'The C Word with Catharine Redden'
START HERE → BLOODY HORRENDOUS
If you’re new and wondering where to begin, scroll nearly to the bottom and find Bloody Horrendous.
It was my second episode, and it’s still the one people land on.
It’s about first periods.
Not the neat version. The real one.
• What it was actually like
• What we weren’t told
• What’s changed (thank god)
• What hasn’t (of course)
It’s funny in parts, uncomfortable in others, and very recognisable if you’ve ever had a body that does things without asking your permission.
THE C-WORD WITH CATHARINE REDDEN
A podcast for difficult women.
Inside:
• Bodies that don’t behave
• Anxiety that doesn’t respond to medication tested predominantly on men, while being told to just meditate
• Ageing without apology
• Small, everyday moments where sexism just… hums in the background
No self-improvement arc.
No neat conclusions.
Just the ongoing, slightly absurd experience of being a woman paying attention.
This is what it sounds like from inside one life.
Not polished.
Not resolved.
Just said out loud.
Welcome to the party of women’s direct experience.
'The C Word with Catharine Redden'
Oh Cunt Wherefore Art Thou
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This episode is dedicated to ABF, the first man who said the C-word about my body in a way that was tender, affirming, and entirely without contempt.
Episode 1: Oh, Cunt Where Art Thou?
In the first episode of ‘The C-Word with Catharine Redden’, Catharine starts where few podcasts dare: with the word cunt. Loved, loathed, weaponised, reclaimed, how did one word that names a life-giving part of women’s bodies become one of the most explosive insults in the English language?
With humour, storytelling, and a proudly non-academic feminist lens, Catharine traces the word’s journey from medieval England (yes, Grope Cunt Lane was a real street) through class politics, religion, Victorian moral panic, and into its strange modern life as both taboo slur and affectionate Aussie greeting. Along the way, she asks bigger questions about language, power, women’s bodies, and why some words are policed harder than others.
This is not a rage-bait podcast. It’s a curious, funny, thoughtful exploration of what it’s like to be a woman in a world largely designed by and for men, making space for complexity, contradiction, and conversation. If you love words, feminism, cultural history, and smart swearing, you’re in the right place.
🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.
Content Note
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material.
Also, I swear.
Support
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.
Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000
Outside Australia, local crisis services are available.
The Socials (I'd love a follow)
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/
Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com
Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden
Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.
Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com.au...