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The Search for Water: A Human History of Thirst is an expansive and important new book from journalist and anthropologist Virginia Mendoza. Part-memoir and part-history, Virginia weaves personal reflection and her memories of growing up in La Mancha – the driest region in Europe – with a meticulously researched anthropological exploration of how water – both too little and too much – has shaped our species. Mick chats with Virginia about water and how it connects us to our oldest ancestors, from where we were all born in Africa to migration, from myth-making and religion to what our relationship with water means today. English isn’t Virginia’s first language so a heads up that she pronounces drought “druth” the first couple of times she says it. The Search for Water: A Human History of Thirst is translated into English by Thomas Bunstead, published by Pushkin and out now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inspired by her own experiences of autoimmune diseases, writer Gillian Best decided to delve deeper into the topic of pain. Her book, Chronic: Understanding Pain, explores what pain is, how to treat it, and the research being done to improve the lives of the 1.5billion people across the world living with chronic pain. Jen chats to Gillian about chronic pain, how to navigate it, its impact on women, and why it’s more than a medical issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan Coogler’s much glazed box-office smash is Yosra’s pick this month. It’s a vampire horror about life and times in the Jim Crow South with a banging Blues soundtrack and a lot to say about cultural appropriation, colonialism and the Black experience. Does its midway handbrake turn work or is it too reminiscent of a film Mick and Hannah would rather forget? Do the not one but two Michael B Jordans bring out the actor’s best? Is Jack O’Connell under control? And could we love Wunmi Mosaku any more? Find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Labour suffering huge losses in last week’s local elections, Hannah and Jen look at the wholesale batshittery of the reaction to it, from the party itself and the media, as well as misinformation and the women (allegedly) begging Nigel Farage to “save them”. Thank God for the nuns, and the slightly safer territory of end-of-season football and tennis’s clay season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take off all your clothes and climb into bed with your female pal, as David Lynch’s twisty neo-noir nightmare-dream that tickles the seedy underbelly of Hollywood gets Rated or Dated. Join Mick, Hannah and Jen, as they ask questions, such as ‘what the fuck is happening?’, ‘who cares?’ and ‘WHY?’ about a film some regard as one of the greatest movies of the 21st century. Is that a dolphin? What’s in this Twinkie? WHO CARES. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Clare McGlynn is fighting the good fight when it comes to tackling the growing harms of extreme porn. She chats to Hannah about her new book, Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back, not being cool with the kids and how we're all having worse sex because of porn, whether we watch it or not. * You can buy Clare's book here * More info on ad-free listening and bonus content here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The family courts in England and Wales are going through some changes. In particular, a move to a 'child-focused' approach – designed to minimise trauma and cut a huge backlog of cases. But what does that really mean? Weren’t the family courts already child-focused? And will the changes really help victims of domestic abuse? Jen got on the Zoom with Laura Naser, award-winning partner in family law at Penningtons Manches Cooper, and author of The Family Lawyer’s Guide to Separation and Divorce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Jackson, Deputy Head of Travel at the Times and the Sunday Times, joins Hannah to talk about the very many questions facing us all right now when it comes to booking a holiday. Where is safe to visit? How are the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East affecting long-haul flights? Should we boycott America? What are the new rules at EU borders? Are anti-tourism protests in Europe here to stay? And are the price of jet fuel and mass cancellations by airlines going to make travel unaffordable? Plus there's some important, but maybe surprising, news about the expiry date on your passport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nineties Baywatch babe (don’t call her that) Pamela Anderson was ridiculed for her part in David Hogan’s adaptation of Dark Horse Comics’ Barb Wire. But was she unfairly scapegoated for the resulting box office flop? Does it have any feminist credentials? And will Hannah be as delighted as Jen by its unlikely holy matrimony of Diagnosis Murder and Shortland Street? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aged 38, journalist Rose Stokes felt not quite right, in fact, she felt not at all well. Doctors quickly dismissed her concerns as either exhaustion from the demands of her two young children, or – classic! – perimenopause, and it wasn’t until a blood test found Rose to be iron deficient that it all began to make sense. When Rose wrote about her experience for the Guardian, she was inundated with messages from other women who’d felt similarly dismissed. Jen chats to Rose about her experience, why iron deficiency is a feminist issue, and why the growing conversation around perimenopause might now be tipping the balance when it comes to addressing women’s health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices