Woman Up

In this episode, I am joined by the tenacious, generous, warm, intelligent, witty medical student (and mum of twelve), Dubliner Rosemary Murphy. Rosemary talks about her route to RCSI, her determination to make her dream come true. We also talk about people's prejudices and assumptions when they realise she has a dozen kids - including the (mistaken) assumption that the family lives on benefits!You can follow Rosemary on Twitter @rosemary_murphy

CW: Child Sexual AbuseMy guest this week is Dr Claire Cunnington.Claire is a researcher at the Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, UK and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). She is interested in interpersonal violence, inequality and stigma, with a particular focus on CSA and trauma. Her Wellcome Trust funded doctoral research asked adults recovering from CSA what helped and hindered their recovery. She is currently working on a Nuffield funded project looking at domestic violence and child protection. She has also made the film 'Flow' about CSA disclosure which was selected for the Birmingham International Film Festival and the Women Deliver WD2023 Arts & Film Festival. She blogs at www.clairecunnington.com, tweets @Cunning_Claire and is also on mastodon @DrC@mastodon.onlineThe film that Claire refers to can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU82VgDWfmE - Film: Flow

Orlagh Reid is an accredited Psychotherapist, Relationship Therapist and Addiction Counsellor, with more than ten years' experience. She specialises in clinical sexology, sexual problems, intimacy, relationships and sexual recovery. Living in Co. Kildare, Ireland, her practice is 100% online proving online therapy. As a psychosexual therapist, clients come to her for therapy to discuss any and every aspect of sexuality incl. sexual disorders, anxiety, fetishes, sexual blocks, pornography, menopause, shame, empowerment and many unspoken sensitive and hidden aspects of human sexuality. It is truly a privilege to be part of deep, vulnerable and intimate conversations that are part of a transformation process for those in therapy.  Prior to becoming a Psychotherapist, Orlagh trained for many years in Complementary Health Therapy and Spirituality and now incorporates this experience into providing clients with a holistic and integrative perspective on problems.Orlagh is a passionate advocate for women's health issues and regularly contributes to nationwide media topics on mental and sexual health. She has a blog called the Vaginismus Series for women experiencing Vaginismus symptoms and painful intimacy.   Her website is www.orlaghreid.com

Lucy H. Pearce is the author of ten non-fiction books for women. Her books include:'She of the Sea', 'Creatrix: she who makes', 'Medicine Woman: reclaiming the soul of healing', 'Burning Woman'. Her book 'Moon Time' - about harnessing the energy of your menstrual cycle - has a companion book, called 'Reaching for the Moon', for girls aged 9-14. Lucy is the founder of Womancraft Publishing, which publishes transformational books by women, for women, and a vibrant visual artist, and painter of lost archetypes of the feminine.Her website is: www.lucyhpearce.com

This week, my guest is Consie Sindet.Consie is a Creativity Coach and Teacher who uses art journaling and mixed media to express the ideas living in her mind. She believes that we should always be learning, growing, trying, failing and embracing the process. As a teacher of creativity in many forms for more than twenty years she has taught in-person and online art classes to many hundreds of women. She feels that her job is to show her community by example that they are creative. She wants everyone to know that we can find freedom, playfulness, and joy by slapping down some paint, gluing magazine pages to a piece of paper, adding doodling & marks, finding a quote that screams...'THIS IS HOW I FEEL TODAY!'...and calling it good enough. We spoke about Art, being an artist, whether or not creativity can be taught - and Consie shared several ideas which inspired me, and had me reaching for paper and colours!Details about how to work with Consie can be found here: https://atopserenityhill.teachable.com/courses

Sarah Sunfire is a New Orleans-born disability activist currently living in California. She identifies as queer and nonbinary, and keeps an active newsletter called Hot and Disabled that combines personal essay with conversational scholarly analysis. Under the name Sarah Neilson, she’s had work published in Burning House Press, Midway Journal, The Stranger, and Ms. Magazine.She holds an MA in Children’s Literature from Hollins University and has an abiding passion for discussing and dissecting fairy tales. Her graduate thesis, Never Having Seen a Bird, was a musical re-telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” through a disability activist and sex-positive feminist lens.She also works as an authenticity reader for Penguin Random House and has evaluated manuscripts from major authors for accurate portrayals of disability, bisexuality, and clinical depression. Her other freelance job, which uses her theater background and her lifelong fascination with psychology, is sex work.

My guest this week is Meg Kissack. Meg is the host of The Daily Pep! and The Couragemakers Podcast, and founder of The Rebel Rousers. She is a coach, writer and all-round rebel-rouser for fiercely creative, wildly multi-passionate & fabulously weird women She helps them show up in the world as their most courageous and authentic selves, do the epic shit only they can do and make/leave the world a brighter place. When she's not recording episodes, writing weekly BS-free Letters of Rebellion to her wonderful Rebel Rousers community or hosting workshops/group programmes, she can be found playing with colour, having adventures with Mr Meg and her wonderfully weird cockapoo Merlin and dreaming and scheming new ways to help people believe they matter.

In this, the final episode of 2022, I am in conversation with Emine Dilek. Emine is originally from Turkey, but has lived, loved, worked, and raised her son, in the US for more than two decades. Emine is a Feminist, and Activist, an Artist, a wife, a mother, a businessperson, and a wonderful, warm, human being. I am blessed and honoured to call her a friend. In this episode of Woman Up, Emine talks to me about Art, and the Art of Manifesting. What better way to start 2023 than thinking about what you want to bring forth into your life in the new year?

This week, I'm joined by Bridget Supple, who is a National Childbirth Trust educator, doula, and author. Her book 'The Birthkeeper of Bethlehem' concerns itself with Bridget's imagining of Jesus's midwife. As Bridget tells it, she was out walking her dogs one day when the character of a woman came - fully-formed - into her mind, and introduced herself as 'Salomé - Jesus's midwife'. Imagine Bridget's surprise when, months after she'd published her book, an excavation that took place just west of Jerusalem discovered the tomb of the woman who is thought to have assisted at the birth of Jesus Christ. Her name? Salomé. You can read more here. https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/20/excavations-reveal-pilgrims-lamps-and-inscriptions-at-tomb-of-salome-jesus-christ'The Birthkeeper of Bethlehem' also contains the most sensitive (and sensible) lay-person's explanation of Dementia I have ever come across.