The Mahilla Collective: Recent Episodes
Mahilla Collective
A slice of life podcast series for all the clueless, confused and overwhelmed twenty-somethings. Join three best friends in their struggle as they question everything they have ever been taught, and navigate life as ziddi “feminist types”. Music by: Shirish Prakash Singh
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Tune into the last episode of season 1 of TMC as the Mahillas sit down and get real. Hear them talk about their favourite episodes, share some books, movies and podcast recommendations and as always, some learnings and unlearnings.
The topic for todays episode stems from a recent discussion where we started to identify what saviour complex is and how it translates itself in various situations leading people to feel like they need to save humanity and the world.
We dissect how this altruism can vary from being beneficial to being extremely performative. Building on that, we explore what it means to make a difference - and the expectations we have from ourselves and the top 0.01%
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In this episode we question and dissect what's so great about following your passion? From being fed ideas about having perfect jobs you love to every movie romanticising the struggling artist, we discuss how the idea of a career has evolved for us as we’ve entered the workforce. While LinkedIn and Youtube gurus continue to sell us ways to ‘hustle’ to succeed, we discuss the nuances around these themes and the possibility of alternate ideas of success and careers. Follow us on Instagram @themahillacollective
From taboos and myths we first heard as teenagers to the idea of ‘becoming a woman’, everything around periods carry a misogynistic undertone in our society. While we moved on from being ashamed of periods, adulthood came with its own challenges of navigating workplaces, questioning laws and challenging restrictions.
For this episode we have our friend Sanjana joining us as we discuss our experiences, learnings around “those days” and dissect them with a feminist lens.
Gloria Steinem's Essay: If Men Could Menstruate
In this satirical essay published in an early issue of Ms. magazine (October 1978), feminist activist and journalist Gloria Steinem “flipped the script” to show how a natural reproductive process, which is considered negative and stigmatized because it is associated with women’s bodies, would become positive and worthy of attention and pride if it were associated with men’s bodies.
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In this episode, we talk about sex positivity, erotica, porn and all things carnal.
The three of us got down to discussing our earlier experiences with porn and how our ideas around sex positivity have evolved over the years as feminists. Growing up together in the most pivotal years of early adulthood, our sensibilities evolved in the same way and so we thought to bring a fresh perspective to this conversation.
We also felt we still have a long way to go to understand the nuances this topic entails and how these ideas have evolved through history and culture
For this very special interview episode, we have managed to rope in an expert, Divyani, a Media and Cultural Studies graduate from TISS Mumbai, who is going to help us learn more about this.
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In this episode we are talking about toxic masculinity. From glorifying stoicism and dominance to looking down on any form of emotional expression, patriarchy and its expectation of what a “man” is supposed to do and look like ends up harming everyone - whether its cis het men and women or queer people. This is a very special episode since we have our friends Ayush and Sankalp joining us, as we discuss how toxic masculinity manifests in their lives, and their lived experiences around it. Follow us on instagram @themahillacollective
In this episode, we discuss a category of child workers who hit the headlines in another way. Their labour is glorified. They are feted, photographed, pampered and spoiled. But, they also toil and are deprived of their childhood, and often their rights.
We’ll be discussing child celebrities, the kind of agency they have over their life and finally why we are calling it labour.
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In this episode we discuss women solidarity and how it manifests in our lives. From girlfriends we literally can't imagine living without, to really kind strangers in club washrooms. We discuss how we unlearnt the internal misogyny that pits women against each other, and discovered the power of women friendships. The first TMC Roundtable, in this episode we have our very own girl-gang Mansi and Shreya joining us! Follow us on Instagram @themahillacollective
On News and Views | In this episode, we discuss the news and our relationship with it as millennials, zilllenials & genz consumers, in an increasingly polarised world.
Since this relationship is so deeply linked with social media today, we discuss its consequences and how we have been fighting off echo chambers, along with some healthy habits for news consumption.
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Be it unconscious bias, harmless jokes or, downright misogyny, women’s intelligence still continues to be undermined. With even scientific papers trying to prove this notion, we try to understand why it is still prevalent in 2021 and learn to recognise and fight it from our own past experiences.
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In this episode, we discuss celebrities and their complicated relationship with activism. We often see people turning to celebrities - mostly film stars and cricketers to take a stand on sociopolitical issues and make their opinion public. From their statements being scrutinized to their followers agreeing blindly, this can lead to a mixed bag of consequences. We discuss and debate the whys and why nots of this expectation and also question the change in tune when similar statements are made by people in power.
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Write to us on themahillacollective@gmail.com
In this episode, we discuss a genre that is our comfort food, entertainment source and agony aunt all in one - Romantic Comedies. While we grew up with bollywood and hollywood movies defining our ideas of love and relationships, we often failed to recognise the problematic themes that were propagated through them. Breaking down romcoms old and new, we try to analyse them with a feminist lens and discuss the impact they have had on society, our lives and how we watch them differently now! Follow us on Instagram @themahillacollective
In this episode, we discuss women and their relationship with money. As young women who recently started earning, we were faced with questions on personal finance and hit with realisations of our gendered family dynamics around money. Going through this during the pandemic further highlighted the deeper cracks. With personal stories and observations, we examine women’s autonomy, access gap and conditioning on money matters through the ages.
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Write to us on themahillacollective@gmail.com
In this episode we discuss ‘Sharing The Load’ of household work and its gendered facets. Drawing from our own experiences and recent revelations in the pandemic, we try to understand the origins of the disproportionate division of housework and caregiving, and its impact on women, men and society.
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Write to us on themahillacollective@gmail.com
Join three women as they try to figure out how to introduce their beloved podcast!
Music by: Shirish Prakash Singh
Follow us on Instagram @themahillacollective
Write to us on themahillacollective@gmail.com
In this week's episode we are discussing sexism in schools and early childhood. Whether it was the boys locker room incident or general feminist awakenings we’ve had in our 20s, we realised the extent of sexism and misogyny we faced at our schools. From shaming young girls, villifying relationships, to not holding boys to same standards. With our new found perspective, we try to dissect some of our childhood experiences and how they went a long way in shaping our lives.
Follow us on Instagram @themahillacollective
Write to us on themahillacollective@gmail.com