They Don't Want Us to Take Up Space. We're Doing It Anyway.

This week I'm joined by Becky Jones, otherwise known as the Empower Coach, and honestly this conversation went places I didn't expect.Becky is an anti-diet coach who helps women break free from diet culture and unrealistic beauty standards. She grew up being bullied in a small Yorkshire village, developed a disordered relationship with food at 12 years old, and spent her 20s fighting the messaging that her body needed to look a certain way to be accepted. Now in her 40s, she's turned that into a career calling out the systems that caused it in the first place.We ended up talking about a lot more than food. We talked about what happened when my team won our league this season and got almost zero recognition from our club. We talked about being labelled "difficult" and "hysterical" when you ask for things that are completely reasonable. We talked about how women in sport are still being made to feel lucky just to be there, and what you can actually do when you're tired of beating your head against a brick wall.In this episode we cover:• Growing up in 90s diet culture and how it shaped us both• Why "skinny talk" is making a comeback and why that matters• The lack of recognition for women's grassroots rugby (and why 5,000 people clearly agreed)• How to find your voice and set boundaries without blowing everything up• Non-violent communication as an actual practical tool for dealing with institutions• Why BMI is basically useless for rugby players• The patriarchal systems behind diet culture and why Becky isn't shutting up about them• And why community, not comparison, is what actually changes thingsThis one is for the women who've been told they're too much. You're not too much. The room is just too small.