOh, we have some beef with some dudes in this episode. First up is once-escaped murderer Danilo Cavalcante and the upwards of 500 law enforcement officials who searched weeks for him (say it with us: What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area!). While we love to see the effort, what we wish is that the thousands of other survivors who ask for help from police when an abusive partner informs them of their plans to murder them (see last e...
2023-09-181h 08
ToxicEp. 77: Will He Kill You? The Warning Signs You Need to Know That an Abuser Is Heading Toward HomicideStatistics tell us that five women every single day will be murdered by their male intimate partners. EVERY DAY. Until we can do a podcast that's called, "How to Not Murder Your Partner" and trust that abusers will listen to it, we have this: the warning signs of homcide. If it can be predicted, it can be prevented (hopefully). If we can lessen victim pool for wannabe murderers out there, it's the best defense we have for the current moment. Jenna and Amanda break down the nine warning signs of imminent homicide and what to do if y...
2023-09-0450 min
ToxicEp. 76: Toxic Dish—The Hot Goss, Some Personal Shiz, Lizzo Allegations and Depp DocumentaryThe Toxic Dish is our shorter version full of hot goss (shout out Fortune Feimster....whom Jenna says she's never heard of WTF) related to abuse and toxic masculinity. So, like, not as fun as the hot goss of sleepovers from days' past but STILL INTERESTING. Did you hear about Lizzo? Yeah, that was a disappointing turn of events we didn't have on our 2023 bingo card. Also, Netflix is releasing a Depp v. Heard documentary this week. Do we need to relive it? Does Amber? We're pretty sure no one asked her. But for those still on #TeamDepp, you...
2023-08-1547 min
ToxicEp. 75: Not the Fun Kind of Camp—Family Reunification Camps, aka, Legalized Kidnappings, Are Disturbing as HellTina Swithin, survivor, author and family court advocate, joins Amanda and Jenna in today’s episode to talk about the confounding decision some family court judges are making to force traumatized and abused children to see or even live with their abusive parents. Utilizing something called Family Reunification Camps, these judges order already terrified children to be forcibly removed from a protective parent’s home and sent to a facility where they’re isolated, abused and gaslighted into believing the abuse they just recently escaped from never happened at all and that the parent they saw beat their mom is rea...
2023-08-0757 min
ToxicEp. 74: Toxic Dish—Sinéad O'Connor Was Totally Justified in Her Pope MomentLast week, phenomenal singer, songwriter, political activist and survivor Sinéad O'Connor passed away. In 1992, she ripped up a picture of the Pope John Paul II on SNL and shouted "Fight the real enemy!" It caused a hullabaloo because, omg, God. But she had her reasons. Good ones. Jenna and Amanda discuss. We're also talking about Prager University, not a university, whose tagline is "Make kids racist again" and its infiltration into Florida elementary schools. And finally, a court in Italy ruled a 17-year-old wasn't actually sexually assulted because the school janitor's in-pants groping of her...
2023-07-3147 min
ToxicEp. 73: The Incomparable Tina Turner Spoke Out About Abuse When All People Wanted to Know Was "Where's Ike?"It was 1976 when Tina Turner fled for her life, literally, across multiple lanes of highway traffic to a Ramada Inn with $0.36 in her pocket and restarted her life. Despite being one of the most famous performance artists of her time, everyone associated her with Ike Turner, her abusive counterpart and husband. It wasn't until she spoke out publically in a 1981 People Magazine article titled, "Tina Turner: On the Prowl Without Ike" — because of course it was — that her fans would hear the truth. She wasn't half of an idyllic Hollywood couple. She was a survivor who'd had enough. If...
2023-07-061h 02
ToxicEp. 72: Weaponized Incompetence Roundtable with Special Guests ThatDarnChat and SpeechProfWeaponized incompetence deserves a second episode, and this time, we brought friends: ThatDarnChat, aka Laura Danger, propelled to popularity online by talking about domestic labor and its unequal distribution in many relationships, and SpeechProf, aka Professor Chesko, an outspoken feminist advocate on TikTok. Both of these talented individuals do the thankless work of tearing down misogynistic rhetoric through humor and courage (because you know misogynists don't want misogyny to end....that would be terrible for them). In this episode, we not only try to dispel the myth that domestic work is women's work (spoiler alert, it's not! E...
2023-06-121h 03
ToxicEp. 68: Leave No Tortoise Behind—Animals of All Kinds Need to Flee Domestic Violence, TooWhen Bonnie's husband decided he wanted to possibly kill her, rather than, oh, we don't know, love and respect her, Bonnie knew she needed to run. But with a toddler, a three-day-old baby, two big dogs and a 30-pound tortoise in her care, finding a shelter that could help her proved nearly impossible. An estimated 70 percent of domestic violence survivors have pets, but only a fraction of domestic violence shelters have the resources available that allow pets to come with a survivor. As a result, survivors with pets stay an average of two years longer with dangerous...
2023-04-171h 10
ToxicToxic Dish - Episode 67It's Dish! The shorter (sometimes?!) version of Toxic where we rant about the newsy stuff that's chock-full of toxicity. Two weeks ago, the U.S. was collectively traumatized by its 131st mass shooting that took the lives of three kids and three adults, and yet all Tennessee did in response was a.) ask people to pray away the murderous rampages and b.) fire three heroic Representatives who said this situation f'ing sucks. Great job, everyone. Later, we talk about one bit of good news, Wisconsin's election of Judge Janet Protasiewicz—whose last name we can't pronounce to save our li...
2023-04-1155 min
ToxicEp. 66: It's Brendan Fraser's Much-Deserved Brenaissance After Sexual Assault (and How Women Survivors Inspired Him to Step Forward)According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 43 percent of men in the U.S. have experienced some form of sexual harassment and or sexual assault in their lifetime. In 2003, Brendan Fraser became one of them. Philip Berk, former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and a man in a position of power, felt entitled to Brendan's body in that way predators do, leading to the actor's near disappearance from Hollywood for over a decade. But it was seeing strong-as-hell females step forward as survivors at the 2013 Golden Globes that inspired him to speak up and speak out...
2023-03-2840 min
ToxicEp. 62: Talking Misogyny and Penn Badgley with Natalie KatonaTo All the Men I've Tolerated Before host Natalie Katona joins Amanda for a quickie (dirty) episode about the healing powers of disecting past relationships, why we find Penn Badgley alluring in You, even though we shouldn't (and he's told us not to), and more general musings on misgony. Check out Natalie's other online presence, Still Comfy? a Youtube livestream where she and a friend dissect their favorite comfort shows and movies. We stan a funny feminist queen.
2023-03-0620 min
ToxicToxic Dish - Episode 63It's all the toxicity you love to hate ...but less. This Dish, we're talking Women's History Month —it's time to remind yourself and others that women actually have done important things in history, politics, culture and the arts. We did stuff, ladies! Visit toxicthepodcast.com to see a list of children's books we love that celebrate women in history (for those little feminists in your life). We also talk Andrew Tate, again, unfortunately. And Amanda talks being trapped in a real-life Twister reenactment when she traveled to Texas last week to meet some stellar domestic violence peeps, pa...
2023-03-0628 min
ToxicEp. 62: Misogyny, Penn Badgley and More with Natalie Katona of To All the Men I've Tolerated BeforeNatalie is hilarious, which is why she's a fun person to talk misogyny with. Because of you don't laugh, you know, you're just going to dissolve into a puddle of subservient goo. Amanda and Natalie discuss how Natalie started her podcast, To All the Men I've Tolerated Before, during quarantine, why examining past relationships in a public forum can be cathartic and how we continue to live in a world of men who keep killing us. You can also find Nat on her weekly live stream, Still Comfy? where she discusses her favorite comfort shows and movies. ...
2023-02-2720 min
ToxicToxic Dish - Episode 61We're launching something new here at Toxic. It's the shorter, newsy bits of toxicity that you love to hate, coming to you every other week in between our full episodes. Come laugh, cry and scream into the abyss with us about all the ways misogyny infiltrates our world on a daily basis. In this episode, we're talking BIG NEWS about the capture of one of our previous murderous (allegedly) a-holes who was on the run before we dive into the hot topic of picture books Florida isn't allowing kids to read (spoiler alert: pretty much anything not a...
2023-02-2047 min
Habits You Love44. Life After A Toxic Relationship & Journey To Overcome Shame w/ Amanda & JennaThis was a collaborative episode with the Amanda Kippert and Jenna Brandl of Toxic Podcast where I share my experience with mandatory arrest laws.Did you know that in over half the states in the U.S., mandatory arrest laws denote at least one, if not both parties, will be arrested when police respond to a domestic violence call? As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and though these laws were originally designed in the '80s to take the burden off a survivor of pressing charges on the scene, they're actually doing the opposite...
2023-02-161h 30
ToxicEp. 60: She Called Police for Help and Was Arrested —Thanks, Mandatory Arrest LawsDid you know that in over half the states in the U.S., mandatory arrest laws denote at least one, if not both parties, will be arrested when police respond to a domestic violence call? As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and though these laws were originally designed in the '80s to take the burden off a survivor of pressing charges on the scene, they're actually doing the opposite in some cases and resulting in survivors being the ones arrested. Who knew that abusive partners could lie so well? (Oh, we did...
2023-02-101h 28
ToxicEp. 60: She Called Police for Help and Was Arrested —Thanks, Mandatory Arrest LawsDid you know that in over half the states in the U.S., mandatory arrest laws denote at least one, if not both parties, will be arrested when police respond to a domestic violence call? As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and though these laws were originally designed in the '80s to take the burden off a survivor of pressing charges on the scene, they're actually doing the opposite in some cases and resulting in survivors being the ones arrested. Who knew that abusive partners could lie so well? (Oh, we did...
2023-02-061h 28
ToxicEp. 59: Is Everyone a Narcissist? Interview with Psychotherapist Talia BombolaLately, it feels like the world is obsessed with diagnosing narcissists, and for good reason. There are a lot of assholes out there. But why this word? Why this diagnosis? Just like "fitspiration" and "situationship" got their 15 minutes of buzzword fame, now it's the narcissist's turn. Except, this one's a mental health diagnosis with slightly bigger implications. Is it OK if we all play armchair psychiatrist and hand out this label at will to anyone who's self-obsessed? And are all individuals with narcissistic traits dangerous and potentially abusive? Is there any hope for singletons (aka, Jenna) to find someone...
2023-01-231h 07
ToxicEp. 56: Is This Guy Dangerous or Just Mildly Creepy? How to Find Red Flags in Dating Profiles and Garbo CEO and Stalking Survivor Kathryn Kosmides Talks Background ChecksAh, the dating pool. Like hell, but with cocktails. If you're in it, you know its horrors. Out of every 100 cishet male dating profiles, at least 98 are likely giving either an inkling of a future serial killer or someone holding a fish. Jenna, one of Toxic's hosts, sometimes dips her toes into said pool and then promptly jumps back out again. But along the way, she's saved some eyebrow-raising profiles for us to read together. In this episode, Amanda lends her insight to whether the deets these guys choose to share are just weird (aka, dying guy wants HJs...
2022-12-141h 11
ToxicEp. 54: Unpacking My Playboy ExperienceFormer Playboy Mansion live-in girlfriends Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt came out with a new podcast recently, Girls Next Level, in which they walk through each episode of the reality show "Girls Next Door" that aired between 2005 and 2009. Coincidently during that same time period, Amanda may have also frequented the Mansion for parties, a period of her 20s that she looks back on slightly differently now in her 40s. In this episode, we'll unpack what the Mansion stood for back then, what Holly and Bridget say about their experience and how the man most people thought Hugh Hefner to...
2022-10-311h 26
ToxicEp. 52: What Is Toxic Positivity and Why Is It So Annoying?"What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." "God only gives you as much as you can handle!" Toxic positivity is positivity that's taken a wrong turn. It dismisses our true feelings, minimizes what we're going through and leaves us with feelings of guilt for being unhappy. And it's typically rooted in someone else's uncomfortableness with vulnerability. In this episode, Jenna and Amanda unpack the most annoying ways one can add a dose of toxicity into their support and give ideas for better ways to respond when someone drops bad news on us. This episode is going t...
2022-09-051h 02
ToxicEp. 50: We're 50! Who Are Jenna and Amanda? The Mystery Is Solved.Enjoy this mini episode devoid of your typical a-hole-ish abusers to celebrate us making it to 50 episodes of Toxic! Get to know Jenna and Amanda, how Toxic came to be and why Jenna can't cook a pizza in an efficient manner. Thank you for your support over 50 episodes of calling out and shutting down toxic masculinity poster boys. Here's to 50 more and counting....because, unfortunately, there's no shortage. Also, now through Sept. 15, head to our website to enter our first-ever listener survey. Let us know your thoughts on how we're doing with Toxic and what you want t...
2022-08-1645 min
ToxicEp. 47: It's Never Been About Babies - How to Avoid Forced Birth After Friday's Supreme Court DecisionLast week, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade because it will never personally affect them so who cares and declared states could make their own decisions about whether or not uterus-owners should be allowed bodily autonomy. States across the country immediately said, “Bodily autonomy what? Anyone with a vagina does not deserve such a luxury!” Abortion was outlawed or made extremely difficult to access in more than half the states where lawmakers obviously love babies so much they want to force individuals to have more of them but then also not pay these living incubators livable wages or provi...
2022-07-041h 17
ToxicEp. 46: Ron Blake and the Barriers LGBTQ Survivors FaceHappy Pride! While we celebrate all the LBGTQ+ community has done simply to survive and be who they are, let's also talk for just a minute (or 60) about the fact that queer folk are not always given the same protections by law enforcement and the criminal justice system when it comes to disclosing abuse and assault. Domestic violence is just as predominant among LGBTQ+ as cisgender-hetero folks, but in survivor Ron Blake's case, the police decided to chalk his assault up to just dudes being dudes... except, it wasn't. Because being a guy doesn't give you the right to...
2022-06-2348 min
ToxicEp. 45: The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos and How Domestic Violence Hides Among Rich CouplesWell, it's been a crap few weeks and, frankly, we don't need your optimism over here. Unless you're Tarana Burke, then bring it on. In this episode, Jenna and Amanda touch on the shitstorm of late and why bragging about not paying attention to the Depp/Heard trial while clamoring for stricter gun control isn't actually a flex—the two issues are intricately related and we need to stop one issue to stop the other. After that, we're jumping into the story of Jennifer Dulos (it's at 32:25 if you want to skip ahead; we don't mind), a Connecticut mom of...
2022-06-061h 14
ToxicEp. 44: On the Frontlines of Abortion - Talking to Medical Students for Choice Executive Director Pamela MerrittSo many of us are worried and angry about a woman's right to make choices regarding her own body possibly being taken away, maybe in less than a month (ugh), but let us take comfort in the fact that there are med students and practicing physicians lining up to make sure they're trained in abortion and reproductive healthcare for women many thanks to the international nonprofit, Medical Students for Choice. Today, Amanda and Jenna interview Executive Director Pamela Merritt about how these medical pros are literally on the frontlines of this battle, ready to protect our uteruses and our...
2022-05-161h 13
ToxicEp. 43: Abuser Carl Bohm Gets Some Gasoline and a Lighter and a Judge Says No to a Protection OrderIt's the episode where we can't pull it together 30 minutes in to switch gears so, just, forgive us for that. Also, Jenna nicknames the abuser in this week's story "Hot Carl" not because he's at all attractive but because it literally means shit and just trust us on this and don't Google it. This week, we have to start off by talking about the Depp/Heard defamation trial, not from a choosing-sides standpoint but looking at what actually defines domestic violence versus what is a toxic relationship. Some survivors don't fit our "perfect victim" stereotype and this o...
2022-05-021h 02
ToxicEp. 42: Marissa Alexander Saves Her Life, Goes to JailEven though Florida created the "Stand Your Ground" law to allow people to protect themselves when a violent individual threatens them on their property, this law apparently does not apply to women attacked by abusive ex-partners. Go figure. When Marissa Alexander fired a warning shot into a wall near her husband who had just told her he was going to kill her, she was arrested and sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Luckily, enough people thought that was nonsense and fought to have Marissa's sentence overturned. Marissa joins the hosts of Toxic today to talk about how this monumental example...
2022-04-1245 min
ToxicEp. 41: Why Do So Many of Us Blame the Victim?Hey, it's a Spotlight episode. What's that, you ask? Well, it's like a headlamp, but bigger. And today, Jenna and Amanda are aiming it in the direction of victim blaming. It's one of the reasons abusers, assaulters and other toxic individuals continue to feel empowered to do what they do. "Because no one will believe you," they threaten survivors. And they're not always lying. Victim blaming is often rooted in ignorance, shame, fear and internalized misogony, and some of us who consider ourselves allies may be doing it without even realizing it. Get ready for some self-introspection, see what...
2022-03-291h 12
ToxicEp. 40: How Did Ellen Greenberg Really Die Because Suicide By Stabbing Makes No SenseWe start with talking about the obviously problematic Florida "Don't Say Gay" bill and how it's once again rooted in power and control. (We love you, LGBTQ+ youth, and so do so many others.) Next, Amanda talks about a story she covered for the A&E True Crime Blog on Ellen Greenberg, a 27-year-old first grade teacher who allegedly stabbed herself more than 20 times back in 2011 and officials ruled it a ...suicide?! Her parents have been fighting ever since to get the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office to change that back (yes, back) to homicide. What really happened that day...
2022-03-1454 min
ToxicEp. 39: Kim Dadou Brown Spends 17 Years Behind Bars for Self-DefenseThis is the incredible story of Kim Dadou Brown who spent nearly two decades in prison after her abusive boyfriend tried to kill her and she fought back in order to save her life. Unfortuantely, her story is not unique—an estimated 90% of women behind bars have been abused by an intimate partner. On average, according to the ACLU, women serve an average of 15 years for killing a partner while men serve two to six for the same, and you can bet your britches the reasons behind killing one's partner are very different. Before we jump into Kim, we talk ab...
2022-02-211h 32
ToxicEp. 38: Roblox Predators Can Find Your Kids and We Ask an Expert—Can Abusers Change?First off, happy 1-year anniversary to us. We're celebrating by making you some stuff, so stay tuned. Next, Roblox, the video game 200 million people play every day, not at all shockingly, counts child predators among its fans. And those child predators are targeting....wait for it...children. A recap of some stellar reporting that showed Roblox doesn't give very many shits that this is happening because, you know, profit. After that, we pose a question with no simple answer: Can abusers change? Should you ever trust someone who admits to being abusive to a partner in the past? Ed Sakwa...
2022-01-241h 45
ToxicEp. 37: Aaron Robinson Murdered Army Spec. Vanessa Guillén Because FemicideIn this episode, Amanda and Jenna talk about the allegations of Chris Noth being a rapist (damn it, Mr. Big, you were only supposed to be a fictional a-hole), and Apple's AirTags that stalkers everywhere are celebrating for making their hobby easier (fanfuckingtastic). After that, we break down the details of the Vanessa Guillén murder from 2020. After telling her mom and a few close friends that she was being sexually harassed on base at Fort Hood—including the fact that a superior walked in on her while she was showering—she went missing on April 22. Turns out, one or mo...
2022-01-101h 08
ToxicEp. 36: What Elliot Rodger Did Was Misogynistic TerrorismIn 2014, a 22-year-old man reached the height of violent male entitlement and decided to go on a killing spree because women weren't giving him the sex, even after he put on his best creepy smile to try and flirt. Elliot Rodger killed six individuals and injured 14 more before taking his own life. Jenna and Amanda delve into how this isn't a gun-control problem, this is a toxic masculinity problem. How even without his 600 rounds of ammunition, Rodger would have still murdered men and women who he felt wronged him because women's bodies were owed to him. Before that, we talk...
2021-12-131h 10
ToxicEp. 35 - Online Dating, Waukesha Tragedy and Monique Faison Ross' Book "Playing Dead" Stays With YouJenna tried online dating for about 12 hours and promptly deleted it, mostly because of the overwhelming number of fish-holding men on Bumble. After that, we get into more serious topics, namely what just happened in Waukesha, Wisconsin, our home state, on Nov. 21. How our slacking criminal justice system let accused murderer Darrell Brooks go on a $1,000 bail (for running over a woman with his car) just five days prior to him driving his SUV through a parade crowd, killing six and injuring 60 more. For our main story this week, Amanda's tells us about a dude named Chris (not his real...
2021-11-291h 46
ToxicEp. 34: Three Murderous Men and the Victims Who Tried to Get HelpSometimes it seems like the best advice we can give women who are trapped with an abusive partner is to get out, and get out now. And grab an order of protection on your way out. It's solid advice, and a good start, but it's not a fail-safe plan. Abusive partners hell-bent on controlling a victim no matter what are the most dangerous kind and we need to start holding them accountable as such. In this episode, we're calling out three abusers in the news — Terrance Sierra McNaughton, Roy Phelps, Jr. and Kamil Zielinski — and the horrendous choices they made rece...
2021-11-151h 01
ToxicEp. 33: Hold Up—Women Cadets at Military Academies Face Expulsion if They Become Pregnant?Yeah, this is a rule we need to discuss. Women who attend any of the military academies in the U.S. have to choose between expulsion, abortion or permanently serving their parental rights if they become pregnant during the four years they're enrolled. Melissa Hemphill was a cadet at the Air Force Academy in 2009 when she became pregnant and faced this bevy of tough to tougher choices. Melissa generously shares with us her experience and the insane obstacle course of legal hoops she and her now-husband jumped through to stay in their son's life. Why the military punishes pregnant cadets...
2021-11-0155 min
ToxicEp. 32: The Murder of Sarah Everard by Toxic Cop Wayne CouzensOh, what do you know, another toxic male decided to do toxic things and didn't assume there'd be any repurcussions. Wayne Couzens is (was) a UK cop who pretended to arrest Sarah Everard this past March then made the horrendous decision to rape and murder her. We delve into how that's spurred a misguided outcry for even more policing (not necessarily the answer). But first, we talk the new Netflix show Maid and how it seriously needs a trigger warning, who you should watch the show You with, why no one's shocked Robin Thicke is gross and how domestic violence...
2021-10-1855 min
ToxicEp. 31: Together At Last — Jenna and Amanda Talk Toxic Stuff NEXT to Each OtherThe 2021 Women's March for Reproductive Freedom was reason enough for Toxic hosts Amanda and Jenna to convene in the same state for 48 hours it was very exciting slash ridiculous. In this mini-episode, we recap the march, discuss something called "progressive feminist groups" (spoiler: they're not feminists), give you an angering update on survivor Robin from last week's episode and talk about the purpose of Domestic Violence Awareness Month (it's this month and it deserves attention).
2021-10-0540 min
ToxicEp. 30: Three Women Band Together After Surviving the Same Abuser (Who's Still Free)First, let's talk headlines: Brian Laundrie is guilty AF, right? And also, why are we not looking for allllll the missing women? Secondly, when an abuser threatens homicide, we need to take that as seriously as someone saying "bomb" in an airport. Example number one million: Derek Thebo, the toxic a-hole who killed his son and himself to no doubt torture his estranged wife. After that, the next toxic male on our shit list is a serial abuser named James and the three women who were unfortunate enough to cross his path (so far). His second wife shot him in...
2021-09-211h 22
ToxicEp. 29: "Well, That Escalated Quickly" — Talking Abortion With the Anti-Choice CrowdThis past week, Texas decided women can't possibly make rational decisions for their own bodies so they made some laws to guide them. In other words, they removed a woman's right to bodily autonomy under the auspice of caring for "the unborn," restricting any abortion after six weeks which is often well before a woman knows she's pregnant. The unconstitutional law conveniently left men out of the conversation all together and instead placed the burden of childbearing squarely on a woman's shoulders where, let's be honest, it has almost always sat anyhow. While we could rant all day long about...
2021-09-081h 22
ToxicEp. 28: Tucson, AZ Mass Shooting in July — Another Man Chooses Violence to Deal with TraumaIn July 2021, a man named Leslie Scarlett opened fire on two paramedics, then on firefighters trying to put out a house fire he started, as well as the neighbors who ran over to help. Inside the house, police would later discover his girlfriend's body. Local police say Scarlett was suffering from "a mental health crisis" and once again, accountability for one's actions is deflected with the I-couldn't-help-it excuse. Mental health disorders can perpetuate domestic abuse but do not cause them, and the risk of a partner being killed by an abuser increases 500 percent when that abuser has access to a...
2021-08-2358 min
ToxicEp. 27: Let's Talk Larry Nassar and All the People Who Enabled Him to Touch KidsLarry Nassar, pedophila enthusiast who confused himself for a doctor once, sexually abused some 500 girls, many of whom were U.S. gymnasts and nine of whom were Olympic athletes. He's now spending the rest of his days in a place where he's likely finding out what the other side of abuse feels like but he could have started his stay there much earlier if only there weren't a slew of people who knew he was a pedo and ignored it or tried to pretend they couldn't see it like a cat that hides only its head under the couch but...
2021-08-091h 14
ToxicEpisode 26: Kicking Ass and Taking Names—Self-Defense with Badass Tara McClureThere are lots of reasons to learn self-defense: Being able to put some dude in a headlock when they think they can touch you without your explicit permission is one. Wrestling a bear is another. It's a skill all women should at least have a basic knowledge of because, you know, #men. Tara McClure (@TulsaTara) is a brown belt in jiu jitsu and teaches self-defense classes to women and law enforcement. She also posts some rad self-defense moves on social media that you can learn at home. Come for the education, stay for Tara's cool stories of using her superpowers...
2021-07-2743 min
ToxicEpisode 25: Army Private Abuses Wife, Kills the Guy Who Comes to Help HerThis week, a reporter from the Military Times broke a story of the Army's less-than-stellar response to domestic violence.... again. Army Private Jonathan Lauture liked to beat his wife, but what he didn't like was being interrupted while doing so. When 22-year-old Jason Lindsay came to Lauture's apartment one night in 2019 — witnesses say he was there to help Lauture's wife, who was being assaulted at the time — Lauture shot him six times after Lindsay entered the apartment. From there, a failure of all systems occurred because our world is broken. The Army said, "Let's try to ignore this," and Lauture said...
2021-07-1949 min
ToxicEpisode 24: Girls Can Like Dinosaurs and Safe Partners Don't Dictate How You Spend Your MoneyIn this episode, Amanda talks about her 7-year-old daughter's hesitation to wear a dinosaur tee-shirt (aka, how to tell your kids gender stereotypes are a bunch of malarky) and then we delve into what the hell happens when men try to tell women they're not allowed to earn, keep or control their own money (spoiler alert: they're not supposed to do that). Financial Planner and survivor Saundra Davis, founder of Sage Financial Solutions (www.sagefinancialsolutions.org) talks with us about reclaiming one's empowerment around money after abuse, how the racial pay gap makes things suckier for survivors of color, and...
2021-07-1248 min
ToxicEpisode 23: Imran Khan Blames Women for Violence and Viral TikTok Shows What a Kind of Dad Not to BeIn another tired attempt at victim-blaming, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has proposed his country's rape crisis would be abated if us women would just stop showing so much of our provocative skin suits, but failed to explain why fully covered women, and also children, are raped on the daily. But hey, as long as men don't have to take accountability for anything, why logic? Next, Jenna and Amanda discuss a viral TikTok of a twatwaffle abuser psychologically tormenting his kid for shits and giggles and what kind of lifelong effects domestic violence can have on children. We...
2021-07-0543 min
ToxicEpisode 22: Britney's Dad Is an Abusive A-Hole and How the Media Covers Homicide Needs ImprovementBritney Spears got her turn to speak and told us what we all feared -- her dad's on a major power trip and she's under his complete abusive control. This deserves discussion. In the second part of the episode, Jenna and Amanda discuss a dude named Lusbu Jean, an abusive murderer who killed his girlfriend Natasha Nazien and her 15-year-old son, and shot and injured her other three children in Florida on June 7. The media called it a "domestic outburst of gun violence." I guess, anything to avoid calling it domestic violence or femicide or place any accountability on the...
2021-06-2850 min
ToxicEpisode 21: Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein Were Bros, and Mrs. Gates Said 'I'm Out'Bill and Melinda gates announced plans to end their 27-year marriage this past May and allegations immediately begin to circle Bill surrounding his penchant for trying to hit on some of his female employees. Dirty, but not predatory. At least ... not yet. Then came some flight logs that showed Bill met with convicted rapist of teenagers, Jeffrey Epstein, on his private jet. Multiple times. And dined with him at some shady exclusive dinners funded by Epstein. Of course, Gates says, "We were business bros" and Epstein says nothing because he's hiding somewhere on Rape Island.... we mean, he's dead because...
2021-06-2143 min
ToxicSeason 2, Episode 20: Escaping a Forced Marriage, aka, Don't Underestimate a Determined MamaWelcome to Season 2! Same format, new crop of toxic a-holes. In this episode, Jenna and Amanda give you an update on some of the abusive men we covered in previous episodes — I bet you're curious as to what Marilyn Manson is up to. Oh, just being accused of rape by a fifth woman. Meanwhile, Rep. Matt Gaetz still claims there's nothing wrong with having sex with children. After that, we delve in the amazing and inspiring story of one of our new superheroes, Samra Zafar, a woman with dreams of becoming a doctor who was forced to marry a complete st...
2021-06-141h 14
ToxicEpisode 19: Hollywood Loves Sexualizing Young Actresses and Mara Wilson Is Calling Them OutWhat do Mara Wilson (of Matilda/Mrs. Doubtfire fame) and Britney Spears have in common? Both women—along with many, many more—have been targeted by the Hollywood fame machine that often takes cute, young stars, tries to turn them into sexpots and then watches their creations crash and burn, selling it all to us as entertainment. Earlier this year, Wilson penned an op-ed for the New York Times speaking out against the sexualization of young women in Hollywood and why she felt for Spears, who's dealing with her own nightmare fall-out after her 2007 "breakdown." Jenna and Amanda delve into both...
2021-05-111h 03
ToxicEpisode 18: Interview with Josephine Wentzel, A Badass Mom Hunting Down Her Daughter's KillerOn June 10, 2016, while visiting friends in San Diego, former Marine Raymond McLeod strangled to death his 30-year-old girlfriend Krystal Mitchell before fleeing to South America. In Episode 16, we delved into McLeod's life on the run and how he's recently been put on the U.S. Marshal’s Service 15 Most Wanted fugitive list. Krystal's badass mom, Josephine Wentzel, has been searching for McLeod since her daughter's death, vowing to make his life a living nightmare until he's found. She recently spoke with Amanda about what she's discovered via the AngelsofJustice.com project, how we can help(Internet sleuths, report), and what gi...
2021-05-0339 min
ToxicEpisode 17: "Alex" Threatens Revenge Porn and Maybe a Stabbing if He Feels Like ItAbusive partners can brainwash victims to a point where they don't even realize what they just endured was domestic violence until years after they've escaped. In this episode, we break down how it took a freelance writing gig about domestic violence for Shelley to realize a previous partner was actually more than just a toxic a-hole, he was a dangerous and manipulative abuser escalating his power and control. Getting out just in time, she considers herself "one of the lucky ones." From revenge porn to a near-fatal motorcycle ride, "Alex" knew exactly what he was doing in order to keep...
2021-04-271h 09
ToxicEpisode 16: Raymond McLeod Is Wanted for Murder and Security Expert Spencer Coursen on Safety TrapsIn 2016, Phoenix-resident Raymond McLeod murdered his 30-year-old girlfriend, Krystal Mitchell, while they were visiting friends in San Diego. The scary-AF-looking heavily tatted ex-Marine bodybuilder then thought he could blend in seamlessly if he fled to South America ... and unfortunately, he may have been right. Or, people there don't follow true crime. He's managed to escape capture for five years and the U.S. Marshals Service recently placed him on their Most Wanted List with an unprecedented reward of $50,000 for anyone with information leading to his arrest. After telling Mitchell's story and being even more convinced dating is a complete hellscape...
2021-04-191h 33
ToxicEpisode 15: Shia LaBeouf Had a Crappy Childhood, but That Doesn't Excuse AbuseShia LaBeouf was recorded on video in 2015 telling complete strangers that he would have killed his now-ex-wife, Mia Goth, if they hadn't intervened during an argument. The viral video watched by over a million became entertainment. A shocking did-you-see-that? moment seemingly forgotten days later. In 2019, LaBeouf strangled girlfriend FKA Twigs, only one facet of more than two years of his abusive choices. She recently filed a civil suit against the actor in hopes of raising awareness about domestic violence. Call us crazy, but it appears that rich, powerful and supposedly talented people who are surrounded on all sides by enablers...
2021-04-131h 08
ToxicEpisode 14: Matt Gaetz is a Super Creeper and "Stalker Steve" Can't Take a HintIn this episode, Amanda and Jenna try to cover the latest headlines around men being toxic but there are SO MANY. From Derek Chauvin to the Minnesota Supreme Court saying "Go for it, Rapists!", to an astounding number of mass shootings committed by men so far in 2021, to Matt Gaetz buying teenage girls to have sex with and then bragging about it, it's just a toxic masculinity jackpot up in here lately, but in the worst way. After that, we tell the story of Vicki's stalker, "Stalker Steve," who decided that Vicki breaking up with him was unacceptable (hi, male...
2021-04-081h 34
ToxicEpisode 13: Having the Sex Talk With Teens Featuring Author Shafia ZaloomTalking dating and sex with your pre-teen or teenager can be nerve-wracking, and your inclination may be to avoid it altogether — after all, won't TikTok and P*rnhub teach them eventually? Ugh, no, stop it. Shafia Zaloom, author of "Sex, Teens & Everything in Between" (www.shafiazaloom.com) tells us we should consider changing the focus from drowning our kids in warnings and scary stuff to talking up the plus side of healthy, consensual relationships and sex. Radical thought. She also walks us through an exercise where we need to picture a bear. Listen, it's eye-opening and shockingly, Jenna and Amanda ha...
2021-03-291h 49
ToxicEpisode 12: Robert Aaron Long Hates Women and the Army Says Okey Dokey to Domestic ViolenceLast Tuesday night, Robert Aaron Long, instead of dealing with his own mental health issues like a responsible grown-up person, decided it made more sense to murder seven women and one man he claims are responsible for him not being able to stop thinking dirty thoughts and police are all, "He had a bad day." After we break down that mess, we tell the story of "The Army Dude" who abused his wife for seven years while also abusing alcohol while also flying helicopters and the Army said, "Let's pretend we don't know this is happening." We hear from his...
2021-03-221h 35
ToxicEpisode 11: Toxic Bosses, aka, Men Who Think Female Employees and Staplers Deserve Equal RespectAre some men born without a filter? The answer is yes, yes they are. In another episode of Why Some Men Don't Know How to Human Decently, we discuss men in positions of power who are just, frankly, awful. Bosses who have think "leaning in" means something entirely different than it actually does. We break down the slew of toxic bosses Amanda's had to deal with early in her career and how she actually felt more respected in the last place you'd think of. We share others' examples of their worst boss stories and touch on the female farm worker...
2021-03-151h 34
ToxicEpisode 10: Piers Morgan Feels Entitled to Meghan Markle and This Is Toxic Masculinity in a NutshellA very married Piers Morgan has been shaming the brave and brilliant Duchess Meghan Markle on Good Morning Britain for almost five years because he believes she "ghosted" him after she drank an alcoholic beverage in his vicinity at a pub in 2016. Thankfully, Morgan fired himself from the show on Monday after being called out by an amazingly brilliant, non-toxic male coworker on air (clip included!). Listen to this fuckery and tell us that men don't have a problem with their egos.
2021-03-1247 min
ToxicEpisode 9: Governor Andrew Cuomo Would Like to Force Himself on Subordinates Without RepercussionMy, my, my, how fast they fall. Governor Andrew Cuomo is going down, but not in that way. Five women have now come forward to talk about how creeptastic and inappropriate Gov. Cuomo is as a human being, alleging unwanted touching, kissing and questions about their sex lives. Gov. Cuomo has decided to play the "who, me?" card and refuses to resign, suggesting all future subordinates will very much enjoy his toxic boss leadership tactics.
2021-03-0858 min
ToxicEpisode 8: Netflix's Bridgerton—Let's Discuss THAT SceneWhat constitutes male consent, and do they have different guidelines than women when it comes to being victims of sexual assault? If the victim is stronger than the perpetrator, then why don't they simply stop an assault from happening? In Netflix's No. 1 show, Bridgerton, a scene in Episode 6 shows what some people are calling rape of the main male character while others are calling it "just more steamy sexy time." In this special episode, we discuss and debate the episode and bring in a real live guy to weigh in on what he thinks about male consent before conferring with...
2021-03-011h 01
ToxicEpisode 7: The Trauma of Abuse Caused Her Brain to Split Into More than 100 PersonalitiesAfter her father and uncle severely abused her as a child, Marielle's brain, in an effort to protect her from the extreme trauma, developed dissociative identity disorder at just 4 years old. Over the next three decades, she would come to develop more than 100 unique personalities, each one breaking off at another traumatic point in her life. As an adult, an abuser found her, preyed on her vulnerabilities, and Marielle found herself and her daughter trapped in his cycle of violence and control, nearly being starved to death before a personality named Dagger saved their lives. Her incredible true story, and...
2021-02-221h 03
ToxicEpisode 6 - Pro-Sports Doesn't Want to Bench Their Lady-BeatersIf a dude is good with balls, does he get a pass on being violent toward women? It seems to be that way in much of the pro-sports world, where pro-athletes are repeatedly accused or arrested for domestic violence or assault, only to find themselves giggling all the way to the bank after their multimillion-dollar payday. In this episode, we look at guys including Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr., Dennis Rodman, Jeffery Taylor, Jose Conseco, Ray Rice and Tyreek Hill, and also hear from domestic violence expert Rita Smith, advisor to the NFL, who is trying to help them create policies to h...
2021-02-151h 02
ToxicEpisode 5: Shocker, Marilyn Manson Is an Abuser and Victims Are Getting BlamedIn news that will surprise very few, musician Brian Warner, aka, Marilyn Manson, has been abusing his partners for years. Oh, and his mom, too. Stellar. After actress Evan Rachel Wood bravely stepped forward with her public disclosure last week, additional victims found the courage to follow suit. Manson denies everything, because, well, male entitlement, and victims now face backlash and death threats.
2021-02-0955 min
ToxicEpisode 4: The Inconvenience of Toxic CelebritiesWhen famous dudes are revealed to be toxic, it’s super disappointing. We face a different kind of conundrum—can we separate art from artist? Should we? And what are the criteria for whether or not we forgive? In this episode, we talk about some of the celebs who've been accused of toxic offenses including Harvey Weinstein, James Franco, Matt Lauer, Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Casey AND Ben Affleck, Chris Brown, Louis C.K., Bill Cosby, Phil Spector, Kevin Spacey, Mel Gibson and Jeffrey Tambor. Also, Trump pardons an accused rapist before he leaves office. Fanfuckingtastic.
2021-02-081h 29
ToxicEpisode 3: A Desperate Mom on the RunAfter escaping abuse, she believes she's safe ... until the court system fails to protect her child. When her dangerous ex-boyfriend does the unthinkable, she's forced to make the only choice that's left: run. Now, she's wanted for kidnapping. It's a terrifying reality for so many—when an abuser can no longer control a victim, they often come for the kids.
2021-02-081h 20