Toxic

Keisha Golden called the police more than 50 times in two years to report her boyfriend's abuse. She filed for not one, but two protective orders. She wanted to leave, but was pregnant. Like so many survivors, she still held out hope that Calvin Sydney could change. 
He had other plans. When she was 8 months pregnant, he attacked her. She fought back and Calvin ended up dying from a stab wound to the leg. Keisha found herself cuffed and put behind bars, about to have a baby any day. 
Survivors who seek help are often retraumatized by the system meant to protect them. Some will argue a crime is a crime. But that fear of winding up arrested for saving one's own life is what keeps so many survivors trapped, silent and feeling helpless. 
Learn more about one alternative to prison in "What Is Restorative Justice?"
And sign the petition to pardon Keisha's here. 
We want to hear from you. Do you have a story we need to discuss or a guest we should feature? Visit us at ToxicThePodcast.com and share your story. We're sorry if we can't reply to every email immediately, but we we are trying our best to respond to everyone who writes in. Just know that we hear you and you're not alone.
If you're experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please consider connecting with a trained advocate near you. You can find one through DomesticShelters.org.
Finally, help us spread these important conversations further. Share an episode of Toxic with someone just as pissed off as you that this keeps happening. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform or social media, and if you're willing, leave us a review. Your support helps us amplify these critical stories.
Together, we can create change.

Have you ever watched movie sex and then wondered why the sex you have is so.....not that? Sure, we know it's scripted, but in the same way romcom writers make stalking look romantic, so too is over-the-top passionate 30-second sex the best orgasam of any woman's life. Umm......what?
How are these completely inacurate portrayls of sex influencing our own ideas about what intimacy should look and feel like? And how does it especially impact young people who are growing up with a completely inaccurate expectation for sex? 
 Doménica Feraud is a writer, producer and actor whose new book, You Are What You See: How My Favorite Shows Became My Worst Influences, examines how the movies and television we consume shape our ideas about sex, relationships and ourselves. She also wrote an ahhhhmazing essay that went viral for good reason: The 26-Year-Old Virgin.
Tl; dr: We need more women writing sex scenes because—shocker—men are writing about the sexual responses they *think* women should be having. And sorry guys, this just isn't it. 
We want to hear from you. Do you have a story we need to discuss or a guest we should feature? Visit us at ToxicThePodcast.com and share your story. We're sorry if we can't reply to every email immediately, but we we are trying our best to respond to everyone who writes in. Just know that we hear you and you're not alone.
If you're experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please consider connecting with a trained advocate near you. You can find one through DomesticShelters.org.
Finally, help us spread these important conversations further. Share an episode of Toxic with someone just as pissed off as you that this keeps happening. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform or social media, and if you're willing, leave us a review. Your support helps us amplify these critical stories.
Together, we can create change.

Pride is about visibility, but not everything is rainbows and glitter, despite what the media feeds us about queer relationships. This episode dives into how intimate partner abuse shows up in queer relationships, including the tactics and dynamics that can fly under the radar.
But never fear—we end on a lighter note with the queer shows we love (and the scenes we'll never stop thinking about). Love is love, bitches.
As mentioned in the episode, here are some LGBTQ+-specific organizations that are here if you need someone supportive and nonjudgmental to talk about what's going on in your relationship, or need help leaving an abusive partner. 
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual; Transgender Community Center (New York)
CenterLink, The Community of LGBTQ+ Centers
Community United Against Violence (CUAV)
FORGE, for transgender and non-binary survivors
LGBT National Help Center
National Resource Center on LGBTQ+ Aging
The Network/La Red
The Mazzoni Center
 
 
 
 

 


 




We want to hear from you. Have a story we should cover or a guest we need to feature? Head to ToxicThePodcast.com and tell us what's on your mind. We can't always respond right away—but we are reading, and you are not alone.
If you're experiencing abuse or domestic violence, you deserve support. You can connect with a trained advocate near you at DomesticShelters.org.
If this episode resonated, share it with a friend, a group chat or honestly, anyone else who's fed up that this is still happening. Follow Toxic wherever you listen, please leave a review i and help us keep these conversations loud.
Change doesn't happen quietly and we're not done talking.

We're back! Sorry for the hiatus, but life threw us some curveballs (we'll tell you about them in this episode).
But really, we're here to talk to Mae Scott, survivor and author who so bravely shares her story of what abuse can look like up close: not just fear, but confusion, manipulation and a slow erosion of reality. Then comes the fun part (read: not fun at all)—navigating a legal system that doesn't seem to want to believe or even listen to women. 
It's raw, frustrating, and necessary listening about what survivors are really up against—and why believing them matters more than ever.
Got a story we should be talking about? Or a guest we need to have on? Tell us everything at ToxicThePodcast.com. You'll also find some sweet merch bound to start conversations. 
If you're dealing with an abusive partner, you don't have to navigate it alone. You can connect with a trained advocate through DomesticShelters.org.
And if this episode lit a fire under you (rage counts), don't keep it to yourself. Share it. Follow. Leave a review. Help us get these stories in front of more people who need to hear them—and maybe a few who really need to hear them.

After Donald Trump publicly berated Kaitlan Collins of CNN for pressing him about the Jeffrey Epstein files, he used a cheap power move familiar to women worldwide.
"Why aren't you smiling?"
Because apparently women exist to decorate the room — and keep powerful men comfortable.
It's also a great way to deflect questions you don't want to answer.
In this episode, we unpack the long history of telling women to "smile" — and why it's one of the most annoying things men can say next to....oh, about anything. We examine how policing women's expressions becomes a way to reassert dominance, derail accountability and minimize a woman's place in a professional seetting. 
Because when a woman is told to smile, it's rarely about happiness. It's about control.
We want to hear from you. Do you have a story we need to discuss or a guest we should feature? Visit us at ToxicThePodcast.com and share your story. We're sorry if we can't reply to every email immediately, but we we are trying our best to respond to everyone who writes in. Just know that we hear you and you're not alone.
If you're experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please consider connecting with a trained advocate near you. You can find one through DomesticShelters.org.
Finally, help us spread these important conversations further. Share an episode of Toxic with someone just as pissed off as you that this keeps happening. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform or social media, and if you're willing, leave us a review. Your support helps us amplify these critical stories.
Together, we can create change.