Hello, I have snuck an extra episode of my podcast into your inbox to celebrate International
Women's Day. My glorious producer, Nick McClure and I wanted to put together a bonus episode
to showcase our guests and the themes that resonate around this important event.
Now, let's just put aside the fact that really every day should be about celebrating women.
But as proud feminists, we wanted to mark the occasion with some of our guests and touch on
some of the ideas that they've shared with us. You'll hear stories about celebrating women's
achievements, raising awareness, influencing behaviour, smashing stereotypes and challenging
bias. And who better to kick us off the media superstar, Julia Morris. She's at a point in her
life and career where she's over putting up with sexism. Listen as she talks about challenging bias
and paving the way for young women as they make their way in the world.
After being actively as easy going as I could, the menopause created this reckoning within me,
but now I am calling stuff out. For the four minutes that you feel confident in this industry,
I feel confident enough to know if I've got a job for another 12 months,
as long as I don't go too hard, I can start to call things out a little bit.
There was one time when we were in Africa early in our series and we've co-produced with another
production company in South Africa and they've got Chris, this great big kind of Prado man,
four wheel drivey kind of vibe and they gave me like a little beep beep ladies town car.
The sibling in me is like, how come he gets that? That's my immediate school of thought.
And trying to actually say something, by the time I eventually say something, I go so hard
that it's like a bushfire where you're like, I probably didn't need to go that hard.
And now I'm learning to cut back the bushfire and say something like,
if I just had gone in and said, hey, are we covering different terrain?
Because I'm pretty sure we're going to the same locations.
But now I feel like I can call some stuff out because people don't notice the
discrepancy between men and women's stuff. At one point, because it was so remote,
we are really in the middle of the low-veld, which is what we call the jungle floor.
We are out in it. You've got to walk 20 minutes into the bush to get anywhere near the set.
And when we first started to do that, they had a, and because you've got to go out to the road,
the road is the only place where that sort of power is for a mobile toilet.
But there wasn't a loo in its set because it was like a wooden playground, essentially.
And so like a couple of weeks in, I'd be like, hang on, what are girls meant to do?
So you can't step off set. You certainly can't step off set for a half an hour.
Walk 15 minutes to where the toilet is and walk 15 minutes back.
Because it had been built by men, probably signed off by men, men can wee over the side.
There's always this, you know what I mean? I don't have that sort of directional facility.
And then younger women than me, I mean, obviously, I do, you know, whatever, I've crossed over, but
what are younger women doing at a time when they actually need to be closer to a bathroom
once every four or five weeks. We're only out there for eight weeks.
So it was sort of using my power to push for, I didn't have to push that hard. I mean, you know,
the production company that we all work with is essentially pretty much
on all sorts of levels run by women. It's headed up by a man.
You know, a lot of that work, I'm not sure I'm just describing it in the wrong way,
but it's, you know, it is headed up by kick-ass women who know what they're doing.
So there's a real fairness in saying, hey, this is not right. What do we do about that?
And they're like, oh, we didn't even realise that was happening up there. Let's change that.
That's one of those things that I can make better for the women coming, you know, coming behind me.
And that is just one of the reasons that makes Julia Morris such a special woman.
Do you know, it also reminds me of a time early in my news presenting career,
when I was reading the news in what we call a double header. Now that basically means that
two of us are reading the news together and my co-host happened to be a man.
Now, check this out. I wasn't allowed to read the lead news story or do any interviews.
My male colleague did all of that. Now I copped that when I first started,
as I was young and also I knew that I needed more experience, but as the years passed, nothing
changed. Now around five years later, I'd been in the job for five years. I knew that I had to
stand up. I had to say something. And when I asked my boss why it was the way that it was,
he told me, now wait for it, that's because he's a man and you're a woman.
I was gobsmacked. I did know that that was the reason, but I still could not believe that my
boss had no problems at all articulating that to me. So you know what I did? I wrote down that
conversation on a bit of paper and then I went to our HR department. Now they of course tried to
laugh it off and say, oh, that's just him. He's just having a joke. But I said to them, wait a
minute. If you look at what happens around the entire network, at the time it was all double
header news bulletins with a man and a woman, not one woman read the lead news story or did
any interviews. HR didn't realise this. So when I pointed that out, there was silence.
You know what happened? I left their office. The following day, I read the main news story. And
from then on, we took turns. It then changed around the country, around that TV network.
Now that was 25 years ago. It's really not that long ago when you think about it. We still have
a way to go. But I think what that shows is that we need to raise our voices when we have the power
to do that. We don't always have that power. But when we're at a point in our lives where we can
use our voice, we must do it. So apart from doing that, how are we going to change the way that
women are treated in society? It is a big issue. Partly, I think what we need to do is to have
good men, good, decent men by our side. We're not going to do this on our own. Now, my husband,
Petey, he's a feminist. I mean, really, he hasn't got a choice, does he? He's married to me.
I'm pretty strong, as you know. He's also raising two very strong daughters. Now, another good man
who is making a difference for women is performer and proud Gamilaray man, Mitch Tambo. Here,
he talks about the trauma of domestic violence, how it doesn't discriminate, and that all women
need to feel safe. Look, it wasn't even like I intently set out to have real conversations
about DV, but immediately I just started to have these real conversations with some sisters around
me about their journey with domestic violence. It was quite full on. Then I dove a little deeper
in the statistics, which were just so full on at the time and varied, but it was almost like 35
times to 80 times more likely to be impacted by domestic violence than any other woman on the
planet or something like that. But varied stats depended upon location and whatever. But the
essence of it was there. It was like, wow, this is incredible. Wow, that is severe.
I went and seen Black Panther at the movies. It was when Black Panther was out and all these kids
are walking out pumped up. I was so emotional because in that movie, the way in which they
highlighted the beautiful women in the movie, it just made me think about our community's
pre-colonization, like these matriarchal societies where women are held so high with so much regard
and are at the front. In Black Panther, there's warrior women at the front, women leading medicine
and Black Panther's sister. Just the way it was shot, I think they encapsulated all this diverse
beauty and it just made me feel so emotional. Then the next day, Lazy Sunday, I got up,
put some Netflix on, watched a bit of Red Fern now, and I was with this sister. She got raped
in an alleyway, I think. I remember just laying on the ground. I shut my laptop and just laid
on the ground and cried for like, I don't know, half an hour or more, maybe near an hour. I think
it was like half an hour and then I just laid there reflecting because it just sort of all fell on my
shoulders like how real it is and how I think DV's been so normalized in a lot of ways and it's just
not cool and it made me reflect also. We talk about kings and queens and princesses and all
these royal titles and there's nothing more royal to me than coming from the oldest living
continual culture on the planet and that only being because of our beautiful women and that
gift of giving life, which is through their sacred womb. I just felt there's nothing more
royal than that. Because as you know, domestic violence doesn't discriminate. You can be a
billionaire and be in a DV relationship, so we need to have these open, honest conversations.
It wasn't to condemn brothers in my community or men in general, but also to go,
you know, if you are a perpetrator and you're currently belittling your partner,
making them feel small or physically harming them or any of those things,
then you need to look at that and you need to go and access counseling or,
you know, maybe you've got to go back on country and find healing, but you must find a way to put
an end to it because we can't keep making our trauma someone else's and we've got to put an
end to this cycle because, you know, our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our nieces,
all women have the right to feel safe and feel like their dreams and their life matters and
that's it for me, you know. Mitch Tambo there talking about how women are queens and how we
need to end the cycle of violence. Another queen is Jackie Oh. She is one of the most powerful and
influential women in Australian media. When she talks, people listen. So when she talks about
smashing stereotypes around body shape, it's a message that needs to be heard.
As I get older, I am a lot more comfortable with whatever my weight may be and I really thank
a lot of women out there for flying the flag to say, you know, bigger is beautiful,
thin is beautiful, all sizes are beautiful. When I was growing up, it was just the super
models who were beautiful and they were, you know, 5'10 and flawless and skinny and now
everything's changed. You've got, you know, whether you put down the Kardashians or you love them,
one thing I will say is they've really, some of them have really kind of flown the flag for
curves and how curves can be sexy and then you've got Bibi Rexha, you know, she's curvy and she
really flaunts it and Lizzo and these women, they love their bodies, they're not ashamed and that is
so inspirational and that's giving me inspiration and that's making me go, yeah, why do I care about
what's supposed to be beautiful in society? Just work on you feeling beautiful and everything will
come from there. So I realise how important it is to send that message out there to young girls
growing up because, you know, they need to see it's not all Photoshop and filters. It's good to,
and I've noticed a trend on Instagram where people aren't putting filters on anymore and they are
posting the real them and it's so good to see a little bit of a change there. And you know what,
there is nothing wrong with a bit of a filter. I mean I do love on Insta a Valencia filter,
it sort of gets away all of the tired bits on my face but what is important to me is being open
about that, being open about what is real and what is airbrushed and I think that then means
we take the pressure off ourselves, off other women about living up to an absurd body standard.
Now I'll tell you what was very open and that was this conversation that I had with TV star
Carl Stefanovic. We co-hosted The Today Show together over 15 years ago. Now that year was
one of the worst of my life. Now I hadn't spoken to Carl since that time so we were both pretty
nervous when we came together to have this conversation. Take a listen as Carl reflects
on that shocking treatment that I received during that time simply because I was a woman.
There was really disgraceful things written about both of us but more horrendously for you in papers
that today would get I think probably a great deal of attention and not in a positive way.
There's support now for women and women have found their voice and I think that's wonderful
but at the time for someone like you to be on your own and let's face it we were both getting
smashed but for you as a woman to have been attacked in the way that you were years later
when I was going through a third and fourth wave of all that stuff I remember thinking
god how did Jessica Rose survive because you're a mom, it's the hardest job in the world to do,
there was so much media attention and awful things written like personal disgusting I don't
know how you get up in the morning kind of things and for me years later to have thought
you know that again we were both there and we were both experiencing it in different ways but
not to have sort of sat and talked about it was is strange to me because now you would but I think
we were both under siege and we were both trying to survive and it just to me I it was really a
dark kind of period and there we are both of us trying to say good morning to the nation and try
and be happy when we were getting pummeled from every which way. But you know at the end of the
day it taught me to be tough and it taught me to have a thick skin and to be able to know where
the line is but it did take me a long time to get there and unfortunately for you it was like
you didn't have a guy next to you who could have protected you and helped you in the way that
that I should have and for that I'm always sorry and I should have been more there for you and
for me it was like you know I'm trying to do my own family thing I had newborns and I just completely
didn't think about anyone else it was like shut down city so you know this is part of why I'm
here today is to is to apologise to you I wish I'd been a better person a better man and a
stronger man not just for myself but for you. We have both grown up and changed since that time
and it meant a lot to me to have Carl say sorry in that way it is important isn't it to have those
hard conversations sometimes to say sorry to realise that hey we all make mistakes and the
only way that things are going to change for the better is if we recognise that
and if we grow from that and learn from those mistakes hey none of us are perfect I know I'm
not. Now author minimalist and philanthropist Sarah Wilson she's making big changes to the
way that we move through our world she is a strong woman who doesn't apologise for who she is
and what she wants. It's you know it's a peculiar time in history to be a woman with strong opinions
to be a woman who doesn't apologise for who she is and a woman who's you know financially independent
I don't need a man right I want a man in my life I'd love a love you know life partner the other
thing is Jess as you get older I mean hopefully you partner with somebody you're in a relationship
with somebody who actually encourages you to have a better life than you did before if you're going
backwards and that's not a good sign so as your life gets better and my life has got better as
I've got older it just does my bar has got higher not because I'm fussier it's just because my life
is a little bit awesome you know and richer and more full of character and whatever and so it
does become more difficult and I find I've generally found love overseas in other cultures
and that's why really I lived on the road for eight years in Australia I do find it quite
difficult I find if I'm going to be really honest I find that the Australian culture
is not wholly respectful of strong women you know we kind of get in the way we kind of get
in the way of the view of the surf. I think Sarah's strength coupled with her vulnerability
is her superpower now speaking of super how much do you love Dani Minogue I know I do she
is a chaser of joy and she is embracing turning 50 aging getting older it can be loaded for women
and Dani sees this significant birthday as a time to celebrate. 50 is a different one because it is
what I call a midlife celebration not a midlife crisis and thinking about you know my
grandma who's 101 so yes it's maybe going to be a midlife celebration maybe there's a lot more in
me who knows. For me 50 I really feel like yes this is who I am and I love it I love getting
older I don't I'm not frightened of getting older and it beats the alternative that that's what I
reckon. Yeah and that's how I've always felt and that's what I try to share with friends whenever
I catch them saying something negative about turning old and often they're not even aware
that it's come out of their mouth but it's just something you keep hearing you keep hearing so
then you start saying it yourself and that's why I keep saying midlife celebration midlife
celebration midlife celebration hopefully it catches on for some other people to go
oh yeah it's to be celebrated because my big like moment where it really made me think about it and
and I've thought about it every day since was my sister was sick with cancer we didn't know
if she would get through it it was a terrifying time my friend in London had cancer and then
another best friend got cancer and she passed away from it very young it was horrible and
from that moment onwards it really did upset me when I would hear someone say something negative
about getting older like you have another day on this planet yes you might have another wrinkle but
whatever it's you've got to enjoy every second of this precious life that you've been given.
And like Dani I'm all for making every single moment count. Champion Iron Woman Candice Warner
is also someone who doesn't waste a moment however she is open about how life hasn't always
been easy and how she manages to keep showing up. Yeah I probably feel like I've been rock
bottom quite a few times but every time I'm there such beautiful things come of that and
at the time you think there's no way out but you learn so much from those
places and when you are in such a deep spot you get to reassess your whole life and you sort of
think okay it doesn't get any worse where do I want to go from here who do I want to surround
myself with what do I want to stand for what mistakes have I made that I won't make again
and you you learn so much about yourself and you grow as a person and you're almost better for it
everyone's very quick to write people off but what people don't understand is the inner strength of
someone or what people are actually capable of when their backs are against the wall.
And that's it isn't it that you don't actually realise I think sometimes what you are capable
of until your back is against the wall. You're an absolute lioness because you just keep on keeping
on because there was another time too when I was so angry on your behalf when during South Africa
when there were disgusting horrible people throwing vile comments about you I am normally
a make-a-mile person but I was so angry on your behalf. How on earth do you endure that and cope
with that? Well I've kind of had to live with that so I have got used to it unfortunately we
live in a society where even just the other day I was going for a walk and people were calling
things out and in this day and age I just it blows my mind to think people are so narrow-minded
and yeah but you I have learned to live with it and when I did see that in South Africa when all
I was trying to do was support my husband go to a game of cricket and cheer on the Australian team
and I was forced to defend myself or to almost hide because I was embarrassed it was you know
it was a horrible horrible thing and it should never have been allowed the fact that some of the
officials at the time thought it was funny and had photos with the men who were posing with masks on
like I just think it just goes to show how far I feel we've come since then and that behaviour is
just not tolerated. Of course it's not and and the part that also outrages me so much is that as a
woman in the public eye we endure far more than any bloke ever has to and that's what makes me
furious too. Yeah we're very we're so quick to be judged if we lose weight we're too skinny we have
an eating disorder if we put on weight then then we're fat and you know we're unhealthy if we're
looking tired then you know something's going wrong at home we're always being judged and it's just
um it's not fair it's not right I don't know when that's going to change I hope it's soon but um
yeah it's it's not what you sign up for that's for sure. And Candice is right when will this change
how long do we have to put up with this oh I hope our girls don't have to deal with it and I do
believe that by sharing our experiences and using our voices in this way is one way that we are going
to see some change. Someone who is using their voice is Courtney Act. Courtney is one of the
first artists of our time to show their gender fluidity. In our conversation Courtney challenged
me about how I see gender and identity. The first time I put on drag I felt excited because I got
to explore femininity and I felt free and I was never socialized directly to understand what was
okay and what was not okay for a woman and because of that I don't have any of those um I don't have
any of that shame. I understand that I grew up in a essentially misogynistic society that taught us
all to feel certain ways about women and femininity but as far as you know um sitting with the well
I'm sitting with my legs crossed right now but as far as like how women should act and what they
should wear and how they should hold themselves I see those things and I can but I don't have any
of the shame about being a coquettish woman. But that's what's so fascinating I think and I think
you're spot on when you say that because as a woman you I know I sometimes have this sense
especially when I was younger not so much now but when I was younger grappling with oh no I shouldn't
be seen to be enjoying sex or looking for someone who I just I'm really sort of lusting after and
just for the sake of that yeah as opposed to oh no no a good girl doesn't do that exactly and the
fact that you didn't feel that way meant you could enjoy yeah so much more and also I just think it's
I just think it's I think that's also telling of how much of those feelings are not our own
that they're given to us by society because I think we often see what's in front of our face
and we often respond to our conditioning but we don't dig deeper or take a few steps back
and like I guess even the idea of like drag right me wearing women's clothes in in air quotes women's
clothes nobody was like born wearing clothes there was nothing that said
that people with vaginas had to dress a certain way or people who had penises had to dress a
certain way that's just something that we've all consensually agreed upon and so once you take a
step back maybe you can see that the idea that women should wear dresses is actually the absurd
thing not a boy wearing a dress and I think that's why I love doing what I do a I love
femininity but I also love again that disruption it's almost like that punk element of well hang
on wait maybe there's another way to think about this how cool is that I reckon there is a bit of
punk in all of us you know my hair is pink at the moment I do love to embrace a bit of a different
hair colour and as I get older I get more comfortable with who I am and I talk about
this sense of empowerment with creative soul and celebrity chef Po Ling Yao it's taken me so long
and I think it's a scourge that um a lot of women suffer from is just feeling comfortable in your
own skin I think it's taken me so long to get here and isn't it ironic that it's when it's
starting to deteriorate that you start to like it you'll you take take it for granted less
but and I think that's so freeing I mean I'm open though I have Botox I like to do little bits to
make myself feel refreshed but that's because it makes I make that decision as opposed to feeling
that you know society's forcing me to be that particular way no you know that's a really good
conversation to have I think there's um there's a lot of it that's going really far the other way
but I think there is I really I find it really interesting when I do a beauty post on Insta
and this I get a lot um no that I shouldn't exaggerate I get a lot of support for it but
then I'll get this small percentage that speak to me as if as a close to 50 year old woman I
need them to give me advice on on how I value myself because I just want to look my best and
I shouldn't feel like they're like going the other way like they're telling me that oh you know you
look perfectly good without makeup actually I don't can I just say I really don't look perfectly good
without makeup I don't feel great without makeup and I think that's completely fine to say that
and say that a little bit makes you feel better don't you think yeah so I think I think it makes
you feel great about yourself and just gives you that little pep in your in your step I think
fantastic oh I agree there is nothing more like the transformative power of a bright lippy as I
speak to you I am wearing coral lipstick and that idea of transformation is part of the conversation
I had with award-winning comedian Ursula Carlson she's used pure grit and laughter
to change the course of her life my brother once said to me you get all the lucky breaks I'm like
nah bro I'm ready I'm just ready I see it when an opportunity comes I will take it whether I
think I'm ready or not in my heart I would rather just go and learn as I go than miss the entire
opportunity whenever I talk to people now like people in the mall will say to me oh um I've
always wanted to try comedy but it's too late or whatever and I'm like as long as you're still
sucking in air if you're taking on board oxygen you have time you have time to change the direction
like I remember years ago I used to watch Oprah every afternoon after school I would get in I
can jog the last five um you know 500 meters to my house just to get in to watch Oprah
and there was a lady who um she and her husband had five kids I think and then they had all left
the house and she was a stay-at-home mum and then her husband retired and he died within a month of
retiring so she was like 60 I think 60 or 61 years old and she always wanted to be a doctor
and then all of a sudden she was a widow and an empty nester boom in a week you know and she's
like so she enrolled at university and when she was 70 she became a registered doctor
and she started practicing as a doctor and I thought if she can do it I can do it anyone can
do it like honestly if you can change the direction of your life like a handbrake turn and fast and
furious why wouldn't you Ursula's can-do attitude is so inspiring and it makes you think about
just going for it a woman who has also made things happen is singer songwriter and actor
Jessica Malboy she is a boss lady and she talks here about how she's grown in confidence as a
songwriter now she's unapologetic about owning who she is and what she's entitled to the last
five years I've been doing a lot of acknowledging of looking at the catalogue of you know my world
of music and what have I put out there and what have I not put out there and you know what do I
want to say next or how this situation made me feel and it's just kind of compiling all these
experiences and moments in my life and yeah it was like it was a struggle and I
feeling like welcome to my future like this this new future of like you know filtered unfiltered
but also a sense of like now kind of stepping out owning everything that I put out there I know
because I've I've approved it it come from me it's it is me this is this is what I want to say
and it just seemed so perfect to be able to you know say something that felt so strong but also
a slightly kind of intimidating but also being boss and also owning and being unapologetic about
owning you know what you are entitled to you know we had this wonderful conversation with
you know George Maple who was the writer you know the incredible artist and writer in the room
as well as Cosmase Midnight but this woman-to-woman kind of banter felt like just
exhilarating and liberating and I hadn't done a lot of work and particularly writing with a lot of
women and yeah it just felt so kind of natural to kind of dive into this world of the
um you know just womanly and poly which is so nice and was very different
than a lot of the writing experiences. Someone who also has an extraordinary energy
is reality tv and radio star Abby Chatfield. I'm in awe of Abby's confidence and the way she
owns her sexuality and power. Now I'm a mum of teenage daughters and I also want my girls to
love their bodies but you know what I struggle with is the g-string bikinis that my eldest
daughter and many of her friends insist on wearing to the beach. Sure I want them to feel confident
but I also want to protect them from perverts from oogling eyes of people with not very good
intentions. My daughter says to me these cozies are fashionable I do understand that I mean I used
to go topless up on Die Beach when I was her age and it wasn't sexual it was fashionable at the time
for me to be doing that and also I didn't want to get any tan lines. I wanted to know though what
Abby thinks about my mum worries. If people are going to be perv they're going to perv if you're
in a full piece if you're in a little micro bikini if your energy string and my mum just says the
same thing she's like your bottoms out I'm like yes mum ever since I was the same age as well she's
like your bloody bottoms out and I'm like yes mum I have a good bottom she's like yes you do but you
got a beautiful figure but please and I'm like mum I mean I think that yeah like I say there are
people going to be gross no matter what if that makes her feel confident I think as well maybe
talking to her saying that people it's going to make her ashamed of her body and ashamed of her
ass like you were topless when you were a teenager. Well of course and but that's what she'll come back
to me at because I always she'll go mum you tell me that I should love my body and I've got a
beautiful body so this is what I'm doing so she does she throws it all back at me but it's it's
that struggle within myself to try and make sense of it protect her let her embrace herself and be
positive and and I suppose where it came to a head and and a part of me was very proud of her
she went out with with a girlfriend we dropped them off it's like I've got to drop you off you're
not going on your own I'll pick you up and she went to a restaurant with a friend then she was
walking past a table outside and there were these older men and often I think women or young girls
can look older than they are but these older men were looking them up and down and said something
very inappropriate but my daughter turned around and as I said I'm not a swearer she turned around
and she said to this man get effed I'm not going to say it I love that I'm 14 you pervert what an
icon they can take care of themselves she can take care of herself and she told me this really
proudly when I picked her up from the pizza restaurant at 10 30 and but but that's what I
used to do yeah but the other part of me I was like yes go but then there was another part of me
that was like oh my god what if he would have turned around yeah and abused her more or been
violent or something and so it was a real um I still grapple with that this thing we're in
a bind as women even as an adult woman now I have I have people yell things at me you know when I
turn around I go get effed then you kind of think if I say something to you you could come around
um like that that Knox grammar boy who then hit that young woman who said something to him when
he was trying to start shame her for what she was wearing that is a very real consequence and it is
scary um but it's it's a it's it's I don't even know what to say because I still don't know if
I should react if I'm by myself I often don't react I just keep walking with friends I'll react
because I'm like if you you know I've got I've got my girls behind me or I've got someone with me
but it is I wish I had the answer I wish I knew what she should do because I'm proud of her
because that's what I was doing when I was 14 as well I'd be like shut up go away um which is
great but it is concerning because then men's egos get bruised and they want to prove something
um but I think in that instance was it during the day no at night yeah it's scary hey it's scary
because then if you embarrass the person in front of their grown adult mates they may then may then
want to retaliate but it's very scary just it's just the reality of what we have to deal with
as women and what she's going to have to deal with so I don't know what the answer is to that
it's awful isn't it and it still makes me filled with rage when I think about the tight rope that
women walk when it comes to dealing with some men but young strong fierce women like Abby
are amazing role models for both young women and older women like me another marvellous woman
is singer songwriter and actor Casey Donovan Casey is a proud Indigenous woman who keeps
getting back up again no matter what challenges she's faced in her life listen as she talks about
the different ways that society has treated her depending on the shape of her beautiful body
as soon as someone loses weight it's like they're this brand new human it's like they have this
superpower and I'm like well that person has been the same person this whole time and it's only now
that you're opening your eyes to this beautiful human who's changed their shape or you know
gone on a journey for themselves to feel socially accepted or what society puts on them to be
accepted and I just yeah it's it's such a weird weird thing to kind of see and witness and feel
myself you know I'm living my best life and being healthy and trying to do the best and you know
looking amazing and feeling amazing but you know it's like oh my god you've lost so much weight
it's like well I've worked really hard to you know love myself and appreciate me and thank you
that's nice but you know this is this is mine but um yeah it's it's a difficult thing to go
through and to watch society slowly evolve with many many things that you know we've been pushing
over the many many years to change or to accept um but yeah I think that it's it's a slow road
we're getting there eventually but um yeah it's just going on a bit of a rant but no no it's not
a rant at all I think it needs to be said and yeah it does and also too you know you say
you know how difficult it is but did it get as bad for you that you wouldn't want to leave the house
because of anxiety and depression over how people would perceive you or judge you
oh certainly um you know still to this day you know body dysmorphia is very real and when
you know for me everything is amplified because there's always lots of eyes so I can't imagine
what someone would feel not being in this light and trying to go outside and to have all those
fears and thoughts and you know everything going through your mind to even leave the house it's
hard so I've certainly had those days and some days I still have those days I went shopping the
other day and you know we're looking for plus size or size inclusive clothing and I had to
go to the fourth level of a shopping center where it was steaming hot to find that there were
you know a few items of clothing for people that were over a size 18 and it broke my heart
because I just thought this is this is sad it's not inclusive it's not on the main floor with
everything else and there's lights and great music and now hi can we help you it's like
hello can someone help me find is it is there a dressing room anywhere so it's
yeah society tells us that we shouldn't be like this but here we are kind of going well
we're doing our absolute bloody best everyone has the right to their opinion and just I feel
like there just needs to be less anger and more conversations and more people listening
and not taking it on as an insult but just going I hear that but this is my opinion so
yeah there's certainly days where I just I didn't want to leave the house and I just felt like
the house and I just felt like all right I'll try again tomorrow and that's all we can do
is you just got to keep getting up and keep trying and we must keep trying for ourselves for our
sisters and our daughters and you know what else we need to do as women we need to back each other
we need to support each other hold one another up listen to our stories believe our stories say
you are enough that is so important to me I know that our guests have inspired you with their
stories in this special episode for international women's day they've inspired me to live a bigger
and braver life so why not dig a little deeper and listen to our full conversations by following
the Jess Rowe big talk show in your podcast feed the Jess Rowe big talk show was presented by me
Jess Rowe executive producer Nick McClure audio producer Nikki Sitch supervising producer
Sam Cavanaugh until next time remember to live big life is just too crazy and glorious to waste
time on the stuff that doesn't matter listener