Liberating Motherhood
Liberating Motherhood
Podcast Description
Mothers are tired of anti-mother misogyny, household labor inequality, and a culture that expects mothers to bear the burdens of its many shortcomings--all without complaint. Mothers are vital to feminism, and have been neglected in feminist discourse for far too long. Mothers are constantly told that political problems are personal--that if we communicate better, mother better, behave better, things will improve. The only path to change is through widespread political change. That's what this podcast is about. Maternal feminism is an important prong of social justice work, and all people interested in a just world should care about what happens to mothers, families, and children.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Focuses on maternal feminism, social justice, and family dynamics, with topics including household labor inequality, child advocacy in political climates, and the impact of patriarchal structures on relationships, illustrated through episodes like 'The Patriarchal Playbook' and 'Talking to Your Kids About Sexism.'
“Therapists can only go as deep with their clients as they’ve gone with themselves.” — Diana Fox Tilson
Why does therapy so often replicate and intensify the harm people experience in their exploitative relationships? Therapy, in theory, is a powerful tool for healing and personal change. But like any medical intervention, it poses risks and side effects.
Therapy definitionally occurs behind closed doors, which raises the specter of exploitation and harm, even among therapists who truly do mean well. In most therapy sessions, only two people get to evaluate how things went—one of whom can be heavily influenced by the therapist, and the other of whom has a strong interest in viewing their own work favorably.
In this podcast episode, I talk to therapist Diana Fox Tilson about why therapy so often causes harm, what we can do to find better therapy, and how to know if your therapy sessions are actually working. Some of the topics we cover include:
Why therapy often goes so wrong, and how people who are genuinely good people can still do harm.
Zawn’s experience with a bad therapist.
The lack of accountability in private practice, especially with the most vulnerable clients.
Defensiveness among therapists.
The normalization of oppressive scripts in therapy.
The unique dangers of couples counseling.
Differences in how men and women are treated in therapy, and how therapy can subtly reinforce gender norms.
The professional and financial incentives for therapists to not challenge their clients.
How to tell if therapy is working.
How therapists can end up exploiting their clients, whether or not they intend to.
Red flags in therapy.
Why good therapists admit to mistakes.
About Diana Fox Tilson
Diana Fox Tilson, LICSW, is a psychotherapist in private practice and writes Other Interests on Substack.
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