The best podcasts about the Intersection of Pop Culture, Identity, and Social Change

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.

Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

What’s one thing you've always wanted to ask but didn’t know how? What’s something you’ve always wanted to say out loud, but were scared to? We're gonna talk about it! You may know host Mina Starsiak Hawk from her HGTV show Good Bones, but that’s just the outer layer of who she is. On this show we’re going to pull the onion layers back and reveal the (sometimes tear-inducing) truth underneath. While it may seem like she’s had a blessed and easy life, there's always more to every story. Mina is ready to share her story and delve into others. Mina is asking the uncomfortable questions, talking about the things we're embarrassed to feel or think, challenging societal norms and doing it all without judgment! Follow MinaAF and let’s broaden your horizons, answer your questions, and most importantly, have FUN!

A feminist lifestyle podcast on a mission to stay curious, build empathy and raise hell. Hosted by Cristen Conger.

On History of the 90’s we’ll travel back in time through the stories that defined a decade. The last 10 years of the 20th century was a time like no other, from Columbine to Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Seinfeld, Air Jordan, and the Spice Girls ...if it happened in the 90’s you’ll hear about it on this podcast. Join Kathy Kenzora as we journey through the History of the 90's every other Wednesday.

Movement is a podcast, radio series and live show that tells stories of global migration through music. Hosted by Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero, the show is a meditation on the large-scale forces at play in individual lives. Issues of citizenship, identity, belonging, and borders are explored through the experiences of artists themselves: two brothers sharing one guitar, a daughter trying on her father’s shoes, the lineage of a drum, and the sounds of a grandmother’s backyard.