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Bonjour.
Today is Monday, March 3, 2025. My next Disney Cruise is in 18 days. If this newsletter is too long, this was causing a lot of talk on Reddit, this podcast went out with a bang, this podcast is building a town.
xoxo
lauren
P.S - If youāre interested in placing an ad in Podcast The Newsletter or Podcast Marketing Magic, fill out this form
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Kate Helen Downey
Kate Helen Downey is the host and creator of the podcast CRAMPED, and co-founder of NYC science comedy spot Caveat.
Describe your podcast in 10 words or less:
An investigation into why we know so little about period pain
What inspired you to create this series?
My own debilitating period cramps (I call them ādeath crampsā). For 22 years, I asked doctor after doctor what could be causing them and what could help me, and doctors would either shrug it off, tell me it was normal, or ask if Iād tried taking ibuprofen (I wish I had been able to respond with this meme but it didnāt exist yet and I had to make this one myself).
Over the years, I started opening up to other people about my death cramps, and I found A LOT of people who experienced the same thing. Enough people that it started to be very hard to believe doctors when they acted like theyād never heard of this before and couldnāt help me. It got more and more frustrating and obvious as I moved to bigger cities like New York and LA, and finally, like most research nerds pissed off about something very specific, I started a podcast.
Youāve produced some incredible podcasts (Wonderyās Diss & Tell, Glamorous Trashāto name a few). What has it been like stepping in front of the microphone?
First of all, thank you! I loved working on those shows. When I was planning the podcast, I was really worried about getting in front of the mic - Iām very comfortable behind the scenes, developing and shaping ideas and supporting the people doing the public-facing work. Once I started recording, that kind of just went away. I think that has a lot to do with the material - it turns out Iāve been saving up so much to say about cramps and the medical system, and saying it into a mic is very satisfying. If you asked me to just talk into a mic and be interesting, Iād get very self conscious. But if you want to hear about how the majority of medical studies are done on male rats and mice, you canāt shut me up. Itās always much easier for me to be in front of a mic when I have information that Iām excited to share.
What was the research process like? Did anything surprise you along the way?
EVERYTHING surprised me. Just how little we know about menstruation, a process that happens to about half the population for half their lives. Itās surprising to me how incurious science and medicine has been about period pain, which affects up to 90% of menstruating people. Historical things surprised me, like how many plants and herbs have been used for menstrual pain and have been passed down through generations of female healers, then lost.
I started my research by reading books like āFor Her Own Goodā by Barbara Ehrinreich and Deirdre English (a bedrock feminist history of womenās health first published in the 70s) and Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. I had long evenings perusing medical studies on the NIHās website, and frantically texting my scientist friends to make sure I understood them. I tried to answer a question as much as I could with research available to me via books or scientific studies, and when I hit a dead end, Iād find an expert to ask my questions to.
The show perfectly blends science, storytelling, and dark humorāhow did you land on that tone, and why was it important to approach the topic that way?
Haha well I think a large part of that is just my personality, which is mostly science, storytelling, and dark humor. I would lose my mind if I had to research and digest and find a way to talk about this topic without humor.
Iāve wondered if the way I approach this topic is kind of naive - Iām basically asking āwhy are we all ok with women being in so much pain all the time??ā, and likeā¦we know about the patriarchy, right? But Iām weirdly fascinated by the fact that we all live in and operate as part of a system that we all agree SHOULD help everybody whoās in pain and needs help, but we also know that it doesnāt, and we justā¦keep going. So I feel like a little kid going āno but WHY?ā over and over again until I understand where it all went wrong. And I think normal people maybe donāt need to understand unjust systems in this granular, specific way, but I do! I need to be angry in the correct direction, yāknow?
What do you hope listeners take away from the show, and what conversations do you hope it sparks?
I hope I can deliver an understanding to people of just how little medicine actually knows about female bodies, and how stupid that is. Itās easy to go to a doctor with a problem and take their answer as the be-all-end-all, but ultimately doctors are just people, and theyāre part of a deeply broken system that was never built for us in the first place. I want people to fully understand how much of an afterthought we are in medicine, so we can place our experiences in the medical system within the right context, and not blame ourselves in any way. Thereās just so much information about our own bodies that we have to go out and get ourselves. Is that fair? No. But itās crucial to our survival and our quality of life. So I want people to understand the stakes there, and hopefully provide some resources and directions people can go in to find the information so they can get what they ultimately need.
What didnāt I ask you that I should have?
What helps my period pain! My toolbox for period pain is deep and wide, and right now whatās helping the most is:
starting to take ibuprofen prophylactically (before my cramps start), 48 hours before Iām due to start my period
drinking red raspberry leaf tea the week before my period (studies show it can be as effective as ibuprofen if taken BEFORE cramps start)
taking a valium if the cramps are starting to get death-y
using period underwear or a pad instead of a cup or a tampon the whole first day
a wireless heating pad/TENS machine
šØIf u only have time for 1 thingšØ
On PastMaster, Ryan, Tan and Keon role-play choose-your-own adventure games, taking their guests back in time to test whether or not theyād survive or change the course of of Stonehenge, Pride & Prejudice times, or even 2003 Harvard where Mark Zuckerberg was inventing TheFacebook, using AI to guide the game. I recommend the episode with Heidi Regan, who chose to transport us all to Nottingham and cosplay as Robin Hood (her hero, which makes Heidi my hero.) The whole way Ryan, Tan and Keon are pulling her though, asking her what to do when she comes upon soldiers (Heidi chooses to flirt fight with them) or free innocent people from jail. AI makes creators nervous, but this is a fun way to use it. Episodes of PastMaster are wildly creative, ridiculous, and funny improv sketches you get to listen in on. Listen here. If you sign up for the newsletter you can play the game yourself! When I did it, I went back to Ancient Egypt to lead an attack against Pharaoh Ramesses IIās enemies and not to brag but I won and was given a position as a Royal Advisor.
notes
āØSign up for my Marketing 101 Radio Bootcamp here. Iām switching up the format a bit to be more individualized for all who attend!
āØIām speaking at Podcast Movement Evolutions with Arielle Nissenblatt next month and am so excited. Come find me!
āØArielle spotlighted Embedded: Alternate Realities in EarBuds.
špodcasts i texted to friendsš
šļøWhen Celebrity Book Club (with Steven and Lily) launched on Jan 5th, 2021 I refused to listen to it because I was a Chelsea Devantez loyalist, and Chelsea had launched a show with the same name on Sep 28th, 2020 and I was like āwho do these assholes think they are?ā I was so wrong to do this, these assholes are hilarious. (Chelsea has since renamed her show Glamorous Trash so I can listen in good conscience.) Steven and Lily are just plumb hysterical people who put extra effort into their reviews of celebrity memoirs, with sound effects and acting. (When roasting Bethenny Frankelās memoir they spoke almost fully in character of Bethenny, I think I spit coffee through my nose laughing.) On their last episode they announced that iHeart dropped them, and that sucks but Iām sure they'll be juuuussssst fine, if not better. They arenāt ending the podcast, but they are moving everything to Patreon. I always talk about how much I love great last episodes and boy did they go out with a bang. They reviewed something fitting, Howard Sternās memoir, and before dashing out of the iHeart offices did a muckbang of random girlsā salads and snacks from the lunch room. They also talked about why it meant so much to come into those offices and speak on mic in a studio. They even sort of thanked some people at iHeart, including the hallway. Their transparency and creativity in the way they approached their dismissal is proof that they have so much more in them. My honest prediction: it might be rough at first, without a team, but in the end this show will be a strong survivor. Listen here, subscribe to their Patreon here. Their $10/month tier is labeled āFuck iHeart.ā
How I discovered it: I subscribed to it when it launched but it took me awhile to listen to an episode due to Chelsea Devantez loyalism
šļøThe creators of Letās Make Aā¦ (Sci-Fi, Horror, Rom Com) Mark Chavez and Ryan Beil are building a town, episode by episode and guest by guest, with their show The Town Show. Guests come on to pitch new residents, landmarks, monuments, local celebrities, history, and events that shape the town. This is a great exercise to get funny people talking about their own hometowns. You really should start with episode one (āin the beginning, there was nothingā¦ā) with comedian Peter Oldring, who introduces a weird advice columnist named Barnaby. We get to hear a letter from a teen who wants to get asked to prom and Barnabyās advice and Barnabyās interview with the newspaper editor. As episodes progress characters come back and things get more chaotic. Listen here.
How I discovered it: Apple Podcasts feature
šļøOn The Dream, Jane Marie has broken formatāunlike her previous seasons, which covered one story in depth, she is doing a mixed bags of episodes about things that, I dunno, just seemed fucked up. The one she dropped last week was a conversation with Charlotte Isenberg, who at 16 became an anti-abortion spokesperson, despite the fact that she had never had an abortion. This is a must-listen because itās a fucking terrifying story that Charlotte details in this 90-minute interview. The Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising used her as a pawn in their mission, stalking her, harassing her and her family, and ultimately almost got her admitted against her will to a psyche ward. I never BOLD regular text in my newsletter but: Charlotte was almost arrested for thinking about having an abortion. Her story is a reminder of the real life scary consequences of what is happening in America right now and that all the regulations, information, urgency, sidewalk counseling, and hoops women must jump through to get an abortion are designed to overwhelm them, tempting them to stay home. I am also listening to the new season of Nobody Should Believe Me, which covers Munchausen by Proxy. Speaking of the moms who exaggerate or even cause thier childrenās illnesses for attention, she says āwe underestimate what extremely relentless people can do.ā I think that applies to a lot of these right-wing groups like Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising. This episode is a warning. And now that I think about that, maybe that is the theme of the new season of The Dream. Listen here.
How I discovered it: I subscribe, had fallen off this season, but saw people talking about this episode on Reddit and Arielle texted me about it.
šļøWhen the third episode of Personally came out this morning I found it so intriguing I listened to that, then episodes of one two and three all over again. Itās now that I thought it was going to be about. At first we hear about Alex Kurzem, who allegedly, as a young boy, watched from afar his family be massacred by the Nazis during the Holocaust, fled, got lost in the woods for a bit and then was found, by Nazis. After confirming that Alex was Jewish they decided to take him in as a Nazi soldier instead of killing him. By the time we hear from Alex, his niece had recorded hours and hours of tape with him. But he had been living under a false identity for so long he no longer could remember who he was. Or could he? Was he lying? Alexās stories feel like fables and itās starting to look like he and his son, were fabricating a pretty good one, completely capitalizing on the Holocaust. So how do you separate fact from fiction? Dan Goldberg hosts this show that is both history and biography and will have you wondering who Alex really was. Maybe we find out, I have no idea. I know I could Google this but Iām really enjoying myself. Listen here.
How I discovered it: Longtime subscriber.
šļøDiabolical Lies is hard to explain, I guess, the lack of my ability to explain it is what makes me like it. It feels part of my brain, or what I wish was part of my brain if I were a smart person. Itās two writers, Katie Gatti Tassin and Caro Claire Burke, talking about smart things. Itās a less-focused Youāre Wrong About with a bit more justified rage. Itās not telling you what to think itās a podcast that teaches you how to think. (I think I heard one of them say this in one of the episodes I listened to so Iām stealing it but itās true.) For example. A recent episode was technically about Lily Philips, the sex worker and OnlyFans influencer who had sex with 100 men in a day for her channel. They watched a lot of porn for reporting purposes, as well as the viral documentary that was made about Lily. (That she did not profit from.) But underneath that topic is a heftier one about consensual sex work and beneath that is one about assumptions and what we do not need evidence for to believe. We are conditioned to believe that women like Lily couldnāt possibly want to be gang banged, that she was doing this for attention. We make so many assumptions about female desire (a threat to the patriarchy!) that I, a 40-year-old female-identifying person, am still trying to unlearn things and figure out what my own desires are. I also listened to part of an episode that included a brain-breaking conversation about blondeness, which was also about the concept of femininity in Trumpās America. I could only listen to 30 minutes of that because I am not yet a paid subscriber to their Substack which means I get one episode per month and only teasers of the rest. The episode I listened to was 134 minutes long but did not feel like it.) Listen to that here.
How I discovered it: Reddit thread
šļøIn March 2024, Nora McInerny put Terrible, Thanks for Asking on hiatus because after ten years of grieving the death of her husband sheās no longer terrible! The show has picked back up with a new name, Thanks For Asking. Nora received a letter from a widow who became undone when his wife died from cancer and created an AI version of her. For the episode AI Wife, Nora calls him on the phone and he explains how it began at his sonās soccer game, something he knew his wife would have loved, and how it evolved. And what his son thinks about all of this. He says at one point that he canāt imagine how his communication with his wife will be in ten years. āThe technology is moving so fast.ā Here is something that I find so unsettling offering what seems like necessary comfort to someone else. Listen here.
How I discovered it: Longtime subscriber to Terrible, Thanks for Asking.
šļøI know I write a lot about biblical and religious podcasts and that might not be for everyone but my hope is that youāll give them a try if you like history or philosophy or weird shit or storytelling or fables or Greek myths or tall tales because itās all related to religious studies. Data Over Dogma is a new deep dive Iāve found that puts Biblical scholar Dr. Dan McClellan and atheist podcaster Dan Beecher to do sensical reviews of the Bible. Beecher is there to ask questions and is a stand-in for the listeners who are like āI donāt believe any of this shit or anything in the neighborhood of any of this shitā¦why should I care?ā I listened to an episode about The Gnostics that is such a good 101 to Gnosticism, explaining who the Gnostics were. Understanding Gnostic beliefs and where the Gnostics came from helps us reframe the entire bible and understand why we view Christianity in a certain way and why early Christianity would be completely unrecognizable to Christians today. This is a really approachable fun way to talk about the bible. Listen here.
How I discovered it: Reddit
šļøThereās a series called Lucky Boy running on the Tortoise Investigates feed about a 27-year-old teacher who had sex with her 14-year-old student āGareth.ā That was in the 80s and today Gareth is wondering what exactly happened and how. With the help of reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou, heās remembering how you go from not having sex with to having sex with your teacher, what this did to his family, and going back to try to find anyone who can help him piece the story together, hopefully getting answers to questions he didnāt even know to ask when he was younger. But itās really hard because what they find is that this is something everyone, including all the teachers, knew about at the time, but also something that hardly anyone will admit to knowing about now. Memory is weird, and Gareth admits his brain has only been able to capture bigger events, not smaller ones. Wrangling answers out of people forty years later is like, to quote Chloe, āplanning a school reunion for a bunch of people who donāt want to show up.ā People want this in the past but itās not in Garethās past. Chloe gets someone on the phone who still thinks this whole thing was unsinister and completely consensual, and that Gareth was being opportunistic, that this is excusable because it was a āmuch more innocent time.ā lol (Context: PIE, The Paedophile Information Exchange, a British pro-pedophilia activist group, wasnāt disbanded until 1984.) So is Gareth still a casualty of that time? Start here.
How I discovered it: I subscribe but might have missed it had Tortoise not emailed me a press release.
šļøThe first new episode of The Industry in over a year is here. It tells the story of The Linguini Incident, a movie that seems to have everything going for itāDavid Bowie, Rosanna Arquette, linguini. The Industry is a show about movies that were made despite a lot going wrong, and The Linguini Incident didnāt get off to a good startāRichard Shephard and Tamar Brott were tasked to rewrite a (terrible) movie that had already been shot and supervise the hiring of actors and the recording of all the dialogue. This is the film that really damaged Richardās career, and heās on the show to talk about it, and how he tried to fix it. I was wincing listening to hear how this went from a dream to a disaster. Any creative person will feel that pain. I love The Industry because Dan Delgado understands and appreciates film in a really relatable way and he also understands and appreciates storytelling. This show proves that the story behind the scenes is always better than the one you actually pay to see. If you want to hear a REALLY wild episode, listen to my personal favorite How Grizzly II: Revenge Was Released After 37 Years. Listen to the episode about The Linguini Incident here.
How I discovered it: Pitch letter from Dan Delgado that was so good it did not feel like a pitch letter.
šļøI love you!
ā¤ļø Podcast Tink Loves ā¤ļø Lost Cells
What does it mean to lose something as valuable as our own DNA? Thatās one of the many questions in Lost Cells, a gripping investigative podcast series that uncovers the human stories behind the promises and failures of high-tech health solutions.
This 6-part multilingual series (English, French, and Spanish) uncovers the misconduct of a Swiss-based stem cell bank, weaving together personal accounts from families across the globe.
In Spain, a former journalist with a terminal illness searches desperately for his daughterās stem cells, hoping they can save his life. In Serbia, a familyās plans to help their daughter through cutting-edge research collapse when the promises of the Cryo-Save stem cell bank are broken. Meanwhile, from Switzerland to the United States, a team of journalists works to uncover the truth behind these failures.
As these families embark on an emotional quest to secure life-saving stem cells, they confront broken promises, ethical challenges, and uncertain outcomes, prompting listeners to consider the ethical implications of the pursuit of hope at any cost.
Immediately subscribed to so many shows recommended this week! Yay!