Ep. 85: We're Talking Grooming, But Not the Body Hair Kind

Can you believe it's been three years of Toxic? And wouldn't you know it, we haven't run out of toxic topics to discuss yet. Go, society! Thank you for sticking with us through the hard conversations. To celebrate, we were given the best present: our first award. We recently found out that we won the Social Change Maker Award from She Podcasts' first-ever Sonic Bloom Awards and we're a little proud of that. OK, a lot proud. To effect social change through these conversations is our number one goal. These stories aren't always easy to hear, but we believe anger fuels action. You have to get angry about some of this in such a way that makes you want to do something…anything…to help. And for us, that begins with talking and morphs into education, awareness, marching, voting, and reaching all of you.  Today's episode is all about grooming. But not your armpit hair and not your goldendoodle. Grooming of victims by abusers. The most at-risk group for this are women between 18 and 24, but groomers can target teens who are often even more vulnerable. We welcome Eileen Martin, mental health therapist and survivor, to talk about her own experience of being groomed at 17. Parents and anyone who exists around teens will definitely want to listen for what the red flags are that could indicate a young person is being groomed.  Before we talk grooming, Jenna and Amanda also HAVE to give a shout-out to their hero, excuse me, shero, of the f'ing week: E. Jean Carroll. A jury out of Manhattan just awarded her $83.3 million from former president and accused rapist Donald Trump after he verbally harassed and degraded her for years following her 2019 disclosure that he assaulted her in a dressing room. She says she can't wait to spend the settlement on something he hates, like helping other survivors of sexual assault.  Do you have a story you think we need to discuss or a guest we should have on? Visit us at ToxicthePodcast.com and tell us all about it.  Please help us spread this conversation further by sharing an episode of Toxic with a friend, your dentist, a random stranger in line at the grocery store, etc., by following us on your favorite podcast platform or social media, or by leaving us a review. We appreciate you.