In one of our favorite episodes of the year, we're deviating from our typical rhetoric and recapping a Christmas movie instead. A banger, if you will. In "Hot Frosty" the vet from Schitt's Creek is a snowman who comes alive (naked) after being wrapped in an ugly red scarf given to him by Gretchen Weiner of "Mean Girls" fame. Darryl from The Office is too big of a name to be in this but is anyway. The entire movie focuses on the single lady who shouldn't be single because everyone needs a man, even if he's a snowman. That's where the bar is now. Please enjoy and we'll see you in 2025 with more stories of men behaving badly. Real men, not snowmen.

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.

If you’re experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please reach out to someone you trust. You can also connect with a trained advocate near you through DomesticShelters.org.

Finally, help us keep this conversation going. Share an episode of Toxic with a friend, your dentist, or even the person next to you in line at the grocery store. 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.

Many survivors of domestic violence don’t realize they’re being abused until years have passed. They convince themselves it’s something else—a bad day at work, a short temper, too much to drink or deep-seated childhood wounds that therapy might heal. They hold onto hope that things will change. But then, a pattern emerges—unrelenting, undeniable. Promises are broken, help doesn’t stick and sobriety doesn’t bring peace.

Joan was one of those survivors. For nearly a decade, she rationalized her husband Michael’s behavior. It wasn’t until the night he came after their family with a knife that Joan knew she had to escape. She got out, saving herself and her two children, but what came next was just as harrowing: a court system that refused to protect her. Instead, it turned the blame on her.

This episode highlights Joan’s story and introduces the Family Violence Appellate Project, a nonprofit that helps survivors appeal unjust court decisions in California and Washington.

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.

If you’re experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please reach out to someone you trust. You can also connect with a trained advocate near you through DomesticShelters.org.

Finally, help us keep this conversation going. Share an episode of Toxic with a friend, your dentist, or even the person next to you in line at the grocery store. 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.

Deep breath. It's been a week. We come to you downtrodden and unshowered to commiserate in our feelings, all of which are valid. No dissection of Kamala's campaign, no grand plans for the future today — just acknowledgment that things are shitty but [hopefully] won't be forever because guess what? Women are strong as hell.

We're sorry that not enough white women knew the assignment. Black women, thank you once again for showing up. We have so much work to do to address racism, internalized misogyny and ignorance in our culture. We thought we were making some progress but LOLOLOL.

Sigh. We'll make it, ladies. When DT speaks of the enemy within, let's raise our hands and say, "Present."

With the election TOMORROW (have you voted or made a plan to vote?) we had to discuss .... what is it about women having power that makes certain individuals (read: mostly men) so peeved?

The idea of a woman in power intimidates and angers a certain group of people, by and large men, because it challenges cultural gender role norms. It disrupts the domestic power imbalance so carefully put in place by many organized religions. And it means that if women can do everything men can do [better], what's next? Will men start to be treated the same way they've treated us for centuries....? Gasp! Not that!

Let's talk a little history, a little misogyny and a little hot dish.

Remember, YOUR VOTE MATTERS. Now more than ever. Get yer ass to the polls tomorrow and fill in those little ovals you patriotic people!

As we approach our 100th episode of Toxic, we have a special favor to ask of you. If you enjoy the podcast, will you please take two minutes and rate and review us on whatever platform you're on? Did you know there are over 4.19 million podcasts in the world? You have more than a few to choose from. Which is why standing out as a little podcast like ours is rough. We believe we have important issues to discuss and women to fight for, so please help us by doing this one simple thing to elevate Toxic just a tad.

Do you have a story you think we need to discuss or a guest we should have on? Visit us at ToxicthePodcast.com and tell us all about it.

As always, if you are experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please consider disclosing to someone you trust. You can also reach out to a trained domestic violence advocate—find one near you at DomesticShelters.org.

In family courts around the country, judges are punishing protective parents who think it's not a swell idea for their abusive exes to have unfettered and unsupervised access to their children after a divorce. What sense does it make that the survivor parent gets to be free while the children do not?

Protective parents, like Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins out of Colorado, are threatened, silenced and even jailed if they protest or dare to speak out publically about this injustice. Rachel, now out of jail and with her kids safe-ish, wants to tell us what happened in her own words and we're only too happy to give her the microphone. Remember that while Rachel's case received national attention, so many other survivors' stories never do.

Apologies for the audio snafu around the 50-minute mark. It was mistakenly left in, so alas, it stays. #reallife

Do you want to tell your story on Toxic? Or, do you have a story you think we need to discuss or a guest we should have on? Visit us at ToxicthePodcast.com and tell us all about it.

As always, if you are experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please consider disclosing to someone you trust. You can also reach out to a trained domestic violence advocate—find one near you at DomesticShelters.org.

Please help us spread this conversation further by sharing an episode of Toxic with a friend, your equally angry friend, a random stranger in line to vote, etc., by following us on your favorite podcast platform or social media, or by leaving us a [positive] review. We appreciate you.

Make it make sense. Known pedophile, child porn distributor and trafficker Randy Volar is arrested by police in Kenosha, Wisc., in 2018. Hundreds of abuse videos of underage Black girls are found in his possession. He is released the same day without bond. Two months later, one of his victims, Chrystul Kizer, kills him. She's 17 and has been trafficked by him since she was 16. Last month, a Wisconsin judge sentenced her to 11 years behind bars. Her story is one of failures on all levels by society, adults and a system that did nothing to protect her.

After we tell Chrystul's story, we welcome on Kelly Diane Galloway, president and founding director of Project Mona’s House, the only restorative shelter for survivors of human trafficking in the U.S., located in Buffalo, NY. This amazing advocate shares her insight into what went wrong here and why society is misunderstanding the nuances of trafficking. Because Chrystul is not alone — Cyntoia Brown, Pieper Lewis, Maryanne Atkins are just a few of the victims who chose to protect themselves from horrible men and were punished as a result.

As we mention in the episode, if you want to send your support to Chrystul, she’s serving time at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution. You can send her letters to the address below, or visit penmateapp, which offers a few other options for sending mail to an inmate, like directly from your phone, for a small fee.

Chrystul Kizer, DOC #00675639
Taycheedah Correctional Institution
PO BOX 189
Phoenix, MD 21131

If you are experiencing human trafficking, consider reaching out to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888, or visit HumanTraffickingHotline.org for more options.

If you are the victim of abuse or domestic violence, please consider disclosing to someone you trust. You can also reach out to a trained domestic violence advocate—find one near you at DomesticShelters.org.

It would help SO MUCH if you could spread this conversation further by sharing an episode of Toxic with a friend, your hair stylist, a random stranger in line at the DMV, etc.; by following us on your favorite podcast platform or social media; or by leaving us a (positive) review. We appreciate you.

Do you have a story you think we need to discuss or a guest we should have on? Visit us at ToxicthePodcast.com and tell us all about it.

This week's episode is not depressing! *Golf claps* Jenna and Amanda welcome psychologist and author Bonnie Zucker who wrote Take Control of OCD: A Kid's Guide to Conquering Anxiety and Managing OCD and Parenting Kids With OCD, among others, to talk about obsessive-compulsive disorder and how it particularly affects young people. While all genders are susceptible to this mental health obstacle, girls are more likely to be diagnosed earlier and at a higher risk overall. To what degree do our cultural norms play a part in perpetuating OCD symptoms? And what can you do if you or someone you know is struggling with compulsions? We've got answers. Well, Bonnie does. We're not psychologists. This is an episode you might want to actually listen to with your kids.

Before we bring on our guest, Amanda gives a quick update to last week's episode on Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins, the protective mom and survivor who was sentenced to jail for trying to keep her kids safe from her abusive ex. Spoiler alert: The judge has realized the error of his ways..... for now.

Remember, there are only 48 days until the election. It's time to put a woman in charge. Everyone 18 and over, make sure you're registered to vote at vote.gov. Your vote MATTERS. And if you need some sweet Kamala merch, visit ToxicthePodcast.com/merch. A hundred percent of our proceeds goes right back to Kamala for Prezzy.

As always, if you are experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please consider disclosing it to someone you trust. You can also reach out to a trained domestic violence advocate—find one near you at DomesticShelters.org.

Please help us spread this conversation further by sharing an episode of Toxic with a friend, MAGA family member, your gyno, the guy in front of you at the polls, etc., by following us on your favorite podcast platform or social media, or by leaving us a review. We appreciate you.

Ah, what fresh hell befell us this week? It was hard to pick just one thing to be angry about. There was the Georgia school shooting on Wednesday, making it the 45th school shooting of 2024. At Apalachee High School, a gunman who wasn't a drag queen took the lives of four people, injured nine others and traumatized indefinitely countless others. If only we could find a pattern to this madness that would help us stop it....

Around the 20-minute mark (if you want to skip ahead, it's OK), Jenna and Amanda discuss an enraging case out of Fort Collins, Colorado. A mom named Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins was found in contempt of court and sentenced to seven consecutive weekends in jail for not complying with court-ordered reunification therapy between her abusive ex-husband and her two youngest sons. This comes amidst a criminal investigation into her husband, a former cop, who has been accused of sexually molesting his daughters. The audacity of the court system, the judge and the therapist who's complicit in this is mind-boggling.

Advocates and lawmakers are rallying around Rachel calling for justice, and we're joining in that that protest. You can help by not only getting pissed, too, but by amplifying Rachel's story and sharing it with others. Speaking out about injustices en masse is what keeps people like this cop from feeling untouchable.

Links:

The letter to Colorado Supreme Court Justice Monica Màrquez mentioned in today's episode.

Rachel's GoFundMe for legal costs (hope she sues everyone when this is over).

The DomesticShelters.org piece on the BS that is "parental alienation syndrome."

Do you have a story you think we need to discuss or a guest we should have on? Visit us at ToxicthePodcast.com and tell us all about it.

As always, if you are experiencing abuse or domestic violence, please consider disclosing to someone you trust. You can also reach out to a trained domestic violence advocate—find one near you at DomesticShelters.org.

Please help us spread this conversation further by sharing an episode of Toxic with a friend, your dentist, a random stranger in line at the grocery store, etc., by following us on your favorite podcast platform or social media, or by leaving us a positive review. We appreciate you.