Four days, loves. This episode is the pre-game: me, Dr. Nan Wise (sex therapist, neuroscientist, and the woman who taught me the phrase healthy hedonism), and Natasha, the former legal aid attorney behind @votingshoes, one of the most joyful voting accounts on Instagram. Nan reached out to Natasha and Natty and the Women Take Charge Collective was born. This conversation is what happened when the three of us got in a room: a complete voting plan for Tuesday, a crash course in the down ballot races that touch your daily life most, and the neuroscience of why joy, connection, and pleasure are not a distraction from the work. They ARE the work.
What you'll hear:
🔥 Why these midterms are Congress's two-year job evaluation ("Congress works for us, and we can fire them")
🔥 Down ballot 101: school boards, state legislators, local judges, county commissions, and how to research yours fast before Tuesday
🔥 The voting plan, step by step: find your polling place today, vote early, what to do if anything goes wrong at the polls, your rights in line, and how to track your ballot
🔥 Dr. Nan on co-regulation and the seeking system: why overwhelm freezes voters, why curiosity breaks the freeze, and why talking to your neighbor is a political act
🔥 Pleasure activism and its lineage, from Audre Lorde's "Uses of the Erotic" to Toni Cade Bambara's charge to make the revolution irresistible to adrienne maree brown's Pleasure Activism, and what joy as resistance looks like four days before an election
The framework: This episode lives in The Rise. Three women met on a Zoom and became a collective. That's how it starts.
Make your plan (do this today):
Find your polling place and early voting locations: visit your Secretary of State's website (google your state + secretary of state) or from your phone: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
If you're in line before polls close, you have the right to vote, no matter how long it takes
About half the states offer same-day or Election Day registration; check yours
Tuesday: wear shoes that mean something, take the photo, tag @votingshoes
Join us: the Women Take Charge Collective is live on Instagram; DM the word "JOIN" to Dr. Nan [https://www.instagram.com/askdoctornan/] and you're in. One goal a week, together, with pleasure. And our free community is always open: https://thefemininerebellion.com/community
About the guests: Dr. Nan Wise is a sex therapist, neuroscientist, and author. Natasha of @votingshoes is a former legal aid attorney and voter protection volunteer whose account turns voting into a celebration
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