Ep. 107: Jim Jones, Trump....It's Like All Cult Leaders Attended the Same Meeting or Something—Dr. Janja Lalich Confirms Our Suspicions
Toxic
In 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 there. He was FOR them, you guys. Of course, if you know anything about...
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Ep. 106: Deepfake Case Out of Minneapolis, Victims Are Told to Just Ask Man Politely to Stop
Toxic
In 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 the justice they deserve against gross men who can't literally...
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Ep. 105: What Fresh Hells Today? Trump's Dizzying Array of Distractions Discussed
Toxic
Abusers 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 mode. This is not a drill. Call it a coup, call...
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Ep. 104: Patrisha McLean Is a Survivor and Her Ex is Bitter About That
Toxic
Patrisha 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, . 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.) We want to hear from you. Do you have a...
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Ep. 103: Where Do We Go From Here?
Toxic
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 meeting, group therapy or a support group meeting. Take what you...
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Ep. 102: Justin Baldoni Makes Sure It Doesn't End With Him—What Blake Lively Endured During His Dumb Movie
Toxic
We'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...
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Ep. 101: Hot Frosty and His Snow Nips Make Christmas Complete
Toxic
In 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 where the bar is now. Please enjoy and we'll see you in 2025 with more...
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Ep. 100: Abusive Husband Michael Tormented His Family for Years But Family Court Dropped All Charges, Accused Mom of Alienting Kids Instead
Toxic
Many 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...
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Post-Election Thoughts: We Women Will Need to Save Ourselves Again
Toxic
Deep breath. It's been a week. We come to you downtrodden and unshowered to commiserate in our feelings, all of which are valid. No dissection of Kamala's campaign, no grand plans for the future today — just acknowledgment that things are shitty but [hopefully] won't be forever because guess what? Women are strong as hell. We're sorry that not enough white women knew the assignment. Black women, thank you once again for showing up. We have so much work to do to address racism, internalized misogyny and ignorance in our culture. We thought we were making some progress but LOLOLOL. Sigh....
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Ep. 99: Why Women Having Power, aka Kamala Harris, Pisses Some People Right Off
Toxic
With 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 way they've treated us for centuries....?...
info_outlineWhat 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 hated Trump more than women and we lost HRC, so it's no time to rest on our laurels. If we don't vote for anyone other than Trump, we're facing an imminent autocracy head-on. Project 2025's “Mandate for Leadership” is a political manifesto conceived by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that's been influncing presidents since 1973. Should Trump be elected, he will likely use this manifesto as a roadmap to completely dismantle the American system of democracy as we know it. We wish that was hyperbole but it's not.
We know it's hard to hear all of this, but it's more important now than ever before to be aware of what's going on and share what you know. Knowledge is power, which is exactly why Project 2025 proposes we make the country dumber, one choice at a time.
Please help us spread this conversation further by sharing an episode of Toxic with a friend, your MAGA coworker, a random stranger at the coffee shop, etc., by following us on your favorite podcast platform or social media, or by leaving us a review. We appreciate you.
Do you have a story you think we need to discuss or a guest we should have on? Visit us at ToxicthePodcast.com and tell us all about it. Here, you can also find our merch, such as our "Stop Killing Women" and "I'd Choose the Bear" tees and hoodies.
As always, if you are experiencing domestic violence or abuse, please consider disclosing to someone you trust. You can also reach out to a trained domestic violence advocate—find one near you at DomesticShelters.org.