Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1054 | 'It Ends with Us' Is Emotional Porn for Women

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

"It Ends with Us" by Colleen Hoover is back in the mix again as her hit book makes its film debut, but is it just emotional porn for women? Today, we dive into why this book’s explicit content might be more harmful than helpful, especially for Christian female readers. We also explore the recent feature in The Atlantic where the author compares Allie to Phyllis Schlafly — is she correct? Next, we take a closer look at the firing of ESPN host Sam Ponder for her bold defense of women's sports and discuss why it’s essential to stand firm in biblical values in today’s public sphere. Additionally, we delve into the Biden-Harris administration's controversial Title IX changes, the Supreme Court's refusal to enforce parts of the new rule, and what it means for the future of women's rights. Get your tickets for Share the Arrows: https://www.sharethearrows.com/ Pre-order Allie's new book: https://a.co/d/4COtBxy Referenced Articles: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/08/allie-beth-stuckey-conservative-womanhood/679470/ https://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/mommy-porn/ https://adflegal.org/press-release/us-supreme-court-upholds-injunction-against-biden-harris-admins-unlawful-attempt --- Timecodes: (01:00) Introduction  (03:01) The Atlantic Article "Conservative Women Have A New Phyllis Schlafly" (24:30) Comparing Allie to Phyllis Schlafly: Influence and Advocacy (31:40) The Importance of Unapologetically Representing Biblical Values (34:00) ESPN Fires Sam Ponder (38:00) Supreme Court Rejects Biden-Harris Title IX Change (43:00) Colleen Hoover's Explicit Content (48:00) Colleen Hoover's "It Ends With Us" Is Emotional Porn --- Today's Sponsors: Jase Medical - Enter now for a chance to win a Jase Case for life at https://www.jase.com/allie , and use promo code “ALLIE” at checkout for a discount—giveaway ends August 31st! Pre-Born — will you help rescue babies' lives? Donate by calling #250 & say keyword 'BABY' or go to Preborn.com/ALLIE. Carly Jean Los Angeles - Get two pairs of jeans for the price of one using code ALLIESFREEJEANS at https://www.carlyjeanlosangeles.com My Patriot Supply - Go to www.preparewithallie.com right now to save $300 on your Mega 3-Month Emergency Food Kit. --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 1032 | Project 2025: Truth vs. Lies https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-1032-project-2025-truth-vs-lies/id1359249098?i=1000661942041 Ep 990 | Taylor Swift’s Blasphemy & Title IX Betrayal | Guest: Kristen Waggoner https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-990-taylor-swifts-blasphemy-title-ix-betrayal-guest/id1359249098?i=1000653375778  --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

It Ends With Us is a very popular Colleen Hoover book turned movie that is raking in the millions. But should Christians be reading Colleen Hoover books? Should we be seeing those movies here? Are my issues with It Ends with Us. Also, Samantha Ponder was fired from ESPN after over the years she has made comments in defense of women's sports. and also the Atlantic, the Atlantic did a profile on yours truly, comparing me to Phyllis Schlafly, which I think is a very high honor. So we're going to talk about that and what it means not for me, but for you and even for our country. On today's episode of Relatable, it's brought to by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Go to GoToad Ranchers.com.

Use code Allie and check out. That's good ranchers.com code Allie. Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. As promised yesterday, we are going to talk about the Atlantic article on yours truly. And we are also going to, as you heard in the introduction, get to as much as we have time anyway, to Title IX, ESPN firing, Sam Ponder. And then I also want to talk about it ends with us and Colleen Hoover just a little bit because I know so many people and so many women consume her content.

and it's really important that we know the messages that are being conveyed, especially for women. So I woke up on Friday morning to an article about me in the Atlantic. Now, the Atlantic is a very left-wing publication. I am a very not-left-wing person, one of the most socially conservative commentators, certainly in the space. And so you don't really expect a profile in the Atlantic to be glowing, to say it at least. In fact, you expect it to be extremely negative. Of course, I have never had a, I've never had a profile of me, but I have been mentioned in various articles in the New York Times in the Washington Post.

And it has rarely, if ever, I've been positive because they rarely have anything positive to say about conservative Christians and our views on marriage, on gender, on sexuality, on abortion, et cetera. And this article, for what it's worth, was pretty positive. And I'll go through some lessons, I think, that are just important for us to know as critical thinkers is we're reading any article, whether it's coming from the right or the left, in kind of what she does and what she implies through some clever wording. But I just want to talk about the kind of general push of this article and how I actually think it is a big compliment. not to me individually, but to conservative Christian women that are really represented by relatable. I certainly have the highest concentration of these evangelical women that both sides are talking about and whose vote is being vied for. In my audience, my audience is unique in that, in that most of the political commentary space

is dominated by males, not just male hosts, but also just a male audience. The YouTube audience in general is a very male dominated audience, but not my show. It is mostly women. We do have our related bros out there. You are a sizable portion of my audience, and I appreciate you so much. So I don't want to diminish that at all. But we are a female force. We are mostly Christian conservative women who care about the issues going on in our country. We care about theology. We care about politics. We understand why the so-called culture wars matter. And we want to know what God has to say about these things. I don't think that I am the perfect arbiter of God's will in accordance to all of these different issues. But I also think that the Bible is pretty darn

clear about these major issues. And in a world where we are fed constant confusion and constant misinformation and disinformation about these primarily biblical issues like marriage and sexuality and abortion, I do think it's important to be really strong and really clear on them. So that's why the show exists to persuade people who don't agree with me and to encourage and equip those who already do. And And I guess this journalist from the Atlantic thought that the show and its impact is significant enough to do an entire article on it. So the title of this article is conservative women have a new Phyllis Schlafly. Now, it was this conservative woman is like redefining womanhood or something like that.

I don't remember what it said. But a lot of times they will change the title after it comes out. And I knew this article was coming because this journalist had been reaching out to me for quite a few months. And at first, I just kind of rebuffed her through my publicist because, again, this is the Atlantic. I know that they're a left-wing publication. I know how they treat the conservative perspective. But I looked more into this journalist and I realized, okay, I don't think that she is, she doesn't come across as far left. She definitely seems pro-choice, anti-Trump, but she doesn't seem quite as radical as some other journalists are.

And she kind of made clear that she's going to write this story about me whether or not I talk to her. And so I realized I would rather her have my own words than just having other people's words about me or what she thinks that she's observed about me or what she does. deduces based on the things I say on my podcast. I wanted to have a conversation with her. And so she came to Young Women's Leadership Summit and then I met her shortly after that in a coffee shop and we talked for over two hours. Not all of my quotes made it into this article, which is totally fine. I didn't anticipate that they would. But I do think that I, I mean, I tried my best to give a proper representation, not just of me and the show, but also you guys. I don't think that I am your, like, exclusive representation in the public sphere at all, but I do feel a responsibility

to defend our perspective and to defend the position of conservative Christian women. And I do think that I have a unique finger on the pulse of what this demographic is thinking. That doesn't mean that we agree on everything 100% of the time, but I think I understand what we care about and why pretty well. And so I wanted to make our case to her knowing that whatever made it onto paper could be different than what I actually said. But since the article was going to be written, I went ahead and went for it. So there were a lot of positive aspects to this piece. And I did appreciate that. So let's give Elaine props there. She could have been a lot harsher than she was. Here are some excerpts from it. She said, delivering hard truths is Ali Beth

Stucky's job, a job she was called to do by God. And after a decade, she's gotten pretty good at it. And then she quotes me saying, do I love when people think that I'm a hateful person? Of course not, which is true. That's not something I love, but it is a risk that I'm willing to take to stand for what I believe is biblical truth. She said, we had been talking about her opposition to gay marriage, but Stucky opposes many things that most younger Americans probably consider settled issues. I said, I've thought really hard about the things I believe in. and I would go up against literally anyone, which is true on the things that I believe in, not on any subject, but these core issues that we talk about that we've discussed are really Genesis 1

issues. Yes, I would go up against anyone on those things. She says, Stucky is neither a celebrity provocateur in the style of fellow podcast host Candice Owens, nor the soft spoken trad homemaker who thrives in the Instagram ecosystem of cottage corn sourdough bread. Stucky is a different kind of leader in the new counterculture, one who criticizes the prevailing societal moors in a way that she hopes modern American women will find well relatable. And then she talks about kind of the aesthetics of the show. She says that I am similar to J.D. Vance. I fit comfortably in the same ideological Malou as the Heritage Foundation's Presidential Blueprint Project 2025. And of course, that is like, that's a signal to her Atlantic audience for them to understand me as.

radical as far right. Of course, those of us who actually know what Project 2025 is and says the policies that it represents, which is pretty mainstream social conservatism as it has been represented for like the past 50 years. We know that that doesn't mean radicalism or fascism or any kind of dictatorial regime that they try to paint it to be. But she understands that most of her Atlantic audiences think, oh my gosh, Project 2025 scary radical. And so she kind of puts me in that bucket. And then I've been wanting to tell you this because I thought that this was really cool provenance, honestly. So I'm meeting with this journalist that I know probably opposes my position on a lot of things. And she's digging for different beliefs that I have that maybe I

haven't articulated in the public. She wants to write about them, which is part of her job. That's fine. And we go to this coffee shop. And I've been to this coffee shop a couple times in my life when I have visited this area. It's not close to where I live, but it has really good coffee and it has good treats and things like that. And so I suggested that we meet at this coffee shop. And so we go in and the cashier says, and she writes about this in the article, the cashier, after I made my order, he says, it's Allie, right?

And she said, oh, you must come here a lot. And I said, no. And he actually interrupt her. interrupted her and said, oh, no, I follow her, which was really, which was really sweet. And she looked shocked. She was like, oh, celebrity, like said it kind of sarcastically, which is awkward. I don't know what to say to that. And then we sat down and we started talking in literally three groups of multiple women in each group, young women, came up to our table during this two-hour conversation to talk to me and to get a picture and to tell me that they loved the podcast. And that was

one. It was really meaningful to me because I always love meeting you guys. But it was also cool to be able to show this person that is in a lot of ways oppositional that, look, these sweet, kind, wonderful young people are listening to the podcast. And they also have the same views that I do. I'm not some like lone fringe person out here. I'm not just talking to people my age and older than me. There are a lot of young people that are actually persuaded by conservative and Christian arguments. when they are presented them. And so I thought that was really cool. But she says when she's describing this moment, she said maybe it was this particular

coffee house with its white clappered Christian influencer aesthetic or maybe Stucky was even more of a celebrity that I'd realized. But during our two-hour conversation, three separate groups of young women approached Stucky to tell her how much they loved her podcast. And I think she thought for a moment that this was like a setup that I or orchestrated this, of course. It was not. It was orchestrated by God, by the Lord. I think. I think it was just like a really sweet, sweet moment. And something cool to like demonstrate to her too. So there are a couple things that she says, even though I think that like the overwhelming majority of this piece was really sweet. She compares me to Phyllis Schlafly, the guy that she talks to, I guess, for insight into me, even though I don't know him at all. And I'm sure he doesn't consume my content, compares me to Phyllis Schlaffley.

the guy that she talks to, I guess, for insight into me, even though I don't know him at all. And I'm sure he doesn't consume my content, compares me to Phyllis Laughley. We'll talk a little bit about who she is in just a second. And if you think that that's actually an apt comparison, I think that that's like too much. She's way out of my influence league. Like she did amazing, amazing work. But we'll get into that in just a second and why I think that she made that comparison. All right.

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Again, she has to signal to her liberal readers. She has to get a couple digs in. One, she said that my AOC video that we did, I don't know, 2018, where I did that, like, fake interview style with her based on a PBS interview that she had done. I think it was PBS, a PBS interview that she had done or maybe it was ABC in the same way that, you know, Stephen Colbert has done with George Bush and Jay Leno in the past. I did that with her. And then it ended up going kind of viral. And then, of course, people got mad about it. She said that it wasn't funny, which yeah, Elaine, I didn't think it was going to be funny for you. It was funny to the people that

mattered. But she said that we were just trying to make the libs angry. But there are a couple just tactics that she employed that I thought, that I thought were interesting. One, she says, some recent episodes of relatable include. It's interesting that she picked these. Can Christians say no to sex within marriage? And feminism is gender dysphoria. She doesn't give any context for that. She just says, these are like two recent episodes. Okay, the context matters in the title, can Christians say no to sex within marriage. That was a question and answer episode. That was a question that I had received. And of course, if you go back and listen to that episode, I said, I said, yes, like here is the biblical context for the commands about sex and marriage. But of course, the implication there, without saying

what I actually said, without saying why I titled the episode that way and why that question was asked and what my answer was to that question, it makes it seem like I, myself, I'm questioning something like that. Like, should women even have that choice? And feminism is gender dysphoria. I mean, it is fair for her to list that. That is a title of an episode. I didn't exactly phrase it like that.

My guest did. I just thought it was interesting how she chose those two titles without any context, leaving it up to the imagination of her audience. She also does this. She says, Stucky enjoys reading the latest in fiction, but Colleen Hoover's novels are basically porn. She told me, which is true, which is. is true. And music, I can't sit there. This is quoting me. I can't sit there and listen to Billy

Eilish without being like, I'm sad for Billy Eilish. And then after that, she follows it with the singer recently came out as bisexual. See, this is an interesting tactic because she takes a real quote that I say. And then she states a fact right after that in parentheses. But those two thoughts are not connected to each other. I did not say that that's why I feel bad for Billy Eilish. I didn't even know Billy Elish came out as bisexual. I was talking about Billy Elish saying that she had been introduced to sex and pornography at a very young age and that her mind has basically just been trapped by these pornographic images her whole life and it's really messed her up sexually. She's talked a lot about a very dark upbringing, dark influences, even abuse that she has endured in her life.

I didn't say anything about the sexuality she identifies with. And so it was very, just you see that kind of thing a lot because the implication there and what her readers are going to draw out of that is that I said that I felt bad for Billy Elish because she just came out as bisexual. Now, maybe that is something that I would say, but that's not what I said in the conversation. But she says two things that are true and puts them together in order to get her readers to draw conclusion that wasn't accurate to what I actually said. And then she cites some analysis from someone at Johns Hopkins trying to explain like why this podcast is compelling for people. And I don't know who this person is, but she was really sweet.

I mean, she probably wasn't trying to be sweet. She was probably just trying to be objective. And she said, you know, there's a sincerity too relatable. And there's just like a genuineness in it that makes it compelling for women. And then how biblical truth has kind of woven into it. This is why Christian women want to watch this podcast and not other podcasts, which I thought was very kind of Elaine to even include that analysis in there. But then she goes on to say, she cites someone saying that people just listen to it because it's mean and that we don't

laugh on this podcast, which is not true. Bree and I laugh a lot on this podcast. I think we laugh the most when we're talking about dinosaurs. She says we only laugh when we're making fun of someone on the left. First of all, first of all, we do laugh at things that people on the left say, because they are laughable. And we have to, like, we just have to laugh sometimes. We have to laugh at that. And, but yeah, when I'm talking about abortion policy or when I'm talking about the barbarism of left-wing immigration policy, I don't like get a chuckle out of that. I do think that this is kind of like a ridiculous statement to make, considering that there are entire brands shows publications dedicated to deriding conservatives and deriding Christians. Like, we have been bearing the brunt of

left wing and secular mockery for decades, like the most demeaning and degrading kind of dark humor and mockery. Like we are the, we are the recipients of that and have been for a very long time. But if Bree and I get a chuckle out of what some loony liberal says about something, about, I don't know, not knowing what a woman is, then apparently that's a mean. And she cites someone saying that that is why people are listening for that, that that is cathartic. I thought it was interesting when you look up Phyllis Schlafly on YouTube, just like type her name in. The first video that comes up is by Crooked Media.

Cricket Media is a left-wing media publication, a media outlet that really is dedicated to basically just making fun of conservatives. And you watch that video about her. It is the nastiest. meanest video that I have ever seen made of anyone. This lady who is a conservative activist, I mean, so mean, so biting, so rude. I mean, this stuff is just par for the course for how leftists especially talk about women and minorities who are conservative. I don't want to hear anything about like, oh, yeah, Ali, because sometimes she makes fun of the ridiculousness of left-wing

policy and left-wing dogma. That's the meanness. That's the meanness. that her audience is attracted to. Come on. And I know Elaine knows that that that's not true. I know that she knows that those sweet young women that she met at the coffee shop, that the sweet young women that she met at Young Women's Leadership Summit, that they are not mean people, that they're not watching content because it's mean and cathartic for them. I know she knows that. And I know based on the rest of the article, she knows that is not what attracts people to this podcast, not what keeps them coming back. But again, that was just an example of just like, let me just put a dig in there. just a little bit. And it's just, it's just not true. We have so much on the show. We laugh. We cry.

We're worried. We're hopeful. We have so many emotions on the range of human feeling on this show. So many meaningful conversations. She didn't even include in here all of the interviews. And even like, I thought it was interesting to how she didn't even mention that like Trump and Vance have both been on my podcast before. and like mentioned things like Kat Von Die, like we have so much. I feel that the article kind of failed to actually explain, even to people who see themselves as our political enemies, like why this podcast matters, why this demographic matters, the impact that by the grace of God, like this podcast has had. Like there are so many different points and examples to use to explain like how this show

has grown. Thanks to you guys and thanks to the grace of God. So many of y'all ask me, what can I do to help the pro-life cause? Like, what can I do to save babies? So there's a lot that you can do. One of the best ways is to partner with pregnancy centers. And pre-born is a large network of crisis pregnancy centers across the country. They offer all kinds of free resources to moms to families and need. And one of the most amazing things that they do is offer a free ultrasound to a pregnant mom when that mom sees the baby on the screen when she hears that heartbeat she is so much more likely to choose life just by seeing the truth of what a pregnancy is and the little life that is growing inside of her it costs $28 to provide that ultrasound and so if you want to

cover the cost of a life-saving ultrasound go to preborn.com slash alley donate that $28 or donate whatever you can if it's $5 that can that can go towards that ultrasounder. Maybe that's a box of wipes that you are providing for a mom who is in need who has chosen life for her baby. It all works together to help save as many lives as possible. Go to preborn.com slash alley. Here's one thing that she says that I think that we should celebrate. David French is not celebrating, but we should be happy about this. She says the number of Republicans and independents identifying a socially conservative rose during the pandemic years, according to a Gallup poll from 2023. People can only tolerate so much cultural change in a limited period of time,

and we are reaching the limits for our own tolerance for change. Jonathan Merritt said in times like that, conservatism can feel very comfortable and safe and familiar. That's why. It's not because it's true. It's not because it's right, but it's just because people are scared. In one telling indication, Republican approval of gay rights has dropped since 2022 from 56% to 40%. That's huge change. And support for same-sex marriage is down from 55% to 46%. David French says conservatives are becoming more fundamentalists. Like, is it just that? Is it just that?

I don't even, I'm just not sure how much the left even thinks about trying to understand conservative positions on any of these issues, whether it's abortion or whether it's marriage or anything. So this comparison to Phyllis Schlafly, what she says multiple times in the article, that's who I'm like. I want to explain who exactly Phyllis Schlafly. is and why I think this is such an honor to be compared to her. I don't put myself again in the same category as her. She accomplished a lot. She was a hugely powerful influential force in

conservatism for many decades. She just died a few years ago at the age of 92 and she was really influential in the 60s and 70s. And she advocated against the equal rights amendment. it is stated as it's presented as a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would, if added, explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. However, that is not exactly what it would accomplish. And that was Phyllis Schlafly's mission, her main mission in the 60s and 70s to try to explain to, especially Housewives, how the ERA would affect them. and would affect their daughters. While equality sounds really good, how it would manifest itself is actually stripping the comfort and protections and the rights of women by, for example, forcing them into the draft. That was a big part of this. And basically, she stood against

the forced gender neutrality movement that she saw taking place and the military and in the government and even in the workplace. She was not against women working. She was an attorney. She was an activist. She was very well educated. Her mother even was well educated. She was a very strong, outspoken, powerful woman who obviously believed in women being in the workplace in certain contexts of their life,

on different seasons of their life. She obviously believed in women being involved in politics. She understood that politics. matters, but she was against the progressive revolution. She was against trying to do away with all acknowledgement of gender differences and gender roles. She was anti-feminist. She was anti-sexual revolution. She was anti-so-called gay marriage. And she stood for social conservatism until the very end. And she was a force to be reckoned with. And I will say like when she was, really at her prime. Like when she was fighting the hardest and most prominent in the conservative

scene, she was in like her, she was probably in her 50s, in her 50s and 60s. And so I really can't be compared to her at all. She had, when she became prominent, she had a lot more accomplishments under her belt. But I think the comparison that's being made is really our views. And it is the advocacy for social conservatism. It is the advocacy for the family. And it is, I think I share with her like a true love for women. Like there's a lot of people on the right who say that they're for traditionalism, who say that they're for conservatism, who I think really hate women. I think they really loathe women. I think they do believe that women are less than. I think they think that women are dumb. I think that they believe that women's intellectual capacity is a lot smaller than a man's and that's why they need to

be relegated to only certain spaces. Of course, that's not what I believe. I love being a woman. I think women are extremely capable in a lot of ways. But my point is that they're not men. They're not men. And therefore, we can't and shouldn't try to do everything that men can. And I also am against the rearrangement and the redefinition of the family and marriage. And of course, I'm against abortion and a lot of things that Phyllis Schlafly was. And she appealed mostly to women and explained in a compelling and a concise way what social conservatism was, how to get involved in politics in a way that persuaded them. And I hope to be able to do that in a way that is half as effective as her. And so, for example, when she was trying to rally women against this equal

rights amendment, which she just saw as something that would be devastating for women, especially this forced conscription. She took homemade bread. bread, jams, and apple pies. She had housewives create these things. And she had them take them to state legislators with the slogans on them, preserve us from a congressional jam. Vote against the ERA sham. And like, I am for mom and apple pie. So all of these very traditional symbols she used to try to rally women to try to explain to them. Look, the ERA. It says that it's for you. it's not for you. And her argument was basically like, look, woman, you got a pretty good gig right now. You're elevated in a lot of ways. You are safe at home. You get to provide for your kids. And you can

get an education if you want to. You can work if you want to. Or you get to stay home. You've got men protecting you fighting for you here and abroad. You've got men providing for you. Why would you want to mess that up? And so she was a key figure in the anti-feminist movement. And I'm sure that's where the comparison comes from. And again, I don't think that I am anywhere in the realm of Phyllis Laughley, but I do hope to take after her in a lot of ways because she was incredibly effective. And I hope that all of us do in our own ways. And I love that relatable is being recognized, not just for me, but because you all have made it what it is. And our voices and our involvement in the culture and in politics, it can make a difference. It can absolutely matter. When

Christians stand up for biblical values. And when we ignore the stupid, stupid criticism from the left that when Christians bring our worldview into the public sphere, it's fascism or Christian nationalism or some kind of theocratic threat, when we actually unapologetically bring our principles and bring our beliefs into the public sphere and make sound arguments and try to people, our community members, our friends, our fellow parents, our co-workers on our side, we really can change minds and make a big difference. Every single person, whether you're progressive, atheist, secular, Buddhist, everyone brings their beliefs into the voting booth and into the workplace and into the public sphere. Christian conservatives have every

right to do that too. Everyone does. Let the best argument win. But we will not be convinced that we are the only demographic that has to check our beliefs in our worldview at the door before we leave our homes. I'm just, we're just not going to do that. We are going to unapologetically fight for what is good and right and true. And everyone else has the right, has the responsibility to do the same. But our arguments are better. So let us continue to speak the truth in love and to however you can in big and small ways,

do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. That's all we can do. We're not guaranteed any kind of victory. We're not guaranteed any kind of cultural shift. We're not guaranteed earthly victory, but we can continue to be obedient and being bold in representing what is good, right and true. And remember, God's eternal plan of redemption is always going off without a hitch no matter what. Okay. If you have not entered to win yet, this amazing Jace Mepal medical giveaway than you have got to. They are giving a lifetime supply of a Jace case to one winner. And a Jace case is filled with lifesaving antibiotics that you might need in an emergency situation.

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very bold and standing out for what is right. She was recently fired from ESPN just last week, as well as Robert Griffin, the third. Samantha Ponder has been outspoken in defending women's sports. So, for example, this was April 19th, 2023. She says, she's responding to Riley Gaines and she says, change in Title IX would take away so many opportunities for biological women and girls in sports. It is a shame that we are needing to fight for the integrity of Title IX in 2020. And the reason it was needed in the first place, hashtag save women's sports. So as someone who works for ESPN, that was a very courageous thing for her to do. Because of course, ESPN is owned by Disney. It is extremely progressive. Sage Steel was let go. Sage Steel refused. She didn't want to

take the vaccine. And she pushed against the vaccine. on dates and she was let go during that time too. She also said on May 31st, 2023, Samantha Ponder, biolatry is not bigotry. Loving people does not require the absence of boundaries. Yes and amen. This is the difference between love and toxic empathy. She says, I barely said anything publicly about this issue and I've had so many people message me, stop me in the street and say, thank you. And tell me stories about girls who are afraid to speak up for fear of lost employment slash being called hateful. It is not. hateful to demand fairness in sports for girls.

Kirk Herb Street, he is also an ESPN anchor. He tweeted about this not too long ago. He was responding to someone on X who said, do men belong in women's sports? He responded and said, of course not. Ridiculous question. And Samantha Ponder applauded. And then she also responded to another commenter on X, X, Y equals male, X, X, X, X, equals female. So good for her. She didn't have to do this.

She didn't have to. She could have remained quiet. She didn't have to speak up. She knew that she could possibly be risking her job, risking her prominence, risking her position, and also just risking people liking her, which is, that might sound superficial, but it matters to a lot of people. And she decided that standing up for women and women's sports mattered. Sam Ponder is also an outspoken Christian, which I really appreciate about her. And yet she was fired not too long ago, presumably for these positions. I mean, I just don't, it's hard. I guess I don't know everything going on there.

It's hard for me to believe that it would be for any other reason. It seemed to me like she was very popular that she was very good at her job. I mean, she's obviously beautiful and knows a lot about football. And she had a lot of fans, a lot of raving fans. And yet they let her go for stating the obvious. that women XX chromosomes should have our own sports. We should have our own spaces because of the biological differences, because men have strength that is insurmountable for women.

And so we need to share the arrows with Sam Ponder. Like she'll be totally fine. Onward and upward for her. She'll be great. Her family will be great. She'll be fine. Like God's got her. But if you want to send her a message of encouragement,

if you want to just pray for her, I know for a fact that sharing the area, with her in that regard will edify her. It will build her up. It certainly won't hurt things. So if you want to share the arrows with her, then I would do that. I mean, I think that she's pretty amazing. I've been a fan of her for a long time. So thank you to Sam Ponder for standing up. It matters. Maybe it doesn't feel right now like it matters, like it makes a difference, but it does. It matters. You are giving courage to other women who maybe previously have been scared, but they saw you take this risk and they saw you stand strong. So keep standing strong and be even more unabashed and apologetic about it now.

Also, some good news. The Supreme Court has struck down the Biden Harris Title IX change. So here's a summary of it. This is according to Fox and also Alliance Defending Freedom. Love our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom. Them, First Liberty, great organizations fighting for the constitutional rights of Americans. So the Supreme Court voted. 5-4 on Friday to reject the Biden administration emergency request to enforce portions of a new rule that includes protections from discrimination for so-called transgender students under Title IX. The request would have permitted men in women's bathrooms, locker rooms, and dorms in 10 states where there are state level and local level rules in place to prevent it. So these people who say that they are so for democracy, there are so for the people, they were going to force through the president without any approval from the states. They were going to force states who have local laws that are protecting women's spaces to allow men into women's spaces.

Like this is so important for the Harris Biden administration. This is so important for the Harris Walls tickets because if you look at the history of the Biden administration, they also, through the USDA told schools that take. snap money, so free meals for poor students. If you do not allow boys into girls' restrooms, you will not get these free lunches for poor students. So like they are willing to sacrifice absolutely anything on the altar of transitioning children and letting men into women's spaces. So they were going to force states to do this. The Supreme Court thankfully said no. The fact that it was even 5'4 and Gorsuch went with the dissent on this is really troubling. But think the Lord, think the Lord for Clarence Thomas, think the Lord for Trump's appointees.

That's why Trump matters. I don't care if you like the guy. Like I don't care what he said. I don't care what he's named called. Like this matters so much. It matters so much. Do you really want someone like Kamala Harris to be picking their successors after someone like Clarence Thomas steps down or die? No, you don't.

The Supreme Court's decision upholds two recent federal appeals court rulings that halted the administration's unlawful rules in the states of Tennessee, Indiana, many other conservative states. In one case, Alliance Defending Freedom Attorneys represent a West Virginia high school female athlete and Christian Educators Association International. And in the other, they represented a Louisiana school board. No formal opinions or concurrences were written only the unsigned order and a dissent. The language is more procedural and then interesting. So we don't have a lot on it. And this is not the end of the story. This is not the end of the story.

Like this still has to be the rule change is still going to be pushed by the Biden administration. It's still going to be pushed by the Harris administration. But for right now, these states can still keep their laws in place. And that's so few states, guys, but they can keep these laws in place that actually protect women's spaces. Of course, the left is really upset about this. The New York Times says Supreme Court, for now, blocks expanded protections for transgender students in some states. Again, what is meant by this? What is meant by this is that men get to enter women's spaces, boys get to enter girls' spaces,

and that girls don't have privacy for themselves because these gender-deceived, boys get to go into their locker rooms and see them change. And protections for transgender people means protections for the pike means death for the minnow. That's what's going on here. So protections for these men who say that they're the opposite sex is very destructive for the girls who are victimized by this. But this is good news for now. We should be celebrating this. Last sponsor for the day is my Patriot Supply. We have an emergency food supply from my Patriot Supply. I'm so glad that we do because if you get in some kind of emergency situation, who even knows what where you can't get food because you don't have access to it, you want to have this emergency food supply on hand just in case. Their three month emergency food supply kit is incredible. It comes with 33 varieties of filling in delicious meals. We're talking 2,000 calorie a day. meals that could be a game changer, a lifesaver for you and your family. Should we get into some kind of situation where the supply chain is messed up or we just can't

get the food that we need? You want to get one kit for every member of your family. It's good for up to 25 years in your home, put it in a cool, dry place. Stow it away. You don't have to think about it, but you'll be really glad you have it if you do need it. Go to prepare with ally.com. You'll get $300 off your order. That's amazing. Preparewithallie.com. All right. One thing I want to end on, one thing I want to make sure that we talk about, speaking of women and the things that influence us, I just want to mention it ends with us because this is a book that has turned into a movie, that it was a very popular book. I mean, like millions of copies sold by Colleen Hoover. She is an incredibly successful writer. She writes romance novels.

She's written a ton of books. And this new book, it ends. or this new movie, it ends with us, is starring Blake lively, and you're probably seeing it marketed everywhere. It's already bringing in over $15 million in its first week, according to the Hollywood Reporter. That is because women eat up Colleen Hoover books. And before I knew, this was a few years ago, before I knew anything about Colleen Hoover, I just saw this book everywhere. It ends with us. Oh, it's so good. It's so good. It's so good. And I go through these seasons of really wanting to read fiction and really just kind of like mindless stuff. and so I read it. And I read it in like a day, super easy to read. It's easy to see why women

read it because it is so easy to consume. But I had to skip over so many parts. Why? Because their books are so sexually explicit. It is pornography. It is sexual pornography and it is also emotional pornography. Like, let's, can we just say this? Can we just realize that just because something is fiction, just because you are reading something does not mean it is okay to consume. Like if you are struggling as a woman in your thought life with escapism, with fantasy, with lust, you do not need to be reading these books. And even if you're not struggling with those things, even if you're not, don't allow yourself to be tempted in this way. Like as someone who read the book, I really just kind of wanted to see what people were talking about and realizing like,

I got to skip through these scenes. I'm just going to finish a book because I always try to finish the book. I'm like, oh my gosh, if this is what women are consuming, I understand why women have the thoughts that they do, not just about like sex and promiscuity, but also about this like girl, boss, God of self world that women occupy, this self empowerment, this like self-safier complex that it seems like a lot of women have. And also just the unhealthy expectations and relationships. This book is about and this movie is about escaping an abuser and how she is ending this like generational trauma of accepting abuse, Blake Lively's character. And she's getting out of an abusive relationship. And she ends up with the guy that has always kind of been steady and there for her and a

really good guy and strong in the right way. And in general, I think that that is a good message. Of course, I want women to escape their abuser. Of course, I want women to be with a guy who is strong in the right way, in the protective way, in the providing way, in the healthy way. Of course, I think that that is a good thing. Of course, I want women to get out of abusive relationships, avoid abusive relationships as fast as they can. And so maybe a bulk like it ends with us or a movie like it ends with us will help some women do that. Maybe it will give them the courage to do that. And I'm not saying that that effect would is, it's not good. Of course, that is a good thing. But I still would never encourage a woman to consume this kind of content. If that were really her only goal,

if that were just Colleen Hoover's altruistic motivation, then she could write a book about that that is compelling without all of the blatant sex. Because I think what that does, because as far as I understand, I haven't read all of her books, but most of her books are like that. I still think whether it's intentional or not, we are right. We are right. these hot and heavy romantic scenes with a woman and her abuser, you are almost glorifying the abuse because women, unfortunately, still get attached to that abusive character. And I think that that is very dangerous. I actually think that a lot of her books from the excerpts that I've read, even though it is saying that it's condemning abuse and encouraging women to get out of

abuse still how the abuser is described and how the relationship and the sexual interactions between the two are depicted that still pulls on women's heartstrings it almost is glorified in the same way that like a lot of these songs by young women nowadays they might say that they are bemoaning the abuse or the toxicity and their relationships but at the same time it's also depicting like a yearning for this kind of toxicity and these relationships, this kind of weird codependency. So I actually do not think that this kind of entertainment or this kind of content is at all healthy. I, you know, I even think that in a lot of ways about redeeming love. Now, that's a book that I read a ton when I was in high school in college. Not that it was necessarily glorifying abuse, but I think it was too sexually graphic

for the young woman who was trying to abstain from a sexual behavior until she was married. This kind of emotional pornography, in addition to the sexual aspects of it, I think, just makes women extremely discontent, extremely discontent with their own life, extremely discontent with their own marriage in a way that is not even grounded in reality. and also just feeds lust and fantasy that does not feed into a person's contentment and satisfaction, which of course as Christians, we are called to. So focus on the family has been talking about this, of course, for a long time, but they have this article from 2014. And it's titled Book Boyfriend's Mommy Porn and the Problem with Colleen Hoover. The article says this, just as pornographic images have the potential to ruin a man's ability to love in real life. So, too, a written form of pornography has a potential to ruin a woman's ability to love in real life.

And they're also talking about 50 Shades of Gray, which of course is very explicitly in that camp. And one of the people that they consult in the article is named Dana Gresh. And she says, the fantasy of erotica inspires one thing, the longing for more. satisfying your longings, it will awaken, manipulate, and deepen them. No longer will you be satisfied with an attentive boyfriend or husband who occasionally brings you a soy latte to cheer you up. You won't want a man who is obsessively, unrealistically, in love with you and has the bank account to prove it. A hardworking man who is faithfully scraping by will never be able to provide for you the way a man in your fantasy can. She also, I think that's a great point. She also goes on to say

one of the things that's happening is that our society really wants to erase gender. So we're telling women that we have to be a certain way or act a certain way, they can't fall into the typical stereotypes. The problem with that is that when I look back in the book of Genesis, God loves gender. When he says, I've created you in my image, he lists two things male and female that make us most like him. Gender matters to God. And that really kind of brings it all the way back to Phyllis Schlafly. But I think it's true. You have these women, girl boss, like self-heroes who are simultaneously saving themselves while also having to be satisfied. by this unrealistic, almost toxic romance.

And yes, I do think it creates a lot of dissatisfaction in women that can also lead to faithlessness in some ways. And so all that to say, I think that we need to be very careful about consuming especially things like Colleen Hoover. I mean, she's really popular for a reason because her books are so easy to read like you're not going to be challenged intellectually at all. but you're also going to be left like so spiritually hungry and emotionally hungry and sexually hungry in a lot of ways. And that's not good no matter what stage of life that you're in.

And so I would say avoid this. Like I've seen Christians post about like going to see the movie. Maybe the movie is not as bad as the book. I don't know. But I definitely think that the books, we think that like a book is a loophole or something and that it's not going to have an effect on our mind. that it doesn't affect our holiness at all and our sanctification. But Satan loves to use these things to trick us into escapism and fantasy and unplug us from the good life and blessings and marriage that God has given us.

And if you feel like, okay, you're not in a good marriage, you do one another kind of romance, you're still not going to find it in these fictional books. You still have to reckon with reality and take take. take it to God and allow it to be healed and to be made better, you are not going to fix your life by escaping it in your mind, in your imagination. It's actually just going to make things a lot worse. So I would just say, be wary of that. I've seen a lot of people posting about this. There are a lot of issues with it. And so just be very careful. Don't let your kids see it, my goodness. And don't let your kids read, calling over. Oh, my gosh, do not let your teenage

daughters, were you calling Hoover. I read Twilight growing up. I should not have read Twilight. And that wasn't even to the level of this, but oh my gosh, like the hold that it had on my mind, the hold that it had on my emotions. Literally, I read New Moon like in a day on a road trip with my parents. And I remember we went to some like family reunion. I literally could not function as like a 16 year old girl because I was sobbing about Edward and Bella being broken up. Like that's what it does to the impressionable female mind, especially a teenager who is hormonal and just like brain still developing and who thinks that they want that kind of like boyfriend and romance. Oh my gosh. So unhealthy. I read so many things as a teenager that I shouldn't have read. They weren't to the level of like 50 shades of gray, but they were just ungodly. They were just awful trash stories. And I think that my parents were probably just happy that I was reading and like not watching TV because I did love to read. And it was great that I was reading, but I was reading trash. And it was really bad for my impressionable mind. It did set me up in some ways for unrealistic and unhealthy expectations for my

relationships at the time. And so it can create a lot of idolatry too. And so parents just be really protective of what your kids are reading as much as you are protective of what they're watching and where they're scrolling. All right. We covered a lot of ground today. That's all we have time for. We will be back here tomorrow.