13.5: Freewheeling with Sarah and Jen: We’re Big Mad

Y’all asked for more rants, and boy do we have some for you this week! Alabama passed a terrible law, Georgia and Ohio are right there with them, and other states are following suit. Jen and Sarah are talking bodily autonomy — contraception, pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, hysterectomy and abortion and how they exist in romance novels. Get your pens ready — we’ve got a library full of books to talk about.

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We’re taking a break next week (Happy Memorial Day! Eat a cheeseburger for us!)…but will be back to regular IAD programming in two weeks with Dark Skye. Get ready to have your heart ripped out by these childhood lovers turned enemies turned lovers again! Poor Lanthe has been running from her Vrekener, Thronos since Kiss of the Demon King, and finally she gets her story! Read Dark Skye at Amazon, B&N, Apple Books, Kobo, or from your local Indie.

Show Notes

• That Victoria Dahl tweet about hysteria.
• More about the forced birth laws sweeping through several states, and where you can donate your money if you're so inclined.
• How transgender and gender nonconforming people might be especially endangered from this recent spate of laws.
• Sarah's twitter thread asking about romances with abortion.
• Fanny Hill and some of the illustrations.
• Tinctures, tonics, and teas.
• The portrayal of abortion in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
• The perils of abstinence-only education.
• Romance is a powerful tool for sex-education, but not all authors view it as a responsibility.
• Romance euphamisms FTW.
• Screenshots from the scene Sarah referenced in Jane Feather's Vixen.
• All about the efficacy of birth control.
• French Letters had to soak for two hours (at least)...oh! And we forgot the best (ACTUAL WORST) part: They were reusable. --scream emoji--
• Sarah says we should all watch the TV show Harlots, and not just because it shows French letters.
• "220/221 whatever it takes," is a quote from Mr. Mom. Actually, we talked about a lot of 80s movies on today's episode, including The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally. But we didn't mention Dirty Dancing which has a botched back alley abortion. We meant to...but this is what happens when you don't take good notes before you rant.
• This 2011 paper about condoms and birth control in romance is VERY INTERESTING.
• A link to the Twitter conversation about PrEP.
• Pulling out is weirdly more effective than you'd think for preventing pregnancy, but not at all effective for preventing STIs.
• All about Plan B.
• The Pop Culture Library at Bowling Green University is a place both Jen and Sarah would like to visit. Librarian Steve Ammidown is the 2019 RWA Librarian of the Year.
• Kelly Faircloth writes great articles about romance for Jezebel.
• Endometriosis deserves more attention than it gets.
• What it means to be "childless by choice."
• Jen's post about miscarriage in romance, and some statistics about how often miscarriages happen.
• 25% of American women have had an abortion.
• Sweet Liar is the only romance that Sarah can think of that references a vasectomy--please tell us if you've got other examples?
• The Jezebel article wondering how many more abortion stories we have to share.
• If you're on FB, check out Sarah's OSRBC (Old School Romance Book club).