Shows
Cornhole Champions Podcast🌽 Cornhole Champions #13 - The abortion pill and its discontentsIowa’s near-total abortion ban is in effect. Nonetheless, Iowans are still getting abortions. It’s just harder and more expensive, often requiring travel outside the state.On this episode of Cornhole Champions, hosts Zachary Oren Smith speaks with Iowa Abortion Access Fund's Lyz Lenz about the crisis unfolding six months after Iowa's six-week abortion ban took effect. Since July 2024, the number of Iowans needing abortion funding has tripled, with hundreds forced to travel to Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Kansas for care. Lenz argues that while the ban hasn't stopped abortions, it has made them more expensive, dela...2025-02-2647 min
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep10: Eve RodskyFor the final episode of the season, I spoke with Eve Rodsky, the bestselling author of Fair Play and Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World. Eve came on the podcast to talk about money, divorce, marriage, and everything she’s learned about the state of the American marriage since publishing Fair Play.Thank you so much for making this season an incredible success!This season was generously sponsored by Funny Girls, which is a program run by the Harnisch Foundation that uses improv to teach leadership skills to girls an...2024-12-191h 17
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep9: Laura BenitezWhen singer-songwriter Laura Benitez got married she didn’t expect to live out a country song. But she did. And she came on the podcast to talk about heartbreak, interracial marriage, and, of course, writing a song about it all.Laura Benetiz is a songwriter, lead singer, and founder of Laura Benitez and the Heartache. She has been making her mark on stage and screen since 2000. She spent several years appearing in soap operas and commercials in Los Angeles before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. Laura began writing songs in 2008. She released her first album, "Fo...2024-12-1253 min
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep8: Rebecca WoolfIt felt like it happened overnight, I watched Rebecca Woolf, a writer and mom blogger I’d always looked up to and admired, go from modeling what seemed like a perfect happy family, to losing her husband Hal, to pancreatic cancer.Rebecca’s twins are close in age to my daughter, and I admit to having a parasocial relationship with her, admiring her, and even envying her a little from afar.But in her 2022 memoir All of This, Woolf dismantles that gauzy, filtered image of home and happiness. Her marriage was full of love, yes, but...2024-12-051h 09
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep7: Sarah WeinmanIn 1978, Greta Rideout was the first American woman still living with her husband to charge him with rape, which was a crime in only four states at the time. The ensuing trial and relentless media coverage brought the issue to the country's attention, but the fallout — which included an acquittal, a TV movie based on the case, and criminalization across 50 states over the next 15 years — was enormous. At a time when women's rights are being rolled back at alarming rates, what does the Rideout case tell us about a woman's right to bodily autonomy?Sarah Weinman is the...2024-11-281h 06
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep6: Jane WardWhen I first read The Tragedy of Heterosexuality by Jane Ward, my life was ruined.In it she writes, “...people cannot be rescued from forms of suffering that they themselves relate to as badges of honor.”And, “In no way do I intend to imply that couples should spend every minute together, but if we held straight couples to basic standards of good friendship—mutual respect and affection and a sense of comfort and bondedness based on shared experience—many straight relationships would fail the test.”These are insights that will destroy you. And as if I w...2024-11-2152 min
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep4: Rhaina CohenCensus data indicates that while divorce rates are not rising, an increasing number of people are choosing not to marry. Some data shows that, in 2021, 52% of women in the United States were unmarried or separated, which is a record high.As more Americans opt out of marriage, what once was the traditional home (one wife, one husband, two kids and a live laugh love sign on the wall of a suburban house) is being recreated to look like communes, co-living, and platonic partnership.Rhaina came on the podcast to talk about different forms of living...2024-11-071h 01
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep3: Nico HallIn 2019, 72% of same-sex divorces were between lesbians, meaning they divorced at about three times the rate of gay male couples. It’s a statistic that might, at first, seem alarming. But we all know better than that by now. Divorce is no cause for alarm.So what is happening in queer divorces? What forces of culture and expectations shape those unions? What pulls people apart?For this episode, I asked Nico Hall to join me to talk about queer divorce. Nico is a divorcee who edited a series on queer divorce for the website Autostraddle. Ni...2024-10-311h 06
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep2: Dan SavageDan Savage, the iconic podcaster and sex columnist, was on the forefront of the fight for marriage equality after seeing a whole generation of gay men die alone during the AIDs crisis, separated from their loved ones because they didn’t have the right to marry. Dan came on the podcast to talk about marriage equality and the continued struggle for freedom in relationships. He asked me if I’m afraid of dying alone and, of course, we talked about sex. This season was generously sponsored by Funny Girls, which is a program run by the Ha...2024-10-241h 04
This American Ex-Wife: The PodcastThis American Ex-Wife S2 Ep1: Scaachi KoulWelcome back for the second and final season of This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast! This season was generously sponsored by Funny Girls, which is a program run by The Harnisch Foundation that uses improv to teach leadership skills to girls and non-binary kids in grades three through eight. You can learn more about its work here. This season we will also have some paywalled episodes, so if you want to support the podcast, become a subscriber to Men Yell at Me. That way you won’t miss me and Dan Savage talking about sex, Morgan Jerkins giving us...2024-10-1759 min
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast"Sourdough dads" with Virginia Sole SmithIn this episode, Lyz and best-selling author and journalist behind the popular newsletter, Burnt Toast, Virginia Sole Smith read your email and talk bodies, love, sourdough dads, and divorce.This is the last week to PREORDER your copy of This American Ex-Wife.Show notes:* Read Virginia’s amazing newsletter Burnt Toast.* Also, Virginia and Sara Petersen have an incredible podcast, “The Cult of Perfect.”* Of course, read Virginia’s best-selling book and one of my favorite newsletters of hers on “The Life-Changing Magic of Eating Alone.”* This American Ex...2024-02-151h 06
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast"The heartbreak years" with Minda HoneyWe want independence. We want respect. We want love and relationships. We live our lives trying to cultivate these qualities. But as Minda Honey points out, we also live in a world that doesn’t prioritize our wants.Less than two weeks until the book comes out! So preorder This American Ex-Wife. It’s the best way to support this work. Show notes:* Buy Minda’s book The Heartbreak Years. It’s funny and smart and insightful.* You can also follow Minda’s work on Instagram.* This American E...2024-02-0853 min
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast"Lyzistrata" with Donna ZuckerbergIn the ancient play Lysistrata women withhold sex as a means of ending the Peloponnesian War. And the logic – using sex as a shaping force in marriages – is widespread both in self-help books and right-wing subreddits. Academic Donna Zuckerberg has written about the appropriation of the Classics by misogynistic groups and weighs in on Lysistrata, liberal men, ancient wives, and modern love.If you like what you hear, preorder This American Ex-Wife. It’s the best way to support this work.Show notes:* Read Donna’s Washington Post op-ed about Lysistrata.* Donna ha...2024-02-0146 min
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast"Claim your name and hotness" with Aubrey HirschAubrey Hirsch was in a hospital bed. She had just birthed her first child and found herself having to argue with a nurse over whether her last name Hirsch could be her child’s last name. In that instance and more, Hirsch shatters the notion that heterosexual parents have the same powers in the relationship.Show notes:* Read Aubrey’s essay for Time about giving her kids her last name.* Support Aubrey’s newsletter and follow her on Instagram.* This American Ex-Wife is hosted by Lyz Lenz (@LyzLenz) and produced by Zachar...2024-01-2547 min
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast"Remembering the original ex-wife" with Marsha GordonThank you to everyone listening and sharing this podcast! In our first five weeks, we’ve gotten over 33,000 downloads! Zach, my producer, and I are just floored!Okay, now let’s get to the show…As the stock market crashed in 1929, Ursula Parrot released her novel Ex-Wife. In it, the protagonist darts between the experience of sexual liberation and the ever-present sense of loss from her marriage. It feels at once familiar and refreshingly new. Parrot’s biographer Marsha Gordon asks why a century later women still have an uneasy relationship with the label ex-wife.We...2024-01-1855 min
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast"Take his wallet" with Morgan JerkinsBest-selling author Morgan Jerkins joins Lyz to read reader emails and give some frank advice and heartfelt insight to your divorces, break ups, and new lives.If you like what you hear, preorder This American Ex-Wife and subscribe to this newsletter. It’s the best way to support our work!Show notes:* You can read more work by Morgan Jerkins by buying her books. You can also follow her on Twitter or Instagram.* This American Ex-Wife is hosted by Lyz Lenz (@LyzLenz) and produced by Za...2024-01-1152 min
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast“Marriageocracy” with Aneeka HendersonMarriage and divorce are not experienced the same way for men and women. The same is true for white and Black women. Sociologist Aneeka Henderson has written extensively about the marriage economy and the obstacles that limit opportunities even in marriages for Black people.If you like what you hear, preorder This American Ex-Wife and subscribe to this newsletter. It’s the best way to support our work!Also, if you preorder the book you can get stickers and a signed bookplate! The giveaway ends this Friday!Show notes:* Aneeka Henderson’s Ve...2024-01-0443 min
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast"Weird cicadas" with Maggie SmithPoet and best-selling author Maggie Smith shares how her divorce made her spend more time with someone she didn’t expect: herself. She explains how she learned to leave room for that self even as she shares part of it in her work. If you like what you hear, preorder This American Ex-Wife. It’s the best way to support this work.I am currently running a giveaway! If you preorder the book, I’ll mail you a “Burn it down” sticker and a signed bookplate!Show notes:* Buy Maggie’s book You Coul...2023-12-2855 min
This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast“Catharsis” with Candice Luter“Catharsis” with Candice LuterMany suspect that their partner is cheating on them. Few of us show up outside the motel room to catch them in the act. Candice Luter gets honest about insecurity, breaking and recovering after her ex showed who he really was. If you like what you hear, preorder This American Ex-Wife and subscribe to this newsletter.You can listen to the podcast by clicking the link above. Or you can find this podcast on all your favorite podcast apps. If you need help finding it, here is a link!...2023-12-2158 min