All The Stuff Women Need To Talk About, And More Often

Yes, ladies need to talk. So must gentlemen for that matter. But for now, this acclaimed Australian podcast series is all about forging the best kind of sisterhood there is.

Although it declares upfront that it is a podcast for women by women, I would venture to say it might not be a bad listen for men either. Host Yumi Stynes is warm and cheery; she manages to achieve a fine balance between spouting smart (and funny) one-liners and handling personal, and sometimes, intimate secrets that listeners pour out to her.

Unafraid to tread into ‘tricky’ areas, the podcast series has tackled several rarely-touched-upon topics such as sexism among women, whether porn can be good for women and what exactly it means to settle for being ‘average’, not to mention more risqué stuff like fake orgasms and why women should talk more openly about foreplay.

Particularly recommended is a more recent episode on anxiety. Anxiety is perhaps one of the most misunderstood mental illnesses of all, and understandably so. All of us experience anxiety at some point or the other and some amount of worry is natural and even good for us. But anxiety disorder is when these feelings of stress or worry don't go away, and instead, tend to loop back and increase in intensity over time. The podcast takes a deeper look at what anxiety feels like and why more women than men suffer from anxiety-related disorders worldwide. It goes on to discuss the possible reasons for higher rates of anxiety in women. These range from biological (hormone fluctuations, for instance) and societal (gender inequality, gender-related abuse) to coping mechanisms women employ to deal with puberty, pregnancy and menopause. The podcast concludes with frank discussions on strategies to deal with anxiety.

The podcasts are 30 minutes each. Do not blame me if you end up nodding vigorously in agreement or smiling at nothing on public transport while listening to it (like I evidently did).